 Drystone Rally 1996 | 
|  Swan Rally 1996 |
Drystone Rally 1996 |
| Swan Rally 1996 |
37 crews gathered at the Regal Garage at Witney, ready for the 150 mile rally. The field were lead of by the usual experts - Larner/Rogers car 1, Rodger/Speller 2 and Les Parsons/Roger Davidson car 3. Down the field there were a few changes - Tony Michael had old hand Pete Tilling sitting in for Paul Barrett (off navigating in Wales). Dave Smith chose LCAMC champion Cath Woodman to navigate his road rally debut.
Heading off into virgin teritory, the route initially headed north-east, taking in both the long white in Ditchley Park and the Kidlington Hall white. These brought crews into a short neutral section through Enstone. Simple navigation and the fast wide roads allowed most crews to reach Enstone unscaythed. First fallers from the potential winners were Ian Mepham/Martin Smith. The two minutes they dropped on a wrong slot eventually put them sixth.
The run from Enstone to petrol at Stow-on-the-Wold didn't cause any more major upsets, but with 95 miles of Cotswold lanes to go the second half didn't seem as easy. The long white up to Salperton proved to be a turning point. Only five crews were able to reach TC21 unpenalised. The white, although smooth, was covered in deep grass concealing potentially nasty surprises for the unwary. The thought of these, coupled with a very indistinct entrance casued many crews to lose time. Many just missed the slot entirely. The trickly gave the drivers something to do to earn their keep (and something to boast about over breakfast!).
A few bits of devious navigation in the next few sections sealed the fate of many people. The first was simply RRY (road colours at junctions). So simple that only half the field could solve it in the time allowed. The next section was that old favourite, the circular herringbone. Accurately plotted, a black spot was located 50m up the road from a junction, inaccurately plotted it prevented the handout from working at all. Sorting both the herringbone and the avoid cost many people time. Rising above all this were the eventual winners and Micheal/Tilling. All three crews demonstrated their combined abilities both on the whites and on the navigation. Snapping at their heals came a gaggle of crews, all hoping for disaster to strike.
And strike it did. A codeboard on a simple section proved too difficult for Michael/Tilling to spot, the twenty minute penalty reducing them to twelth and the leaders to two. The final few sections in the Vale of White Horse were not a problem and thus the 1996 Bullnose was left with joint winners. Despite the apparently easy navigation and an undemanding route the lesser crews still struggled. There was only one retirement, novices James Coyne/Richard Houatt. Their Jetta was last seen approaching TC9 in reverse!
Pos Class Driver/Navigator Car Penalty 1= Ex 1= Rob Smith/Martin Saunders 205 GTi Clean 1= Ex 1= Simon Larner/Gavin Rodgers Ford Escort Clean 3 Ex 3 Dave Smith/Cath Woodman Astra Estate 1M 4= Ex 4= Colin Rodger/Sue Speller 205 GTi 1M 4= Ex 4= Doug Kingsley/PRAR Nova GTE 1M 6 Ex 6 Ian Mepham/Martin Smith Golf GTi 2M 7 Ex 7 Steve Cole/Bob Blows 205 GTi 8M 8 Se 1 Neil Lewis/Bob Muttram Lancia Fulvia 10M 9 Se 2 Chris Pratt/Nick Arden 205 GTi 11M 10 Ex 8 Les Parsons/Roger Davidson Ford Sierra 14M 11 Se 3 Trevor Joel/John Upham Sunbeam 14M 12 Ex 9 Tony Michael/Pete Tilling Ford Escort 20M 13 Se 4 Gordon Millbank/Andrew Cartwright Ford Escort 20M 14 Se 5 Gareth Hurford-Jones/Rob Liddiard Astra 25M 15 Ex 10 Paul Dutton/Mark Goodman Ford Escort 25M 16 Se 6 Cath Roberts/Tim Warburton Opel Kadett 37M 17 Ex 11 John Harmer/Sarah Harmer MG Maestro 46M 18 Se 7 Ray Deacon/Paul Rodemark MG Metro 84M 19 Se 8 Ian Thompson/Dave Cooper 405 Estate 86M 20 Se 9 Rob Norrington/Chris Moore Sunbeam 120M 21 Se 10 Ian Orford/Ian Perry Diahatsu GTi 1F 46M 22 Se 11 Barbara Carter/Peter Barnard Corrolla 1F 69M 23 Se 12 Steve Penrose/Alan Askew Astra 1F 213M 24 Ex 12 Gordon Popperwell/Graham Coker Ford Escort 2F 108M 25 Se 13 Simon Millington/Richard Whitehouse 205 GTi 4F 94M 26 No 1 Kim Jordan/Steve Curtis Corsa 4F 397M 27 Be 1 R Reynolds/N Tipping Nova GTE 7F 389M 28 Se 14 Dave Bushby/Roger McKenzie Ford Escort 8F 252M 29 No 2 Michael Perchard/Alisdair Varley Ford Escort 12F 320M 30 Se 15 Rob Jeffries/Craig Codling Chevette 12F 398M 31 No 3 Charlie Turner/Steve Minns Hillman Hunter 13F 453M 32 No 4 Jim Hall/Harry Bryant Imp 14F 263M 33 Se 16 Mark Lopder/Steve Budd Opel Kadett 15F 89M 34 No 5 Nick Piper/Graham Shults Astra 15F 217M 35 Se 17 Nick Broadway/Andy Oakes Ford Sierra 15F 299M 36 Be 2 Steve Langley/B J Summers Mini 15F 575M
