Editor-in-Chief at the Guild of Motoring Writers inaugural ‘Bring Your Own Car Day’ 4  September 2010 

Sarah Bradley brought her classic motor cycle

Rolls Royce Phantom of Paul and Josy Buckett chats up the Ferrari of John and Widad Colley

The Jaguar SS100 of Michael and Helen Turner

The editorial Appia makes friends with the Fulvia HF of John and Deborah Simister

On Sunday it was a straightforward win for the Jon Minshaw Jaguar; his powerful E-Type leading the forty-minute HSCC Guards Trophy Race (supported by Dunlop Tyres) from start to finish, giving the team their second victory of the weekend.

Oulton Park. Sunday morning 29 August

Round six of the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship headed to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Historic Rally (20/21 August). Category 2 victory for David Stokes/Guy Weaver and a stunning Category 3 win for Connor Corkill/Rob Fagg headlined the action. In Category 1 victory went to the Mini Cooper S of Ray Cunningham/Ross Forde, but the BHRC points contest was between Jonathan Gale/James Whitaker (Sunbeam Tiger) and Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride (Porsche 911).

The BHRC's first visit to Ulster was a runaway success and all the crews gave the event rave reviews. "We've been to a world class rally," said Jeremy Easson.

Category 1
Although not registered for the BHRC, Cunningham was keen to pit the Mini against the British crews and the Galway driver was in stunning form as he swept clear on the opening day to lay the foundations for an emphatic victory. But the battle for top BHRC crew was far less clear-cut and it took a mighty effort from the XS Racing crew to keep Gale's Tiger running after a range of dramas. Two offs, including one into a fence, steering damage after a heavy landing and a detached roll bar all hit the Sunbeam in the course of 12 stages, but they ploughed on and ended the event as leading BHRC crew.

But Nutt was always there on his home event and maintained a constant pressure on Gale. Even at the finish the margin was just 15s after nearly two hours of competition. "There is still some play in the steering," said Nutt on Friday evening, but Gale had bigger concerns after hitting both ends of the Tiger on a bank in the Torr Head stage. The contest went back and forth through Saturday but Gale managed to grab the upper-hand as the XS crew worked hard to keep the car running.

As the only finishers in class B1, Gary and Jane Edgington took the spoils even though they ran under super rally rules when the gear lever came off their Singer Chamois on the fourth stage on Friday. They continued to throw the car around the lanes on Saturday and after finishing the Langford Lodge stage Edgington ran 500m back to help Neil Rudd get going again after his Escort stalled.

Philip Wylie/Maurice Beckett (MGB) won class B4 having arrived at first service needing to tweak the suspension to cope with the bumps and jumps. “The first stage was good but we couldn’t keep going at that pace,” said ex-pat Ulsterman Wylie. His brother Drew, partnered by Howard Pridmore, unfortunately retired on the opening stage with electrical woes in his Lotus Elan. Rikki Proffitt/Peter Scott teamed up again to take fifth in the Category in Rikki's Porsche 911, with Scott having won the Ulster Rally back in 1974 with Billy Coleman!

Category 2
Right from the off, Stokes and Weaver set a cracking pace in Category, although local crew Keith McIvor/David Burns were right in contention in their Porsche 911. McIvor not being registered for points, Stokes was content not to fight with the Irishman and instead concentrate on his BHRC rivals. On the first stage, Stokes was running first car and had a strange moment when he came over a brow to find a tent in the road. He managed to avoid it and several more cars reported the same problem before the stage was halted to remove the tent.

The Escort running like clockwork, Stokes ended the first day well clear of Easson/Alun Cook but recognised that for maximum points he needed to beat Ernie Graham/Iain Johnston on Saturday's times as well. A distributor problem cost Graham a lot of time on Friday but with day two’s stages going past his former home, he would surely fly.

Stokes pushed hard and eventually beat Graham by just 4s on Sunday with a big late charge that also took him ahead of McIvor's Porsche. "It was a wonderful event with fantastic stages," said Stokes, summing up the views of just about every BHRC contender.
Out of the BHRC contenders Easson took second, acknowledging that he was short on recent asphalt experience and was nearly caught at the finish by the recovering Graham.

The Escort Mk1 of Vince Bristow/Tim Sayer again won class C2. “No brakes, as usual,” said Bristow. However, they also had a serious title rival to watch for this time as Nick Danks/Martin Corbett had a great run in their similar car. Competing at this level for the first time, Danks was a revelation on his first closed road event and chased Bristow all the way home.

Andrew Siddall/Captain Thompson swept to class C3 victory in their Mk1 Escort, winning by more than five minutes. Siddall set course for the class win with a strong run on Friday. “More of the same on Saturday,” said Siddall. In his wake brothers Michael and David Pedley took second in C3 in their Escort RS2000 having again run on maps rather than complete the recce.
In class C4 the Porsche 911 of Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne took maximum points after a strong run, the car back in top condition after the off on the Isle of Man.

Category 3

Connor Corkhill/Rob Fagg

38th AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix, 13-15 August 2010 Nurburgring 

The Nurburgring, hidden high in Germany’s Eifel Mountains suffers a notoriously fickle climate where heavy drizzle and low cloud can move in overnight and stay for weeks, even in August. This year its torrid reputation remained true to form and, sure enough, after a day of wonderful sunshine, so bad were the conditions on Sunday, racing had to be abandoned.

The 38. AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 13-15 August 2010

The Bentley Drivers Club, using the Silverstone ‘club’ circuit, had a good turn out for their ten-race programme on 7 August and although the weather could be best described as ‘mixed’, it provided a real challenge for the drivers and great entertainment for the spectators.

Paul Lawrence reports on the Waterend Asphalt Cup held on Sunday, 1 August. David Stokes/Guy Weaver took maximum points when the SGC Printing Harry Flatters Historic Rally ran as a round of the asphalt competition that is a sub-set of the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship.

The challenging Epynt ranges again delivered a fine challenge on an excellent event and a good historic field added to the quality of the rally. In overall terms, victory went to the Escort Mk2 of Mark Solloway/Den Golding as they completed a hat-trick of wins on the event.

In category three, behind Solloway/Golding came Simon Tysoe/Cliff Simmons (Ford Escort Mk2) after a strong run, although they were nearly caught at the finish by Connor Corkill/Rob Fagg in their Escort Mk2. As he got back into the swing of Epynt, Corkill pulled back 18s on Tysoe over the final two stages and was just three seconds down as crews headed back to the finish at Brecon. "I can't wait for the Ulster Rally now," said Corkill.

With Terry Brown/Martin James (Escort Mk2) out early with a broken gear selector, fourth in category three went to Phil and Mick Squires (Escort Mk2), although their progress was hampered by a misfire over the closing stages.

Out of the contest for category three went the Triumph TR7 V8 of Stephen Hall/Aggie Foster, which went off on the sixth stage and bounced high in the air before coming back to earth. Hall was taken to hospital for checks after hurting his back.

Category one winners Rikki Proffitt and Peter Scott

Editor-in-Chief takes weekend break in Northamptonshire for the Silverstone Classic 23-25 July

To begin with, I have a request: please organisers, put an end to teams racing around the crowded paddock on those infernal mini-bikes. Sooner or later someone is going to get hurt, and odds are, it’s going to be me. And at the same time, a BIG thank you for providing free media Internet connection. Le Mans Classic presented us with a bill for forty-five euros, hardly encouraging.

Silverstone produced a well run, action-packed weekend that made the most of what we all consider, is basically a boring circuit, lacking the character of say, Monza, where you are never more than a stone’s throw away from history. This, the home of the British Grand Prix, like Shanghai, reinvents itself every couple of years leaving little in its wake.

Malcolm McKay reports that Morgan and Minis lead Liege-Brescia-Liege (16-15 July) at half-way point. 

Bob Segui meets the Europeans

Results summary of HERO's Summer Classic Reliabiltiy Trial & Tour 15-17 July. Porsche benefit after three days of special tests and regularities.

Gold Awards
James and Andrew Mann, 1936 Bentley
George and Margaret Melville, 1940 Alvis Speed 25
Charles Colton and Matthew Warren, 1965 Porsche 911
Roger Bricknell and Dennis Greenslade, 1962 Triumph TR4a

James and Andrew Mann, 1936 Bentley

Charles Colton and Matthew Warren, 1965 Porsche 911

The Motor Cycling Club’s Testing Trial, 11 July, was set in rolling countryside at Keinton Mandeville, Somerset.

The Trial consisted of a series of Tests set within the field, literally humps and hollows, with cyclists and drivers completing timed runs around several set courses, incurring penalties for hitting cones and over-running on the stop/start gates.

The event was split into five classes, ranging from solo motor-cycles to four-wheel-drive cars and causing much amusement as well as great rivalry between spirited competitors.

