MiniSpares crew wows the crowds at Clacton

The first ever closed public road tarmac special stage rally in England, the “Corbeau Seats Rally” took place on Sunday 22nd April in glorious sunshine at Clacton. Chelmsford Motor Club with the support of Tendring and Clacton council organised a 45 mile stage rally which attracted 110 rally crews from around the country to compete on this historic occasion. The start and service area for the cars was based on the Western Esplanade in Clacton and it was estimated that 10,000 people watched the event around the route and at the spectator points on the stages. (Hundreds of spectator’s cars at the vantage point on Ship Hill, Bradfield)       As the only mini on the rally, Bob Ward and I witnessed the most cheering and waving we have seen, from spectators who lined the link sections at the side of the roads between the stages. They were in place from 9 am and throughout the day until our 3rd run through each of the 5 stages at around 5pm. The car ran faultlessly apart from a bit of clutch adjustment needed to improve gear selection. The roads on the stages were narrow and twisty in places with a number of tight hairpins and artificial chicanes strategically placed to challenge the drivers It also included a short dusty gravel section through a farm.       Back in the service area we were constantly in demand for pictures of the car especially with children in the driver’s seat and we were only too happy to oblige. If Spencer, who was doing the mechanic work, had a pound for every member of the public who said “I used to have one of these”, he would be well in pocket at the end of the day.   The majority of the cars were modern with the winning Subaru Impreza S12B of Melvyn Evans a great example of the best of today’s rally cars. However although the honour of the oldest car went to Bob Beales 1958 VW Beetle, we took the oldest car a crew comb totalling 189 years !and an excellent finish of 56th overall. Such was the success and popularity of the event, which ran without a hitch all day, then it will gradually pave the way for more similar events in the future. Peter Horsburgh Pictures courtesy of Andy Manston at M&H Photography, and the driver