Matt Barker RAC rally report 2005

Where do I start???? November 2004 I guess when I went to watch the "RAC" last year. The event brought back some childhood memories of watching the rally in the late 70s early 80s. After the event last year I came away thinking it would be possible to compete in my 205 in the Roger Albert Clark Open Rally that followed the main event. It wasn't until May this year that my dream started to become a reality when a friend of mine, Dave Lucas who navigated for my dad in the 70s and is a veteran of 7 previous RACs asked me if I would like to do the rally. I suppose I said YES! without really thinking what would be involved, as I was still competing in the 1.9 scholarship and the last round in Holland was only 14 days before the RAC. Just to keep us busy as soon as we returned from Holland we had to build a brand new car for my West Midlands Motorsport team mate Austin McInlay to use on the RAC, so I knew that if I did any serious damage to my car in Holland I was in trouble. We arrived in Sheffield early on Saturday morning to a really heavy frost and proceeded though noise and scrutineering, in front of my 205 was Jimmy McRaes Porsche and behind me was the Ex Jimmy Mcrae Manta in AC Delco colours, with Mark Higgins RS1600 a few cars in front and Stig Blomquists RS1800 just leaving I think thats about as good a scrutineering queue gets. With signing on in the same hall as the cars it was quite a special atmosphere with all these stars and childhood heroes milling about. Leg 1 On the Saturday afternoon we had 2 short stages around the Don Valley Stadium, we were allowed to walk these stages (a bit odd for a blind rally I thought, it was like an autotest), I came away thinking this stage should suit the 205 as it was really slippy tarmac and quite tight. As service was pretty close I decided to have a bit of a go rather than take it easy on what were two fairly insignificant stages. After these we were lying 5th oa 3 seconds behind the leader another hero of mine Steve Bannister. Leg 2 On Sunday we had a fairly leisurely start at about 9am and started the long drive north punctuated with 2 stages each at Bramham Park and Croft Racing Circuit. After about half an hour I asked Dave how much further it was to Bramham and he told me about 30 miles, it was then that the enormity of what I was embarking on started to sink in compared to the one day rallies we normally compete on. On the startline at Bramham we followed a Gp4 Escort which nearly blew my car away as it left the line, I remember thinking I dont think we will be 5th oa after this. I couldn't have been more wrong as the stage was covered in frost and the Escorts must have struggled for traction, the 205 however was just the job and with a bit of Kev and Pats Swedish tuition we set fastest time, not just in the open rally but historics aswell. Proof I think what a great spec the scholarship car is and how valuable a trip to Sweden can be! After stage 3 we were lying 2nd oa and after stage 4 3rd oa. Two stages at Croft followed we lost a chunk of time here as we didnt take any tarmac tyres to the event this dropped us to 7th oa 4 secs behind "Mad" Mick Jones. A long drive up the A66 to the Lake District followed where the rally would start properly in the forests. One stage in Greystoke followed and we set 7th fastest time, Steve Bannister was quickest a full 50 secs! faster. It was quite hard to know how hard to drive at this point so there was plenty to think about as we drove to service at Carlisle Airport. In service Simon found an engine oil leak and the power steering pump bracket broken, with only 20 mins service before 2 stages in Scotland we decided not to try and fix anything now but to go steady until night service when you have as much time as you like. I limited myself to 4000 revs and took a gallon of oil with me, we were really lucky as it was really really foggy and icy so no one could go quickly, we ended the day 6th oa, i counted myself pretty lucky to be there at all as when Simon took the hoses off the steering pump and slackened the belt the pump fell on the floor!! I was pretty tired to be honest and after a quick chat with Simon and Bob we decided the best thing I could do is go to bed! Our restart time for the next morning was 05.28!!!!! I went to bed thinking about the problems with the car Simon and Bob worked wonders and didn't finish until about 1.30am. I had been talking to the driver of the car just in front of us in 5th oa and he told me he didn't like ice and didnt like the dark so I figured early in the morning was our best chance of beating him so I planned to have a bit of an attack on the two stages before 8am the next morning. Leg 3 This was our first early start and the boys had done a great job on the car it was perfect! After what seemed a long drive into Scotland we started the stage a shade before 6am, the sight of the cars blasting off into the dark with everything covered in ice and frost is something I wont forget. It was really icy and foggy in places but I