Ryan Barrett/Paul McCann were the stars of the weekend as the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship headed to the Isle of Man for round five, the Isle of Man Historic Rally (9/10 July). Once again, the closed roads of the island delivered a marvellous challenge as rain and thick fog made life truly demanding for the crews. Those that reached the finish in Douglas on Saturday afternoon had all climbed a mountain. While Barrett and McCann topped category 3 after a big battle with Darren Moon/Chris Parsons, the other categories fell to David Stokes/Guy Weaver and Jonathan Gale/James Whitaker after equally impressive performances.

Category 1
From the start of the 20-stage rally it was head-to-head between the Sunbeam Tiger of Gale/Whitaker and the Porsche 911 of Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride. Throughout Friday the advantage went back and forth, some stages suiting the Porsche and others the Tiger. "It seemed to depend which side of the island we were on," said Gale of the ever-changing conditions.

However, on day two, Gale was able take control a little more building his lead to just over a minute at the end of a tremendous contest. "The suspension was too soft for the first three stages," said Nutt. "We just had to keep him under pressure," he added of his rival.

Into third in the category after a fine performance came the Porsche 911 of Rikki Proffitt/Barry Green, but only after a trying day on Thursday when the gearbox was out of the car four times chasing an oil leak and a flywheel problem. The rally went remarkably well, with only a close moment with the Duck Pond at Eairy troubling Proffitt's progress.

Class B1 victory with another epic performance went to Gary and Jane Edgington and their Singer Chamois on their fifth island finish in a row with the car. An alternator drama throughout Friday caused some concerns, but the Singer kept on going at prodigious speed. B4 fell to the MGB of David Mylchreest/Allan Cathers over the Volvo Amazon of John and Stephen Moxon. The brothers, rallying for the first time since the 2009 Isle of Man Rally, were on the rally for the 34th time and got quicker as the event progressed.

Category 2
Stokes and Weaver in their Escort Mk1 were in control of category two from the start, building their lead stage by stage with a commanding performance. Only the thick fog on Saturday troubled Stokes, but he lost little time in the tough conditions. "Those two in the fog were not good and we didn't have a starter motor all through Saturday," said Stokes. However, fellow crews were always on hand to give them a push start into the stages. "Guy doesn't do pushing," said Stokes of his co-driver. All through the rally, the chase of Stokes came from Rupert Lomax/David Alcock in their Escort Mk1, out for the first time this season.

Like Stokes, Lomax was great value through the streets of Castletown on Friday evening. "We had two spins on Friday morning and clipped the cattle grid on Tholt-Y-Will," said Lomax.

Retirements thinned out category 2 considerably, with Andrew Siddall/Captain Thompson losing a certain C3 victory with a blown engine on Saturday. Meanwhile, an off on the Corlea stage put the Porsche 911 of Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne out of the rally. On Friday, James Slaughter and Pete Johnson were unfortunate to crash out in their Escort Mk1 when a diesel spill on the road sent them into a bank. Instead, victory in class C3 fell to brothers Michael and David Pedley, who contested the rally without a service crew in their road rally specification Escort Mk1 RS2000. They had a clear run and then drove the car back to Manchester!

Next up in C3 was local crew Matthew Carter/Mark Collister in their Escort Mk1, while Manx newcomers Jeremy Wells/Pete Phillips did well to get their Escort into third on their first experience of an event of this scale. With Peter Smith out, class C4 went to the Porsche 911 of Edmund Peel/Janet Craine, while local crew Bruce Craig/Phil Perryman used super rally rules to win C1, having retired on Friday with driveshaft and clutch failure.

Category 3

Twice a year the general public are invited, at some expense I may add, to enjoy a long weekend of motor sport at Goodwood, courtesy of Lord March, beginning with the Festival of Speed which takes place within the grounds of the magnificent House itself. As usual, this year’s exhibition provided its appreciative audience with an all-action-packed combination of noise, glamour and skill, only slightly diluted by the uncomfortable heat, dusty conditions and excessive overcrowding. Of course had it rained the letters of complaint would still roll in.

There was plenty to keep one occupied. Racing cars, some of the very latest design and driven by star drivers, constantly juddered and screamed their way, via loud applause, to the top of the Hill. Good practice, we all agreed, for next week’s Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Bob Segui reports on the '2010 Rendezvous' Car Show and Covered Bridge Tour

MikeDeanPhoto.com

From Monza the previous weekend our European Ed heads down to Castell'Arquato for the Silver Flag Hill Climb 11-13 June 2010. See the Galleries

The Vernasca Silver Flag is an event based on the real thing. For many years post-war, an important round of the Italian National Hillclimb Championship was held here and it attracted all the best cars and drivers of the period – Govoni in his Maserati Birdcage for instance and Lualdi, the only private owner at the time of the fabulous, specifically built and European Mountain Climb Championship-winning flat-12 Ferrari 212E.

Sadly, according to legend, it all came to a crashing halt at the beginning of the 1970s when an Abarth apparently ended one of its runs in the bar of a hostelry in Lugagnano, an intermediate town en route to the summit of the climb at Vernasca.

Part of the field in the main Piazza in Vernasca

Egon Hofer receives his award for Coys Peoples car of the event. Annelise Abarth is on the left

Giulia Giornalista reports from Monza - Click to view the Galleries 

The Coppa Intereuropa (4-6 June 2010) has, in its past history, seen many memorable races and cars including the debut of the car clothed with a body designed by Alfredino Ferrari which became the forerunner of the 750 Monza cars. Talking of Ferrari, the spectators, whilst numerous in the paddock are always thin on the ground around the circuit and Enzo’s quote, when asked which he considered to be his best car said it was ‘the next one’, seems to sum up a peculiar ambivalence by Italians to historic cars, especially their own. Yes, they turn out in their thousands for the Mille Miglia but in general they do not seem to have the passion the rest of Europe has for old cars. I would like to be shot down in flames saying this but Italians I speak to often agree. It’s all the more confusing when one looks at all their Centro Storicos, etc. Anyway, back to the cathedral-like speed-bowl of northern Milan for which there seem to be only two road direction signs to help first-timers find the place.

The entry was excellent, although perhaps a little down on last year and was due to take part in 13 races, four of which were double-headers and all were held in very hot weather with temperatures of 33 degrees and more. The first of these was Classic Formula 3 and Matthieu Chateaux stamped his authority on the field from the opening of the pit-lane, taking pole and a relaxed win in race one with his Ralt RT3 Alfa Romeo. He was kept honest in the second race when he was headed by Vittorio Leone’s similar but VW-powered chassis for half the race but Chateaux took over to take his second win of the weekend.

Lead dice in race one with Peter Shaw leading Mathias Koerber

Michel Quiniou won CER in his Lola T280 DFV

Organised by Brooklands Museum and the Vintage Sports-Car Club, the Brooklands Double Twelve Motoring Festival held on 5/6 June was a great success, with a Bugatti beating All Comers in the Double Twelve competition and a Riley sprinting to finish first on the track.

A 1926 Bugatti Type 35 sold to its first owner by Brooklands personality Malcolm Campbell made a triumphant return to the birthplace of British Motorsport. Chris Jaques, the current owner, beat a strong field of immaculate classic cars to take overall first place in the Brooklands Double Twelve competition on Sunday.

In a nail-biting finish on the Mercedes-Benz World circuit next door, Pete Candy’s 1936 Riley Special 'Super Rat' stole first place in the Brooklands Speed Trials by just 0.2 sec from Terry Crabb’s ERA R12C. The two competitions kept the strong crowd captivated throughout two days of motoring action, spectacle and glamour, culminating with the Museum’s Royal Patron, Prince Michael of Kent, presenting the Double Twelve prizes.

Chris Jaques in his 1926 Bugatti Type 35. Image by Karen Sutton

Pete Candy and 1936 Riley Special 'Super Rat'. Image by Nigel Brecknel

Nick Elliott/Dave Price returned to the winners' circle for the second time this year, as the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Rally Championship returned to Wales on Saturday, 5 June for round three, the Severn Valley Historic Rally.

Auto 66 Club Hill Climb/Sprint series, Mallory Park 29 May 
Class 29 for Classic and Racing Cars pre-1973 

Pietro Gaccamo's Lancia Fulvia

Hillman Imp driven by Graeme Williamson

1934 MG Q Type of Les Proctor

Davrian of Graham Cashmore, who borrowed a helmet from Graeme Williamson as his failed scrutineering

Bob Segui goes California Dreamin 

Peter Collins at large in Sussex. View his images 

At Goodwood Press Day, 18 March, Lord March revealed that the theme for this July’s Festival of Speed was to be ‘Viva Veloce! – The Passion for Speed’

It will concentrate on Italy’s all-consuming passion for speed with celebrations centred around car and bike manufacturers and the events in which their legends were created. Also included will be the Mercedes contribution to the Mille Miglia story and the part Porsche played in the development of the legend of the Targa Florio.

Particular emphasis will naturally be placed upon Alfa Romeo and the 100th year celebrations it is enjoying this year. Examples of virtually every discipline the Milanese company has been involved in will either take to the hill or be on static display.

