The Hughes Rally
on 30th May in Kent was the fourth round of the 1999 Championship and attracted a very healthy entry of 53 crews, which is most encouraging for the rest of the season. The Kentish weather wasn't quite up to the usually expected standard for the event, but did not detract from the enjoyment.From the Sunday morning start at Maidstone, competitors tackled a test on the Kent Police Skid Pan before heading off on the first regularity section, the route simply defined by the tulip roadbook.. Test two was at Kings Wood, Challock, where the second regularity section started with seven miles of smooth forest tracks before heading off east on a herringbone section to finish close to the Channel Tunnel terminal near Folkestone.
The third regularity section, again defined by tulips brought crews to the Waterbrook tests at Ashford, on an abandoned site that had been used for materials storage during the Channel Tunnel construction. Two tests here, one on concrete, the other on loose gravel, were run twice, before and after the lunch break which was taken at the Rare Breeds Centre at Woodchurch.
The next special test site, on the other side of Ashford, was the disused Templer Barracks where three tests were fitted in using the parade ground, car park and available service roads to the maximum. The final regularity section on a varied plot-and-bash handout led back to Maidstone for the final test at the Skid Pan.
The organisers had introduced a novel handicap system on the test times, which was well received by competitors. This added a few seconds on to the post-historic cars' test times and took the same amount off of the pre-60s. However no category A or C cars put up a close enough challenge to the top placings for the handicap to have a significant effect on the overall results.
Four Mini Coopers headed the field at the finish, with just 16 seconds covering them all. Helped by their best performance on the regularity sections, Dick and Mark Appleton finished eight seconds ahead of David McRobert and Peter Blackett, with Peter Horsburgh and Anthony Preston three seconds adrift and just two seconds ahead of the fourth-placed Mini of Geoff Twigg and Mick Briggs.
1st |
Dick Appleton/Mark Appleton |
Mini Cooper S |
805 |
2nd |
David McRobert/Peter Blackett |
Mini Cooper S |
813 |
3rd |
Peter Horsburgh/Anthony Preston |
Mini Cooper S |
819 |
4th |
Geoff Twigg/Mick Briggs |
Mini Cooper S |
821 |
5th |
Jim Deacon/Dave Wilson |
Lotus Cortina |
906 |
6th |
Cliff Doe/Paul Doe |
Riley 1.5 |
920 |
7th |
Dave Martin/Stan Appleton |
MGB |
957 |
8th |
Dave Hughes/Phil Hughes |
Volvo Amazon |
963 |
9th |
Nick Robinson/Dave Broxham |
Datsun 1200 |
1001 |
10th |
Mike Marsh/Len Olds |
MGB |
1004 |