Success again for Mini Spares Team CRX89B on the 18th RMCH 2015

Top Mini Best British finisher 1st International Rally Drivers Club Team car (Tyresoles Trophy) 2nd Class for 1962-65 cars up to 1300cc 59th overall out of 320 – our best overall result in 5 years Team CRX89B entered the fray again this year crewed by Alastair Vines (owner / driver), Willy Cave (ever-green Works -Triumph / BMC navigator) with Service team of Nigel Chetwynd and Simon Wheatcroft.  We fought hard and after a small disaster amid swirling snowstorms on day two, came through to deliver a great result.

We would like to thank our sponsors Mini Spares Ltd and Mini World magazine for their excellent help, support and encouragement throughout our rally preparations. Without them it would be difficult for us to achieve so much.

I would additionally like to thank my navigator Willy Cave for his wizardry on the maps, and to my service team of Nigel Chetwynd and Simon Wheatcroft who were everywhere we needed them to keep us serviced with tyres, fuel and capability to sort out the odd crisis when it occurred.

Thanks go also to Southam Mini and Metro Centre for great car preparation; Jim Mackay for his excellent weather info; and Paul Price for giving the electrics thorough validation before we left.

In a departure from prior years, where we have competed under the banner of Team GB, I merged the Team with the International Rally Drivers Club to form a 20 strong team of cars in the name of IRDC Team GB. In this way we planned to take the fight to the Europeans and improve the overall standings for British teams in the Team challenge.

The weather and tyre choices were taxing our minds immediately before the rally. Europe had an unusual absence of snowfall, but the East Coast of America was closed due to biblical snowstorms bringing an end to normality. These storms were heading across the Atlantic toward the Mediterranean. In the end we took an abundance of tyres as Mike Hyrons and Chris Paton were joining us for a training run in preparation for a possible entry next year. They carried a few for us in order to increase our options.

Concentration Run: Friday 30th January
We started the Concentration Run in light rain from Reims on Friday 30th January at about 9.00pm with 127 other cars. Rumours were flying that several metres of snow were forecast to fall just two hours down the road. In the event it did snow very hard from about 3.00am and was a welcome distraction from the humdrum tedium of driving through the early morning hours. Snow remained with us all the way to St Andre les Alpes where we checked in at 5.00pm the following afternoon. Here we had to decide what tyres to fit for the first timed test of the rally.

Jim Mackay our weatherman advised that ZR1 (St Jean la Riviere – Levens - 12km) would likely be dry and without snow cover – we fitted Dunlop R7 track day tyres amid three feet high snow drifts. It proved the right choice as we arrived at the test in the early evening gloom and found it clear as predicted. We put in a respectable time with only 1.1 seconds of penalty although Bill Richards, our fellow Mini Spares Team mate, put in a great time with only 0.4 seconds penalty.

Classification Run: Sunday 1st February
Competitor’s times on ZRs 2, 3, 4 and 5 were to count toward a re-seeding of the rally field for Sunday onward. We left Monte Carlo for Valence and chose to leave the tyre set up the same for the 13km ZR 2 Pont de Clans to Villars sur Vars, to good effect and were third Mini here.

Road conditions changed substantially for ZR 3 Col de Garcinettes. Studs were the order of the day to cope with thick ice over much of the track – a steady 100th overall and 2nd Mini for us. The weather continued to deteriorate as we headed over the Col de la Croix Hautes in blizzard conditions, threading our way through queues of ill-prepared civilian traffic. Night had fallen by the time we took the start of the 20km ZR4 Col de Menee which proved to be a nightmare for us. Heavy snow was falling over sheet ice, and my studs were not protruding enough. We found little grip and slithered our way over the top collecting 15 minutes of lateness penalties, but at least we did not go off the road. Conditions for the 25km ZR5 Col de l’Echarasson were very similar and we collected thousands of additional penalty points.

At the end of the day we had plunged to 136th oa and third placed Mini with Bill just behind in 141st and fourth Mini.

Common Run Part 1: Monday 2nd February
Continued snow over night caused widespread rumours in the Valence Parc Ferme of cancelled stages and a re-routing of the rally. We were not listening as we had a sickly car this morning that refused to start. We pushed to no avail, and finally had to open up the ignition system. Dampness or condensation linked to the heavy snow and salty road spray had penetrated the distributor cap and coil covers. A wipe round with a rag and a quick squirt with WD40 soon had us going again – how easily we could have lost the rally here!

The route was a Valence - Valence loop over four timed sections. The first two, ZR6 St Pierreville to Le Cheylard (60km) and ZR7 Burzet to St Martial (41km) were thick with ice and snow in parts and so proved to be a bit of a scramble to stay on time. The last, ZR8 Col de Faux to Labatie d’Andaure (21km) and ZR9 Lamastre to Plats were largely clear. After our early morning scare with damp ignition, we managed to avoid further trouble, and with Willy doing a fantastic job on the maps, managed to haul ourselves up to become top Mini in 93rd position with Alain Arnal of France as second Mini in 127th.

Common Run Part 2: Tuesday 3rd February
The threatened biblical snow stayed away and caused havoc in the Pyrenees mountains instead. The three ZRs on the menu for today, as we headed back to Monte Carlo, were all largely free of significant ice and snow, although we wore studded tyres just in case. The only excitement here was when the throttle cable detached itself from the pedal in a hairpin bend. The recovery proved remarkably quick, and we were back on time within a minute or so of getting going again. Happily we continued to improve our position during the day moving up to 72nd, whilst poor Alain Arnal gave way to the Mini of Chevalier and Terrasse who took the second Mini slot at 113th oa.

The Mountain Circuit - Monaco to Monaco: Wednesday 4th February
We did not get to rest for long in our snug hotel rooms after arrival in Monte. The Organisation began dispatching cars into the night at 30 second intervals from 9.00pm, and so it was that at 11.00pm we found ourselves crossing the starting ramp in heavy rain to begin the night loop. We anticipated a real struggle as the rain turned to snow on our approach to the 26km ZR13 Luceram to Lantosque section. Miraculously the snow eased so that we could see, but it left the roads with a light covering and terribly slippery. The rocks and drops at every corner beckoned the unwary! We were glad of our studs as Willy and I were victorious amongst Minis in this section.

ZR14 Turini was quite clear apart from another light sprinkling near the top. Whilst on this slipperiness and dicing with two other cars, I had some of my navigation equipment detach itself from the windscreen and fall amongst the dash board switches. It swung uselessly from the end of its wires and played havoc switching things on and off in a random fashion. This proved to be an enormous distraction whilst I tried to disentangle it all with one hand whilst dealing with the twists and turns of the Turini with the other to despatch the cars that were in our way . This little episode cost us quite a bit of time at a critical moment.

Monte was finally reached at about 4.00am with just enough time for a beer before bed. Results at Noon on Wednesday confirmed that Team CRX89B were top Mini, Best Brits, first in IRDC Team GB, 2nd in class, and 59th of 320 starters overall – Our best overall result in five years.

I give my sincere thanks to every one who helped us achieve so much in this year’s Monte Carlo adventure.

Alastair JR Vines

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