2006 National Rally
Driving Challenge / InterBranch Callenge
(Read all Morris Minor News articles)

The Lincolnshire Branch raffle car, Winston, doubled up at the National Rally by providing the base vehicle for our driving challenge. We had originally planned to allow youngsters to drive Winston too but following complications with fabricating a second clutch pedal that would be removable afterwards had to drop that idea just a few days before the show.

The challenge was still very popular though, with about 100 people having a go at it over the two days. I'd laid out a rough course on Friday lunchtime but didn't have Winston with me so had to trial it using my off-road Discovery that's in the background on some of the pictures opposite. When Winston arrived early that evening we modified the course a little by moving back the start garage to a small hill, and then set about getting some good times ourselves.

Saturday morning gave us a slow but steady trickle of challengers with most people setting out far too fast and losing the ball very quickly. Later in the day we began to see people who had already attempted it coming back for a second go and the times began to fall - by Saturday night the leader board had the top five times down around the 120 second mark.

Sunday was even hotter and around lunchtime Winston began to feel the effects of high temperatures coupled with very short runs by cutting out with fuel vaporisation. MGM Spares stepped into the breach again by providing a replacement braided fuel hose which we wrapped in regularly-damped chamois leather - later on we removed the thermostat too in an attempt to keep the car running for a late surge of competitors prior to the InterBranch Challenge.

The heat took its toll on us too and we were extremely grateful to the other Lincs branch members who stepped in to relieve some of us for a while - without that we might well simply not have made it to the days end! Winston got a well-deserved half hour break while those of the team not suffering from heatstroke rapidly laid out a brand new course for the InterBranch, which attracted fourteen teams - much higher than we had anticipated. The Challenge was much much tougher than it looked, with each team needing to put four drivers (plus our invigilator) into the car and swapping over at each end of the course. Winston's clutch also began to suffer as some drivers rode the clutch trying to get out of the dip at the start line without losing the ball (raffle ticket holders shouldn't worry too much - the clutch will be changed before the day of the draw!).

N. Ireland went first to set a benchmark which was quickly eclipsed by Rugby branch with a very respectable 304 seconds for the total course. Another half a dozen teams went through and discovered just how competitive a time that was before N Yorks put in a 303 second time to take the lead by just a single second! Unfortunately we had to disqualify one team for leaving the car in gear as they changed drivers - not us being picky, more about the stipulations AON insurance put in to ensure safety. The final team that set off was our own Lincs Branch (Mens) team and through sheer determination and not a little prayer we got three clear rounds out of the four and managed to power home with a total time of 284 seconds, giving us the win and the title of InterBranch Challenge Champions 2006. To be honest, we really hadn't expected that - in individual heats we weren't as competitive as we'd hoped we would be, but it was certainly a great end to a challenging (in more ways than one!) weekend and we are thrilled to get back the trophy that we lost last year after holding it in 2004.

There's a huge list of people to thank and its appropriate that we start with Stuart at MGM Spares, who not only provided bits for the car over the weekend but also paid for a book of raffle tickets for each purchaser of a stainless exhaust over the weekend, adding significantly to our takings. Thanks also to Rosie and Andrew Stone for helping to promote the event over the tannoy throughout the weekend, and all the people who helped man the stand so we could get a break. Thank you also to Fendyke Garage for preparing the car before the event and some interim adjustments 'in-situ', and to all the other people who I've forgotten to mention here but without who's help the event wouldnt have been as successful as it was. Lastly, a personal thank you to my team mates who put up with me over a long hot weekend when England lost in the World Cup.