Motorsport News Circuit Rally championship - Round Five
The Snetterton Stages - Part Two
Report By David Harbey - 24 February 2022
Five weeks on from the Brands Hatch Stages and the shutter finger is getting twitchy. This would be my third visit to the Snetterton Stages and the second in the aftermath of a named storm.
The forecast was sunny, cold, rainy, very rainy, less rainy …. Whilst the majority of my report is for the afternoon stages, I first need to cover our adopted Micra crew’s morning.
Top Class A seeding in the entry and some quick and spectacular cornering at Nelson and Brundle on Stages 1 and 2 promised well, albeit that there were just off the pace of the class leader.
Ray takes up the story from the left hand seat …. “I should have known it was going to be a troublesome weekend. After our rally car got stuck in the mud exiting our garage on Friday amongst some gusty wind and then after scrutineering having nearly brained myself on an errant garage door at Snetterton, it was only to be expected that further trouble was afoot…
We decided in service that the pace would have to be increased for Stage 3. All was going well on the first two laps and continuing uneventfully through the paddock, we came to the gravelly mud section for the third time and having taken a careful approach to the exit onto the narrow concrete road, our slip diff pulled us round tighter than we expected and we were thoroughly lanced through the headlight by a wooden post rail! Ouch!
For the remainder of the stage and driving back to service, an air of foreboding gathered, concern at what might greet us when we alighted the car in the garage. On inspection, the lance had met its match with our battery, but this had also died in the conflict, as with the coolant expansion bottle and various metalwork around it, not to mention the crumpled wing.
It looked like game over. However, the service guys were especially interested in the problem and set about tackling the situation so that we could continue. What level heads to have around in a crisis !
While I was engaged in some anger management straightening the battery plate with a club hammer, our usual service partner Andrew Lawson dashed across with a spare battery; sadly this proved too large for the now reduced space.
Adam had a brainwave and asked fellow competitor Alfie Hammond if we could use his smaller battery for the duration of the rally. Alfie agreed and before long the battery was secured with new bolts, ties and straps and we were testing the viability of the repair with a short drive around the service area.
We had some concern as the drive was unusually noisy with possibly some drive shaft or cv damage, but those comforting and reassuring words of ‘drive it till it breaks’ from the service crew meant we were off to re-scrutineer and then re-joined the rally for Stage 5, having missed Stage 4.
By this time the rain was persisting down, the wets were fitted and we headed out leaving the gallant service crew to their well-deserved late lunch.
The afternoon stages were pretty wet all round, aquaplaning being one difficulty, but it was pleasing for us to be running well with no further issues, posting faster times than our rivals to a third in class finish.
Of course, for Adam and I, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the service crew and those other individuals who helped us to keep calm and carry on, but the thing that really shone out for me was the thing that is always there, always understated, always ready to come to the fore when needed, and that was Clubmanship.
We are very fortunate in the rallying community to have clubs up and down the country, peopled by supportive and encouraging individuals, all playing their part helping everyone to enjoy their sport. I, for one, am very grateful that we have this in abundance in the Middlesex County Automobile Club.
This Snetterton was a rough, tough tarmac rally from the set-up through the get-go to the very end, for all sorts of reasons, for all involved. Be proud MCAC – you’re a great team – 100% from start to finish.
Having sheltered in the Ripper’s garage from the start of the rain during Stage 4 and catching a different sort of action, I returned to my original plan after the lunch break and drove round to my now favoured spot at Snetterton – the outside of Coram.
Armed with the 200-500mm zoom, the monopod and Large rain-cover, I worked my way along the fence to catch different angles of the action as the cars went through Coram from Murrays – that is, the “wrong way”.
For stage 5 and 6, there was a turn to the infield half way round Coram.
There’s a good view back to Murrays which proved challenging for some … albeit, it seems, only in the wallet.
With the various cones, arrows and course cars in the background it took a bit of moving around to get good angles.
For stage 7 and 8, the crews continued round Coram into a chicane.
Lo and behold, the rain finally eased off and there was a hint of late afternoon sunshine as we were treated to racing action !
A backlit finale closed out my day – time to dry off and head home.
I think a wet, grey sign off is right for this report !
Thanks to David Harbey for this report, you can see more of his motorsport pictures by following the links above.
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