Rallye Sunseeker 2000

After more than a year of planning Rallye Sunseeker 2000, the opening round of the ANCRO 2000 National Rally Series, organised jointly by Southern Car Club and Croydon & District Motor Club actually got under way a week before the first car went over the start ramp in The Square at Bournemouth.

Rally FM, the events own radio station went on air at midnight on the 19th February, broadcasting music, trailers of this years event and highlights from 1999, together with details of where the Official Programme, which had been distributed throughout the Bournemouth & Christchurch areas, could be purchased prior to the rally's start.

On the Tuesday prior to the start of the event the stage set up crews loaded up their vehicles, a seven and a half ton lorry, six transit vans (courtesy of Hendy Ford) and numerous trailers with all the equipment that would be required for the rally. This ranged from banners, through stage arrows and hundreds of wooden stakes to miles of safety tape. Arriving in Dorset on Wednesday morning the various teams set off for the forests to start work.

Wednesday saw the arrival of more of the organising team, bringing with them the documentation and remaining equipment required for competitors and officials. Over the next two days, the Wessex Hotel in Bournemouth was transformed into Rally HQ. The Rally Office was set up, computers installed in the Results Office and Press Office together with numerous photocopiers and faxes.

Everything stepped up a gear on Friday morning when the Daily Echo Rally Show was set up at The Two Rivers Meet Leisure Centre in Christchurch and the adjacent sports hall was converted into the venue for Scrutineering and Documentation. The Rally Show featured displays of numerous rally cars, Mitsubishi, and Ford. Guardian Rescue and Bournemouth & District Motor Club also had stands at the show. Spectators also had the opportunity to get a taste of the action on the Apollo Leisure Rally Simulator, which featured Gwyndaf Evans driving the Vectra Escort.

The day of the rally dawned especially early for the stage set up crews, 5.30 am actually, when they set off to put the finishing touches to the stages. The sea front special stage, the first of the event, needed to have dozens of crowd barriers in place before the arrival of the first competing car at 8.18 am.

This stage is always a favourite with spectators, being in the heart of Bournemouth and in 2000 was to be used as the first and last competitive sections of the rally. The Ian Taylor Racing School, from Thruxton Circuit and Pirelli set up a display adjacent to the stage on Pier Approach and were kept busy all day. The Racing School brought along a selection of cars, including a Formula Renault, MGF and a Ferrari.

1999 Rallye Sunseeker winners Marcus Dodd and John Bennie led the competitors away from the start ramp in The Square, Bournemouth to the start of the first special stage at Pavilion Gardens, a distance of only a few hundred yards.

For 2000 Marcus was driving a 'borrowed' Subaru WRC but didn't set fastest time on the opening stage. That honour went to Brian Lyall who was to slide off the road on stage two and go out of the event. After three stages however Marcus was getting to grips with the car and had taken the overall lead with reigning ANCRO Champion Kenny McKinstry in second place with the Metro of John Price third. One of the early cars to retire on the early stages was Harry Dodd in his Mitsubishi, which suffered clutch failure on stage 2.

After five stages Dodd had pulled out a lead of some 11 seconds over McKinstry who said "we're doing fine and having a bit of a go on the tarmac stages between the forests." Steve Petch was also being cautious but felt he was braking far too early. Warren Philliskirk's Metro started giving concern when it filled with smoke and later started to consume large quantities of water whilst Vince Wetton suffered a small fire when oil dropped onto the exhaust. As the day progressed Dodd increased his lead to 22 seconds and at the speed trap at Somerley Park was a full 15 seconds faster than the next best car at 106 mph. John Price was happier now that the stages were drying out, the tarmac expert describing the gravel stages as 'a bit of an eye opener'. Steve Petch was keeping a close eye on the leaders 'theses two boys in front (Dodd & Price) are nutters! I've been watching their progress on the tarmac and I don't think I've got the nerve to stay with them.'

As the rally headed towards its conclusion Marcus Dodd remained in the lead, in spite of not driving the car to its limit. 'The car belongs to Dave Richards and if I break it, I will be faced with a large bill' was his reasoning. In second place was Kenny McKinstry with Vince Wetton, third.