In addition there will be a celebration of 60 Years of the F1 World Championship with many drivers and cars being on hand. The fabled Carrera Panamerica will also be showcased with some of the cars that were driven at such high speeds and with great risk over the roads of Mexico 60 years’ ago. Paul Vestey said that his Ferrari, in 1954, averaged 138 mph for several hours over one of the stages of the event. The car will be at Goodwood in July.

On the rally stage, it will be 50 years since the RAC Rally first went into the forests to create the unique event it later became, and cars and drivers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s will be there.

The Cartier Style et Luxe, always well worth a browse, will enjoy a strong Italian flavour, so expect more Alfa Romeos especially pre-war supercharged 8Cs and Tipo 33 variations as well as lesser-known examples.

There will also be fabulous 1950s GTs, four-seat cabriolets, outlandish saloon prototypes and supercars.

Don’t miss it!

The ticket hotline is:  +44 (0)1243 755055  or  e-mail:  ticket.office@goodwood.com

Joan Williamson enjoys The Blubell Run despite the weather. Images by Colin Barratt (Frogmore Photographic)

Sixty-five participants from many parts of England and Wales arrived early at the Dean Heritage Centre in the Forest of Dean to take part in the 2010 Bluebell Run on 8 May. Few complained about the grey overcast skies and light rain, preferring to admire the splendid range of classic cars which turned out to take part in this scenic tour. Cars ranged from the 1933 Lagonda M45 T7 Tourer of Jeremy Bayliss and Stuart Monro to a coterie of Morgans, including a new 2010 Aero Super Sport owned by a couple from Ross-on-Wye. In between were Healey 3000s, a collection of MGs, two lovely Lotus Cortinas, a Cortina GT, several Porsches and a few Minis. Alan and Vivienne Jones brought their tidy red Saab 96 V4, Lee and Sue their Riley 1.5, Bob and Jill Bennett were out in the trusty Daimler and Clive and Anna Rooke drove their smart two-tone Alvis TA14. Colin braved the elements to take his usual high quality photographs which were all on display at the finish, while the Williamsons parked their Clan by the one and only bluebell in the car park!

The oversubscribed entry for this event emphasises the increasing popularity of the scenic tours which are very good value for money. However, organisers will have to be careful that the large numbers do not lead to PR problems on the routes or at the various stopping places. It must be said that no such problems occurred on this event and probably running the event on a Saturday was a good move.

To enjoy your 'classic' to the full see www.hrcr.co.uk

European Ed, Peter Collins, at the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco 1/2 May 2010 - Click to view the Galleries 

Ex-Grand Prix driver Nelson Piquet once described driving a Formula One car around the narrow and serpentine Monaco GP circuit as like trying to ride a bicycle around your dining room. Every two years the Automobile Club of Monaco supplement their annual GP with a weekend of historic racing open to cars of the type that would have raced there up to 1978 and 2010 was one of those years.

Auto Italia's spring meeting, Brooklands, Saturday, 1 May  

Phil Ward, editor of Auto Italia magazine, sponsor of this very popular event, was seen at the end of the day with a wide smile on his face. It had been a great showcase for Italian cars and he knew it. And not only did it not rain but the sun actually came out. How lucky can you be?

From seven-thirty in the morning cars began arriving and by ten o’clock every available corner of Brooklands was flooded with prime Italian machinery from the latest Fiat Abarth to the most classic of Ferraris, the old banking was literally hidden beneath a sea of Lancias and Alfa Romeos. At the same time, the lawns surrounding the famous Club House were given over to the more exotic brands, edged by a multitude of trade stands all doing brisk business.

Auto Italia is a day centred around socialising, idle chat and the scrutinising of one and another’s precious possession. There is a cheery atmosphere of collective enthusiasm and sympathy, missing from Goodwood and Villa d’Este. Here the youngster can proudly display his or her run-of-the-mill cheapie without attracting scorn or howls of derisive laughter.

It was a day of drama and surprises and survival in Kielder Forest on Saturday, 24 April for the second round of the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Pirelli Historic Rally.

Will Onions/Dave Williams (image by Simon Marks)

Team Retro's Tony Davies reports on a runaway success for Classic Rally Association 

The inaugural 'Three Legs of Mann' was held on 19/20 of March. It was well organised and an overwhelming success so book your dates for a repeat in 2012!

Over sixty classic cars from the UK, Ireland, Holland and France together with several local competitors entered this new event that had regularity sections, timed driving tests and a few navigational TC sections thrown in for good measure. Add some of the classic Isle of Mann roads (Druidale, Injebreck, etc.), airfields and forests and you get the picture.

Leg One took place in the south of the island before the meat of the rally started from Creg-ny-Baa Hotel after the supper halt. Leg Two, a night section, was to turn everything on its head as the crews were presented with considerable challenges of regularity sections in Conrhenny Plantation and on Andreas airfield, and TCs on Jurby airfield, over Druidale, Little London, Slieauwhallin and the Mines and through the plantations of South Barrule and Archallagan.  During the evening there were navigational slip-ups aplenty for some.

The Final Leg on Saturday was reasonably straightforward (for most but sadly not me!) with the final competition of the event comprising a test up the hairpins at Tholt-y-Will followed by the longest regularity section of the event, with six timing points on a spectacular route via Injebreck and East Baldwin.

A mix of sun and a little rain left competitors eager to return in 2012.  And, despite a couple of school-boy faux pas by me on Saturday, Noel Kelly and I managed 9th Overall and 1st in Class in a Sunbeam Rapier kindly lent by John Bateson.

Dave and Joan Williamson in search of daffodils with their Clan Crusader, with images by Colin Barratt (Frogmore Photographic)

On Sunday, 21 March, twenty-seven cars took part in this scenic tour due to coincide with a proliferation of daffodils in the Forest of Dean. Together with our rally Crusader were John and Jan Slater in their Irish Clan. Since global warming seems to have missed out on the UK and much of Europe, with the coldest winter in thirty years, the daffodils had refused to make a timely appearance. In fact, the Snowdrop Run might have been a more appropriate title. Nevertheless, excellent weather and a picturesque route of some 80 miles made an appropriate start to a new season of events.

The Williamsons' Clan Crusader

Citroen 2CV of Keith Baud

Following breakfast at Beechenhurst Lodge, originally the site of a major Forest of Dean coal mine, road books were issued. Apart from the Clans the mix of cars included a 1938 Plymouth Sloper, sundry MGs and Minis and the Citroen 2CV of Keith Baud who is better known for his route-planning for major classic rallies across Europe. The Sloper has been prepared for the next Peking-Paris epic to be driven by the female crew of Suzy Harvey and Rachel Vestey. At first sight, a scenic tour would not seem to be in the same league, but the dreadful state of supposedly tarmac roads in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire could give some idea of what to expect in Mongolia!

A brief stop at the RSPB viewpoint in the forest gave some wonderful views but no sight of the elusive Goshawks established in this area. What we did see, however, were numerous close-up views of several adders trying to shake off their torpor after a long hibernation.

The Clans progressed towards the River Severn with spectacular high level views of the estuary before heading down to the river banks at Newnham which, long ago, was an important trading port and site of a glass furnace. On via Blaisdon, a very picturesque village with a railway history up until 1964, and then to a lunch halt at the Huntley Garden Centre.

John and Jan Slater's Clan

Sunbeam Rapier of Tony Huggett/Rita Wilson

Richard Thorne, long time quality purveyor of Morgan has the green light from Guillaume Le Metayer to enter a Jowett Jupiter in this year’s Le Mans Classic. 

Gerry Hawkridge, producer of the evocative Hawk AC and Stratos has offered Retro-Speed a day out testing down in sunny Sussex.

Phil Mitchell has also offered R-S a tour of the Renault F1 factory.

Nic Waller, organiser of the Double Twelve Brooklands event this summer is holding a press day at Mercedes World in April.

Bill Price, ex-‘team’ manager at BMC/British Leyland looks younger than ever. He reminded me that the World Cup lads are having a get together at Gaydon on 18 April.

Philip Jordan of Crosthwaite & Gardiner has produced a replica 13-inch ‘works’ road wheel suitable for the Lancia Fulvia 1.3 Fanalone. While Jeff Williamson wants to buy my Fulvia 1.6 HF. Sorry Jeff, it’s not for sale.

Jeremy Bailey assures us his wild Aston Martin rally car will be seen out and about in 2010. It was running on race suspension at Race Retro which is why it was so slow over the jump!

Robert Grounds is looking to supply R-S with a range of promotional giveaways in the near future. That means we will have to start a membership listing. But don’t worry, joining up will be free.

Where was the Historic Rally Car Register? We missed you.

Spare a thought for those condemned to Hall 4. It was bloody cold. Shame on the organisers and I hope there was a special deal, i.e. no charge. Personally I would not return next year unless heaters were provided.

The Special Stage, sponsored by Octane magazine was a vast improvement on previous years and proved too long for some including the Abarth Fiat which finished its run tied to the back of a Land Rover.

