1st World Rally Computer Championship Round

On Bank Holiday Monday the 25th of May, the first round of Southern's Computer Rally Championship started.

The entry for the first round closed at 9.00 p.m. with 8 competitors ready to challenge each other over a well known!!! 'asphalt' stage in the Swiss Mountains. The competitors would get 3 runs over the 2.93 mile course in three different cars, these being a Skoda Felicia, a Nissan Almera Gti and a Ford Escort World Rally Car.

The Championship will be a 6 round series selecting different short stages from around the world as laid out with "Europress's International Rally Championship" computer game. There will also be a trophy to be presented at the end of Year Awards Dinner.....(Most probably of a little Gold Anorak!!!!!)

Round 1 saw the competitors having to use keys instead of a joystick, apparently due to homologation irregularities not conforming to the organisers' Yellow with Purple spots Book!!!!!!!!!

With scenes reminiscent of last years' Goodwood Festival of Speed Rallysprint domination by Robbie Head (apparently he had inside knowledge of the course!!) Neil Cloughley set the benchmark time in the Skoda Felicia (again he apparently had inside knowledge of the course!!). His time of 1m 56.7 was next followed by Simon Thomas on 2M 06.2, closely followed by Michael Weeks on 2M 07.0.

The remainder of the field took a little time to adjust to the rapid steering! of the Felicia, but most soon got to grips with it, posting a time in the two to three minute mark. Paul Smith however, was a different matter...

He handed in an official protest at the start, due to his "lack of joystick!!" experience...(ooo-er-missus!!) He then found the non-keyboard approach a little more difficult, often ending up with him travelling the wrong way down the stage!

However in future rounds he may well use the Toyota Corolla, which as we all know uses a joystick system!!!!!!

The second run proved a lot closer, with the competitors learning the course and also having more power in the Nissan Almera Gti. Neil extended his lead by another 10 seconds, however Michael Weeks was able to get the Almera to handle slightly better than the Skoda, to beat Simon to second place this time by just 1.7 seconds. Michael's time for the stage being 1M 59.5. When interviewed after the stage, a disappointed Simon suggested that a bad tyre choice, naked women on the stage and a spin caused his slower time. Further down the order, Alan Jamieson normally in the co-driver's seat, was showing a clean pair of heels to his driver John Blaber with both posting 2M 41.0 and 3M 28.3 respectively. Tim Hines and Martin were fairly close together with Paul Smith again bringing up the rear! with a run of 5M 04.5.

Unfortunately Paul was not interviewed after this stage, as all the reporters had gone to find a local pub before he finished the stage!!

In between stages the respective team camps showed mixed emotions, with the time cards being rushed back and forth to the Official table, run by Helen Hughes and Sue Smith. Grumblings were again heard from the Simon camp about the inadequacies of the equipment given and that it was not a patch on his own "Works" outfit at home!!!! For the record this works outfit runs under the name of "Pumpkin"!!!......I kid you not and I'll say no more!

Tension mounted for the final run of the evening up the "Materhorn!!" stage, with the competitors now using the Ford Escort World Rally Car. Four wheel drive and more powerful engine was sure to mean an improvement in times.....even Paul's!

First off the line was Neil with an obvious engine misfire, and was duly brought back to the start ( the words Win 95....MS......and Crap!!!) were overheard by one spectator, but this cannot be authenticated!

Having had curry shortly before the start of the event, Neil's Anti-lag system seemed to be in fine form on the start line, popping and banging, yet producing a curious engine smell, raising one or two eyebrows at the potentiality of "Fowl" play!

Having blasted through the stage, just missing the odd cow and local yodeller he posted a time of 1M 37.7, the fastest of the evening. A sound like a jack dropping a car or jaw hitting the floor was heard from the Weeks camp on seeing this time, but professionally he carried on.

Michael posted his quickest time of 1M 58.8 on this run, reasonably pleased with his performance considering the standard spec of his car. Simon was next up to the start line, now wearing blinkers and a determined expression on his face. Sure enough, he posted a time of 1M 49.6 beating Michael Weeks time by a little under 9 seconds.

Tim Hines posted a 2M 11.2 on his final run, followed by a nail-biting finish between Martin, John, Alan....and yes....Paul Smith.

3.3 seconds separated Martin and John on the final run, with Martin posting the faster time of 2M 33.4. John had beaten his co-driver Alan though, with Alan posting a 3M 42.4. This reasserted John's position in the overall standings above Alan...however........

The star drive on the final leg had to go to Paul Smith, who mustered all his concentration and a strong desire to point his car in the right direction to post a time of 3M 30.9, a considerable improvement on his previous times. A dark horse it seems for the following rounds.

The overall positions are listed below for the first round of the championship, with Neil Cloughley taking an early lead in the Championship table. When asked about his turn of speed he replied something about a "dominant finger!!" it was hard to tell as he seemed to still have the anti-lag problem.

One thing can be sure, his main rivals Simon and Michael will be out testing to find that extra pace needed for the next round. Come along and join the championship then to challenge or participate, details of the next round will appear in the magazine.