3rd POPPY RALLY - YPRES Belgium - 16th/17th March 2013

Four Mini Coopers  out of a total entry of 70 cars traveled to Belgium for the latest round of the Hero Championship.

Car 1	Morris Cooper S	“277 BRX”	Peter Horsburgh/Anthony Preston.
Car 10	Morris Cooper	“UZA 330”	Joe Reynolds /Sean Toohey from Ireland.
Car 12	Mini Cooper S	“OCM 641J”	Kevin Haselden/Dave Kirkham.
Car 74	Austin Cooper S	“ONW 119B”	Seren Whyte/Elise Whyte.

The latest outing for the MiniSpares team of Peter Horsburgh and Anthony Preston in the now rebuilt “277 BRX” was the highly competitive Poppy Rally organised by HERO/Classic Rally Association. The engine as well as a complete refresh at Southam has been fitted with a Comitech head gasket try to eliminate the blown gasket problems suffered over the last 2 years.

The Poppy Rally is a competitive action packed road event of 600kms based in the motor sport mecca of Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium and takes place every 2 years.

The tight intricate nature of the roads  create a challenge for both driver and navigator, and a good selection of 22 non damaging sealed surface tests (no reversing) will ensure maximum enjoyment for all competitors. Test penalties are based on class improvement so cars are matched to others in the same class. The balance of the competitive route comprises 37 regularity timing points timed to the second, and 7 flat out night time controls timed to the minute The majority of the route information is issued in advance along with copies of the IGN 1:50,000 maps which gives the crews time to plot and mark up their maps in the style that they prefer. Some route information is given in the form of marked copies of the same maps allowing crews to copy the route onto the original maps. This is critical for accurate slot making.
Due to our win on the first Poppy Rally in 2009 and the 2011 winners not taking part this year we were seeded at No. 1 at the top of a very strong entry of 70 crews. 45 from UK , 2 from Japan and the rest European from mainly Belgium and Holland.

Leg 1 Poperinge to Proven Saturday 16th (Morning)

We set off at 09.30 and fortunately the rain stayed away but the edges of the roads still had the remnants of melting snow left from the heavy fall the previous week making driving on the tests very tricky.  We were having a ding dong battle with Kevin ‘s mini on the tests, his more standard spec car being better on the tight “nadgery”  tests with us being quicker on the longer “mini” stage style tests.  As it continued to be throughout the rally, penalties were very close at the end of 8 tests and 14 regularity points:

Leg 2 Proven to Ypres Saturday 16th (Afternoon/Evening)

The daylight part comprised I test and 6 regularity points to the supper halt. We then set off for the night section starting with 1 test and 1 regularity leading to the competitive road rally section with 7 time controls and 19 passage checks, designed to make the timing tight . All the leading crews dropped 2 minutes at different controls at 30secs penalty per minute, and positions remained very close as we arrived back at Ypres at 23.30:

Leg 3 Ypres to Ypres Sunday 17th (Morning/Afternoon)

The morning started with a pre- breakfast “Early Bird” section of 8 regularity points starting at 06.30! This after a late night in the bar discussing the day’s highs and lows, over a few pints of Leffe!
Back to the hotel for breakfast then off for the final round of 12 tests and 8 regularity points finishing back in the main square in Ypres by the famous cloth hall at 16.00. (pic6) As the crews chatted at the finish the results were so close that no one knew the final result until all competitors were in and the results tallied up.

The final positions showing only 60 seconds separating the top 5 crews!

A great result for us but leaving many “if only s” where we could have saved the vital few seconds.
The other minis finished with Kevin and Dave 14th overall , Joe and Sean in 51st place , and the girls in car 74 sadly not finishing after a big dispute with some scenery on a test resulting in a large dent in the front of the Mini.

The spirit of the rally award went to the Japanese crew of Hisaro Kuminasa/Hiroshi Haenuki in their Datsun 160J which was built as part of a University engineering project, they were accompanied by 8 other support team members all resplendent in matching yellow rally jackets .They all turned up to the Prize Giving dinner in national dress, quite a spectacle.

Full results can be found on www.craevents.com

Peter Horsburgh

Thanks to Tony Large Photographic for rally pics. Thanks also to Alex at MiniSpares and the team at Southam Mini and Metro Centre for the engine and gearbox rebuild ready for this season.

See the full gallery of images from the Poppy Rally 2013.

Click here to see the full gallery of images from the Poppy Rally 2013.