[Kevan]

Rally reports - 8th September - TT Grandstand & Little Druidale
 
Sadly we learned of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II earlier in the evening, although the news was full of her state of health I don’t think we were fully expecting her to leave us so soon.  As I write this report the BBC has been reminding us all day of her truly remarkable life, she was the most respected person on the planet and it’s only now we realise just how intertwined she was in our nation's hearts. Charles spoke this evening and said some nice things about his mother, she was more than Queen Elizabeth II, she was simply known as The Queen and we’ll never see another like her again.
 
A great turnout tonight and the new Rally stage waiting for eager drivers to get practice laps in, cleaning the slippery surface for later in the evening.  
 
   

With eight club members and two Rally stages we split into two groups of four, chosen at random.
TT Grandstand first group was Brian, Geoff, Kev & Mike B
Little Druidale first group was Gav, Chris, Andy & Paul
 
We saw a few new cars on the Rally stages tonight, a couple of R32 Nissan Skylines, a Dakar Porsche 959 and a 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C
 
It quickly became obvious that TT Grandstand is a sprint compared to Little Druidale, the great thing about that was you could be equally competitive with fast or slow cars as the two stages cancelled each other out.
 
   

Paul was back in Rally action for the first time since November 2020, his favourite Porsche 356 joined by a SlotIt Nissan R32 Skyline, the Nissan managing his best time on the new Druidale stage.  On TT Grandstand his best car was the Subaru Impreza which always goes well and was his best car overall tonight.
 
Kev drove the other R32 that was to be his best car on both stages.  The other newcomer was the rather large Alfa Romeo 6C, how on earth it got round those hay bales and up the hill surprised everyone including the driver.  The Standard class Lancia 037 has gone great all year and did so tonight, as did the little Sunbeam Tiger, perfect for tight bends.
 
   

Geoff usually brings an XK120 Jag just in case and tonight decided to give it a run, it went really well on Druidale and looked great climbing the hill to the hairpin.  The VW Polo and Peugeot 208 have been regulars for Geoff this year, the Peugeot going particularly well on Druidale setting one of the faster times of all the cars. It turns out the tiger liveried Revo Toyota Supra could be worth £200, that didn’t stop him driving it like he stole it.
 
Mike B chose not to Rally his Mini tonight but after the event was over he tried it on Little Druidale and it was flying round, I suspect it won’t stay in his pitbox next time.  The Fiat Punto has been one of the best Standard class cars of all for months, it didn’t disappoint tonight. Recently the MB Slot Ferrari F430 has been proven as a capable Rally car and flew round Little Druidale but seemed to suffer a little on TT Grandstand. Another struggler on that stage was the MSC Subaru…not so the NSR Porsche 997, easy peasy does it on both tracks tonight.
 
Andy has been a huge advocate of Open class Rallying for a few years, they all go well and are also seen in other drivers pitbox as favourite purchases.  During practice the little Mini was loving the tight twisty challenge of Little Druidale, it’s always gone well on TT Grandstand but goes even better on the new stage.  The Mitsubishi Evo WRC was easily his best car tonight on TT Grandstand but the Pantera and Mini were right on it’s tail pipe on the new Rally stage.
 
As I didn’t see any of Gavins cars during practice I can’t say why the AC Cobra was so good on TT Grandstand but struggled so much on Little Druidale.  The NSR Abarth 500 has been a good buy for Gavin, easily his best car on the new stage and not far behind his Cobra on the sprint stage.  Whilst the Metro 6R4 suffered on the new stage his Porsche 997 was his best runner on it.
 
   

Chris decided to enter a Dakar Porsche 959, I saw it do a few practice laps on TT Grandstand, it struggled without something to climb over…I think it’ll be replaced by his Opel Manta on a KRB3D chassis next time out. The Avant Subaru was his best car on on both stages by miles, the closest any of his other cars got was the really nice BMW M3 that was only a couple of seconds behind on Little Druidale.
 
Brian seems to have settled on two or three favourites recently, the Peugeot 208 easily out-performing the other three cars overall but the Peugeot 206, 208 and Pantera all getting round Little Druidale within one second.  Strangely the Abarth 131 always went well on TT Grandstand but not tonight, it turns out he didn’t have his normal Rally controller.  I’d guess his Renault Megane would fly round the new Rally stage.
 
   
   
   

Comparison chart

   

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Next week we see the open wheelers back on BallaYorkley, GP, Pre-wing, Classic F1 and F1…should be fun.