stuck to my plan and still pushed hard, it obviously paid off because we set 4th fastest time catching and passing the car in front taking 1 min 7 secs out of him. Looking back this is probbably the best stage I have ever driven, I think we were 11th fastest if you include all the historics, when you consider that 11 include messrs Higgins, Blomquist, McRae, Stokes, Bannister etc etc, I went back to service in Dumfries fairly pleased with myself. The car was now fine and we spent the rest of the morning chasing the Escorts while it was icy. As it warmed up a bit we started to lose a bit of ground and I decided to back off just a bit if it was rough or where you couldn't see clearly until it went cold again, I had been giving the car a bit of stick and I was worried we were going faster than we should be when we still had another 150 stage miles to go. Wth 2 stages left in the dark we were 37 secs behind the car in front, a nice looking Rothmans Escort, the crew would wear rubber masks of Ari Vatanen and Dave Richards on the road sections. On the 2 stages that ended Monday we took exactly 37 secs out of them to draw level going into the last day! I went to bed pumped up that I had to beat him again on the early morning stages. Our start time for the next day was 5.15 and we would be about 11th or 12th on the road. Leg 4 I coaxed myself out of bed to find a perfect car once more and we were soon on our way to Kershope Forest on the edge of Keilder. My plan to push in the dark backfired a bit here as it was really foggy and even though my navigator Dave told me to slow down I kept pushing, we slid a bit wide on a 90 left and just dropped into a ditch, I really thought I had blown it, we tried pushing shoving etc but to no availl, then I surgested to Dave we put the tow rope on the front and try giving it a tug so Dave pulled and I got into 4th gear on the spot but it wasnt going anywhere. Then out of the fog came a Toyota Carolla which seeing Dave holding the tow rope stopped, reversed and pulled us out of the ditch. Andy Madge and Pat Copper you are stars, without you we would have no doubt retired, we can't thank you enough. We had lost about 4-5 mins but were still in 7th oa. There was still about 70 stage miles in Keilder the next 40 of them without service, we got through all of these stages without incident really and running 15th on the road when there are no 4wd cars in sight I really started to enjoy myself, we knew we could not make up the 4 mins to 4th oa so spent the rest of the day savouring the moment so to speak. When I did the Pirelli rally in May I really didnt enjoy the stages in Kielder, but it was like a different world, the 4wd brigade have a lot to answer for! As we turned right out of the last Kielder stage our next destination was Croft nearly 100 miles away I was really tired by now and found the road sections quite tough down the A1. On arriving at Croft we pulled into the control area only to be swamped by spectators, apparently there were 1500 cars in the spectator car park. After a short service at Croft we queued up for the stage we were told to line up behind Stig Blomquist who was on his second stage and behind me was Mark Higgins. I must have felt super human for a moment or super daft as I demonstrated a 4th gear spin through the gravel trap and chicane to the hundereds of spectators in the grandstands, I spent the rest of the stage laughing to myself until Mr Higgins caught me with 2 bends to go, he had taken 30 secs out of me while waving his arm out of the window during big opposite lock drifts!! So only another 100 miles lay between Croft and the finish back in Sheffield. Kevin had alway told me he stood on the bonnet on his first RAC finish so I decided it would be a good idea. It was a great atmosphere at the finish with all our service crew there to see us finish. Quite a special moment. I feel really privaliged to have been given to chance to do what is a very expensive event and there is a huge list of thankyous Dave Lucas for supporting me to do the event getting me round the route and reading the maps so well. Anthony Palmer and Dave Bromley for everything they have done for my rallying. Simon Hawthorn and Bob Jones for being the best chase crew you could wish for, you were on our bumper the whole way, we couldn't have done it without you! Matt Giles, Mike Hawthorn, Simon Palmer and Dyfrig Harris for setting up and breaking down the service equiptment for 4 days (and Matt for his cooking) All the marshalls and organizers in the freezing conditions. This event was a big undertaking for the whole team and everyone worked 110% all the time I can't thank you enough. Well done to Austin and Dominic bringing home their new car without a scratch. If anyone has any footage of my dougnuts at croft my email is: matt205@blueyonder.co.uk To cap it all I have just had an amazing experience which I wont forget, and my advice to anyone thinking of having a go in 2006 is get your entry in when the regs come out, it would be great to see a dozen 205s out there. Matt