NW Stages Weekend

There where a good few of us (Alan Smith, Peter Davies (PK), Dave Hill, Andy Davies, Paul Evans, Carl Bennett Johnny Giro and Graham Williams) planning on going up to Blackpool for the North West Stages, but the Friday started with Carl Bennett doing some testing at Oulton Park in his Mini Cooper “S” which he is racing in this seasons Mini Challenge.

The day went very well and it gave the car a good shakedown with the opportunity to try some different tyre pressures and suspension settings, though adjustments are limited to the modifications allowed in a single make series. The day came to an end at about 4pm when the car developed a problem with the clutch,though a lot of info had been gained and the day was a success! So, from Oulton Park we headed north to Blackpool, the home of sun (not that we saw much of this) sea, sand, rock, dirty weekends, and on this occasion the Legend Fires North West Stages Rally!!! We arrived in Blackpool just in time to catch the first stage along the prom, and the cars and drivers powering up the slippery prom made the cold, wet, dark February night all worthwhile!! We where a little confused to see the Stone 6R4 running pretty much last car, and caught the chase crew to find out that they had only finished building the car at 4:30 that afternoon – talk about cutting it fine! After the prom we headed to Pontins and checked into our luxury chalet (trust me, they where luxury after our usual tent accommodation