Nice to see the return of a ‘proper’ classic rally in the shape of the 2011 Liege-Rome-Liege organised by The Royal Automobile Club of Belgium with Jean-Francois Chaumont and the indefatigable Alain Lopes at the helm. The writer has fond memories of the Liege-Istanbul-Liege a few years’ ago in the hot seat of an MGB. Five thousand miles, taking in the roughest roads in Europe, in nine days. Now that was a rally.

Sydney Allard would have been proud of the efforts made by the Allard Chrysler Action Group and now they have a 1956 ‘Hemi’ engine in their hands and given their unbounded enthusiasm we can expect to see the pioneering dragster back on the strip real soon.

Finally R-S wishes Chairman Ed McDonough and the Alfa Romeo Owners Club a great year in celebration of the marque’s centenary. Even if it is a couple of years premature. The circus will be at Shelsey Walsh in August for their big UK bash while Ed, no doubt accompanied by our own Peter Collins, will venture further afield finishing up in Milan.

Thanks to Poppyseed Media Ltd. for their hospitality over the weekend.

Important Note:
David Alderson, organiser of Race Retro has taken me to task re Hall 4. It would appear exhibitors in that hall did receive a discounted rate and were fully aware of the potential cold conditions. Sorry, David.

Team Retro's Joan Williamson recalls marsalling on Classic Rally Association's 2002 World Cup Rally  Click to view gallery

This event provided us with fourteen days of pure adventure, as well as being highly stressful, and often tested our organisational and marshalling abilities to the limit. It started quietly enough as we made our way to Oxford and the pre-rally marshals meeting at the Holiday Inn. The “holiday” bit was a misnomer – as any good Chief Marshal will tell you before an event – “this is not a holiday!”

We should really have been warned by Philip Young’s remarks to us before the start. “It’s up to you lot to make this event work!” If only he were joking …

We were also lulled into a false sense of security by a quiet afternoon helping Mike Preston from Morecambe CC, marshal “Parc Ferme”. All the competitors behaved themselves and the sun shone. This event was largely organised for modern factory cars up to 1.4 litres with an additional class for classics of all ages. There was also a Clubman’s class for cars up to 1600cc but these were not eligible for overall awards. The factory cars were restricted in the number of alterations that could be made – they were allowed sump shields, roll-cages, up-rated suspensions and heavy-duty tyres. Sponsors’ advertising was permitted. The line-up included two Smart cars, three BMW Mini-Coopers, a team of four Daihatsus and a small number of classics including a huge green Mercury Caliente Coupe driven by an enterprising American couple, both in their sixties, who might have looked more at home on Fifth Avenue shopping than driving on an endurance event. However, appearances proved to be deceptive. There were well over sixty entries in all and ranged from the experienced experts to those driving their first event.

The object of the exercise was to drive ten countries in fourteen days – starting in the UK, and progressing via France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and the Dalmatian coast, Bosnia, Yugoslavia (Montenegro), Albania and into Greece to tackle some of the stages used on the Acropolis. The event was to end in Athens with a prize giving dinner.

Saturday saw us up early to help Geoff Cooper and colleagues from the Scimitar Owners Club set up and run a short stage on a farm near Didcot. Once everything was in place, we were able to instruct his colleagues on how to run the stage and then make off for the ferry at Dover. They were a super couple and were very competent at organising the finish of the test. As a result, we were able to catch an earlier boat than expected and have some lunch on the way to France. We should have made the most of this – it was probably the last time that we had proper food – or indeed any food – at lunchtime for the remainder of the event. Once off the boat, a quick blitz down the autoroute to Metz and another meal before getting our heads down. Sunday saw us downing a quick breakfast (yes breakfast too!) before getting on the road for Grobming and the Stoderzinken Hill climb in Austria. This was a long, long drive through appalling conditions – rain like stair rods – via Karlsruhre, Stuttgart, Munich and Salzburg. The scenery was probably beautiful, but we couldn’t see any of it and the wipers could barely cope. It was cold and wet at the top of the hill climb but undeterred; we set up our finish control and were pleased that the competitors enjoyed their drive up this wonderful 9km tarmac road. We all had supper together afterwards. Then the fun began ....

Grobming is a small place – catering mainly for skiers and there are no large hotels. Competitors and officials alike were split between several small hotels and in the case of our marshalling team of three, between two hotels. We therefore had to deliver our driver Brian Hugh to his hotel, get him to take us back to our hotel in the centre of the village, and then make his way back to his hotel about five kilometres down the road – having memorised the route in the meantime! Luckily, there were restaurants at both hotels or the organisation would have been in trouble (no lunch you see, and hungry, tired and wet marshals get savage). We had also discovered that our hotel was less than half full. So why did the organisers split us up? Don’t ask! Bonus points included comfortable beds and plenty of hot water and some breakfast at 6.45am the following morning. Brian remembered the way back to our hotel and we emerged to cries of “Taxi” before a quick blast back up the hill climb so that the competitors could have another run, this time in the snow, which had fallen overnight.

The scenery this time was glorious as the sun shone and the view from the top was a true winter wonderland. There was a minor panic when the owner of the hill climb first pronounced it to be unsafe because the snow was starting to freeze, but we persuaded him to bring the snowplough into action and thirty minutes later, we were ready for the start. The sun cleared the remainder of the snow from the road and competitors were able to improve on their previous times – as well as being able to see their way to the top in the sunshine! There were two or three spectacular spins, but no damage and the film crew had a field day. Once we had packed up the control boards, it was back into the car and down the hill to start our journey into Slovenia and man our next control in a Slovenian forest. For a while, we progressed quietly through the beautiful Slovenian countryside – the Julian Alps are not unlike Bavaria but without the cuckoo clocks. Yes, cuckoo clocks were first made in Bavaria – but the Swiss didn’t get the joke. Everywhere was lush and green and eventually we reached the Sneznik Forest where we were to run a regularity start and finish. (But we didn’t see anybody using average speed tables!) A quick toss of the coin decided that Dave should run the start and Brian and I should do the finish. The stage formed a large horseshoe about 10km in length, so we left Dave and control boards plus torch (for it was beginning to get dark) and drove over superb forest road to make the finish where we opened up and settled back to await the first competitor. We were soon visited by our first car and for the next ninety minutes were kept busy as car after car slid to a halt astride the finish line.

By our 7.30pm closing time, thirty-three cars had finished the stage and we were then able to close up. It was pitch black by this time, and eerily quiet. During the whole time, the only really eventful happening was an angry local who visited our control and insisted that it was not possible to rally in the forest. We were calm but firm and showed him our paperwork, telling him that the Association of Slovenian Motor Clubs knew of the event and had given us permission to drive there. He departed in a flurry of snow and we thought no more about it until, just as we were loading the last control board into the Citroen and were about to depart to pick up Dave – still waiting in the dark with his torch – there was a sudden blaze of lights and three Slovenian police cars slid to a halt, completely hemming us in. Following behind was our local who had obviously not been satisfied by our explanation and had taken drastic action. Brian and I looked at one another – the desire to say, “scarper – it’s the fuzz” was very strong. Luckily, we remembered that we had all our paperwork and passports, route maps, etc. in the car and we were able to produce these and explain. One of the police spoke quite good English – a small mercy, as our Slovenian isn’t up to much – and examined the documents with the others looking on. It turned out that no one had bothered to tell the local police that we were to be expected – again, a failure in basic communications had landed us in trouble. Once we had made ourselves understood, they were most helpful and were able to follow us back to pick up Dave who, poor soul, had been standing in the dark for over an hour wondering where on earth we were for none of our mobile phones would work in the forest. It was at this point that the police informed us that it was dangerous to be in the forest alone at night – there were many bears roaming around. We told them that Philip likes to keep the officials on their toes!

After satisfying them that all was well, the police departed and we set off to drive out of the stage and meet up with the finish marshals – Nigel Drayton and his navigator Stuart. The forest roads went on for miles and it was whilst we were navigating our way out using rally route that we came across an ominous warning triangle and then a huddle of figures furiously waving us down. Thirty feet down, amongst the trees, lights shone at strange angles into the dark sky – falling snowflakes were reflected in them. As we conferred with the two crews, we learnt that one of them was quite badly injured. He was propped against a tree and shivering miserably with severe back pains. The first law of dealing with someone with a back injury is to keep them lying flat and don’t move them until an ambulance arrives complete with paramedics. But would an ambulance come this far into the forest? We were still at least 10km from the entrance to the forest and 20km from the nearest town.  We covered the injured man with jackets, and instructed the crews to light a fire and told them that we would fetch help. It transpired that the first car, a Skoda Fabia, had gone off on a slippery corner and landed thirty feet down amongst the trees on its roof. The pursuing Escort then went off in exactly the same spot and landed on top of the Fabia. The Escort crew were not aware that there was another car there until, extracting themselves from their car and scrambling back up the bank, they heard voices and realised that they had crushed the Fabia under the Escort. They returned to help and found the driver in great pain – once in hospital he was diagnosed with several crushed vertebrae.

