Minis and post historics battle it out on 1999 Regis

The pairing of Peter Horsburgh and Anthony Preston drove their way to a well deserved first HRCR 1999 championship win together on this year's MGCC/BRMC Regis Rally on 2 October. A field of 44 crews gathered for the Chichester start, apprehensive of a repeat of the rain drenching they got two years ago, but in the end the gods pushed away early rain and the clouds held back. Not so Horsburgh and Preston in their Austin Mini Cooper S, who firmly set their mark on the event from the word "go", never to relinquish it.

A three mile non-competitive run out to Goodwood House and a trip up the famous hillclimb brought crews to the first four driving tests. Navigators had this time available to plot the first regularity, handed out at the start. Horsburgh and Preston set the fastest aggregate test times here, followed by championship leaders Twigg and Carter, also in a Mini, just four seconds adrift.

Clerk of the Course Mick Briggs had promised 1999's Regis would be a more straightforward event for navigators, and proved true to his word. Even so, by the end of the first regularity, a good proportion of the field had said goodbye to finishing high up in the results, picking up fails for missing or making a wrong approach to one or more controls. The route proved to take a big westerly loop, via seven IRTCs, returning to Goodwood for a few more tests before heading north to Midhurst.

Plotting on Regularity One was straightforward, using tulips, spotheights and road numbers. Some crews failed to note a black spot, and others took one B road too many. As a result lone marshal Chris Derbyshire had a less than busy time tucked away on his white road at IRTC2. Twleve cars failed to locate him, and three more picked up maxium times. White roads were the undoing of two crews on the next section, with Lawrence/Eaglen (Triumph Stag) and 1997 Regis winners Skinner/Pettie back again in the Austin A35 both inexplicably using a white goer which took them into IRTC3 the wrong way.

Things were tight at the top of the leader board though. Richard and Gill Dix (MGB) put in the best regularity times for the leg, dropping just 18 seconds overall, followed by Horsburgh and Preston on twenty-four and Andy Gibson / Ann Locks (MGBGT) another two seconds behind. Three more tests at the top of Goodwood Estate kept drivers on their toes, with Horsburgh / Preston again on top of things, hotly pursued by Late Summer Run expert crew winners Noad and Cox in their Audi 80 GT just five seconds down. Crews waiting to leave MC2 before moving on north to Midhurst were bemused to find themselves lined up directly opposite what was left of a car boot sale, an unfortunate double booking which led to the cancellation of Test 5. No real harm done, though. Just a bit less opportunity for driver enthusiasm.

The next driving test up at Midhurst was declared "a real cracker". Its effect on the gearbox of an unfortunate Mini Cooper S was just that, sidelining Stella and Gemma Morris for the rest of the event.

Leaving Midhurst under the canopy of Sussex beech trees, Regularity Two claimed further victims, as the route ran through Cowdray Park and then eastwards towards lunch at the agricultural College at Brinsbury. Tulip diagrams were followed by a herringbone involving several changes of speed. The final section of the herringbone proved tricky for some, with the last IRTC situated off the main road in a mapped white lay-by. Nine crews missed this control completely and others had problems earlier on, notably Richard Dix and Mark Appleton. The latter dropped an uncharacteristic 61 seconds, dropping to sixth place at lunchtime, though managing to improve to fourth by the end of the day. Heal and Briant (MGBGT) turned in the best times on this leg, dropping just 12 seconds in total, but knew at lunch that a fail on the notorious IRTC2 had already killed their chances of a good finish.

By lunchtime Horsburgh and Preston had confirmed their early position in the lead, though the end result was by no means a forgone conclusion. Second were 1998 Regis victors Twigg/Carter, twenty seconds behind the leaders, followed by the post-historic MGBGT of Gibson/Locks. Fourth was the Datsun Sedan of Robinson/Broxham, the crew who put in a non-qualifying (as a post historic) best overall perfomance in 1998. They had had a good morning, with some impressive test times, and seemed well in touch. Just 34 seconds separated them from the leaders. "But then", said Broxham ruefully after the finish, "Somehow it all just started to fall apart in the afternoon".

The afternoon was focussed on two more regularities, which proved less strugglesome for most crews. Two not as map junctions featuring new roundabouts were a challenging feature for some, leading the unwary into a housing estate complete with sleeping policemen. A final driving test at Knepp Castle saw Horsburgh and Preston again chalking up the fastest time, with Noad and Cox just two seconds down.

At the end of the day, back at Brinsbury for an excellently quick and accurate washing-line results servcie, Horsburgh and Preston were declared the winners, clinging on to their advantage. Thanks to some tight timekeeping from last year's winners their lead was reduced by the end to just nine seconds: Twigg and Carter had clawed back 20 seconds on Regularity Four, but ultimately not enough to seize a last-minute victory. Mick Briggs had done enough to get an overall result by lunchtime and declared himself surprised by how the morning had tripped up so many crews. Andy Gibson / Ann Locks held on to third place, Ann claiming the Roden Plate for this year's Best Lady, followed by Dick and Mark Appleton 4th, and Cliff and Paul Doe moving up to claim 5th in their Riley 1.5. The oldest car on the event, a 1950 K2 Allard, put in an excellent performance for the second year in succession in the hands of James Smith / John Broughall, winning its class despite running from the standard odometer for distance measurement, coming in at 13th overall.

The 1999 Regis was deemed an excellently organised event, not completely out of reach of the less experienced crews. Competitor Liaison Officer Mark Aylward had a quiet day, with only one written query put to him. Spirit of the Rally award went to the unfortunate Trevor Woods / John Currie, in their Hillman Imp, which broke its throttle cable before lunch. Enterprisingly they ran what was left of the cable from the engine at the rear up via the handbrake cable entry point, to be operated by hand by the car's navigator. They finished 30th. "It was great from then on. We had a bit of difficulty going slowly on some of the quieter regularities though". A well deserved award.

Julie Eaglen

Regis Rally 1999: Top ten results