Alnite Rally 1995

1995 Green Leaves Rally

Claiming a heritage stretching back to the halcyon days of the Mexico Challenge (when it ran in Wales!), the Kent Rally formed part of four major regional championships. As a result the top contenders from the LCAMC, ACSMC, ASEMC and AEMC were all to be found amongst the entries. Heading the field were Steve Cole & Bob Blows in their 205 GTi. Next in line were ACSMC Champions Andy Juniper & Dean Taylor. They were to 'win the race' but a fail for a missed codeboard dropped them to fourth. Mike Biss & Cath Woodman were next off in their Nova, hoping not to repeat their Alnite mistake.

Starting from Wolfe Garage in Otford, the route ran out for a quick loop inside the M25. Everybody completed this successfully, before the route turned south down the west of map 188. Despite the fog, the long sections allowed crews to escape unpenalised from major wrong slots. Typical were Biss/Woodman, who missed a slot at Bough Beech but were able to recover and remain on schedule.

Most crews managed to reach TC9 without penalty, but many were not to reach TC10 clean. The 2 mile section seemed simple enough, but it was very easy to miss the PTO to the navigation which defined the route. Avoiding the myriad of taxis milling around also posed problems and as a result penalties abounded.

The next section was also to cause problems, with the new A26 not appearing on the maps. A badly placed codeboard (given the fog) was to see some crews 'driving in a manner liable to wear out the public highway' as they went back and forth to get the board. TC12 was to see Doug Kingsley & PRAR pick up a 6 minute penalty. Their Cavalier had cut out mysteriously, and once they had got it restarted, they found that the navigation had disappeared off into the night. TC12 was only reached after some concerted guesswork. Making this lateness up was to be their downfall. An unforced error saw them book in a minute early at the TC penultimate to petrol. Fortunately they avoided a fail for making up too much time, only picking up a 2 minute penalty.

Thus at petrol only 7 crews remained fail free. Among these came Delaney/Upham leading the semi-experts. Many of the fancied runners had fallen away, with Cole/Blows, Tony Michael & Paul Barrett and Steve Garside & Glynn Hayward among those on 1 fail. Only two crews were completely clean: Juniper/Taylor & Biss/Woodman, but the second half was to see even these experienced crews finding a fail on their cards.

Only two cars failed to arrive at petrol. Russell Fry & Brian Chamberlain disappeared into the night, not to be seen again. Novices Les Parsons & Jon Barber ended their event when their Sierra slipped sideways into a ditch. They were unhurt, and after breakfast, their fellow Windsor CC members retrieved the car undamaged.

Leaving petrol the route headed out onto the Pevensey Levels for some testing sections. Fortunately the sea breeze kept the fog at bay, allowing most crews to pass unpenalised. Cole/Blows dropped a minute, finding themselves at the wrong end of a queue after a wrong slot.

Off the Levels, the route headed north back into the foggy Weald, but as before the long sections allowed many crews to pass unscathed. Thus heading into the last sections at TC31, the standings were Juniper/Taylor and Biss/Woodman still clean, Popperwell/Coker on 5 minutes, Kingsley/PRAR 8 and Delaney/Upham 11.

The next sections, TC31-TC33, used the whites to be found paralleling the A259(T). Many crews were to fall foul of missed PCs and drop many places. First to fall were Kingsley/PRAR wrong slotting onto the white too early and missing a PC. TC32 saw a number of crews dropping minutes but Biss/Woodman and Juniper/Taylor both remained clean. TC33 was to see Biss/Woodman drop 1 minute. More tellingly however, they had missed a PC as the route looped back onto the A259(T). This fail was to cost them 1st overall (again!). Juniper/Taylor (and 9 further crews) all suffered the same fate handing the lead to Popperwell/Coker. Delaney/Upham fared equally badly managing to lose the envelope containing the final handout.

As the top crews floundered, their positions were quickly filled. A little local knowledge allowed Ian Mepham & Martin Smith and Keith Lee & Matthew Fowle to move up into 2nd and 3rd respectively. Even so they both dropped some time on these sections.

The route then made a quick dash along Cooden Beach to the finish at the Jarvis Hotel. With fails abounding nobody could predict the result, but Martin Chinnery (CoC) was pleased that the final sting in the tail had struck. With all the fancied runners now on 1 (or more) fails, Popperwell/Coker recorded their maiden win.

PRAR

Final Results:

 1 Gordon Popperwell/Graham Coker                9min
 2 Ian Mepham/Martin Smith                      16min
 3 Keith Lee/Matthew Fowle                      23min
 4 Andy Juniper/Dean Taylor                 1F   0min
 5 Mike Biss/Cath Woodman                   1F   3min
 6 Doug Kingsley/PRAR                       1F   9min
 7 Pat Delaney/John Upham                   1F  16min
 8 Gordon Milbank/Paul Sharp                1F  16min
 9 Nick Barltrop/Rob Liddiard               1F  56min
10 Steve Cole/Bob Blows                     2F   4min