Has The Clock Stopped? Time Seems Wrong!

Mainline Haulage Hixon Stages 2005, Sunday 8th May 2005

Report by James Greenwood, Photographs by Simon Clarke (www.sc-photography.co.uk)

After Kings Lynn we needed to lift our spirits – however the alarm call of 2.30 on Sunday morning might not have been the best medicine. After securing the 95th, and last, entry to the Mainline Haulage Stages Rally at Hixon Airfield, Staffordshire we felt optimistic. Our seeding was 4th, meaning scrutineering at 6.45 and starting stage one at 8.00 – that will be an early one then.

Fighting yawning and sleep depravation we arrived promptly, sped straight through noise (98db) and scrutineering to receive our road book – I wanted this early, as it was a new venue with mixed surfaces. The stages seemed fairly point and squirt, being 3 – 4 miles in length, with very tight turns and no long straights.

Gravel or slick tyres? The field seemed divided with more leaning to gravel and greater sidewall compliance – so we went for slicks of course. The surface was dry but there was a lot of slippery grass between the concrete sections and all the corners were very rough and undulating – especially in the braking areas.

Justin Dale (ex works Vauxhall driver) shared the course car with Pat Flynn, and managed to breakdown within sight of the finish – failed drive shaft. Was this to be an omen for our eternal Achilles heel?

Stage one saw us sliding all over the place, with the car taking a hammering over the rough stuff – but we still posted third quickest on stage. Service obviously saw us changing to gravels on the front and keeping leathery colways on the rear. The wind howled around the circuit doing its best to freeze the marshals and service crew, but not really drying the surface.

SS2 brought intermittent rain showers and saw us slithering (and at one point skating with no control) around the stage, only dropping 3 seconds on our previous time. The gravels would be staying on. Again we were lying third behind Mick Holland in his fathers ex works Escort RS, and Andy Gwynne in his blistering Corsa. Running with both the 205 Challenge cars and RWD BMW Challenge cars lead to some congested racing – and a very interesting chicane made into a double by an abandoned 205 half parked in a field of rape!

Another course car stoppage, Justin had decided to demolish the last chicane and some of his rear bodywork – so now a private battle ensued between Justin and Pat for FSTs – we felt it rude if we didn’t join in.

Stages 3 and 4 were slightly longer at 4.8 miles. The ever increasing showers and developing ruts made the driving far more entertaining and we were able to post a scorching6.45 minutes – only 3 seconds off Andy Gwynnes fastest stage time. We also had 500 yards to pass a back marker prior to two belting chicanes. With two wheels on the grass and a fishtailing pug we squeezed through – JUST! Or if the wife is reading this – loads of room, in fact we could have got a bus through there!!!

Two minutes before Stage 4 MTC we had no power to the starter motor, so a frantic bump start saw us arrive a few seconds late, but no penalty, and no way of starting if we stalled. A heavy hailstorm then whited out the stage and blurred into horizontal rain. From the off we could see nothing but with superb driving we cut our previous time by 6 seconds – consolidating our third position, 20 seconds behind Mick and 9 seconds ahead of 4th (and 3 seconds up on Pat). Into service and we traced the fault to a broken lead on the starter button – easily fixed then.

Stage 5 saw us reversing direction, with all the mud and rubbish now sitting on our breaking zones – JOY. This way round seemed to flow better and we had a very good and clean run. Some of the front-runners were now retiring as the rough surface took its toll, leading to a much-depleted field. Aron and Kerry, from Streetley, were going well in the Escort, albeit further down the field – with Jamie looking on to check that his half of the car, and sister, survived!

SS6 greeted us with warming sunshine filtering into the car and another start line delay – reversing direction meant that the rear chicane entry was a lot faster and one unfortunate Peugeot had launched itself into the neighbouring field. The chicane was no more and the cars front end had been completely ripped off. The chicane never reappeared – this gave us a very fast and long straight with a 90 right tightening back on itself. The increased speed and rutted surface threw us around inside the car like a pinball – with the roof banging and rippling at every corner. The car was holding together superbly – the tyres were about dead but those drive shafts were still attached.

SS6 was 6 seconds quicker than 5 (4 seconds quicker than Pat and Justin), but first gear wouldn’t hold, so Andy was taking the corners wider in second and carrying more speed leading to some spectacular drifting, and some chuckles between us both.

The last 4 stages would prove crucial – we needed more speed but we couldn’t physically get any more out of the Peugeot. With new part worn gravels on the front and some equally crusty colways on the back we launched into SS7. Everything was now shake, rattle and roll. Junction 8 became a total drift and we smoked the stage. Unfortunately Andy Gwynne had stopped on stage with a dead engine, cruel as he had been fastest from SS1, but Mick had been able to pull another 8 seconds out of us. SS8 held no dramas for Andy, but Mick then coasted to a stop with a broken half shaft which meant we were now provisionally first – NO, don’t even think about it.

Two more stages left, but only time for one, meant we had 3 miles to a possible victory. We had about 18 seconds on Ed Robinson, who had been on our heels all the way but still a very rough stage ahead. Off the line “drive shafts” entered our minds, but we dared not dwell on it. Andy gave those last 3 miles ten tenths and myself a massive grin, giving us our quickest stage time of the day – 4 minutes and 23 seconds.

Several crews applauded us into service, with Ed Robinsons co driver confirming that they couldn’t touch our speed on SS9. We now had overall victory number two and I had the honour of the victory speech. First overall (out of 95)and 1st in class (out of 15) was far better than we had hoped for as it was a new venue for us. Aron and Kerry ended the day (I think)12th overall and 4th in class – well done.

So, once again on top of the world I would like to thank Sharon, Cheryl and Stacey for their unending support, and our service boys of Ed (nice to see you again), Dan and Nathan for holding the Peugeot together – and to all the marshals and photographers for braving the appalling weather. We are back out at Willbarston on the 29th, mixing it up with the big boys again….

James Greenwood