It gets dark pretty early in England by the end of October and this proved a double edged sword when selling books at the season-ending RALLYE PRESOTT event. On the one hand it made for a nice short day (we were packing up around 4pm) but it also meant the big crowd arriving to watch the rally cars take their final runs up the historic hill by headlights tended to arrive fairly late in the day. That meant there were still a lot of people mulling around in the dusk as we departed. Perhaps next year we will pack some floodlights and stay open rather longer.
Autumn Tints on a grey day.
I had some help on the stall from my old freind and former rally navigator Ian , who was invaluable getting all the book boxes back in the car before the light went completely, but I didn't have chance to wander round the paddock or see much action so photo opportunities were distinctly limited! I also cannot hear the commentary where my stall is located (speaker removed some years ago so it does not interfere with the local council's noise monitor which is only intended to pick up the passing cars) so I generally have no idea of who is doing what or even who is driving what!
Never mind I was fairly busy talking to a long succession of old and new freinds , some of whom I had not see since Ian and I were competing in a Rover SD1 back in the early 1990s! Some I recognised, some took a bit of prompting (sorry Motty, my mind went blank!) . It was great to chat with Paul Tebbet about his ex works Rover, which is hugely nostalgic for both of us an even the right colour as our original car. I had a ride in Paul's a few years ago and did it ever take me back to 1991 ! Also present was Phil King, who also navigated the car on numerous ocassions . Pity we could net get all three of us posed with Paul's car for old times's sake.
Simon & Ian with the first Rover SD1 Outside The Original Bookshop in 1991
Paul's SD1 in the paddock at Shelsley Walsh back in the summer
There were a few MG 6R4s present , this being the 40th anniversary of the car's first appearance…really? Blimey time flies so fast. And apparantly ex works driver David Llewelyn was around somewhere..but I confess I didn't see him. When we were rallying the 6R4 was the dream car and we used to compete against a number of them on a regular basis (John Price , Peter Lloyd, Mike Oates, Steve Sofronou and Dave Appleby) naturally not having a prayer of being on terms with them in our bulky, already-15-year-old 2 wheel drive SD1. If the lottery had only produced the right numbers, a 6R4 would have been the first choice for a replacement!
Folk-hero Tony Pond at Knebworth in the MG 6R4 at it's press launch
Just as we finished packing the car things came to a grinding halt on track , literally, something clobbered the barriers pretty hard under the bridge and between the clanging of steel on armco and the grinding of wheel-less suspension on tarmac, was the blurr of red and white lights tracing several high speed rotations. Ouch! I have no idea who it was and what the car was but I hope it sounded worse than it was… and I hope they will be back next year, as we plan to be.
Unusual Autobianchi A112
One of the Moran family Mk2 Escorts. As immaculate as their single seater hillclimb cars.
As ever the car park held some gems, like this Audi Sport ("short")Quattro
