After an epic tarmac adventure, the Minis head into the forest for the first of their gravel double header on the Kielder Rally. The majority of our crews ran the first 3 stages as per the Mini Rally Challenge championship, However two crews opted to run the whole event and really test their machines. Kielder provides some fast and lose stages and did not disappoint in bringing some action.
The R50s lead the way on stage with Julian Fouquet and Julia Perry bringing home the first place, closely followed by Jack Birch and Mike Jode in second and bringing home third place Andrew Downward and James Coutts. The R53s were lead after stage 3 by Tom and Sue Hynd with Jacob Neal and Russell Thompson finishing second and Gareth Humphreys and Adam Burkill bringing in third.
Humphrey and Burkill started out cautious to avoid the notorious Kielder ditches. With being one of the first 10 cars out on stage they found the surface very lose causing the car to slide around a lot, leading to a few big moments on the first stage traveling sideways rather then forwards. Much of the same in terms of traction over the following stages, however stages two and three they felt more settled and had more control over the car. A strong and consistent run from the pair again in this round bringing them back in 3rd. They then went on to compete the rest of the rally in the afternoon to test themselves and the car further. A special shout out to this pairing though as fellow Mini Rally Challenge crew
Wesley Gilford and Andrew Millington had experienced problems in their R50 at the end of stage 3 and Gareth towed them back to service meaning they got their finish. These actions embody what rallying should be about and is the definition of being a great sportsman.
Julian and Julia had a brilliant run through the morning, it is their first outing together and will be sat together again at Greystokes, Julian has stepped up into the Minis from the F1000 championship and has shown that he has what it takes to run in the forest. It’s early days in his rallying career but he is proving himself to be a solid driver.
Andrew Downward and James Coutts came out of the gates strong on SS1 but came into a lgR3<R5 a bit quicker than they expected causing them to ride the outer ditch and losing valuable seconds. The rest of the stage and into stage two they admit they were probably over cautious, concentrating on getting the finish over speed but settled again into stage three. Playing it cautions paid off as they got that third place finishing bringing them more valuable points towards the over all gravel championship.
As mentioned Wes and Andrew managed to get a finish thanks to the help From Gareth and Adam. They had put in some great stages, unfortunately rallying does throw mechanical problems when they are least wanted. We also had one or two of our crews involved in some mishaps, luckily all crews were unharmed and got home safely. Their cars on the other hand may need a little love if they wish to make it out again in the 2024 season.
Thankyou to everyone who sends me summaries at the end of the rallies so I can put this together, unfortunately I wont always be able to include everyone’s but I shall try my best.
Next up we are out at Grey stokes on the 7th of July and hopefully there will be significantly less biting midges than we experienced at Kielder. See you all there.
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