It is a bit embarrassing to admit, but we were possibly the least prepared we have ever been for rally. I have been extremely busy at work and had little time to devote to the car, ditto with Jackie and the pace-notes. So much so that I did the pace-notes late one night by myself. There were two minor things to resolve on the car prior to the start of the rally. One was the battery box which was loose, the other was the horn. Both were fixed the night before the start, and the front tyres were changed.

The rally was set to start at 2:45pm on Saturday with 4 runs through Darkhole and then 4 runs on the Todds to Featherbed Lane stage, finishing at the Gymnasium with a super special. The first Darkhole run was wet from the start to about halfway up the hill, and was very much a handful on the Toyo 888 tyres. By the time we were ready to start the second run the road was basically dry. We had a bit of a moment when cutting the lefthander by the old plantation building when the left rear wheel hit a lump/bump/rock or something hidden in the grass and launched the back of the car in the air. The third run was also eventful due to a way too late braking stunt on the finish line that resulted in an almost spin and skid to a halt. The fourth run was cancelled and it was on to the Todds stage.

This stage went well until arriving at the finish on the third run (fourth run was cancelled) and I realised that the gearbox mount had broken. Fortunately this stage was not far from home, and I drove there carefully trying not to make any sudden throttle changes. On arrival the engine was jacked up to line back up the broken mount, and then mig welded. In the interests of time, or lack thereof, I welded only what I could reach without unbolting the mount from the gearbox which was the 2 long sides. The theory here was that is having 4 sides welded survived 2 years, then 2 sides could survive 1 super special. And survive it did. The superspecial around the Gymnasium was great fun. A couple of long straights, some 90 degree corners and some spins around plastic drums with thousands of fans looking on. At the end of the day we finished first in class. All in all a very enjoyable rally with a different format.
 

This was 3 seconds quicker than our best time in RB07, and with the standard engine. The rear brake bias valve was also installed  shortly before Stewart Hill, so the car was braking much better, and this must have helped.