July 2009
Did anyone see Top Gear the other day when they decided it was a good idea to lock themselves in a car with all the windows up, and turn the heater to full? I think Jeremy managed to get to 61 degrees before bailing out. It didn't look terribly comfortable did it? Now imagine doing the same covered head to toe in 4 layers of nomex, a crash helmet and driving gloves, and having to maintain peak concentration, while reacting quickly to obstacles coming your way at 90mph.
It's amazing how warm it gets in the car, and that's just on a mildly warm day like on the Scottish a few weeks ago. Because the event was so dusty we couldn't run with the windows down, and the heat brings more problems than just me and the co-driver getting too hot. We run very soft tyres in the Fiesta Championship, and on the Scottish they were running at their highest temperature range. Normally when we get near the start of the stage we stop about 2 or 3 miles away, waiting as long as possible so we can drive the last section on the road section to get some heat into the brakes and tyres and not have to spend ages queuing. On the Scottish the tyres were getting up to heat just driving on the road section which meant we didn't need to get any heat in them and instead had to manage the tyres on the stages to stop them from going 'off'.
At this point and time I should be preparing to leave for the Manx Rally, but I'm not. On being informed of the cost to transport the necessary people and vehicles, I thought the lady may have miss quoted me. "I could fly to Florida cheaper than that" I said to the woman. "But the rally's not in Florida the woman helpfully replied. I had then formed a plan to join parliament and put the extortionate ferry fee on my expenses, but that didn't work either. And short of robbing a bank I have ran out of options, and I'm going to have to miss one of the events I was most looking forward to.
We've now got, what seems like an age to wait for the Ulster Rally in August, where it's back to fast bumpy tarmac. I really like it in Ireland, the locals are a great laugh and the lads over there are really quick! Still it gives us plenty of time to get everything ready, and I've been focusing on my fitness. I've been doing a lot of running and mountain biking, so it's all good!
Feel free to drop me a line info@steviebrown.co.uk
Catch you later!
Stevie
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