Rally of Finland - Car 165, DNF (160 entrants and 79 finished)
Trevor would be navigated by Ian Harrop on this event.
This was the 9th of the fourteen WRC rallies of 2001. It comprised twenty-one mainly gravel stages running from the 23rd to 26th of August. Marcus Gronholm would win with Richard Burns second and Colin McRae third. Richard Burns would become WRC champion that year with Colin McRae as runner up.
This would be the last Rally of Finland for Coventry Automotive, as the event was changing from 2001, rather than usual 160 competitors it would be reduced to 60 with the exclusion of amateur international crews. Trevor would be driving, as usual and Ian Harrop navigating.
The rally is a big thing in the host town Jyväskylä and rally fans outnumber the locals come the Rally of Finland weekend. Drinking seems to be the second most popular activity and the happily drunken spectators would roar their approval on sight of the Mini. They were lucky this year as the Mini was transported for them to Finland. Having collected it, they filled it with fuel and went for a drive about town only to be dismayed by a terrible misfire. No time to fix it, as they were due in for scrutineering, once that was out of the way it was time to limp back and sort the problem. With the rest of the day to fix it, they replaced the inlet manifold complete with injectors and sensors which cured the problem.
Before the start they met up with Atsao Aho who had rallied a Mini in the 60s, including the rally of Finland. He was checking the pace notes for Harri Rovanperra and was pleased to see a Mini on the event. After leaving the start ramp and the crowds it was a relaxed drive to SS1 Valkola, a short 8.5km introduction to the event and it went well. Stage 2 Lankmaa was another story. This stage had already been cut up badly by the preceding 4x4 rally cars causing a very rough ride. The pace notes did not seem to match the stage and they had to drive blind, reading the road and car tracks to get around. Stage 3 Laukaa was better for them and they headed back to service in good spirits. At the next service auxiliary lights had to be fitted even though it was only 4pm they would not return to service until late in the night. Stage 6 was a repeat of the first stage and was rough, as now the track had over 300 cars through it, cutting it up badly and the Mini had some hard knocks.
The start of stage 7 was eventful, in that there was a rowdy crowd cheering the cars on. The track was very badly cut up and the marshals warned them about dangers hidden over crests. One place the landing over a crest had been dug out creating s 6ft x 3ft hole but fortunately they had been warned by marshals wildly flagging the danger. Over the next crest they hit a pothole and the car darted off to the right and something was obviously drastically wrong. It turned out the pothole had ripped off the top and bottom ball joints on Ian's side and the wheel was no longer attached to any suspension!
A long wait for the service crew to come and repair it before they could return back to base. While they were waiting, they chatted to a crew who had been more unfortunate. They had hit another deep hole in the following crest which tipped their Toyota Corolla on its nose before precipitating a roll. So perhaps they were lucky as that hole would have 'swallowed the Mini whole'?
Trevor would be navigated by Ian Harrop on this event.
This was the 9th of the fourteen WRC rallies of 2001. It comprised twenty-one mainly gravel stages running from the 23rd to 26th of August. Marcus Gronholm would win with Richard Burns second and Colin McRae third. Richard Burns would become WRC champion that year with Colin McRae as runner up.
This would be the last Rally of Finland for Coventry Automotive, as the event was changing from 2001, rather than usual 160 competitors it would be reduced to 60 with the exclusion of amateur international crews. Trevor would be driving, as usual and Ian Harrop navigating.
The rally is a big thing in the host town Jyväskylä and rally fans outnumber the locals come the Rally of Finland weekend. Drinking seems to be the second most popular activity and the happily drunken spectators would roar their approval on sight of the Mini. They were lucky this year as the Mini was transported for them to Finland. Having collected it, they filled it with fuel and went for a drive about town only to be dismayed by a terrible misfire. No time to fix it, as they were due in for scrutineering, once that was out of the way it was time to limp back and sort the problem. With the rest of the day to fix it, they replaced the inlet manifold complete with injectors and sensors which cured the problem.
Before the start they met up with Atsao Aho who had rallied a Mini in the 60s, including the rally of Finland. He was checking the pace notes for Harri Rovanperra and was pleased to see a Mini on the event. After leaving the start ramp and the crowds it was a relaxed drive to SS1 Valkola, a short 8.5km introduction to the event and it went well. Stage 2 Lankmaa was another story. This stage had already been cut up badly by the preceding 4x4 rally cars causing a very rough ride. The pace notes did not seem to match the stage and they had to drive blind, reading the road and car tracks to get around. Stage 3 Laukaa was better for them and they headed back to service in good spirits. At the next service auxiliary lights had to be fitted even though it was only 4pm they would not return to service until late in the night. Stage 6 was a repeat of the first stage and was rough, as now the track had over 300 cars through it, cutting it up badly and the Mini had some hard knocks.
The start of stage 7 was eventful, in that there was a rowdy crowd cheering the cars on. The track was very badly cut up and the marshals warned them about dangers hidden over crests. One place the landing over a crest had been dug out creating s 6ft x 3ft hole but fortunately they had been warned by marshals wildly flagging the danger. Over the next crest they hit a pothole and the car darted off to the right and something was obviously drastically wrong. It turned out the pothole had ripped off the top and bottom ball joints on Ian's side and the wheel was no longer attached to any suspension!
A long wait for the service crew to come and repair it before they could return back to base. While they were waiting, they chatted to a crew who had been more unfortunate. They had hit another deep hole in the following crest which tipped their Toyota Corolla on its nose before precipitating a roll. So perhaps they were lucky as that hole would have 'swallowed the Mini whole'?