The Wilson this year was back at its March date - was this a good thing I wonder. The weather was unbelievable with 4" to 6" of fresh snow on some of the stages.
The actual route was identical to last year, with the three northern stages of Comb, Wythop and Hobcarton followed by the two Grizedale stages, and then a repeat of the first three.
Not that we were destined to see then all! Saturday morning dawned to heavy sleet, and this was at nearly sea level, up in the hills it was bound to be worse (and how). Comb was very muddy and slippery, and the thought occurred that maybe the tyre choice was not very clever.
Stage 2 was incredible, complete white out in places, cars off all over the place. We often saw just the warning triangle - No Car - that was how far off they were. Two offs made Nik back off but at least he got out of the stage. Stage three was where the problems really started, an uphill hairpin right onto tarmac had a large step on the inside, which we hit VERY hard - result one broken driveshaft, one and a half minutes time loss creeping out of the stage, and a dragging sumpgaurd.
At service, Andy and friends managed to replace the shaft and attach the guard. Maxsport had managed to get some Mud and Snow tyres fitted for us. A dash to the next TC kept us inside permitted lateness - Just!
Grizedale North was better, the different tyres made things much better and quicker, but the car had developed a desire to go to full throttle under breaking - Not Funny. Grizedale South was where it all went pearshaped, and we found out why the throttle was playing up. 2 Miles in the front crossmember broke pitching the engine 4" forward and disconnecting all the electrics to the engine. Game Over, and a very cold and disappointed crew were retrieved 3 hours later by the service crew and trailer.
The final results showed just how unlucky the retirement had been, as both the RS2000 kit and the 306 Maxi (complete with £20,000 gearbox) had gone out on stage 2 - Oh dear.
Now we just have to get the thing repaired for the Humberside in 4 weeks - Very UGLY!
