Friday 15th June.

 

Saturday 16th June.

 

We got there and went straight to sound testing. Passed. Then went to scrutineering. Failed, the pull cord for the kill switch had broken!!! Luckily I had a spare, then we were told the seats were loose, which we disagreed with, and there was a hole in the bulkhead, and Kev's overalls had been left Kev's car which was back at the service area. So we made a note of what needed doing and went to sign in, where we got the door numbers and the maps. Myself and Kev were beginning to feel very nervous. The maps looked very difficult and complicated and the stages were 11 miles long!!! After looking through the paperwork we went to the service area where we would be camping... but before we got there the starter motor burnt out, and set on fire!!! PANIC!!! Luckily a friend had a spare one, so we fitted that and sorted out what needed doing to the car, we then went back to scrutineering and passed. phew!

 

Sunday 17th June

5.30am and we were woken by the soundtrack of rally cars!!! We got up, dressed in our race suits and packed the stuff into the tent. After breakfast (a swig of water and a raisin cake) we met up with some friends and drove to the service area for the rally. A friend of mine, who also drives a mini had set a place up for us and so the two minis in class 1 set up in the corner and got our tools ready. Another friend of mine turned up to help service and brought his Snap-on wizzy gun, what a legend! We the got something to eat from the burger bar and then sat around and read the paper for a bit whilst most other people panicked as we were well prepared.

 

We were due to be first out at 9.16, so at 9.05 myself and Kev got ready and got in the car. "Don't go and bend it and give me something to do, I want to sit here and read my paper!" was the order from Charlie before we left for stage one. The drive from service to the stage start was about 1 1/2 miles of very thin tight country lanes. We arrived at the stage start and by this point I was very nervous. Caerwent is the hardest single venue rally, and I didnt want to bend my car!

 

 

We were bang on time and started the stage. The start was good, and at first I thought that it seemed quite open, I then soon realised that the roads got very tight. I battled with the cold tyres and started to get used to the conditions of the stage. The roads were not much wider than my car and were not very clearly marked. We got caught up and passed by a very fast 205 GTi and then an F1000 Micra, who passed us and then span it into a fence! There were cars all over the stage that had crashed out, but we made it though the stage only hitting 2 kerbs, from when I got distracted by the Micra. This had damaged the rim and tyre. There was a section though a quarry which had a 20ft drop on the outside of the corners, a very tight section past some buildings, a jump flat out in 4th and a gravel section. We finished the stage with steam pouring from under the bonnet due to overheating.

 

After a bit of work we were off to the second stage. This went a lot better with only one problem when we went straight on at a 90* right hander and ended up in a courtyard, with the car behind following!!! At one point we went into a corner too fast and went straight on and came back onto the track by driving up a mound and getting air onto the track!!! The spectators loved it. We then missed the final 90 left to the flying finish but were still over a minuite faster then we were in stage one.

 

Stage 3 went really well and I thought this was our best stage. We were flying along until one point when we went straight on at a junction and through a hedge, leaving a mini shaped grove! We thought this was hilarious!!! Our clutch then decided to give up completely during the stage and were still overheating. We arrived back at service with plants stuck to the car and a broken wheel arch. Dave thought this was very funny. However I was more impressed that we were 6th in class. We bled the clutch and drained the cooling system to refill it with just water.

 

 

Then came the 4th stage, we were now running on Falcon tyres on the front as the Colways were worn out.  They took a minute to warm up. This stage went really well, we didn't go off at all, didn't suffer from any car problems and we seemed to have fixed the clutch and overheating problem. Myself and Kev were almost crying with laughter when we got the the corner with the mini shaped hole in the bush. By this point we were 4th in our class and not far from the car in 3rd. We then had an hour for lunch, so after some food we changed the tie rod bushes and spanner checked the car.

 

When we were now ready for the 5th stage. When we were driving down the road to the stage start the car cut out. The fuel hose had come off the fuel pump!! Kev tried to get it on while I ran to the stage start, I ran the 1 1/2 miles in my race suit and boots which resulted in loads of blisters on my feet. But when I arrived they said we were 9 minuted late and were were excluded. We were gutted! So we went back to service, packed up and then just watched the other cars. We were both so disappointed as we were 4th in class and really really enjoying it.

 

It was a fantastic day even though we were excluded. My mini made me proud.