Rallye Sunseeker

After a deluge overnight we had a largely dry event down South. Marcus Dodd & Andrew Bargery (Accent WRC) were quick out of the blocks once again and after setting 7 fastest stage times out of the 10 run it was no surprise that Dodd took victory number 7, on the Sunseeker. The key battle was the one for second and Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) were holding a six second advantage over Andy Burton & Robin Kellard (Peugeot Cosworth) going into the final stage. A brief spin and catching the master switch was enough to see Perez lose the best part of 20 seconds, as he slipped to third behind Burton.

Boucles de Spa

Our first visit to Belgium in just under 9 years saw us travel to the Ardennes for the Boucles de Spa. Now in its 5th year as a Historic car rally, 52nd running in total, we were treated to the best part of 320 cars and crews driving through the snowy scenery. The rally was split into two with the Legends set a target of 80kmh average speed and the Classic a more modest 50kmh average speed. This would be a challenge as tyre choice was a lottery and with numerous passage controls per stage, keeping up the average speed would be more difficult than it sounds. We concentrated on the Legends, visiting the Paradis, Ster and Stoumont stages.

Wyedean Forest Rally

Back into the swing once again with the Wyedean, (which is always the start of the season for us – 27 Wyedean’s for us now). At the front it was the battle of the blue oval cars. Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC ’07) edged into a slender lead after stage 4 with fastest or joint fastest times on each stage. Chasing closest behind them were Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank in their ex-Colin McRae Focus WRC, down on the technology stakes by several years. Speech House at 13 miles saw the decisive action of the event as Perez pulled out 23 seconds on Hunter. With only a second separating the two Ford men on the final two stages, victory went to Perez by almost half a minute. Hunter was clear in 2nd with Nik Elsmore & Nige Gardner comfortable in 3rd place in their group N Evo IX.

South Downs Stages

Our first event proper of 2010 saw us make our first visit to Goodwood race track for the South Downs Stages. The iconic track hosted a special celebration to the TR7, with 6 cars competing and further examples of the V8 beast on display. The rally was dominated by the gaggle of Escort MkII’s which headed the field. Simon Mauger & Chris Butcher set fastest time on stage 1 and didn’t look back, taking victory by 30 seconds from Paul King & Alicia Miles. Completing the podium were Paul Diamond & Steve Cox who pipped the highest place TR7 of Alastair Flack & Ralph Higson on a tie-break.