Malcolm Wilson Rally Report - Bob Morgan, Ade Williams
Winner Garage Skoda – Skoda Fabia R5
So, the long drive to Cumbria was quiet straight forward in the end, traffic clear and whether you're a fan of smart motorways or not they do make a difference to traffic congestion. Current work on the northern part of the M6 is the placement of laybys every mile. It seemed to work for us, different if you have a sudden breakdown, I’m sure.
Having not attempted the event for many years since both crew members drove on the rally and failed to finish, it was a nemesis event that needed contesting again.
Not so straight forward with the layout of the event with no trailer park but the hotel which was an ‘excellent find’ had a good size car park and very accommodating. Noise was a tight squeeze and the new Malcolm Wilson complex was great but again restrictive with access etc. Could do better- MWR22!
The Saturday stages began with 3 quick blasts through Hobcarton, Coomb & Wythop all relatively straight forward, but slippy due to logging in places. Greystoke stage 4 the only repeat was easier to gain more momentum and move up the leaderboard from 26th to 17th place.
Back to service for a quick 20 minutes check before the two grizzly Grizdale stages were completed. These two had been heavily studied to find the dangerous points. About 4 to 5 were cautioned and sure enough we arrived at each to find cars off and spectators on the track slowing us down. This moved us back down a little but a good final blast back through the second Greystoke with only a small (televised) half spin gave us a solid 17th overall.
Still some more speed to find, but we’ll keep pushing on.
Next event, Rally North Wales, 1st round of the Welsh National Championship.
