Travels with My Aunt

The note went out in the Club Mag some weeks ago that the Phillipson's were organizing one of their famous jaunts across the Channel and this time it was to the Neufchatel Rally in Northern France, run jointly by our twinned club Ecurie Brayonne.

As I'd heard so much about the previous trips I quickly signed up. Lots of food and drink, good fun, plus a strong showing from SCC members (Total entry 3).

Anyway picked up by my chauffeurs for the weekend at 07:45 on Saturday, we headed to Dover for the 09:30 Hovercraft to Calais, which included a slight detour via the car wash as Richard was not happy taking a dirty car to France. Once on the Hovercraft we then planned our itinerary for the rest of the weekend.

1. Gentle drive through the French countryside.
2. Stop somewhere en route for lunch. (The chocolate mousse was scrumptious)
3. Arrive Neufchatel and find scrutineering.
4. Go to the hypermarket and stock up with goodies.
5. Find our hotel in Forges Les Eaux.
6. Have dinner and loads of wine (Yummy).
7. Go the rally.

The drive through France was brill, none of the M25 on a Friday night in the rain lark and once we got to Neufchatel we drove through the Stage 1 before going to scrutineering.

Scrutineering or lack of it was a complete eye opener. The cars ranged from Philippe Bugalski's ex works Maxi Megane at No 1 to a Simca. Noise check, sorry, No Noise check, their view is the noisier the better, none of this 108 dbA at 5000 rpm.

Mind you on a more serious note we did see some things which should not have been allowed. Namely one car where you could see daylight under the strengthening plate for the main hoop of the rollcage.

After mooching around scrutineering meeting Jackie Cauchy (see Ma Voiture) getting our Press passes, purchasing our cheap plonk and introducing Richard and Catherine to the joys of eating your Grany (Muesli bars with fruit and healthy things in them) it was off to our hotel via Stage 2 for a pre-dinner snooze and more gastronomic delights.

Sunday dawned fine and dry and after a leisurely breakfast it was off to find the rally. (The SCC rain god couldn't find us in France)

The layout of the rally was simple. Seven stages run at two venues. One to the North of town at 3.6km and the other to the South of town at 6.9km, giving a massive 35km on tarmac, 22 miles in old money, for roughly £115.00 and a full entry of cars.

The competition was fast and furious even at the lower end of the field and from our perch on the long stage we could see almost all of the action, and with the sun out it made everything more pleasurable.

Lunch time arrived so it was off to Neufchatel to find something to eat which produced fresh sandwiches from the butchers and fresh sticky buns from the bakers. This was followed by a short trip to the 3.6km stage to watch the afternoons action.

We didn't have to wait long as car I got it completely wrong on the bend we were standing on and went off into the undergrowth taking out 3 fence posts in the process.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and we had to depart back to Calais for our 17:15 crossing back to reality.

As for the rally, well if you fancy a weekend of fun it's well worth it to add something different to a long weekend or your rally calendar.