RALLYING THE WICKLOW WAY - GRAHAM McCLINTOCK & GER LOUGHREY

Posted: April 15, 2003 6:05 PM

Despite the early rain, the JONDOL Furniture Collection sponsored Peugeot 206 was ready to tackle the competitive 45 stage miles. Indeed the light rain in the morning helped bind the surface together on top and we were getting some good grip with our new tyres working well. We had no problems on the first two stages of the day. We were caught napping for the first half of stage one but we got into a rhythm for the second half as the stage began to flow.

Stage 3 was the longest of the rally at 10 miles and contained a lot of rough and bumpy sections. We survived these, but only just, the 206 was on the ragged edge! We had a small spin through one of medium left hand bends on stage 4, stopping just at the edge of the big drop off to the right. Lost some time but no damage done.

On Stage 5, we were trying to organise our dinner for after the Rally! We narrowly missed one of the local Deer, which decided to suddenly cross in front of us! We luckily missed it however avoiding injury to it or the car.

Stage 6, the final stage of the day, was the very bumpy 10-miler, something the little 206 doesn’t really like. After a series of these bumps combined to put the back of the car into the air, all we could see at one point was the front of the car digging the ground below us throwing up the dirt!! Graham commented ‘ Wow. A few close ones! That was fun though!’

We made it back to Parc Ferme in one piece and after a consistent run all day, claimed 2nd in Class 6 and gained some more valuable experience for our next outing in two weeks time at the Pirelli International in Scotland as part of the Peugeot 206 Super Cup.

Thanks again to our dedicated service crew Michelle and Audrey for all their help.