Rally Cars and Snake Bites Part One

                                             Rally cars and snake bites part one.

It was one cold January afternoon in 1985, I was working in my first garage in Palmers Green London.  My friend and colleague Steve came up to me whilst I was under a vehicle changing the clutch, he said      “Mate do you want to be part of a Rally car crew, just me and you.  It will be on T.V. on Grandstand?”

Steve went on to explain that a rival garage owner in Enfield was taking part in an off-road Rally in Brighton and it will be televised that Saturday afternoon.  Steve went on to explain further that the car was a rally prepared MK2 Ford escort B.D.A. which stood for (Belt Driven A series Engine) This car was a version of the Rally winning factory prepared Escorts that had cleaned the boards in rallying in the late 1970s. 

The award winning Mk 2 Escort circa 1980.

The usual pit crew for the Escort had been taken ill with flu and the Driver and owner Mr Gray of (Gray’s Tyre and exhaust centres) was desperate for two replacement mechanics at extremely short notice.  Without too much thought I agreed and jumped at the chance to be on T.V. if only dressed in overalls and probably covered in oil!

The arrangement was for Mr Gray and his navigator for the Rally would pick us up outside our work at 6.00pm on the Friday night.  We would then be driven to Brighton from Palmers Green.  The distance was approximately 100mls in total.  We were picked up bang on time at 6.00pm. Mr Gray drove a brand spanking new Ford Granada Ghia X 2.8 Injection.  The Ford Granada had not that long been released in the U.K.

A white knuckle ride in the Ford Granada Ghia-X Injection.

The arrangement financially was that  Steve and I would not receive any payment for our services but we would be treated to free accommodation in a hotel in Brighton with dinner and all drinks paid for by Mr Gray. 

We set off with gusto towards Brighton in London’s rush-hour.  By our feet in the rear off the Granada was a green cool box, Mr Gray said    “Help yourselves there is cold Red-Stripe Lager in there, and you two aren’t needed until 9.00am tomorrow have a drink on us”   Only being 21 I didn’t need to be asked twice! My pal and me attacked the ice-cold Lager.

It was a great start to the evening.  All was going like clock worth until I noticed next to me the registration document for the Rally in Brighton, it said along the lines of, all entrants into the Grandstand open Rally must log in their entrance forms by 7.30 on Friday night prior to the Rally the following day!

I tapped the front seat passenger on his shoulder and passed him the entrance form.    His eyes nearly popped out of his head he shouted out to Mr Gray    “You said we had until 9.00pm to log our entrance in, well its bloody 7.30pm and look at the time its 6.20pm now and were about 80mls short of Brighton!”

Mr Gray said nothing but he put the main beam headlights on and floored the accelerator hard into the carpet!  My lager tipped backwards and went down my nice clean shirt as we sped down a dual carriage way.  I carefully clipped on my seat belt and crossed myself!  The speedometer quickly rose to over 125mph!  Steve whispered to me don’t worry David he’s a Rally driver remember.  I shakily asked my pal for another Red-Stripe lager I thought to myself if I’m going to be scraped off road somewhere on the way to Brighton I’m not going out sober!

Whether it was the lager or my confidence in Mr Gray was growing but a huge smile began emerging on my face.  We rounded bend after bend with tyres squealing for grip.  I think the weight of the four of us plus a toolkit in the back gave us extra traction.  Oncoming headlights seemed to blur into one stripe of light. 

I can honestly say I didn’t see that speedometer dip below 120mph unless traffic stood in our way.  We approached the outskirts of Brighton and we saw our first orange sign pointing to the Rally headquarters.  By my watch it was 7.25pm!  We flew up the approach road getting airborne over speed humps.  At 7.29 Mr Gray handbrake-turned the Granada on the gravel outside Rally headquarters and ran into the Stately home waving his entrance form!

Part two of “Rally cars and snake bites” to follow shortly.

Lord Banks