After scrutineering and signing on we had a lengthy debate about whether to unload the service van and go on the recce. In the end we decided that we wouldn’t bother and went in search of food instead. I spent the rest of the evening working out how to use my new co-drivers watch and reading through the pacenotes. The next morning we were in the service area on Otterburn ranges airstrip well ahead of our 09:24 start time. This gave us time to make sure we were happy with the tyre choice and check that the intercom and terratrip were working properly. It took me about half a stage to get into the correct pace of reading the notes and after speaking with the co-driver in car 67 I now understand what a re-group is. Thank you to him for explaining it! After stage 2 we were lying 2nd in class and by stage 5 we were leading class B9. The stages were brilliant; fast and exciting. I especially liked the section on stages 1 and 2 that went through a mocked up Iraq village. My dad liked the twisty section through the farmyard best. We had no problems with the car and the only disappointment of the day was that stage 9 – which was 17 miles – got cancelled before we got to do it. Apart from that the day was a success, we finished first in class and had a very good days sport. (And my new co-drivers watch is brilliant!)