The Shell Helix Mountain Trial
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I had the good fortune of being in South Africa for the Shell Helix Mountain Trial (PMC) rally from September 18th to 19th. Assured by Clive that this had been "a good one" in the past, we decided to enter. The last two rallies that we had done together had proven to be a lot of fun and had shown me parts of the country I had never seen before, a chance to meet an excellent set of people and of course sample many alcoholic beverages. I was hoping for more of the same!
We arrived in Lydenberg late on Friday night and were warmly welcomed by At Venter at the A&J Guest House that we had arranged to stay at for the night. At was really helpful in getting us sorted out with a brake problem. We had been progressively losing brakes on the trip (not a great start to a rally that includes a number of mountain passes!!).
After fixing the problem, seeing my first "drive in" church service, having a great night's sleep and farm breakfast, we got to the start point a Long Tom Nissan rearing to go. I received and checked the route schedule with the alterations and made my first mistake. I misread part of the instructions which would cost our car some time. As the navigator is never wrong, I would have about 300 kilometres to find a plausible excuse to my driver later!!
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Ivor and me
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The day was littered with speed changes of all sorts but most of all by a number of "catch up" spurts up the mountain passes. I think that there were a few non rally cars out there wondering why these cars were racing past them and then slowing down to be passed, only to pass them again after the next marshal!!
Lunch was spent at Pilgrims Rest during which we tried to work out the "x" factor that Greg had worked into the route schedule. We eventually resorted to looking at a road map which worked out better for us as many competitors were caught by his "surprise".
On arrival at the Bundu Country Lodge, we were greeted by efficient staff and excellent service that lasted into the late hours.
As promised, Sunday was another day of many speed changes with quite a few of them right on top of each other! Rallying back to the clubhouse was a really good idea as it removed the need for a long drive home.
I can honestly say the rally was a fantastic experience, the teamwork, friends we met and fun we had are memories I will keep with me. There are a few people that I would like to personally thank for this: Sue for her great organisation; Greg the numbers man for the "x" factor and other tricks in the route schedule (I have never seen so many speed changes in such a short time!); Laurie for being the voice of reason and making sure there was not a marshal in the first part of the Gods Window loop; the Bundu Country Lodge for a great night and the sponsors Shell Helix, in particular and Classic Car Africa for their contributions.
I can honestly say that I hope this event continues to grow and in 2005 I hope to be back to maybe improve on our finishing position! Thank you to all involved and good luck for next year.
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