After a night’s sleep and breakfast the team’s mood had changed from from disconsolate uncertainty to quiet determination. Despite a stuck gearbox we were going to stay in the rally by hook or by crook. As it happened we didn’t have to do much. We convened by the car and to everyone’s absolute amazement the gearbox appeared to work perfectly. Whatever caused this bizarre self-correcting fault was a little troubling but we had no time to dwell on the issue. After a quick tidy-up we headed for the first regularity stage of the day with the crew in pursuit.

Stage one was long east west traverse of the mountains 30Km north of Nice. Narrow twisty roads with a 3000 ft drop awaiting anyone unlucky enough to go off. We completed this run successfully with a very good time and then pointed PRX 720B in the direction of the next stage north of Sisteron. After a long road section we reached the stage at Ventavon and again completed it in good time before making the time control at Serres. So far so good –our spirits were high and we were cautiously optimistic about our chances. Unfortunately fate was playing tricks with us. On the L’Epine stage when we were running bang on time the engine died. Bill diagnosed a faulty condenser, changed it in record time and we shot off. Ten minutes is a lot to pull back but he did his best. I looked down at the view from the Col de Pommerol with amazement and we hammered around the mountain tracks at breakneck speed. Despite Bill’s heroics we were now losing time and were under the gun.

Our destination for the day was the town of Valence but before we reached there we faced a long climb up onto the Ardeche plateau and a final stage over the Col de L’Echarasson. After an exhausting slog we reached the stage, changed our tyres to full studs and set off. The first half of the stage was fairly straightforward and we were surprised to find no snow but the second we got onto the D76 we faced packed ice and the going became slow. Bill went into maximum attack mode and we skittered over the Col. There was car carnage everywhere and there had been several nasty offs. It is the view of some Mini drivers that it is impossible to make target time over the Col but we did our best and flew through the end of stage marker at improbable speed. We then raced into Valence and made our “in” time at the control.

It had been a day of mixed fortunes. We were running in the lower middle pack but at least we were running. The next day was to be a race over the Ardeche plateau and back to Valence and we were eager to find opportunities to advance through the ranks.

To be continued…