Ok, so it’s going to be very difficult to talk about anything that happened over the last few days without mentioning the weather, and this report is likely to be no exception!
Fortunately, here at Garage Awesome, we strive to get to everything to get the best coverage we can so you guys can keep up to date with all goings on and even more fortunate than that we have Coop, who we can send anywhere in any weather and instruct him not to return until he has some coverage of said event!
The event in question that ran over the weekend was the Roger Albert Clark Rally, or more commonly known as the RAC Rally, held over stages in Yorkshire, Scotland and Cumbria over 4 days, and provided us with a perfect opportunity to capture some great rallying action!
The cars involved were all in the classic section, with a line-up of cars that would slot straight in on the stages of a rally in the early 80s making for that something a little bit special and nostalgic, and also a great opportunity for us to see cars in action that would have been competing at top level before we were even a glint in our Mum’s eye!
So, maybe you were one of those not affected by the weather, but for most of us over the last week, we have all been buried under many inches of snow, with the North East and Yorkshire getting it first and worst, and the with the beginning of the Rally set at the showground in Pickering, it was always going to be tricky for both competitors, marshals and spectators!
Sure enough the snow fell, and it fell hard, I’m sure a quick scan through the photos will show just how deep and heavy the snow came and settled, and those following us on Twitter (@garageawesome) or Facebook (facebook.com/garageawesome) will see various pics of our own cars stuck, and the beautiful scenery that we awoke to in our frozen cars on the Saturday morning!
As for the rally, I think we were very lucky that it ran at all, with Friday night losing a few stages, and Saturday morning the same, it is a testament to the course marshals and safety staff that worked tirelessly to keep stages open and help the stranded cars that lined the stages, both those of the spectators and competitors!
Some of the casualties of the snow were Nick Elliot’s Escort, Rob Smiths Chevette and Herve Guignard’s Porsche 911 who went off in SS13 and SS20 respectively. Other retirements to note were the flamboyant Renault 5 Turbo of Paul Chieusse and Will Onions’ Mk2 Escort
Friday’s 4 stages saw stage wins for Leigh Armstrong, Darren Moon, David Stokes and Stefaan Stouf. Saturday saw Warren Philliskirk, Will Onions, Andrew Haddon and Nick Elliot take wins but it was Stouf and co-driver Joris Erad in their Escort RS1600 that took more than anyone else despite a hard fight from veteran rally star and former British Rally Champion Gwyndaff Evans.
Despite stage winners swapping positions throughout both Sunday and Monday, and with the cancellation of Stage 19, it left them all too much to do to catch Stouf and Erad’s Escort, who at the end of the 22nd stage on Monday late afternoon, were crowned rally winners, with Evans in the runners up spot followed by Haddon, Griffiths, Collins, Moon and another former British Rally Champion; Mark Higgins.
Interesting to note that 11 of the top 12 cars were all Escorts, only the pairing of Phil Colins and the late Colin McRae’s co-driver Nicky Grist spoilt the Ford party with a 5th place finish in their Opel Ascona 400.
So, an interesting weekend for rallying, and an amazing amount of snow to go with it, leading to a long one for our intrepid photographer, so have a flick through some amazing pictures of some real classic rally cars, and amazing Yorkshire and North East Forests, framed in the glorious white stuff!
Pic Credits – Rich Cooper
Nice to see you guys covering proper events
Some amazing photos there!! Would love a few for my website if at all possible?
Feel free to take some photos, please link to us from your site though if that is ok