Telford Winter Stages – 18th February 2006

Driver:      Andy Williams
Co-driver: Peter White
Car:         Subaru Impreza STi
Weather: Cold and dry with sunny spells but icy underfoot

It was 2 weeks to go before the Winter Stages and I was looking forward to being part of Andy’s service crew but he said that he was having difficulty finding a co-driver. I had not renewed my licence so I could not help him. He persuaded me to apply for my licence, just in case. My licence arrived 2 days before the event and Andy said I was doing it! I have had a long lay off for various reasons; including being very ill the last time with Andy on the Cambrian in ’04, but it would have been very rude to turn down the ride. I have competed on this event a couple of times and also many other rallies at Sweet Lamb, so I had a good idea of the stages and was very pleased to be told that we were on ‘pace notes’. Andy has also been to the venue a number of times and indeed was 4th overall and 1st in class on the Winter Stages last year, so we felt very confident that we could get a good result The only problem was that Andy’s last two visits to Sweet Lamb had resulted in DNF’s both with overheating or radiator problems!.
In the weeks before the event, Andy had completely rebuilt the engine, including new heads and steel gaskets, to cure the overheating issues and he assured me that the car felt very good. Although it is running a standard gearbox and diffs, I was convinced that the driver’s competitive ability and skill would overcome the lack of power and fancy trick bits that our opposition would be running.

The 60 car entry list looked very useful with Marcus Dodd in a Hyundai Accent WRC at car 1, Stuart Jones (Evo 9) car 2 (no, not that one!) Nick Kenny (Scuby) at 3, Owain Beman (Evo 6) at 4, ‘Mad’ Mick Jones in a very quick Mk2 at 5, Huw Jeffreys (Scuby) at 6 and we were car 7 so were going to have to give it our full attention to get a decent result. Looking further down the list, we spotted John Leckie at 16 with Jon Madoc-Jones alongside so, no matter what, we had to see them off.

We had a great support crew with Rich Marshall, Rob John (who’s luminous hose has to be seen to be believed?) and Brian Harrison, ably assisted by his 9yr old son Joe. We all met at Andy’s on the morning of the event at some unearthly hour and duly set off to Sweet Lamb.
We arrived at the service area, in the top car park because the ‘bowl’ was being used competitively, at about 8 o’clock and set up our pitch. First problem, the car refused to start and we had to roll it off the trailer and sort it out. A change of plugs to soft ones, not the easiest of jobs on a scuby, got the thing started so we went over to noise and scrutineering. No problems, although the scrutineering was very cursory and Andy called it a MacDonald’s check (drive-thru!) but the car was safe and the scrutineer was the one who had log booked the car anyway. We took the car back to the service pitch and while we signed-on, the lads changed the plugs and put back the hard competition ones.
First car was due to start at 10 o’clock and we set off to join the queue but we were only firing on 3 cylinders! MC1 was in the service area and there was only a short run out of less than a mile to SS1 arrival and Andy did his best to get us running on all 4.

SS1: 4.3 miles. For those of you that know the venue, the first mile of the stage was on the entrance road to the bowl and then up the hill towards the top car park and along the road in front. We were a bit cautious over this first bit because it was still very icy and the parts of the road that were still in shadow could easily catch you unawares. The road up the hill towards the top car park saw us get into a real ‘sphincter clenching tank slapper’ on the ice but, fair play to Andy; he caught it and pulled it all together. The rest of the stage was ok but that first incident had made us a bit tentative and our time saw us outside the top ten.

SS2: 5.85 miles. There was a 3 mile road section up the A44 towards stage 2 and the sun was getting higher and we felt more confident that the roads would be dying out. The first mile of the stage saw my first problem, the notes were not right and Andy drove as he saw it until I picked them up at post 1. The rest of the stage was good and the pace was getting better. Going through the 2 water splashes in the bowl was great fun although it was very rough in between them. The last part of the stage was in Hafren and then a 14 mile run back to service. Better stage times pulled us up into the top ten.

Service A: 20 minutes in service and our crew checked us over and young Joe cleaned the number plates. I had a look at Leckie’s times, he got us by 3 seconds on 1 but we took 5 back on 2 and we were now 2 seconds in front of them, which was nice.

SS3 and 4 were a repeat of 1 and 2: A mile into 3 we were going up the hill that caught us out on stage 1 and saw Rich Marshall standing in the road frantically flagging us down and as we came over the crest we saw car 6 on its side on the tricky hairpin left but there was just enough room to get past it. Towards the end of 3, on the tarmac section, my old problems were coming back to haunt me and I had to get out of the car at the end of 3 to throw up! Must be Andy’s driving? I’m still not ok going through 4 but Andy was terrific and his driving was fantastic. Just after the narrow bridge in Hafren we drove over and flattened an exhaust system that had been dropped by the car in front and when we got to the stop line we came across Mad Mick looking underneath the Escort, we gave him the news that we had flattened his exhaust but he did not seem to be bothered and with a smile he jumped back in his car and drove off. A couple of miles down the road section Mick was stopped by the side of the road trying to unwrap a strip of red and white tape off a telegraph pole, obviously to try and secure what was left of his exhaust. We stopped and Andy gave him a length of wire that he happened to have in his glove pocket! Got back to service and our stage 3 time was 12 seconds better than stage 1 and stage 4 was 10 seconds quicker than stage 2. I was looking forward to getting a look at Leckie’s times.

