Wet and Windy at Brooklands
All ready for the off, 44 cars attended Brooklands for scrutineering and crew briefings. Blimey what a mixture of approaches to preparation for a 28 day event. A real variety of ride heights, extra storage boxes and tyre choices; some running low profile rally tyres some winter tyres and some, like us, running sturdy light van tyres to last the distance.
Ways to carry spares, tools wheels and tyres has obviously tested the ingenuity of the field. Some have weird and wonderful roof boxes - including some lithe coupes like 911's and Datsun 240Z's looking like they are carrying a mattress on the roof. Still, if you have little luggage space, there is really no option unless you arrange to send stuff on or have a friendly fellow competitor (probably in a big 4x4) to help out.
On tyre selection, the organisers have recommended van tyres of high 80 profile if possible as the rugged choice. Despite this, some have low profile rally tyres (though in hard compound) and some have winter tyres to give a bit of extra off-road grip (though they are not great at temps of +8c and can wear quickly.
Tonight will be a good test of such choices. 2 tight forest stages (or timed sections to be accurate) and then 50km of road rallying through the lanes of Kent timed to the second followed by the Dover - Calais ferry at 3.40. Then another full day tomorrow down to near Dijon with a couple of stages on the way. A real challenge to kick off with.
Great job Steve, I appreciate you, we were watching the action near Dover-Calais port. Great starting of the year. It was fantastic.
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