As we had no room in our heavily-laden estate car to lie out the injured man, we departed smartly out of the forest to fetch help, coming across Nigel and Stuart at the finish of the forest. We were able to make contact with the sweeper vehicle, a big Range Rover who doubled back into the forest to get out the injured man. We then all drove in convoy into the nearest town where, with lady luck shining on us, we came across a private clinic, which was open 24 hours a day. The staff were able to phone for help and an ambulance, which came very quickly – though we did have to put money up front before the injured man could be transported to hospital in Ljubljana. At this stage, we all breathed a sigh of relief that no one had been killed – those two cars could have easily ignited with sparks from the ignitions or broken lights, which were not switched off until we arrived. Luckily, neither of the fuel tanks had been ruptured.

The sweeper car with Tony Fowkes and Andy Inskip, and Dave and Brian in the Citroen, then had to go back into the forest, together with the police, to collect the other three crew members – hopefully they had not been eaten by bears! Nigel, who did not want to take his Subaru into the rough forest roads, kindly gave me a lift into Rijeka and the Grand Hotel Bonavia. It was when we arrived there that we found that we had been bumped into another hotel, laughingly named “Hotel Continental” about half a mile away. Just what you need at midnight, when cold, tired and hungry. We arrived in the entrance to find a drab, poorly lit foyer with one aged retainer who spoke not a word of English except “Passports!” which he demanded to see before we could get to our rooms. Poor Nigel and Stuart had left theirs in the car and had to trek back, whilst I made my way wearily upstairs and into a bedroom, which, though clean enough, had seen better days. I concluded that this was the type of establishment that let rooms by the hour since Rijeka was a port. The shower worked (just) and the toilet had a disturbing habit of regurgitating its contents every time it was flushed. I locked my door firmly, hid under the meagre supply of bedclothes, and tried to work out what would happen when Dave and Brian discovered that they were not in the HQ hotel. A small explosion came to mind.

The next morning, Alan Barton, one of the other marshals, regaled us with a hilarious story of two of the competitors who had also spent the night in the “Continental”. Apparently, they both came to in the small hours, to find the toilet door closed and a light shining underneath. Each said to the other “You’ve left the light on, you silly bugger.” Each denied this, so eventually, one got out of bed and threw open the toilet door, only to find some strange Serbo-Croat sitting on the loo! He then remonstrated with them furiously for disturbing him - they couldn’t understand a word of what he was shouting, but got the gist, and collapsed, laughing hysterically, onto their beds. They did consider sending for the manager, but since he had only one word of English, decided against it so propped each other up, still laughing hysterically, until the chap departed into the night, never to be seen again. “That’ll teach them to lock their door in future,” I said and added, “Did they ask him if he’d washed his hands?”

In the meantime, back in the forest, work was on going to winch out the Escort. The car was truly banana-shaped – there wasn’t a straight panel on it. Tony Fowkes and the others worked like demons to get it back on its wheels. Then they towed it out with Dave and Brian following with the crew members in their car. The Escort could not be started up because it had been on its roof and lost all its oil. Eventually, they all got back to Rijeka at about 5.00am and then all hell broke loose when the men found that they were in another hotel. I finally saw the whites of their eyes about 5.45am and after a quick hot shower and some breakfast, we were all ready to depart again at 7.50am. They thought it best not to sleep as we had a long way to drive before our next control – over 400km on non-motorway roads. We arrived at Podgrade at about 2.30pm – no lunch and with a crashing headache due to lack of sleep, food and drink over the previous 36 hours. Luckily, bottles of water, some excellent chocolate and a couple of painkillers soon put paid to this. By the time the control opened, I was fit again and we gave Brian the afternoon off, whilst Dave and I did the timing and kept the check sheet. Our control was in a lovely spot on a bridge over a swiftly flowing river and was in the sun, so the Chief Marshal arrived to find us relaxing on beach chairs – and promptly said, “This is not a holiday you know!”

Once the control was closed, we made our way to Dubrovnik along the gloriously scenic Croatian coastline passing through a tiny portion of Bosnia on the way. It was dark when we reached our destination, but the impressive modern bridge at Dubrovnik was floodlit and we were able to see the medieval city walls brightly illuminated. Arrival at the Hotel Argosy was swift and we were able to clean up and have a group meal, which was very welcome and pleasantly sociable. We shared a table with the Vincents and were able to talk to a number of the competitors. After a drink in the bar, we fell into bed and slept like logs until 7.30am the next morning. A positive lie-in!

The next day was a rest day for the competitors, but, like all the marshals, we had a stint on duty in parc ferme. This was very sociable as we were able to talk to many of the competitors including Dave Maryon who was halfway under his Peugeot 206 changing brake pads. It was here that we spotted the damage done by mortar shells to the hotel car park when Dubrovnik was shelled during the war with Bosnia. Afterwards, the sun shone and we took were a taxi into the city to sightsee. My guidebook detailed a tour of the walls as a “must do” so we duly bought our tickets and walked the 2.5km around the walls enjoying every minute of the beautiful sea and town views. Visitors are starting to return – this medieval city suffered dreadfully during the war – and a great number of very new looking pantiles on the roofs of buildings showed how much damage has had to be repaired. Lunch was at an outdoor café – still warm enough to sit in the sun in October – and then a vigorous climb of some of the narrow side streets consisting almost entirely of steps – but giving incredible views on reaching the top.

On return to the hotel, a marshals’ group meal was organised and we ate in a café nearby. The food was excellent, but sometimes came in the wrong order. Some of us got our main course before the starter – this kept everyone on their toes and was certainly a talking point.

Next morning saw us rising early again – I think we got breakfast but I’m not sure. We drove along the seacoast in the rain and over the Croatian border into Montenegro (Yugoslavia) where we had a control and a regularity start at the famous Kotor Hill climb. By the time we got everything set up, the rain had stopped (just) and all the locals had come out to watch. The local police were there in force to close the road and all was ready to go – or so we thought – until we discovered that there were three quarry lorries still to come out of the top of the climb and we had to hold all the competitors until the all-clear could be guaranteed. As everyone was raring to get their teeth into this section, we were not altogether popular, but good humour prevailed and the police were very efficient at clearing the intruders from the top road. Then it was first competitor away – the others following at one minute intervals. This climb is often used on motor sport events and we think that the Liege-Istanbul-Liege event used it when this was run in 1997.

We closed up late and then prepared ourselves for the drive into Albania and the Kart Track at Tirana, the Albanian capital city, which was to be our next checkpoint. It was not far from Kotor to the Albanian border, where the amiable and very efficient Ted Watt was there to see fair play and get us through border controls in record time. Breathing a sigh of relief, we pressed on and had not progressed far when we came upon a huge chemical works, which was emitting alarmingly coloured effluent from its chimneys. The whole scene was one of unsurpassable ugliness. We held our breath, put the air-con onto recirculate, and drove past as quickly as possible!  The road down to Tirana was incredible – mud, potholes, more mud, more potholes and yet more mud. It was pouring with rain and we passed sodden drivers on horses and carts, donkeys, herds of goats, sheep and cows and ancient and overloaded Mercedes lorries churning along in the quagmire. The Citroen was at times almost up to the axles in water and mud and had taken on a dirty brown colour instead of its usual glossy red shine. Now we know why the F.O. recommends the use of 4x4 vehicles in Albania, though remarkably and ironically, the Citroen, with its ability to travel on a raised suspension, was one of the few official vehicles not to have a breakdown or puncture on the event. Congratulations to the car and to our driver, Brian Hugh.

Because of the extremely difficult driving conditions, we arrived late at the Tirana kart track, but were still able to help marshal the competitors. The track was beautifully laid out, and despite the rain, there were lots of spectators to cheer the competitors on. There were some fairly spectacular driving styles in the wet, which kept everyone amused for an hour or two and then it was time to retrace our steps back into the centre of Tirana to find the hotel. We arrived in the enormous Skanderberg main square with the rain bucketing down and then had to negotiate our way through huge crowds of youngsters arriving for a pop concert. We could see the hotel – grandly named the Tirana International - but it took us ages to get through the throng of people and into the car park at the rear. Armed guards protected this – such is the state of the economy in Albania that there is a black market in stolen cars. There must be more Mercedes in various states of repair from the brand new (almost certainly stolen and sold for cash to the local drug barons) to the welded and battered models, which serve as taxis, than in the whole of Germany. Anyway, we slept well that night, despite the noise from the pop concert, in the knowledge that the cars were safely locked in the hotel compound and constantly guarded.

Departure time was 5.30am the following morning when we received a phone call from Philip apologising for the lack of breakfast. So it was on the road again, this time south towards Greece. En route, we drove past the infamous Chinese built steel works below us in the valley. An evil-looking orange pall of pollution hung over it. Heaven help the locals who had to live nearby. Before crossing the border, we had a control to do in the southern Albanian village of Perparim. Once again, the Albanian police were out in force, thanks to Ted, and saluted us as we passed through various small villages on the coastal road. Once we reached the coast, the scenery was spectacular– the colour of the Adriatic Sea being a beautiful turquoise – and, though the sun was not shining, at least the rain held off. Further south still, we came upon a German U-Boat pen hidden in the cliffs, left just as it was after WW II. The steel doors were still shut, the signs, though faded were intact, and the concrete jetty in reasonable repair. One could almost imagine the steel doors gliding open and a U-boat emerging, once again to harass Greek and Allied shipping as it would have done during the war.

