All finished safely.

Looks at the moment as if Andy has a first in class and was 5th overall. Dan is probably second in class and about 9th overall.

Standing waiting in rally HQ for the finals and awards.


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After stage 5

Dave West back out front on 29:31. Andy 5th on 30:38. Dan 9th on 31:07 and Chris 48th on 34:45.

No incidents and everything holding up well.
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Andy in stage

Things are warming up

Richard Edwards is now in the lead with 24:52. Andy is in 11th with 26:12 and Dan is right behind in 12th with 26:26.

Long service break for lunch then 4 more stages. Can Dan catch Andy?
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Ouch

Doesn't look too bad after we straightened it. Hit the co drivers arm and the door wouldn't close when they came in.

Best bit is the guy who hit them was trying to get up the inside on a left hander. He came straight over to us in service and said the brake lights don't work. Strange because they were working before and working after!
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Times after 2 Stages

Dave West in first place with 13:33. Andy in 10th with 14:29. Dan in 17th with 14:39 and Chris 45th with 15:33.

Chris has just been run into by another car. Waiting in service for him to come back for damage assessment.
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2nd service

Everything running well. Dan is off to query a time cos someone who started in front of him and finished behind has a faster time than him and Mark.

Andy's misfire has gone and Chris is settling down in the car cutting his stage time by 37 seconds.
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First Service

Andy is in with a horrible misfire, Dan is back with a dent in the front wing. We are expecting Chris back safely in a minute.

Misfire now cured. Condensation in an electrical contact on the throttle sensor.


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Stage live!

Andy is away, Dan on way to start and Chris about to leave service. Progress updates as we know them
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In service at the loco

Won't be many pictures as this is an mod site. But here is one for our sponsors.
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Off to the loco

It's 4:48 am and we are on the way to Longmoor for the Loco Rally. We are running 3 cars, Andy, Dan and Chris. Andy starts as number 3, Dan is 12 and Chris is forty something.
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Results confirmed, Dan and Steve won the 205 Challenge round and were second in Class finishing 14th Overall. Great weekend, not quite enough beer, but plenty of excitement. Looking forward to Swansea Bay now.

Provisional results

Dan is showing 14th overall and 1st in the 205s. Yipee
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Update

Andy has suffered an engine failure. Dan has gone out from the final service with everything running fine and the rear valance re-engineered by Gaffer + Cable motorsport engineering ltd. He made contact with a tyre wall at Mallory.

If he keeps it all together and stays calm he is in for a win.
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Dan is leading 205s

Looks like dan is leading the 205s by 12 seconds after Mallory this morning.
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Latest update

Andy has an engine rattle and has retired.
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Andy is OUT!

Just had a call from Andy. He has retired at Bramcote. We don't know what the problem is yet.
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Big Changes

Latest reports say Andy is in 4th place but unfortunately Dan has dropped down to 21st. Dan has contacted us to say he has problems with his electric fan after one of the watersplashes.
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They're Away

Both cars away on day 2. Serviced on the side of the industrial estate and off to Merryvale for the cattle grids and bumps. Then onto mallory park for some smooth tarmac onto MIRA for who knows what.

Back to service around 11:00. Hopefully there will be nothing to report until then.


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6:35 am and the housemates......

Early start from Ade's. Steve has already left, Ed is up and walking round in his pants and the rest of the world is emerging.
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Family thing

Dan just walked up and was really proud that he had second fastest time on the Argents Mead stage. But was a bit deflated to find that Andy had fastest time!
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After 5 stages

Dan is in 19th place on 15:44 and Andy is 9th on 15:26. No problems with either car. Andy's new engine is breathing some oil and there is some play developing in Dan's front struts.

Dan had a close encounter with a chicane at Mallory but has only scratched some paint. He said not to tell Paul so I won't say anything.
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Early report

Andy is through the first 2 stages and in the q for stage 3. All going well.
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Teas up

Set up in service waiting for the cars to come in.
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Safely arrived

Both cars here and ready for scrutineering
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Rally of The Midlands

There should be a better chance of posting to the blog for this event. So here is the first attempt.

Well I am sat eating breakfast then there are a couple of things I need to get done before I set off to Cornermotorsports HQ to load the van and get off up to Hinkley for the Rally Of The Midlands. 5an is starting car 40 and Andy starts car 13. Ade will be in with Andy for this event and Dan has Steve McNulty in with him. Spectator info and other details are on www.rallyofthemidlands.co.uk.

I will post news here as I get it. We should have had a preview article in the Banbury Guardian and have been promised a results article.
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Home again.

Well the cars are off the trailer and onto the lifts. Dan's hasn't broken the diff or gearbox it was just a spider in one of the drive shafts that snapped. Shame really as we had a new shaft in the van but we couldn't get to Dan as the stage was still live and then we couldn't get in the end and were misdirected.

Next event is the Plains on May 16th. Hopefully there will be a better phone signal and we will be able to update as we go. There is a service area in Dolgellau and management vehicles out and about. There are also a couple of great spectator stages, one in the forests and one at Mick's Woodyard near Welshpool.

More information about the plains at http://www.plainsrally.co.uk/index.html

Well there was only intermittent GPRS phone signal in the service area so the posts haven't come through to the blog in exactly the right order, but we will get the hang of it. Also noticed that if I take pictures portrait rather than landscape you all have to lay on your side to see them!

Andrew and Darren finished 59th overall from the 120 or so starters, so that's in the top half, well done guys. Dan and Ade retired on stage 6 with a broken diff. It seems that Paul got to within half a mile of them before being told by an official that there were "no cars down there mate". We finally managed to get the car back and borrowed a trailer to take it back into Brecon.

The rumors about Andy Baker having won were wrong, he came 4th overall. Here is a picture from the awards ceremony.

Ready to go?

Well Paul spent 3 hours trying to find Dan and Ade. Andrew and Darren had a wheel come off, which they managed to refit and get back to service.

Dan and Ade have arrived back safely at service and are now off to collect the car. Looks like Andy Baker may have won the rally.
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Stopped in stage

Just had a message from Russ Thompson that Dan and Ade are stopped in stage.
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The sun is shining

Both cars through safely on the first splash and dash between the start and stage one. Now waiting patiently for them to return for service 1.
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Long wait

Nearly an hour late now. News is that everyone is waiting at the start of stage 4 and the air ambulance is in. Spoken to our crews they are in the queue.

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This one is in the wrong place! Should actually have appeared mid morning, but had no signal. One of the guys who was taken out by the air ambulance was out of hospital by the time the awards took place the other was being kept in for observation. Big Thank you to all the marshalls medics and ambulance staff for being there.

In the service area

Up at 5:30 am and into service in time to see the view. Both cars down to the start in Brecon, Graham set up in service and Andy mobile with cars to the start jusr in case.
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Loaded up and ready to go.
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The satnav said turn left

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Loaded up and ready to go.
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off to Brecom for The Welsh Rally today. If we can get it working we will be posting live information here during the event.