We had been around Portreath before when it was part of the Tour of Cornwall, but not for a single venue. The TSH stages are run over 2 days, presumably to give crews time to get there and leave on Sunday.

Leading up to the event it did not bode well. The navigator had to drop out Friday lunch, but lucklily Wifey had her licence so we were OK there. Friday night we stayed at a local Caravan park, and for security took the ECU out and kept it in the caravan with us. Saturday morning we went to take car off trailer and remembered where the ECU was, which was not in the car. Wifey set off to retrieve it whilst we set up the service area. Once back we started the car and went to scrutineer. We let the car warm and then turned it off. Whilst sat there there was a loud BANG from under the bonnet and all the water escaped. I knew what this was without looking, the level switch in the header tank had blown itself off. Couple of turns of electrical tape, water from very helpfull marshalls and we were all set. Scutineering all done we waited to start, and I was nervous for the car.

Stage 1 I decided we should take at 7/10 to allow Wifey time to get used to the car. Everything was good, the brakes worked stunningly well, power steering was a revelation and the stage was excellent. Stage 2 was straight on from 1 with no service, which was more interesting. We picked up the pace a little now, but still well within any limits. To finish first, first you must etc etc.

Stages 3 and 4 followed a similar pattern and we were having a ball. The car was strong, tyres good, brakes better than me, and smiles from ear to ear. Wifey went to get the times and we were all surprised to be 32nd Overall.

At scutineering we had been interviewed for a podcast that South Hams Motor Club were doing for the event, and I was asked what our objective was, “To Finish with a big smile on my face” was the reply, and that didn’t change despite our good position. We continued to drive well within ourselves and the car’s, although we had picked up to 8/10 by now.

At the end of the day we packed up and went back to the caravan. After food we went to get the results and tomorrow’s start time. When we found we were 32nd after 4 stages I said I would be ecstatic if we could finish with a number starting with 2, as in 29. So I nearly fell over when we were 23rd overnight. Looking at our times it appeared we were 30 seconds out on one stage, and looking at our own written down times this was confirmed. It is an easy mistake for the time keepers to make, and you simply put a protest in and they check. Assuming you were correct they then correct your time, which would mean we would gain an extra place. We had a celebratory glass of wine, nothing too serious, and then early to bed.

Sunday morning we put the protest in, which was confirmed. Sunday’s stages were longer and faster than Saturday’s, and even more enjoyable. On the second stage we came across a Mk1 escort on it’s roof. The car in front of us were just getting out to help, so I ran over whilst Wifey went over to help stop traffic. Once we had it back on rubber the crew got out and no injuries, so we were directed to the stage finish via a short cut. Our time for the stage would be a notional time given to everyone who had been yellow flagged. Start time for the next stage is based on your finish time for the previous, and due to the way it all happened we ended up running 10th on the road for the rest of the day (Actually we probably slipped back a few places, there were some very quick boys here)

The stages were very quick and flowing, a lovely section down a R-L-R-L sweep on good tarmac, across the T Junction and then back up the opposite side and a long left between quite high banks. Quick through here, probably around 100mph, but you could feel the tyres gripping and the car just turned in. Not for the faint of heart though.

At the end we finished 18th Overall, and 3rd in Class. Of course, technically, 18th does not start with a 2, but it was also beyond anything I thought we would achieve.

The car ran brilliantly all weekend, with a couple of minor issues. Two exhaust hangers broke, and had to be replaced with wire for the rest of the event, and for some reason we kept blocking the fuel filters, although they were not noticeably dirty when checked. Need to put some investigation into this. An indicator parted company at some point. There is no visible damage so I don’t think we hit anything. We will make our own more substantial retainer for the replacement.

Thanks to Mark for operating the spanners, Wifey for sitting in at the last minute, to South Hams Motor Club for putting on a brilliant event, and of course the Marshalls without whom we could not go and play.

Quick footnote, on the way back out of Cornwall there was an accident and they closed the road. We were stopped for about 1 hour, engine off, just sat there. However, we had the trophies on the dashboard, enough food and drink for a small army and just sat there as happy as Larry the whole time, what else would we have done after a weekend like that ?

M&H Photogrpahy took some cracking photos of us, which are shared with you here.