The three weeks prior to the event were very hectic, with the car being rebuilt from scratch with some new bits and bobs. The shell had been stripped and rebuilt back up after the front-end damage from Abingdon, and the cage that was in previously (a bolt-in) had been welded in and strengthened at key locations. The gearbox had been rebuilt by George Cooke (of Tomsport fame) with a 4.8 CWP instead of the previous tall-geared standard 1.9 diff. We also had a new ECU (a proper 1.9 one, instead of a 1.6 ECU which we had mistakenly been running all season!), a new air filter, some new rose-jointed bottom arms and a fresh set of wheels and tyres... oh, and a quick jetwash on Saturday morning en route to the event!

Working solid for three weeks, Little Dan, Trevor and George Cooke managed to turn the shell back into a rally car just in time for Three Sisters but fun was found at scrutineering when Dan realised he'd forgotten to stick the autolec stickers on the bonnet for the extinguisher trigger and autolec pull! Quite rightly so, the scrutineer would not sign the car off until these had been stuck on, but we tracked them down and were sorted. Noise was cleared with ease and it was time to get down to some rallying again - finally.

The weather was being kind, and although the track was damp the weather was mildly sunny, with a cool autumn breeze and the promise of no further rain on the day. Stage one arrived and we set off with the promise of taking it very easy - the car had not been fully road tested after it's rebuild and the front suspension had been set up by eye! This was the last rally of the year, with double points for the championship up for grabs, so it made sense to take it easy, get a finish and have a fun day out.

We set off and straight away the car was proving to be much better than it's previous configuration - the combination of a shorter gearbox and proper fuelling from the new ECU meant the car had a better turn of speed, ideal for Three Sisters which is very short and twisty (we didn't even get out of 3rd). We completed stage one in 2:04 which just goes to show how short it is. This put us square in the middle of the field and, after 2 months of work on the car, set Dan's mind at ease that he'd rebuilt the car okay. We eased into the finish time control only to find the four girls from GID's team running the control, with many cheers and grins to welcome us!

Service became just a nut and bolt check, with a strange knocking noise coming from one side of the car on left-hand turns, it sounded like something was moving and vibrating. Chris tightened a few nuts and bolts on the steering rack (ahem) and we hoped that stage 2 would prove a bit more confident.

Stage 2 started with a bang.... unfortunately. The lights went green, the 205 chugged away from the start line and before I'd even had chance to go for 2nd gear, there was an almighty bang from the exhaust and the engine died; no power whatsoever. We pulled to one side and attempted to start the car again, but it was having none of it. A mysterious ignition fault which had shown itself a few times during the build of the car had resurfaced and, despite running fine all morning, had decided one stage was enough. We returned to service and set about trying to find what the problem was but after replacing ECU, coil and HT leads we were none the wiser - one minute it would start, then it would cut out 30 seconds later!

So we retired after only one stage and finished the season with 3 events run - a finish at MIRA (albeit last) and retirements from Abingdon and Three Sisters. Well, no-one ever expected rallying to be easy and I always gear myself up for the worst - but we honestly had a great day out at Tyre'd Goat and, once the car was done for, signed on and helped out running the event as best we could.

As usual, special thanks must go to each and every member of the GID crew who has helped out over the year and also to Streetly Motor Club for their help and enthusiasm in getting us rallying in our first year. Particular thanks are due to Erik and Alan West at AAT, all the guys at AB Motorsport in Leamington and the afore-mentioned George Cooke whose help in rebuilding the car, advice during events and kind words of encouragement have always kept our chins up at the worst of times. Finally, a big thanks and lots of love and hugs to Becky who has had to put up with me devoting 100% of my time to the car in the past 3 weeks - I *will* make it up to you! xx

Next event is not really finalised at this point in time, but will probably be the first round of the HoE championship next year, unless I find some other event to squeeze in over the winter!