Castlecombe Rallyday 2012
Left home around 10 on Friday morning, arrived on site around 2, shortly followed by the Mitchell’s, and Deguilio’s (and a lot later the Bird’s) – camp was set up and the guys set to with putting up the banners.
Then off they went to set up a bit of a course around the infield where we would be ‘showing off’ to the crowds on Saturday. We girls started on the fizz. When the men folk came back we had a huge feast which we had planned before hand and more fizz then cocktails (thanks to Jon for the blue, orange and green liquids he brought back from his visit to Eurotrials in Switzerland earlier in the month).
Woke up on Saturday with ‘a bit of a head’ – soon sorted with breakfast and cup of tea. Gave the car a quick polish then got ready for the first of our two slots in the main ring, one in the morning and another one in the afternoon. We were to follow the Rallyday shogun round the course once, then stop to be seeded, then we would have 3 or 4 laps round the arena, they had included a couple of ramps in the course, the first one was quite tight after the jump with a 90 degree right but the second jump had been made in-line with the course, so you didn’t have to watch your exit! All to soon our time was up and we were directed off the course.
Once back we were told that we could ‘play’ on the track with the Race2Recovery guys – we had a quick 3 laps round there and then back to base. Rick had another couple of runs round with Abbie Deguilio and then later with Lisa Bird.
Rick & myself decided to go and have a look around, there were loads of different car clubs there and a few stands selling bits and pieces for cars, t-shirts and lots of food. So after the obigatory ’99 ice cream’ we headed back – ready for our second slot in the main arena.
Our second time in the arena, followed the same format as the first, one lap behind the rallyday shogun, then line up, again we were set off first, Rick said as we were going round that he was going to straight line the second jump and see if we could hit it flat out, first time round was good, second time we caught up the dakar truck so straightlined past him and hit the jump flat out in 6th -168kmh (about 106mph) – fantastic jump!
At the end of our display we were directed off the field, I think we all arrived back at base with huge smiles on our faces. Rick decided that was enough for one day, so we got changed and went to watch Jon in his trialer, neither of us has ever trialed before so Rick asked him if he could have a go round with him, he said he really enjoyed it and that Jon was very good, he offered me a ride round but I said no as it looked to frightening!
Then it was time for a quick photo shot
Then a glass or two of fizz!
The guys went off and collected all the course furniture whilst the girls arranged the food for the evening – all fed and watered, we sat out playing ‘I went shopping and bought…..’ and watching the stars till bed time.
After a communal breakfast we set off home after another fantastic weekend with great food & drink, brilliant weather and the best friends ever!
Thanks to Sam Skone,Darrell Payne and Ian Linford for their great photos.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
Filed under: UK Race Updates on August 21st, 2012