A few miles more, still on unspeakably awful roads, we found our little village and made our way into the square where we set up the control outside the one and only café. Everyone was friendly, so we peeped inside, but decided that it was probably better not to eat the pies. Instead, out came the cool box and the water bottles as we downed our scratch lunch – food had now become more or less a luxury on this event. The village policeman shook a hand with us all – no one spoke any English at all, so we were not able to converse which was a shame. But he did his stuff, the traffic was stopped - this consisting of an ancient Mercedes-Benz school bus, a coach load of trippers from Greece, a couple of local taxis and a small herd of donkeys. The latter declined to be herded into a corner of the square and instead wandered about in the road looking bored and trying to eat the few rather sad looking plants surrounding the shrine. The local school children (all boys for Albania is a Muslim country) sat round the tree in the square so I handed out pens and stickers, which went some way towards improving Anglo-Albanian relations! They cheered wildly every time a car came into the control – it must have been the biggest happening in the village for a long time and we had gathered from Ted that an international rally had never been into Albania before so we were breaking new ground.

Philip and Heidi and the film crew arrived at this point and crews were instructed to roar into the village sounding their horns and waving their timecards. Not terribly good for PR but then we all know Philip… Luckily the locals didn’t seem to mind but try to imagine this scenario in suburban Surrey! The American couple in their Mercury Caliente joined in with gusto much to the amusement of the card players outside the café. Then, once Philip had departed, it was time to pack up and make for the Greek border. We set forth into more rain and mud – the poverty is endemic here – Albania might be some poor central African country, with white faces instead of black – as the roads, buildings and vehicles look much the same. Everything was jerrybuilt and largely unfinished. Indeed, the country is classified by the United Nations as “underdeveloped” – the only country in Europe to have this dubious status. Soon we reached the Greek border where Ted was once again waiting for us. We were quickly through and back onto tarmac roads following the signposts to Ioannina and our hotel for the night.

We found the Hotel Epirus easily – a very pleasant hostelry where they had laid on an excellent five-course meal for everybody. We once again discovered that the marshals were not based here, but in a small family run hotel down the road. However, we decided to have our meal first and then sign in to the other hotel. Just as we had settled down to eat out first proper meal in about two days, it was announced that there was an emergency marshals meeting (more broken down official vehicles causing a problem) and we had to forego most of the food. In addition, our little team had to split up, and I would have to run a regularity start with Ted Watt so we got together with Ted to plan the next day’s move. Once again into the car, find the other hotel, sign in and fall into bed exhausted long after midnight.

The next morning saw Dave and Brian off to do a mystery control “somewhere up in the mountains” as their original spot was situated under a dam which had overflowed and washed the road away! Whilst they got themselves on route, and I set out in the ancient Peugeot, on loan from the CRA – top speed about 60mph – to get us to the start of our regularity at Marousi. The road book was very easy to follow and despite the trip meter in the car being way out of sync, we made our control in good time and set up to await the competitors. The sun even came out and we were able to grab a sandwich before the first car appeared on the scene. Ted had never done a regularity start before, but soon got the hang of it. He did forget to sign the first couple of timecards, but I realised what was happening and put him right. After that, it all went like clockwork – most people got to us, though the Porsche 356 had lost its brakes and a number of other cars looked the worse for wear. At closing time, I managed to get a signal on the mobile and phoned Dave to ask how they had got on. Apparently, there had been a minor panic and they had been moved several times but eventually ended up where they had started, running TC30!

The drive back down to Ioannina was lovely with some spectacular scenery and glorious autumn colours. We stopped to take some photographs and then followed the main road down past the lake to get back to the hotel. Here we found Alberto, our Argentinean competitor friend lying on the lawn in the sun, with the seats from the Morgan and all the wet weather gear drying out in a neat line beside him. Apparently, they had had problems with their passports at the Greek border and were detained for a while – the Morgan filling up with water in the downpour. Eventually, the Greek customs took pity on the two drowned rats sitting in the car and let them through. Even Alberto’s Latin American charm had deserted him at this stage – though he seemed to have got it back by the time he spoke to me!

Nigel got into his social secretary mode again by the evening and a meal was organised for all the marshals at a restaurant in the town. Here we met up with the Byfords – Roger and Maggi were in the 72-hour car, and had doubled back at this point to meet the rally. Everyone had more or less recovered their composure by this time, though Sue Vincent had been slightly tearful through lack of sleep the night before and had to be mollified with the promise of a sleeping pill to counteract the uncomfortably hard beds in our hotel. By that time, I think that I would have slept on the clothesline! At parc ferme the next morning, she was feeling much better and we cheered ourselves up by having a good laugh about the awful hotel in Rijeka. Once our marshalling duties here were finished, we set off for Delphi via our test finish at Glanouseika using some wonderful mountain roads with real fresh air drops that always seemed to be on my side of the car! It was quite frightening to look over the edge in some places, but eventually in warm sunshine, we arrived at the finish by a little bridge and were able to set up our boards and await the competitors. The stream babbled under the bridge quite merrily and a friendly frog came to see us. One of the locals came by on the way to his allotment, but having no Greek, we could not really converse, so we had to satisfy his curiosity in sign language.

The road book for the competitors defeated even some of the best navigators here and we saw several competitors driving rapidly along a “wrong slot”, just above the trees beside our road. There was nothing that we could do to alert them and a number of people lost valuable time at this point including Andy Actman who we spotted disappearing into the distance in his Daihatsu. This meant that Andy slipped from fourth to sixth place here; but being of a fairly laid back nature; he forgave his navigator and seemed pretty phlegmatic about the whole thing. Others, like Alistair Caldwell roared up to the finish shouting “Yeeeehaaah!” or words to that effect, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. As dusk came, and the sun dropped behind the mountains, we closed up and drove on our way to Delphi where we found the hotel with ease and heard from the Vincents (who were doing the finish control) that the gang were eating down in a Taverna in the town. This was within easy walking distance, so after freshening up, we all made our way down there and tucked into some good local food and wine. And so to bed.

We had the luxury of a later start the next morning because our first control had been cancelled, so were able to get some breakfast. There was even a minute to visit the hotel bookshop and buy a book on Delphi though, alas, we did not have time to visit these marvellous ruins. It was a bright morning and now getting very warm, so the mountains surrounding this beautiful spot showed up clearly in the morning sun. After an hour or so on the road, we needed to refuel, so pulled into a small town in order to fill up. We also decided that we needed a drink, so called in at a local café to slake our thirsts. Now this was truly rural Greece and the café was occupied by about ten or more elderly gentlemen reading their newspapers and drinking the strong black coffee that is so favoured in these parts. As we strolled in, ten pairs of eyes fixed themselves upon me – you could almost hear the collective thought processes “it’s a woman – we don’t hold with women.” Women are still very much chained to the home in this part of Greece, gallivanting is definitely not allowed. Anyway, I sailed through the café with the sole object of using the loo at the back – this turned out to be non-too-clean and inhabited by spiders, but served its purpose and made room for the Coca-Cola afterwards. Then it was on our way again, halfway to Athens, and the start of another test – Elatia - used on the Acropolis Rally. The start of this appeared to be on the corporation rubbish tip and a number of locals drove by in order to dump unwanted rubbish – fortunately not on the stage! As we were setting up the control, an angry hornet attacked us. Those things are big and aggressive – we had quite a job fending it off and then killing it. We ended up burying it under a pile of gravel lest it should revive and renew the attack. I guess that it was attracted by our picnic – yet more cheese rolls liberated from breakfast!

This stage was relatively flat so there was no carnage here, but there had been accidents further back and car no. 37 – a Peugeot 106 - had contrived to roll for a second time on the event, this time taking out the Vauxhall Nova driven by the French girls. We counted down all the cars even managing to do this in French for the crew of the Porsche 911 – Henri Guyonnet-Duperon and Claude Valion (after you Claude, no after you Henri!). A well-known French tobacco firm sponsored their lovely blue Porsche - and so we knew them throughout the rally as the Monsieurs Gauloises. It was all fairly routine and then we set back on the road to Athens, calling in at a large garage en-route to have the car jet washed. The young mechanic worked on the car with the high pressure hoses normally reserved for the lorries and washed off what appeared to be at least half a ton of Albanian mud – much of it from under the wheel arches. He then wanted to charge us only two euros – about £1.20 - but we insisted that he took ten for his trouble. The road book led us on into Athens with Dave concentrating hard at this point – one false move and we could find ourselves down at Piraeus docks instead of at the hotel. We had one nasty moment as we turned right just one slot too early for the hotel car park and had to reverse down a one-way street. This caused some angry hooting and a near shunt up the rear, but we made it into the car park and unloaded our luggage ready for a clean up and some food. Cold beer never tasted so good!

