It’s been a wee while since my last update
so I thought I would let you all know how things are going in the Rally2Raise
camp after two more rounds of the Scottish Rally Championship.
Firstly, I best start with the sad news
that Katherine has had to retire indefinitely as co-driver due to a dicky
ticker. The past few months have been quite a
challenge with Katherine getting poorly followed by myself catching glandular
fever, from which I’m STILL feeling the fatigue. Thankfully it only took two days to get over
the Speyside Stages as opposed to a full week after the Scottish Rally.
With Katherine and I falling ill at roughly
the same time we had to decide whether or not to pull the entry for the Scottish,
it was touch and go right up until the week before when I decided I was going
to go for it due to a lady who had just passed away. I had already drafted in Caroline Lodge to co-drive,
always a risk when you’re frends with someone and get into a car together but
it paid off!
Just before the Scottish we lost a very
dear friend and one of the most selfless women I have ever met, Cath
Simpson. I had been chatting to her the
week before and she knew it was coming but her attitude to it was something I
had never seen before, good humoured and looking on the bright side. Right till the last. There was no question that Barry and I would
attend her funeral, it just so happened it fell the day before the rally. Our brief was to wear rally gear so we
did. The ceremony itself was one that
suited her down to the ground. I was
doing well until her coffin appeared with her marshals tabard draped over
it. Motorsport in her veins that one!
It was because of Cath that I wanted to get out and do the
event and make sure she was represented in some way so, taking inspiration from
her family, we acquired two marshals tabards and hung them up in the rear of
the rally car, along with a sticker on the rear window.
With us at the funeral we were extremely
grateful to Colin and Craig Wallace who
trailered the car down to Dumfries for us. Without them we wouldn’t have been
able to attend the funeral or have had the energy to get down the road and
back. So thank you both!
We completed our pre-event formalities with
no problems other than accidentally gatecrashing a photoshoot for the Armed Forces
rally team! We then retired to our accommodation. As everything was last minute Caroline stayed
at her house which wasn’t too far away from Dumfries. I stayed in a posh hotel with a jacuzzi! I’ve
never had a jacuzzi in my room before so I made the most of it after completing
the finishing touches on the car. I
could get used to that!
The day of the rally dawned and I set off
to meet Caroline at the Heathhall service area. Hampered by a faulty traffic
light I found my way unaided! Feeling the usual nerves we left for the
pre-start holding area and had the craic with the lads there waiting.
We loved the start in the centre of
Dumfries, it was very well attended and a great advert for the sport! We set
off from the control and headed up to Ae for the first of two stages in the
forests there. I realized quickly during the first stage that I would have to take
it very easy. I was pretty shattered but
we were getting on very well in the car and enjoying it.
Two stages down we headed for service,
luckily there was nothing required on the car except a spanner check. Then we
headed out to the last three stages. I
really enjoyed the spectator stage with the watersplash which was stage three, loads of folk watching and taking photos showing
the E.Watson and Son/BSW Ltd and Pirelli stickers on the front of the car!
By that
point we had gained a crew to help. I
won’t embarrass them but they were two drivers in one car as opposed to the two
co-drivers in our car. So we thought it
only fair to give them a hand on the road section by helping them with times
and making sure they didn’t go wrong. It
was gutting to see them off in the penultimate stage.
We made our way through the final two
stages incident free, I think the only moment we had was a slight slide. I was very glad to cross the flying finish, I
have never felt that tired after an event.
I only had one wobble during the day that had me questioning whether I
could continue and I soon got rid of that! Once again our Pirelli tyres were
brilliant, thanks to AW Motorsport for their help supplying them.
We got to the finish in the centre of
Dumfries and there were even more people stood watching including Steven
McPherson from our sponsor McPherson Document Solutions. We had avoided results
all day and hadn’t looked at our phones.
Sat in the queue waiting to go into the control we snuck a peek only to
discover we’d won second in class and first female driver! There were more than
two finishers in the class and more than one female driver started the event so
it wasn’t a given. Unfortunately, as we
approached the finish line I was made to get out the car and face a bank of
photographers!!! I can’t say I was looking my best and was holding the trophy
which can only be described as slightly phallic!! Ha ha ha!!
All joking aside it was an absolute honour to receive it, past
recipients such as Louise Aitken-Walker have stood there so it only seemed
right to dedicate it to Cath. And yes, she would have found the phallic element
to it absolutely hilarious.
As the Scottish was also a round of the
British Rally Championship I didn’t let the awareness raising side of
Rally2Raise slip. I made sure that we
weren’t overlooked by the press or the increased number of spectators and
higher ups. We were spoken to by a
number of journalists and lots of people asked about Rally2Raise and our two
supported causes, the Nystagmus Network and Bottle Stop.
All in all the Scottish Rally wasn’t what
we expected when we first made our 2013 plans but we adapted and now have a
team with a new member which plays to everyone’s strengths... except mine.... I
am not the best driver ha ha ha!!
So the Scotttish was done and we were ready
to put the entry in for the Speyside Stages in Elgin. And our adventures there
will be the next report!
Rach
