www.kickastra.com

The Wales Rally GB has a certain ring to it. Enough of one to make a life-long impression on a lowly clubman rallyist. Therefore, when brother Jonathan re-located to Germany with his job, thoughts immediately turned to the rally possibilities that being based in Europe would offer. The biggest "prize" was without a doubt Wales Rally GB -there is something mystical about this rally - maybe it is being located in the world headquarters and spiritual centre of rallying....and so this is the direction our energies were focused. Jonathan, being the research arm of the team so to speak looked into eligible cars, regulations, entry requirements and a host of other things pertinent to being able to enter this prestigious event.
 
There were numerous possibilities in terms of car choice. One small fact however narrowed this quickly down to one. Having been known as the Kickastra Rally team in local circles, and driving (predictably enough) an Astra, we did not think that the Kickford, Kickrenault or Kickskoda had quite the same ring to it, and so Kickastra it remained, with the MKIV Astra OPC becoming the trusty steed. Jonathan and his research posse again kicked in and found OPC's at affordable prices, FIA homologated rollcages, a small workshop (www.boisen-motorsport.dk) in Demark to put it in and sign the homologation papers as the installer, safety film for the windows (something I'd not heard of - hence the reason Jonathan is head of research and investigation, and I turn the spanners), fire extinguishers etc etc etc. Budget was a big issue, so every conceivable way avoid costs other than to make the car eligible for an FIA event was pursued, such as retaining standard seats, standard exhaust system, standard ECU and standard rear springs (bad idea!).
 
The other vital bit of the pie was, on a planet of 6 plus billion people, being one of the hundred or so teams actually accepted to enter the event.

Fortune was apparently smiling in 2006 - the first 40 eligible amateur entries would be accepted on a first come, first served basis. With this in mind, Jonathan (R & I remember) got the entry form, entry requirements, entry fees, in fact entry everything in order, set up and ready to go days before the official opening of entries. This is over and above the myriad emails back and forth from Jonathan and I to the organizers and officials of Rally GB. Do we need this, can we use that, do amateurs really have to have 2 of the whatsits and the list goes on. Suffice it to say that when the entries opened, we were ready. Or, to put it a bit more accurately, I was in Barbados in a different time zone, Jonathan was not in Europe (was on business in Dubai) and it was up to Jonathan's wife Alecia who fully briefed and armed will every conceivable piece of information for the entry. You see, although the FIA has a "standard" entry form, every rally has its own variable and asks for more or less information depending, and you do not know what they ask for until you see the magical PDF document on the rally web site. So, Alecia was under instruction to sit by the computer, hit refresh on the rally web site every 5 minutes and look for the elusive PDF entry form.... and then complete it and press "send" to make it happen. And happen it did. Our entry was duly accepted, and we were on our way. Then, as if that wasn't enough, the form had to be DHLed to Barbados for Adrian's John Hancock, and DHLed back to Germany for Jonathan's John Hancock and then DHLed to rally HQ within 10 days as the rules require. So said, so done.

So, now that we were an accepted entry, what next. Well, spares for one. We had built up a very good relationship with Eddie Caro of Vauxhall Performance Spares Centre (www.vpsc.co.uk), a specialist Vauxhall breaker in the south-east of England, Walton-on-the-Naze to be precise, so we he was our obvious choice for many things. Spare bottom arms (came in real handy later as we found out), radiator hoses and host of other things including lots of rims were sourced from Eddie. The one thing he did not have, and as it turned out, the one thing that we most desperately needed was a set of driveshafts - but more on this later. Despite Walton-on-the-Naze being as remote from Wales as anywhere in England could be, it was fortuitous for Jonathan. He was bringing the OPC from Germany via the road and ferry packed to the hilt with tools, various small spares, work lights and lamp pod, spare hubs and shocks and other assorted rally clobber.

The ferry deposited him just across the estuary from Eddie in Harwich, so he only had a short drive to pick up yet more rally stuff. How he got everything to fit in the car and still leave room for himself to get in I will never know. I swear there were two car loads of stuff in there plus all sorts on the roof. In fact, we could not pack back the car after the rally.

That accounts for half of the in-car crew, and all of the rally car. Winging their merry way across the Atlantic at this time from sunny Barbados were the other half of the in-car crew - that being me - and wife Jackie who was team manager, mediator, motivator and many more meaningful 'm' words. Eager for the wonderful Welsh weather and appropriately attired in warm weather gear, Jackie and I were met at Gatwick by Jonathan who by then had sorted a hired car and transferred enough stuff to it from the rally car for Jackie to fit in the front seat. We were to drive in convoy from Gatwick heading for Wales - Jonathan leading the way in the hired car, Jackie and I following in the OPC. Now the OPC is left hand drive, and the theory was that the only thing I would drive while in the UK was the OPC in order to get some seat time as well as get accustomed to using the gearstick with the right hand. No problem. We pulled out of the parking lot at Gatwick and bang - my left hand whacks the carbon fibre door card on-route to the non-existent gearstick. Carbon fibre is quite strong. One swift mental kick and 3 gear changes later and - yes, another carbon fibre moment. I was able to muster enough co-ordination from here on in to avoid testing the carbon fibre any more, although I will admit that did take my left hand off the wheel a few times.

Wales was the destination of choice then, and en-route we decided to take a bit of a detour to GPR ( www.gprdirect.com) at Silverstone to top up on some obligatory FIA apparel that we were a bit short of.

to part 2