Afterwards, we took the hotel bus into downtown Athens and all ate at a Taverna – a very sociable evening with all the marshals. The only one missing was Matt, our rally Doctor, who was busy attending to all the injured! Greek food is certainly good but you need to be a garlic lover to enjoy it! We got taxis back to the hotel - our taxi driver spoke very good English and told us that he once used to play for Bolton Wanderers! Andy Inskip came back with us and chatted up the driver so we paid less than the normal fare for tourists.

The next day, Wednesday, was the day of the great sort-out prior to taking our cars to the docks to be shipped back by Ro-Ro ferry to Bristol. We breakfasted early and then helped Brian to sort out luggage – that not needed urgently was going back with the car – the remainder on the flight back to Luton on Friday. Brian then joined the convoy to the docks at Piraeus and returned to the hotel on the coach. Dave and I amused ourselves by walking round the locality and decided that apart from the Acropolis, which we could see in the distance, much of Athens was just like Tokyo. I’m sure the Athenians wouldn’t agree, but the traffic pollution, wide main roads, dense traffic and low-rise buildings with neon signs and much advertising were exactly like parts of Tokyo. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel, had our photograph taken outside by another friendly taxi-driver, and changed for the prize-giving dinner to be held later that afternoon when all had returned safely from the docks.

Suddenly lots of glamorous and smartly dressed people began to gather in the bar. Could this be the same crowd as the muddy, slightly scruffy, red-eyed bunch who had been competing and marshalling on this event? My word Mr. Rutherford, - you do look smart - and as for Philip – well his shirt is still hanging out, but at least it’s beneath a jacket and his tie looks reasonably straight. Marshals were allowed in early so that finishers’ results could be handed out and tables checked for anything vital that might be missing. Then in came the hoards and we tucked into a delicious meal after seeing some amusing and encouraging clips of film from the event. Brian and I even featured in it! Afterwards Philip made a rousing speech and the awards were presented – Alistair Caldwell and his navigator Gill Cotton in their fourteen-year old Peugeot 205 were the ultimate winners, with the crew from the MG ZR – Michael Darcy and Steve Hutchinson - coming home a close second. Sophie Robinson and Catriona Rings deservedly won their class and the ladies prize with a remarkable drive in their Daihatsu. Philip even remembered to congratulate nearly all of the officials and we were all made to stand up and were given a rousing cheer. Lots of photographs were taken of us standing on the stage with the winners and the atmosphere was excellent – much more relaxed now that the event had finished. We hung on afterwards for ages chatting to competitors and then all staggered into the bar for some more drinks. Altogether a good evening about which I don’t remember too much!

The beds were certainly very comfortable in the hotel – awoke next morning looking forward to a days sightseeing in Athens. The sun was already hot as we joined the coach outside the hotel and we drove around for a while picking up sightseers from other hotels. Then it was into Athens and first port of call – the 1896 Olympic Stadium. This was built entirely of white marble, which is very cheap in this part of the world but looks fantastic. Perhaps if the new Olympic Stadium is not finished in time for the 2004 Games, they will bring the old track into use! Anyone attempting to throw the javelin now in the original stadium would kill someone in the back row of seats - such have distances improved over the years. We examined the long jump and triple jump pits and concluded that Jonathan Edwards would easily jump clean out of the pit if he competes there in 2004.

The bus then took us to the Acropolis where we had the services of a wonderful old Greek lady (probably a retired school teacher) as a guide. She certainly knew her stuff and we spent an enjoyable morning clambering about the ruins and taking photographs. Not once did we mention the Elgin Marbles! Once back on the bus, we were dropped off in central Athens and another taverna for lunch. We were able to sit outside, as it was 26C in town that day and we were in shorts and tee shirts. Afterwards we strolled home via some shops – large sponges and loofas seemed to be desirable and useful items for presents – then back to the hotel for a beer. Nigel wanted to organise another meal that evening but we three declined on the basis that we were already full of excellent food and felt like an early night. Must be getting old! We did have some sandwiches in the bar before staggering upstairs to pack the last bits and pieces ready for a 4.00am start to the airport.

It was taxis at 4.45am and true to form, when the taxi drivers discovered that we had all been taking part in a rally, they decided on a high-speed race to the airport in their Mercedes. We must have been travelling at upwards of 120kph on the road to the airport, but it did give us plenty of time for a coffee once we got there, as there had been no breakfast at the hotel. We were booked on an easyJet flight to Luton and this departed reasonably on time, setting us down on a cold and wet morning in the UK. Welcome home! The train to London was late and we had to stand all the way. London Bridge looked as dreary as usual, but fortunately, we did not have long to wait for the Hayes train and then a short walk from New Beckenham station brought us to Williamson mansions where we put on the kettle and had our first decent cup of tea for two weeks. Well, there must be something good to say about returning home to the UK.

In conclusion, we clocked a total of 3,003 miles from Oxford to Athens. Brian’s Citroen Xantia came home by sea and was safely collected by him from Bristol Docks three weeks later with not a scratch on it.

Malcolm McKay reports on the Tenth Winter Trial, 24 -29 January with images by Ivo Hilgenberg  

The Mercedes 280SE of Haas and Verloop looks very purposeful battling through the snow on the way to a strong finish in the Club category

Sunbeam Tiger of Brits Drexel Gillespie and Fred Bent was hardly ideal for the conditions, so did really well to finish 12th overall and 1st in class in the Trial category

Gijs van Lennep and Iain Tullie celebrate a fine win, in Sankt Wolfgang, Austria

TRIAL CATEGORY

CLUB CATEGORY

8 December 2009, Wick 16:40  

Possibly the wettest LE JOG ever was the general opinion of the organisers, with ice and fog thrown in. Happily the finish in John o’ Groats was bathed in sunshine. Only two Gold Medals and two Bronze indicated the severity of the event while thirty competitors were classified as finishers.

OVERALL POSITIONS

CLASS WINNERS

With thanks to Brian Colin (Course Closing Car)

Team Retro's Joan Williamson and husband Dave visit Australia.   

Our Junior Correspondent was on duty at the NEC  

It’s 5.30pm and the NEC is full of car horns.  The Classic Car Show is over for another year.  Some look relieved and others look too tired to care.  The car horns stop, the breakdown begins and people make a swift exit for fear of being roped in to help.  At about 10.00pm everyone has finished and all the cars have gone apart from one orange Lancia Beta sitting in the corner refusing to work.  People go home and the NEC Classic Car Show 2009 is just a memory.

Nuova Delta

One of only twenty-four Hyenas built

Paul Lawrence sees XS Racing take two class victories  

XS Racing secured two class wins and a 100% finishing record with its four-car team on the 2009 Roger Albert Clark Rally. All four XS crews had great runs, with Steven Smith/Patrick Walsh (Escort Mk1) taking class C3 and a giant-killing 6th overall, while Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne (Porsche 911) won class C4.

Meeting up with the guys that run the ‘Vulcan to the Sky Club' reminds me that it has always been my intention to create a sister on-line magazine devoted to classic aircraft (groans from the editorial staff). And why not indeed, after all, cars and aircraft have been and will always remain emotionally and technically entwined.

In my youth I was a regular visitor to the Farnborough Air Display where daredevil pilots such as Neville Duke and Peter Twiss hurled their respective jet fighters around the sky, confirming Great Britain as the dominant power in world aviation. Of course, at the same time the industry was suffering growing pains and, while the Hawker Hunter and Gloster Javelin entertained, there were also disasters such as the terrible crash involving the display DH110 which broke up just feet above the crowd and soon afterwards, while in service with BOAC, the tragic loss of three early De Havilland Comets. Investigation proved the square-shaped fuselage windows created stress cracks leading to a lack of pressurisation.

Classic Rally Association's 2009 edition of the Rally of the Tests took place between 29th October - 1st November. For the first time in the history of classic rallying, the top four cars were all of the same make, in this case Alfa Romeo.  Congratulations to the overall winners, Paul Wignall and Mark Appleton, who Retro-Speed tipped for outright victory. And well done to Richard Thorne and Brian Johnson in their Sunbeam Alpine, who finished 20th overall and 5th in class (Richard, now you owe me a drink).

Final Results

See the Gallery

Each year, various Maserati clubs of Europe enjoy an international rally and meeting. Clubs take it in turn to hold these events and this year it was the turn of the UK.

Paul Lawrence reports on round eight: Trackrod Historic Cup

Four years after its first edition, Geneva Classics at the Palexpo, 25-27 September, put on its most successful exhibition so far, featuring an extraordinary mixture of classic cars and aircraft. The organisers claimed a new attendance record of 25,000 for the weekend.

In celebration of their winning the World Sports Car Championship in 1959 Aston Martin provide twenty-eight cars for their display, including the car that finished first at Le Mans, driven by Moss, Shelby and Salvadori. The Swiss Air Force also entered into the spirit of things by supplying a series of aircraft dating from as far back as 1936 featuring such classics as the Hawker Hunter, Mirage and Super Puma helicopter. Full marks go to the authorities at Geneva Airport for cordoning off a large area of its apron for the aircraft exhibition. Spectators could almost touch the modern airliners as they taxied passed.

