My first trip to do a rally on the Isle of Man was definitely as good as I expected it to be. We went the weekend before the event to make and check the pacenotes. We decided that we would make our own notes instead of buying them. It was my first time writing notes from scratch and I really enjoyed it. We did two passes of each stage to get the notes as we wanted them and then made time for some sight seeing!
The following weekend we returned for the rally. We were seeded at car 62, the first car of our class, which was a little bit daunting. The weather was terrible, heavy rain and wind. We were warned at the drivers briefing that the stages would be very waterlogged. This proved to be true, with parts of most of the stages having water running down them. My Dad described it as ‘like driving down a river bed’. The conditions didn’t make the stages any less enjoyable and as the day went on the weather started to improve. My favourite stages were West Baldwin and Parville, but it was difficult to choose as all the stages were excellent. The day almost ended in disaster on Parville when the car wouldn’t go into gear, but after a brief stop the problem seemed to be fixed. Despite the weather conditions we got some good stage times and had a brilliant day. The only disappointment was some of the stages were cancelled due to accidents. We finished the day 2nd in class. I have had my first experience of rallying on the Isle of Man and I’m very keen to repeat it. We are planning to do the Manx National in May 2016!