Success for Standard rally team
The Castrol Evening Standard rally team are celebrating a debut class win in the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire.
But victory in the National Championship round was only secured after a 100mph scare of this writer's own making that almost ended in disaster.
It was my first taste of stage rallying yet it appeared I had formed a good working relationship with Sky Sports presenter Tony Jardine, a veteran of more than 25 years competing.
It was my job to call out pace notes to Jardine and all was going well until the eighth of 10 special stages when I misread my notes.
I told Jardine the next corner was a slight left-hander that could be taken at full throttle. In fact, it was a very sharp right-hander that we should have taken in second gear.
We arrived at the corner at nearly 100mph with no chance of slowing. But our luck was in. Dead ahead lay an escape road and, using every ounce of his skill, Jardine brought our ProSpeed Ford Fiesta to a shuddering halt.
"If there had been trees, we might have had a big accident," said Jardine.
Our target is to make a challenge on the Wales Rally GB, the final round of the World Rally Championship, on 4-7 December. But my pace-note reading will need a lot of practice.
