I could write about the Reivers Rally and our plans, how our recce went etc… but ultimately none of it matters, because during the running of the Jim Clark Rally on the Saturday, Dai Roberts (co-driving for James Williams) died in a tragic accident.

Dirtfish remember Dai in their article, and a fundraiser has been set up for his family.

If you are able, please donate to support his family.

Our thoughts are with Dai’s friends and family, and we wish James Williams a full recovery.

Our third time at the Gremlin Historic, and it was back into the “new” format of some competition on the Saturday evening followed by a full Sunday rally. Having had a disastrous Saturday in 2024, we didn’t want the same to happen again!

We got there in plenty of time, completed the measured mile, noise and scrutineering and went off to documentation where I plotted the first couple of regularities. There were plenty of speed changes planned, and there were some discussions with others about some of the Sunday navigation where two routes were possible, but we decided we’d finalise that later.

The first regularity was 10 miles and had some grid references with depart directions that said “follow the arrows.” The arrows weren’t actually visible from the road (which we had expected) but I’d marked the map clearly enough and we found the hidden controls. Unfortunately, we were one of several crews who dropped some time into the first control which was on a not as map white around the old Talgarth Hospital. We, as did others, kept going left only to find we were at the entrance to a house. Reversing out, and finding the control, saw us drop 43 seconds. There was a lot of local traffic around so we did quite a bit of reversing in general on that regularity, and we hoped the rest of the event may be a little easier!

Regularity two started quickly and was nearly 20 miles. This regularity went better, but unfortunately a staggered cross roads over a busy A road, with a control very soon afterwards, cost us time whilst we waited for passing traffic. We didn’t understand a couple of ideal times against what we had, but the controls were changed to passage controls due to issues with the timing so that may explain things. So, not quite as bad a start as 2024 but quite a bit of time dropped.

We headed to our accommodation and I carried on with the plotting. A bulletin was issued for Regularity three, where we could go either side of the river, so that clarified the route. Regularity four was over Epynt and included a black spot which didn’t touch the road, but I thought was intended to. I contacted one navigator, who had gone one way, so I asked someone else, who had gone the other. I was fairly confident in my route but made sure to ask the organisers in the morning (my route was correct, the black spot had been intended to touch the road). The navigation also mentioned to “drive through two SPs” but I couldn’t work out what they were, and the ordnance survey map key didn’t help. I decided they had to be Spot Heights (SH).

Regularity three was a busy start, with 36 miles crossing grid lines (and several controls in farmyards) and 11 speed changes. We had a good regularity with our penalties mainly under five seconds, before we had three tests over Epynt. The Scimitar is a powerful car, but we simply can’t keep up with some of the other cars out and were dropping up to 30 seconds a test here.

We had a quick coffee break before Regularity four, half of which I’d plotted and then went to tulips which were handed out at the regularity start. We were third best on this regularity which was good, dropping only 13 seconds (best was 11). Another couple of tests, and then Regularity five which was 26 miles with 13 speed changes. Unfortunately, we missed a turning which was quickly corrected, but there was local traffic and we ended up just under 30 seconds late into a control here.

Another three tests, so more dropping time, and then Regularity six which was over the ranges. The first half had been a herringbone and then there were more tulips passed through the window for the second half. This regularity went around the rifle ranges on some areas we hadn’t used before with some tricky, narrow overgrown sections where we were dropping time against the 30mph requirement. We were equal fifth best here, dropping 1min 04secs.

We had another two tests followed by the final “short” regularity of nearly 14 miles, but 8 speed changes to keep us busy. I was disappointed to drop 19 seconds here, our times had seemed ok and we don’t quite know what went wrong unfortunately.

We finished 5th in class and 12th overall, we’d managed to climb up a few places overnight from 16th, but it could have been better!

Having not been able to make the local 12 Cars recently, Devizes had moved the date of one of their events and it fitted with our availability. We agreed for this event that Gavin would drive Kermit and I would navigate, as it feels a long time since I read a map and the Gremlin Historic is coming up.

I wasn’t feeling great on the day of the rally and spent the afternoon sleeping (I work longer Monday to Thursday so I have Friday afternoons off), and only decided I would give it a go about 20 minutes before we were due to leave, with the viewpoint that it was better to regret trying rather than regretting not giving it a go. It was just over an hour to the start so I dozed a bit and took it easy before the rally started.

We were car 4 and having picked up an amendment for a link section, it wasn’t too long before we started. We were given the first handout as we left the first control and this showed it would take us to TC3 (Time Control 3). The handout said “all roads” (meaning it could use white roads on the map) and I realised we were off to Salisbury Plain. There was only 15 minutes OTL (Over Time Limit) for the first two controls so I knew I needed to plot quickly and make sure we went the right way! We had to stop and plot for a minute, as the navigation for the first two sections was a mixture of spot heights to go via, but also the odd thing (such as a spot height) to avoid. Even with the potti (magnifier), I couldn’t see exactly where the dots plotted for the spot heights and I needed to ensure we went the right way so we pulled up briefly so I could ensure my plotting was accurate.

We did ok in the first section, but by now were truly on the Plain. Kermit is a standard 998cc Micra and so Gavin was picking his way through the potholes and we dropped 6 minutes on this section. Part way through, on the bumps, the potti decided to stop working so I had a rummage around in my nav bag for the two magnifying glasses I carry as backup; I feared it was going to be a long night at this point… We were pleased to not get lost at all because anyone who has been on the Plain knows, there are roads on the map and then there are four times as many roads once you actually get up there! Seeing code boards (so we knew we were going the right way) and trusting my calls was pleasing with all the extra junctions and those on the map not looking the same in reality. We saw one other competitor on a parallel road going in the opposite direction to us and nobody came past us so we thought we were going ok.

The next section was a neutral, before NTC4 – TC5 took us via a series of map features and grid references, around 20 in total to plot. Again we were given the navigation at the control, so it kept me busy getting it down on the map and telling Gavin where to go. We did ok on this section as well, although we were still dropping time. TC5 – TC6 saw a herringbone handed in through the window and I simply couldn’t get the middle part of it to work. I tried working it backwards and then asked Gavin to help and he couldn’t quite get it either, but we had a guess at a route and off we went. We got to the next control and were told the finish (MTC7) had been shortened and we were given a revised finish map reference, and the final piece of navigation (tulips).

By this point I knew we were getting close to OTL, which was 30 minutes from TC3 – MTC7, and so to save time I called the first few junctions without having the whole route on the map, and just using the tulips given. It’s not ideal to do it this way but saves time, which we needed to! However, it did not take me long at all to realise a tulip was missing and I asked Gavin to pull up. I realised which tulip it was, worked out what the correct route was versus the route I actually had plotted, and made the call we would continue as we were, join up with the correct route and hoped we hadn’t missed a code board. We only saw one board in the section (the time card had space for two), but we were relieved to find there was only one board on the correct route.

We finished the event 1st in class and 3rd overall. I’m a novice by the event regulations (the middle class) but I found out at the finish I’d been given the expert navigation throughout by mistake, so that made me feel better about taking some time to do bits of it! We’d found all the code boards so finished on 0F (zero fails) and 27M (27 minutes), which was a pleasing result. We headed home where unfortunately I deteriorated overnight fairly rapidly, with a high fever and other symptoms meaning I needed NHS help and support and spent the majority of the next week in bed and missed many things I had been looking forward to. I’m still not back to 100%, but have returned to work after an unexpected week off and am now trying to get back to full health before the Gremlin.