Patriot Stages- 29th September 2002
Driver: George Cooke
Navigator: Alan West
Vehicle: Peugeot 309 GTi 16v
Seeded: 56
Finished: 52 / 15
Another Sunday, another early start, another venue but this time I am with a driver I know - George Cook - in a car he knows - the Peugeot 309 16 Valve. The venue, Caerwent, is known to us only by reputation ~ naggery, high kerbs, buildings close to the road and slippery when wet! Once more Erik and I are on our way to a rally - the Patriot Stages - and Diana who, to the best of my knowledge has never been involved with rallying, accompanies us. This time it is only 'Dad' that is competing with Erik & Diana as moral support.
My first look at the stage plans confirmed the 'naggery' bit but the weather was dry so slippery it was not to be. Yes the kerbs were high as we found out after a couple of small indiscretions on Stage 1. After this George and I seemed to get back in the swing of things and whilst not setting the world alight on each stage we beat our previous stage time, all we could ask. That was until stage 5. Halfway through this stage the power steering failed but George was able to keep the car going to the end. Into service where our service crew, Lawrence, Aron and Chris supplemented by Erik, were able to get round the problem by cutting through the power steering belt leaving the car without steering assistance for George.
When we exited for stage 6 we had marked on the stage plans where we would exit if the driving without the power steering became too much for George. We approached this 'point of no return' but George was OK and we carried on to the stage end. We had dropped some 45 seconds to our previous time but were still in the rally. It was the hairpins where the power steering was really missed and there were 5 of these! A discussion at final service and George said we see if we could complete stage 7 and get a finish. Traffic lights go green and off we go. We are about a third of the way into stage when we come to the tightest of all the hairpins. The car is wrestled round the corner but on acceleration shoots off to the right, up the kerbs, down the grass and back onto the road again. After another few corners the car is weaving all over the place and we hope it is due to a puncture and not a broken wheel. We pull off, get out of the car and find the offside front as flat as the proverbial pancake. A wheel change is done and we make it to the end of the stage and we get a finish.
I would like to thank all that helped us to get a finish and will make sure you all get your Streetly Motor Club Championship Servicing points. One of the most remarkable things of the day was that we were in Wales (just) and the whole event was blessed by sunshine!
