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Volvos competing in East Anglian Classic

20/6/2017

A pleasing host of Volvos were out on the East Anglian Classic this weekend.

In hindsight this was the toughest day's rallying I have ever done, simply because of the heat; I found it very difficult to maintain concentration as the afternoon progressed, although lunch halt in an air conditioned pub helped greatly. I wonder if we'd simply got acclimatised on the London2CapeTown run, because I don't recall it being that tough in the car; or maybe it's simply that the PV is just so much hotter inside than the 140, particularly for the navigator.

Anyway, our summary is very simple, and forgive the lack of detail: I have to get a gearbox built today, an ATB fitted tomorrow, and 2 cars for MoT...

  • Regularities: all enjoyable, speeds a little high on occasion, but not worryingly so. Nicely varied intensity, for instance the last regularity had a batch of speed changes early on, then just one speed between controls for the last two.
  • Tests: well, I was a bit excitable on the first one, too sideways through a gate gave me a cone fault, then shortly after I span it. Then I settled down and we looked cleanly focussed for all the other tests. Not sure whether we put in any good times, but I doubt we put in bad times after that first one!
  • Private Land Regularity - well, several cars in front of us took different routes (we got it correct), but ended up in the same order at the next control; one of the controls had a queue of 6 competitors, which pretty much guarantees that one loses over a minute into the following control, and it did exactly that. My opinion was that it was all too vague, and not a good test of the crew at all.
  • Clearly several other crews thought the same, and it was deleted from results - my apologies to Ryan Pickering, since this dropped him from an overall win, to second!

We came 3rd overall, which given that my test times may not have been the quickest (by a good margin), just shows that Bob Blows was truly in the groove, and we were working well on the regularities - Thanks Bob!

  • PV544, Rob & Bob Blows 3rd overall, 1st in class
    13th on test performance, and 2nd on regularity shows just how sharp Bob was on Sunday, and how well we were working together in the car
  • Amazon, Damon & Sean 11th, 2nd in class
  • 144, John & Martin 12th, 3rd in class
    Just 22s behind us on Test Times - showing just how quick John can go with his standard (I think??) motor!
  • Amazon, Tim & Anji 21st, 5th in class
    Tim was clearly suffering in the heat more than most, and was all for retiring at lunchtime - a gallant stand by him since he was clearly not feeling good at all.
  • Amazon, Simon & Amy 24th, 7th in class
    Simon's first ever event, congratulations to both you and my little girl!
  • Amazon, Gareth & Shon Retired - fuel blockage, apparently it was badly contaminated, and had become a gel at the bottom of the tank! This was in addition to losing the trip sensor on the Saturday.

Leave a comment about this article: volvo@amazoncars.co.uk

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