June 24-26, 2022
Our second rally is in the UK. This is a three days classic cars rally in Lincolnshire of England. The classic car we drive is Austin Healey 3000 from 1960.
Day 1
Our second rally. We are after the first (easiest) day and finished in third place… from the bottom (out of 67 participants who finished the day) – please note the word ‘from the bottom’ in the previous sentence :). The special event on this day were the racing tests – three times we got on racetracks and competed against the clock. Since we have sport car it is an amazing experience (considering now a career change to become a Formula 1 driver). Tomorrow is the hardest day of the rally (three times the distance and more difficult navigation and tests). Most importantly the weather (this is England) was great – we drove all day with an open roof (hoping not to jinx it for the next days). In the pictures: our blue Healey 3000 and the rest of the competitors who have probably finished ahead of us.
Day 2
We finished the second day which is the hardest day in the rally. A more or less continuous 10-hour driving at a racing pace with navigating, tests and strenuous driving. So, what was a reward for our labors… – we have moved two places up, so now we are in fifth place from the bottom. The funny thing is that we really tried, but it turns out that effort is not enough here.
As for the question of where the Healey 3000 came from and where Sylvia Rolls Royce disappeared to. Sylvia is in Spain, undergoes thorough treatment after the previous rally and before the next one. Healey is a sport car from 1960. Purchased by my friend MJ before the Corona, and since then it has been more or less in storage. It’s better for a car like this to run outside so we’re actually doing it a favor.
Tomorrow is the last day and we have changed the strategy… make no effort and see where it gets us.
Summary
Our second rally – we finished the rally in one piece (remember the first rally we finished on a tow truck so that by itself is not a bad achievement). We finished in 62nd place out of 68 and we have plenty of excuses and reasons 🙃. Despite this, we got a pretty good kick out of it. First of all we met a lot of people who love adventure, the roads are really beautiful, we drove on a race track (and because we did not understand how to get off the track we did 5 laps instead of two – we were fined for that – and here’s another reason for our rank). And most importantly we learned to drive a real sport car (a tiny car with a huge and agile engine and minimal clearance).
Now that we are graduates of 2 rallies it is possible to compare – by and large the British rally is much more competitive and has many crews that come to win, unlike the Spanish ones who make put the experience first. The British staff each station (and there are dozens of stations a day) with two people, who are called marshals and are very reminiscent of the old ladies who guarded us in exams at the Technion. The reasonable marshal is without a sense of humor and without minimal flexibility. For example, when you are in a race the clock stops only with the front wheel standing exactly on the line, if you stop 10 cm earlier the marshal will not stop the clock and will not even hint at you to move a little further, just wait for you to understand it on your own. Finally we did . The British admire tradition, paper and pen, so dozens of marshals scattered along the route record everything by hand (I would be surprised if at the end everything is uploaded to Excel, or a manual calculation is still used), the Spanish in contrast loaded the route on an app and used a satellite tracking device as a replacement for marshals, as stated – tradition. In British rally almost all the cars are pompous, similar to ours, compared to the Fiat Panda and Renault 4 in Spain where the Rolls-Royce Sylvia really stood out. However we had Ira’s hat that no photographer was left indifferent to.
See you at our next rally coming soon… one day.
HE