AIREDALE & Pennine Motor Car Club members Neil Andrews and Mark Broadbent had an eventful day at the Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages Rally near Appleby in Cumbria.
Having made some modifications to the car over recent weeks in readiness for the Mull Rally next month, this 72-mile, eight-stage event, which is part of the North of England Tarmacadam |Rally Championship, was to be a shakedown.
Not having driven the car competitively this year, Neil was a bit rusty on the first stage, and an overshoot cost them a few seconds.
However, fate struck on the second stage when the newly-fitted front-mounted inter-cooler shed a pipe and, losing all boost, they could only coast to the end of the stage, dropping them to 66th overall.
Thinking that was the trauma for the day, they had a big wake-up call when the brakes failed at the end of stage four.
Fortunately, they had scrubbed much of the speed off before entering the time control.
The afternoon stages were fast as both crew and the car performed well, shaving on average 45 seconds per stage off last year’s times, which meant that they steadily climbed up the field to finish 37th overall out of 90.
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