Rally Racc 45 Catalunya

The first weekend of October saw 25 Slowly Sideways cars being put through their paces on Spain’s round of the World Rally Championship. Nine cars from Slowly Sideways UK made the trip to Salou, south of Barcelona with the remainder of the cars coming from Germany and Spain.

Having had two days to recce the stages the crews ventured to the start ramp to be set on their way in the company of hundreds of spectators and FIA presidency candidate Jean Todt just prior to the WRC cars. A quick parade lap of Salou with Police escorts added to the party atmosphere with fireworks and huge crowds eager to see the fantastic display of historic rally cars.

Friday morning saw clear blue skies as the cars made their way to the first stage, La Mussara. Unfortunately at the end of the stage having passed the mighty Mercedes 500SL the writers usually ever reliable ex works TR7 V8 decided it was time for the gearbox to self destruct marking the end of our rally, much to my and co driver Yvonne Mehta’s disappointment. All the other cars passed through the stage without drama and then carried on to the remaining two stages, a total of 66kms for the day.

Rob Whitehouse was having an entertaining time with stand in co driver Neil Dashfield in the ex Tabaton Lancia 037 despite an initial problem with a flat battery. The duo of Escorts of Kevin Vaites in his immaculate ex Monte Carlo wide bodied Mk2 and Chris Skills Colibri coloured Mk 1 were entertaining the crowds with their screaming BDA’s doing the tarmac stages justice. Graeme Lawton was enjoying every moment of Catalunya with his ex Blomqvist Lotus Sunbeam which had run faultlessly throughout the Eifel rally and was not to disappoint in Spain.

A few minor indiscretions saw a couple of crews carrying out some repairs at the end of day one but a concerted effort by all involved meant they would all be running the next day. Jim Avis had a small trip into the Spanish vineyards and even collected some grapes in the front of the wonderful RS200 and thanks to the efforts co driver Mark Sharratt who installed the excellent in car video system he will be able to re live the moment over and over again. Thankfully the car and occupants were fine with some mild superficial damage and some enthusiastic spectators soon saw them on their way again.

The second day saw more sunshine and 25 degree temperatures for the crews to tackle a further three stages in the gap between the WRC cars first and second runs of the stages. A gentle warm up for the day was the 38.3km El Priorat stage which has the very famous El Molar hairpin in the middle of it where literally thousands turn up to spectate so the pressure was on to execute the perfect handbrake turn.

During the course of the day Rob Whitehouse was perfecting his cutting techniques and unfortunately bent two wheels with consequent punctures. In true spirit the Spanish Lancia 037 crew stopped to lend a spare wheel, so normal service was soon resumed. Sadly the differential cried enough at the end of the day and that spelt early retirement for the likeable Lancia crew.

The Nissan 240RS of Tony Walker was going well with no major problems while Pat Horan who had come all the way from Ireland was managing to drive round a low rpm misfire in the Alitalia Fiat 131 Abarth. Terry Maynard was relishing every moment in his RS200 on his second visit to Catalunya and the car was performing well.

The final day saw three further stages although one was sadly cancelled due to an incident with a WRC car and a spectator who had apparently had a heart attack. I was privileged to sit in the co drivers seat for Kevin Vaites in the ex Works Escort as a result of his co driver being unavailable. It was a joy to behold to hear the Escort revving to 9000rpm and amazing to see how nimble the 275bhp Escort was on Tarmac. This very special Monte Carlo Escort clearly showed that this was no ordinary forest car and compared to my own TR7 V8 it was considerably more poised through the bends if maybe not ultimately a match for the 310bhp Triumph on the straights.

Having crossed the finish ramp we were then able to watch the WRC cars cross the ramp and have a front row view for the traditional champagne soaking. Citroen had won the manufacturers title for 2009 so further celebrations rounded off a fabulous few days in Spain.

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Steve Rockingham