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2004 Revival Rally - Event reports
Day 3 - Chester arrival – the order changeth
The Rover Metro of leading pace-setter Owen Turner dropped into a ditch in Keilder Forest early this morning which has allowed Gwyndaf Evans to head the leaderboard by lunchtime. Owen Turner was tugged out of the mire by his brother in the second well-placed Metro, so both lost time this morning after a determined giant-killing effort.
Don Whitehurst is second in his Peugeot 106, third is Mike Biss in the Holden Barina (Nova), but there are two old Mini Coopers well established in the top twenty, Chris Day and Rick Chalmers are fifth, and the Valentines Rover Mihni Cooper is 11th, both doing well at the Leyland Test Track as they rather like chicanes set nice and tight. The motor-club running Leyland did a great job with some of the slickest organisation so far, Tim Foster’s team even were able to supply a bucket of hot water for on the spot car washing of door numbers….we even saw Tim Foster getting his hands wet when the photographer arrived.
The new Vauxhall Astra of Graham Parkinson and Andrew Duerden is now 7th overall, but found the chicanes at the Leyland Test Track rather too tight for such a big car.
“A superb day, just like the old Lombard Rallies on the first day, but run twice….tomorrow promises to be longer Selectifs and more slippery, so Wales could change everything,” was the prediction last night from up and coming Welshman Colin Francis.
Day 2 - Start of Leg Two – Dear’s Leap and Tony Falls Off
In Lowther Park competitors had the added hazard of deer strolling into the Selectif and one car holed a radiator having lost the argument with a stubborn stag. Tony Fall and Willy Cave (pictured, right, in Boltby Forest) failed to make Carlisle after sliding off on the Lightwater Valley Selectif, the Rover 25 bending a steering arm.
There are 16 Selectifs today, After losing over a minute at Olivers Mount Gwyndaf Evans has moved up the field to second behind the flying Rover Metro of Owen Turner, Don Whitehurst and Terry Atherton, old Lombard hands, hold third, and fourth is Matthew Fowle and Peter Joy also in a Peugeot 106 fourth. Colin Francis, who used to co-driver with Penti Arrikala in the days of the Vauxhall Chevettes says he met numerous marshals yesterday running the Selectifs who he had not seen for 25 years….inside and out, there are a lot of ex-Lombard people about making this a real revival.
Day 1 - Carlisle Finish - End of Leg One of the Lombard Revival Rally
The first day of the Lombard Revival Rally ended in Carlisle tonight and although it is past midnight the car park outside is thrumming with activity as crews have limited time before parc-ferme regulations are imposed, limiting the time for running repairs.
It has been a long tough day. No less than 17 Selectif and tightly timed road-rally sections were planned for today. The 18 miles of Hamsterley proved easy for the majority of crews, but all the other famous forests from the pages of Lombard RAC Rally history have kept their reputations. Yorkshire into Cumbria has been a fabulous day, with more than 100 cars expected here tonight. Keilder was the final section tonight, which has been the sting in the tail of a long day.
The Results Team have taken over the main conference room with half a mile of knitting and enough plugs to power Houston Mission Control. They have the longest night now ahead.
This morning’s drama was getting round Oliver’s Mount, the tight and twisty circuit on the hill above Scarborough saw the early-morning North Sea mist clear just as the early numbers started this Selectif. Wet leaves under the overhanging trees and a damp track combined to make for slippery conditions to catch the over-keen, and it needed care and restraint to get round with incurring time consuming visits to the grass. Gwyndaf Evans nearly ended his rally by nosing off the grass and into a fence, and more than one car upturned a picnic table.
Maximum penalties applied to any crew ending early and not taking a second lap, which caught out a few more. The rally took in several of the famous Yorkshire forests, first used in the 1960s by the RAC Rally.
At Boltby, an uphill climb through the pine trees looped back downhill in a narrow and demanding course, which brought memories to Eric Schofield from Filey, who was one of the many local marshals. He recalled the 1965 RAC Rally when all the forests in Yorkshire were thick with snow, and a titanic battle at the top of the leader board saw a mighty scrap between the Healey of Timo Makinen and the Mini Cooper of Rauno Aaltonen. He recalled that all the Boltby marshals had to retire afterwards to the village pub, where they slept on the floor… this little piece of history can not now be repeated alas, the pub shut several years ago.
The Metros were going well here, in particular Owen Turner and Andrew Dadswell, who won the first Welsh Endurance Rally in 2003, and brother Jamie Turner and Graham Raeburn, son of the almost-as-famous co-driver who is rumoured to be an ex-Lombard competitor, according to Colin Francis. They are chasing the Holden Barina of Mike Biss, (a Nova to you and your investigative reporting team).
Neil Wilson, winning co-driver of the 1986 Lombard alongside Henri Toivonen is treating the day cautiously in his red Ford Puma with Tony Davies on the maps.
The navigation is all from maps, with simple, easy road timing but time-controls spring up to catch the unwary and all part of the authentic Lombard atmosphere.
It’s been a 14-hour day of high drama, with a mixed variety of surfaces. Tomorrow sees a slightly shorter, less demanding day, no bad thing with Wales offering a full day of action, 80 per cent gravel, and clearly everything is still to be played for. Cheltenham is looking as far off from Carlisle as it did when the spotlights of the Lombard start-ramp lit up David Winstanley’s car-one back in York, which seems an age ago.
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