Report from Autosport 29th October

Elonex Rally

Report: Keith Oswin - Photography: Ralph Hardwick

All through the night

The final round of the 1992 Mobil 1 /Top Gear British Rally Championship saw Colin McRae finish a clean sweep of wins this season after the best contest of the year, one which was decided in the final two miles

Grandstand finishes are nothing new to the Wolverhampton & South Staffs Car Club. The club has organised this event in many guises (the Castrol and Audi Sport titles were the most famous of recent seasons), but on several occasions both the event and the championship have been decided by the odd second on the final stage.
With Elonex Personal Computers stepping in at the last minute to underwrite this year’s event, nothing changed.
Colin McRae had already wrapped up his second successive championship but his rally-long duel with Tommi Makinen underlined what might have been if the Rothmans Subaru driver had enjoyed some form of competition throughout the year. Makinen (who, with McRae, is one of the brightest new hopes of World Championship rallying) was testing the latest suspension revisions to the Nissan Sunny GTiR which faces its swansong event next month. The young Finn had spent the week in Wales testing the car and fine-tuning it to the best possible balance. Miffed at suggestions that the car would still offer little opposition to the Subaru, Nissan mounted an all-out attack from the off.
The format of the rally was new and controversial. To try and reduce costs to the financially-strapped clubmen, the event ran almost overnight to

eliminate the need for extra hotel rooms. At a time when top flight rallying has established an ‘office hours’ format, some saw this as a step backwards. Nevertheless, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ might be Clerk of the Course John Trevethick’s motto, and he pressed on undaunted from the event’s Telford base. Two stages at nearby Weston Park on Saturday evening (run as darkness fell) preceded a short break before die restart at 1.30am from Newtown in mid-Wales. In between, the top crews sought refuge in hotels while some spent the night in cars and vans. And what a night it was! If the weather on Saturday night was a guideline, it will be a decade before Wales has another hosepipe ban. The rain fell in stair rods, relentlessly, for several hours. Surprisingly, as the crews battled through Hafren, Pantperthog, Dyfl and Gartheiniog, only one of the top names retired. That sad honour fell to Dave Metcalfe, debuting the stunning Astra GSi. He was third overall I at the time, demonstrating the potential of Vauxhall’s Formula 2 weapon on the loose, when the drive flange to the short shaft broke on the third forest stage. The mechanics changed the unit eventually but the car was OTL and, with a question mark over the validity of insurance at such times, the team elected not to continue for testing and send the still pristine car to Birmingham for Motorsports Day at the Motor Show. ‘Obviously we’re disappointed in some ways, but we’re encouraged in others,’ confessed Metcalfe who sees the potential of the car. It was sad that he could not have pulled off one of his giant-killing acts at the weekend to boost the morale of a team mourning the loss of its former service co-ordinator, Robin Turvey (see Special Stage). For four of this year’s five rounds, it has mainly been the battle behind the lead that has provided greatest interest. Apart from a brief moment on the Manx, McRae had never been headed, but now he was having to fight hard. The Subaru snatched a three-second lead on the first stage but Makinen levelled the scores on the second and the pair set off for the woods anticipating a battle royal. McRae was in some discomfort after a leg operation last week, while Makinen’s car had to overcome a curious misfire on the opening stage. Early on Sunday, Makinen grabbed the lead by blitzing McRae through the 17-mile Hafren test. The Nissan was fully 21 seconds faster than the Subaru... McRae hit back in Pantperthog and Gartheiniog to turn the deficit into a four-second lead. But Makinen was three seconds faster than McRae on the 11-miler in Dyfi and cut the lead to just a single second. The battle raged thus for stage after stage, Makinen ahead again after the second Pantperthog but with McRae whittling away at the lead, despite an intercooler failure for the second year running. Mind, last year’s was caused by a tree branch invading the engine bay at some velocity. Both teams had been concentrating on the Lombard RAC, but show a racer a time clock and the red mist rises uncontrollably! Makinen was laughing all the way, enjoying the challenge and i enthusing over the revitalised Nissan, sadly too late to save the programme for 1993. McRae, on the other hand, was tyre testing for Pirelli to see how the latest wet-weather covers performed. It was a study in patience — akin to the Israelis not reacting to Saddam Huseein’s Scud missile attacks — for it was clear that the older patterns were more competitive. ‘We have got one more pattern to try,’ said the team management, ‘and then we’ll go back to the tried-and- tested covers to see if we can’t pull off the win.’

