April 2009
One point three seconds. A time that was completely insignificant to me prior to the Pirelli Rally. It turned out it would be the only thing between me taking my first overall event win.
On the lead up to the event I was sure we had picked up lady luck on our way down to, but it would appear she must have jumped out! Eight hundred meters into the opening stage, and the realisation that we only had third gear was less than pleasing. Spending a large proportion of the remaining seventeen miles of the opening leg on the rev limiter was also less than pleasing.
While Andrew and I thought things possibly couldn't get any worse the results said a different story. It turned out that we hadn't lost as much time as we thought, and were sitting fourth, not bad for only having third gear!
The start of Saturday was looking promising until we went over a few bumps mid stage, and I thought my cornflakes were coming back up for seconds! It wasn't nice at all! A quick recovery and fastest time on the next stage showed we were back up to speed.
We were using organiser's notes and if I'm honest I struggled to commit to them all weekend, and in the really fast Keilder stages it's not exactly ideal. I've been working on my pacenotes away from the events too, so when we go to the Jim Clark International Rally we can write good notes.
Since coming back from the Pirelli things have been crazy busy with photo shoots, interviews and sponsor events as it's our local rally this weekend, The Station Garage Mitsubishi Granite City Rally. We are doing the event for local children's charity Cash for Kids in a bid to raise awareness and money for the cause.
It all kicks off on Friday when I'm taking two Northsound DJ's for a blast around the VIP stage where they can try their hand at co-driving. Tune into Northsound1.com for the results on Monday!
My target for the rally is first front-wheel-drive car and a top twenty finish!
If you're out on the event say hello!
Cheers,
Stevie
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