Paul Lawrence reports on round seven: Historic Tour of Flanders  

While several leading crews focussed on the battle for the overall title, Steven Smith and Phil Spurge had no such concerns and duly won round seven of the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Historic Tour of Flanders (11-13 September). The Porsche 911RS won category two, while Darren Moon and Chris Parsons had an impressive run in their Escort Mk2 to win category three. In category one, another victory for Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride (Porsche 911) sets up a championship cliff-hanger with David Stokes and Guy Weaver (Escort Mk1) for the final event of the season.

Category 1
With championship scores uppermost in their minds, Nutt and McBride knew they had to be quick and safe, and that was the story of their rally. The Tuthill-tended Porsche 911 never missed a beat as they swept clear during a long tough Saturday leg in the lanes around Roeselare.
In fact, the only real worry of the day was when one of Dessie's contact lenses slipped out of position and left him struggling for vision. With that little issue fixed for Sunday's shorter leg, it was back to business as usual for a resounding category victory.
However, they could never relax too much as Rikki Proffitt and Bob Duck – a late stand-in co-driver – had a fine run in their Porsche 911. "This is my first special stage event in Europe," admitted Rikki, who loved every minute of driving the Porsche in Belgium.
Third in category one and victory in class B1 went to Gary and Jane Edgington in what was sometimes a challenging event in the Singer Chamois. Their biggest problem was a persistent misfire that hung around all day Saturday, but they came through smiling to give the little car another monster result. "Today's been good," said Gary at the finish on Sunday, relieved to finally have the car running cleanly.
They finished well clear of class B1 rivals Peter Horsburgh and Graham Carter who made a welcome appearance in their Mini Cooper. "I'm a bit rusty," said Horsburgh on his first BHRC event for over a year. They nose-dived into a field on Saturday but some willing spectators got them going again.

Category 2
Smith and Spurge bagged the lead of category two on the opening Beveren stage on Friday evening. Despite Spurge being new to Belgium, they stayed ahead throughout and their only scare came at the end of the third Izegem stage on Saturday with a high-speed spin. Somehow they avoided the ditches, but it was a big moment to end the day. Some rain on Sunday morning did no harm to their chances and they reeled off Sunday's eight stages to take a resounding victory. "We loved it; fantastic fun," said Smith.
Always leading the chase of Smith was the Escort of Stokes/Weaver and they bagged six stage wins on their way to second in category two and victory in class C5. Their biggest problem came late on Sunday when a clutch problem made going down the gearbox very difficult, and Stokes had to cut his pace accordingly.
Into an excellent third in category two came the Porsche 911 of Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne, who started the event battling with the similar cars of Peter Lythell/Gill Cotton and Derek Boyd/Maurice Beckett. However, a ditch claimed Lythell and a broken gearbox put Boyd out, so Smith was away and clear in second. "This is the second event that I've not damaged the car, so that's progress," said the Yorkshireman.
With Ernie Graham/Andy Greenland out with engine dramas and Rupert Lomax/David Alcock down the order after going off three times on Saturday, fourth in category two was fought over by the top C3 runners. After a mighty battle, Andrew Siddall and Captain Thompson scored a famous victory in their Escort Mk1 after overhauling Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes on Sunday.
"It's great to win C3 at last," said Siddall after a superb performance, which left them 20s ahead of Forster/Stanger-Leathes at the finish after being almost level overnight. Drew Wylie and Howard Pridmore were back in third as Wylie rallied in Flanders for the first time.
Ahead of Wylie in the final category two placings was the C2 winning Escort Mk1 of Vincent Bristow and Keith Fellowes. "No problems at all today," said Bristow, who had lost all his brakes on the opening loop on Saturday. "I wanted to be top six overall in the category," he said after achieving his target.

Category 3
Right from the start of the rally, Moon and Parsons stamped their authority on category three and built their lead to 2m40s by the conclusion of a tremendous run, on only Moon's second visit to Flanders. Their major concern was a clutch problem that developed late on Saturday, but the service crew sorted that over two visits to service and Moon was able to continue his excellent pace through Sunday, when he finished the rally with four stage wins on the trot. "Fantastic," was how he summed up the weekend, before adding his thanks to his service crew.
Second in the category was a good result for Will Onions and Tim Hobbs in their Escort Mk2. They lost first gear on Saturday, but a spare gearbox on loan from Mark Solloway had them running strongly once more to finish nearly two minutes up on team mates Guy Woodcock and Iwan Jones. Woodcock again bagged D3 spoils, but was kept on his toes by a strong run from Richard Lane and Frank Richer (Escort Mk2). "That's the first finish in four attempts at this rally," said a delighted Lane, who closed in on Woodcock towards the finish as the leader's clutch wilted.
Phil and Mick Squires had a good run and steadily upped their pace to take third in D5, while the battle for D4 was an all-Porsche affair as Richard Tuthill and Calvin Cooledge got their thundering 928 to a debut finish ahead of the 911 of Mike Anderson/Alan Brown.
Finally, a great performance on their first asphalt event netted D2 victory for the Escort Mk2 of Jacob Scannell/Nina Thompson. "We've done it! Absolutely brilliant," said Scannell at the finish.

The BHRC action concludes with round eight, the Trackrod Historic Cup, on 26 September.
 

Exactly forty-five years ago a big red Healey 3000 driven by Rauno Aaltonen and navigated by Englishman, Tony Ambrose won the infamous Liege-Sofia-Liege Rally outright. Of ninety-seven starters just twenty-one made it to the finish and then only because the organisers extended the maximum lateness by two hours. Rallying in the sixties was not easy.

In fourth place and winner of the Coupe des Dames, driving the diminutive SAAB, was Pat Moss, already a household name, not just for being Stirling’s sister but for also winning the Liege in 1960. Husband-to-be, Eric Carlsson, also driving a SAAB made it into second place behind Rauno. Today it is difficult to believe just how hard this rally was, a virtually non-stop drive across the worst roads in Europe, from Belgium all the way through Yugoslavia and back. Average speeds took no consideration of stops for fuel, food or routine maintenance. Service crews were anyway pretty useless as the route never passed the same place twice.

The Liege in 1964 could also be called ‘the rally of crashes’.

From the start near Spa the rally led down through Austria into Italy where the event began in earnest. Thirty miles south of Bled, Bo Ljungfeldt rolled his works Mustang and leader Henry Taylor disappeared over the edge and fell one hundred feet into a ravine, luckily without injury. Georges Harris hit a truck in his Lancia Flaminia and was reported as dead but this later proved more than a mild exaggeration. Other well known exponents suffered setbacks including Sydney Allard, Timo Makinen and Roger Clark. All soldiered on albeit running quickly out of time.

It really is difficult to describe the conditions, cars were expected to keep going for hours on end over unmade stone-covered roads. All three works Triumph 2000s expired within twenty miles of each other while the inevitable punctures delayed both Roy Fidler and Paddy Hopkirk. Vic Elford retired his Cortina after running head on into a wall near Kotor.

The 14th and final round of the 2009 SBD Motorsport Sprint Championship took place during the weekend of 6 September at Mallory Park. Nick Algar (3.5 Gould - NME GR55) lowered the course record and set a new outright lap record on his way to winning the Championship. Nick had already secured the title by putting in a storming performance at Colerne the week before so he could relish the opportunity of an unfettered record-breaking challenge, which he duly grasped with both hands. Runner-up Steve Broughton and third placed Mark Smith finished the season just 4 points apart.

Meanwhile, at Prescott the same weekend Trevor Willis clocked up his fifth win of the year in the British Hillclimb Championship with two successive run-off victories. Scott Moran, who still leads the overall championship from Willis by 16 points, failed to score following a series of gear selection problems.

Those with even the shortest memories will recall how damp and dismal the Auto Italia Concours day at Stanford Hall was. So it must have been with a huge sigh of relief that long-time organiser, Phil Ward, arrived at Gaydon on 6 September to find warm and dry conditions. Even before opening time at 10.00am mouth-watering cars were arriving from all directions and by midday it seemed the whole Italian car movement had moved to central England.

Retro-Gnome at the best show in the world 

Not very 'eco'

Too 'eco'

We like non 'eco'

Tesla - GBP100,000 acceptable 'eco'

Retro-Gnome recalls Stoneleigh Park, England 

It’s a strange mixture. The warm and cosy hall nearest the entrance is inhabited by public school-types promoting a way of life where money and spare time is no object. Naturally they are surrounded by a mouth-watering selection of racing cars all deemed eligible for Goodwood and the Mille Miglia.

Just feet away, but actually in another world, we come across the more earthy, honest world of rallying, this year featuring 50 years of the Mini. Rauno Aaltonen and Paddy Hopkirk are in attendance. Were there really so many ‘works’ cars?

Works Mini

and Works Healey

Fulvia and Integrale share the limelight

Sir John Whitmore's winning Lotus Cortina