Trevor Smith, trucking along in third but unable to even think about the battle ahead, could see how hard they pair were trying in Dyfnant as the forest stages drew to a close. ‘There were two sets of spin marks and one of the sets looked like a real big one!’
That had belonged to Makinen. ‘The road had the wrong camber,’ he said, ‘and we just began sliding sideways. I had full lock on and we just came to a stop completely sideways.’ He was laughing about it for some time...
McRae’s effort was a mere half-spin and the difference ensured that the final two runs at Weston Park would see the ultimate showdown. McRae was now just three seconds behind!
Makinen had a scare on the road section back to Telford when the Nissan just died. ‘It stopped for 30 seconds, something electrical, and I just thought "shit, it is not going to start again". We were lucky I think.’ With one stage to go, the gap was down to just one second.
The duel swung McRae’s way on the final stage, however, as Makinen found himself behind Nick Elliott’s Peugeot, slowly completing the first of the two stages. Nick saw the approaching Nissan and moved over, but the brief moment of hesitation was enough. He was, shall we say, unhappy at the situation, and was furious at having been beaten by just two seconds. Life’s a bitch.
Trevor Smith regained third place over the final stages, having been led for a while by Alister McRae, who was cruising — by his standards — to the Group N award on both event and championship.
This was one of the few prizes left open for this final round. While McRae had to do little more than just finish, he still had to ensure that Louise Aitken-Walker’s final event before she hangs up her helmet did not net the former Ladies World Champion one final trophy for the mantelpiece in Duns. Louise has never matched Alister’s pace all season and this situation was unlikely to change at the weekend. ‘On her final rally,’ explained current co-driver Tina Thomer, ‘she is not going to risk going over the edge.’ Former partner Ellen Morgan had also come out to watch and share the occasion. Emotions were kept in check for most of the event but, as she drove away from the finish ramp, someone shouted ‘Well done Louise,’ and there appeared just the hint of a tear in her eye.

The prize for the slowest champion on the day must have i gone to Jonny Milner. Like young McRae, he only had to finish to clinch his £10,000 cheque for being the first Lombard Junior Champion. ‘I was driving like a granny’s granny,’ he quipped as he was caught by feflow Peugeot driver, Richard Burns. Bums was trying out the 16-valve 309GTI which he will use on the Lombard RAC Rally, but he might not normally have expected to be baulked by Milner.
Milner’s rival for the crown, Mark Higgins, finished more than five minutes ahead with the factory Nova but, as that was only two places clear (Louise split the pair) it was not enough. Mark had been quick on the stages but quicker still on the road section... officer!
Mark’s brother, David, was also in the wars after burying his VW Golf in a log pile, but he emerged to tell the tale. Bums’s day proved to be another learning opportunity and many lessons will have been taken on board by the Peugeot team for next month. But a better result was denied him when the electrical master switch cut out in Pantperthog. He also took road penalties to run behind Milner, in case Jonny needed a shove through the stages.
In among the title chasers was Mick Jones in his Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. He had been denied seventh place last year by road penalties but was there again this time. And once more he was denied the slot, losing a place when his already second-hand tyres punctured.
Brendan Crealey could simply cruise to the Peugeot GTI title this time, beaten on the day by both Phil Brown and Ricky Evans, but still doing enough to claim his factory drive on the Lombard RAC.
Mark Lawn, one of the pre-event title hopefuls, smashed his car’s rear beam axle on the third stage and lost so much time that he finished one place from last on the event.
Meanwhile, the Vauxhall Nova GSi Super Challenge was being led by Steve Green in the Atkinson’s car, a situation which was causing the calculators to overheat as the points were worked out.
By denying Richard Forster the win on the day, the title race came down to a comparison of fastest stage times and, on that basis, Mike Williams clinched the title by half a point. How much closer do you want to get?
Les Andrew wrapped up the Shell Skoda Trophy competition so, like Crealey and Williams, adds his name to the Lombard RAC Rally entry list.
For an event which so nearly didn’t take place at all, the Elonex International produced the finale we had dreamed about. Next year’s series is in the initial stages of preparation and the signs are that more people want to take part than this year.
But we are far from out of the woods and there will be much lobbying to do in the winter months before we reconvene in Chester on Saturday March 20.