On the friday prior to the Grizedale Stages my Dad and I took the car out to set up the spot lamps and give me some practice of reading pace notes in the dark. After a few attempts the lamps were positioned correctly and I had a fair idea of what I was up against when reading notes by map light. The rain on the saturday of the event made noise check and scrutineering a soggy affair. We were pleasantly surprised with our stage time for the Saturday night stage. I had lost my place in the notes and the patchy fog made it very difficult to see, with the light from the spot lamps bouncing off it. We finished the stage 1st in class and 27th overall. After stage 2 we had dropped back to second in class. On SS3 we had a bit of a moment before a wooden bridge but came out of the stage unscathed. SS4 and SS5 were fast and great fun. Disaster struck on SS6 when we rolled the car into a ditch after a square left. We weren’t hurt, but the car wasn’t so lucky. The drivers door and rear arch were bent inside out and the roof was dented in two places. The windscreen was shattered but still intact. Thanks to several spectators and marshals who tipped the car back onto its wheels and pushed it back onto the road, we were able to continue and finish the event. SS7 proved to be tricky due to having to hold the windscreen in and try to see through the unbroken parts. We finished the event very muddy, a bit shaken, a little bruised and 4th in class. It was a rally of firsts, first stage in the dark and first major accident!