Service B: 45 minutes allowed in service and the boys gave the car a good hard looking at. They didn’t need to do much to the car, spanner check and swap the tyres from front to rear. We went over to talk to a downhearted Leckie to find out that he had snapped a shaft on stage 3 and was out of the event, what a shame. We had moved up a place on the time sheets and were lying 9th overall.

SS5: 5.60 miles. Going well through the stage until just after post 19 the engine note changed dramatically and I thought ‘turbo’. With only a mile to the end of the stage, we carried on with the car well down on power and obviously we had a serious problem. On the very short road section to stage 6, Andy got out to have a look and reported that the exhaust had blown; with no time to do anything we made the decision to carry on through 6 and see if we can repair the exhaust at the next service.

SS6: 4.60 miles. We did this stage with the blown exhaust and no turbo boost so our times were not looking good.
Service C: A hive of activity from our crew and I have not seen Rob rush around so much and be so light on his feet, in fact it was Rob that found the exhaust problem, the lambda sensor blanking plug had been ripped out. Frantic searching in the tool box for a bolt with the right thread but nothing found, they went round the service area to see if anybody had a bolt and it was Geoff Jones that said ‘Pinto spark plug!’ Rob fitted the plug, which fits perfectly, and we jested that if we fit a plug lead could we get it to work as an afterburner! Had a check of our times and we were 8th overall, not bad considering.

SS7 and 8 were a repeat of 5 and 6. I had a chat with Andy before the start of 7 and explained that I was still not feeling up to speed so as these 2 stages were a repeat and he knew them very well, he agreed to let me ride them as a passenger and not read the notes. This was the first time in 40 years that I have been given a competitive ride with nothing to do, thanks Andy.  Half way though 7 Andy was having problems with the engine overheating again and he had to switch the anti-lag off to try and reduce the temperatures. We got to the end of the stage and coasted down to the arrival of 8 and he jumped out and opened the bonnet to be met with a cloud of steam. He emptied our drinks bottles into the boiling radiator and also scrounged water off the following competitors as they passed us going into arrival. Still not enough and the ever resourceful driver got a few tools out and commenced to rip out the water spray bottle out of the boot and pour this into the rad. As this half mile road section is timed at 5 minutes, we were starting to go into our 15 minutes penalty free lateness. I kept my eye on the time and advised Andy that we needed to go into arrival otherwise we could go OTL. He chucked all the loose tools and spray bottle into the car and jumped back in. We booked in 9 minutes late so we were still ok but the car was not!
First mile of stage 8 was downhill or flat so we took it very easy so as not to boil the rad again. The section after the bowl was uphill and the temperature climbed dramatically until we got to post 11 and the last couple of miles were flat and then downhill. We virtually coasted down to the finish with our minute man nearly catching us. Next problem, we have completed the stages but now we had a 5 mile road section to do with 12 minutes allowed and 6 minutes left of our penalty free, this was going to be an ask. The engine had boiled dry again so we scrounged more water off the stop line marshals and Andy ripped out the windscreen wash bottle and filled the rad with that as well. Time was now tight and it would be a crying shame to retire after doing all the stages but not being able to get to the last control.
After 10 minutes I advised Andy that we now had 8 minutes to do the 5 miles. The engine had cooled enough but would not start and it was fortunate that we were on a slope, so we bumped the car to start it and she just fired up! Now we are into our final 6 minutes and the run to the finish was down the A44 and back up into Sweet Lamb and up to the final control in the service area. I shouldn’t really comment on the ride to the finish but I think we were going quicker than in the stages! Fortunately no traffic on the A44 and we got into MC2, the final control, 17 minutes after our stage finish so I calculated that we were just ok. Imagine my surprise when Rowand Prentice, the finish control marshal, said I could have any time I wanted! Andy and I were relieved and delighted to have finished considering the problems we had all day.

The lads had packed everything away and we drove the very sick scuby straight onto the trailer and switched it off with steam everywhere. We had a look at the stage times that had been published up to stage 6 and we were in the top ten but the problems on 7 and 8 would have pushed us well down the order so we both decided to call it a day and go home before the provisionals were posted.
I know that we all have stories to tell about our Motorsport exploits but this was a very eventful day and the fact that we finished at all was down to a brilliant service crew and a driver who deserves a decent co-driver to match his undoubted talent. I will never forget those last 2 stages when I was given a ‘white knuckle ride’ which made me realise just how quick these rally cars are travelling. If I never get back into a rally car again I will always remember that ride.

Sunday: Phone call from Andy, we had finished 7th overall and 1st in class! My first thought was one of horror that we had not stopped for the awards. I immediately phoned Kevin Hutchings, the Clerk of the Course, and sincerely apologised for us not stopping. He was fine about it and hoped that we had enjoyed the event. I certainly did.

Pete White