stubbsy
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Registered: 5th Jun 01
Location: stoke-on-trent
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curtesy of Big G
Moderator & Resident Humper
on cruisinuk.com
Cannonball Run Europe 2003 – Race Report
Saturday 27th September 2003
Off with a Bang!
The Cannonball Run Europe got off to an amazing start with a huge crowd and assorted press and television turning out to witness the start of the 2003 event. Over 70 cars took to the start line at Sherborne Castle in Dorset for the initial parade run down to the Poole Ferry.
The No. 78 Ferrari 360 Spyder of Bryan Saxby and Dave Crispin suffered some early gearbox problems which were quickly remedied by the Cannonball Technical Crew. The Escort Cosworth of Andrew & Paul Constantinou nearly didn’t make it at all only arriving at the start after all the cars had left having had a puncture on the way down.
The start line once again bore witness to some awesome horsepower as the cars blitzed off to the delight of the crowd. Not however to the delight of the purple faced estate manager. Livid was not the word. “This has to stop, those cars are touching at least 90 mph down there, I’m horrified.” Not as horrified as we were, we figured they could get at least 120.
Only onboard the ferry were the details of the first challenge revealed – “First Stop Africa”. The looks on their faces ranged from shock to outright fear.
The Cannonballers passed the time on the ferry as only Cannonballers can. Team Teckademics were taking out some anger on their car as the co-driver jumped up and down on the roof and bonnet. The Blues Brothers in the NYPD Police car were setting up a book and large money was changing hands before the Northern scallies in the No. 85 Skyline mugged them for the lot.
As the pack was set loose at St Malo there was some heavy jostling for the early lead. 1,300 miles lay ahead. Unfortunately the first casualty came only 90 minutes into the French leg as the TVR of Lee Huzzey and Emma Bennet went out with collapsed suspension. The recovery boys were summoned and a switch to a hire car was on the cards.
Sunday 27th September 2003
As the drivers pressed on into the night conditions became tougher. With fatique setting in the heavens opened as the pack traversed the Spanish Pyrenees. The No. 82 Mercedes SLK was the first to fall foul, straight-lining a roundabout and was damaged enough to put them out of the event (like totalled).
Some 15 Cannonball cars were temporarily delayed by police in central Spain – apparently a case of mistaken identify with an unknown car that had smashed clean through a roadblock causing a major manhunt to get underway. Clearly nothing to do with the Cannonball…..
The new day however brought glorious sunshine and a welcome lift for the final run down to Algerciras. Team Kenworthy in the awesome Porsche GT2 claimed bragging rights as the first to arrive, a full 2 ˝ hours before the checkpoint even opened!
It was down to the wire as with the ferry to Tangiers ready to leave, Cannonball cars still streamed into the port. Still, all cars still running made it and were welcomed into Morocco with musicians and a police cavalcade to the stunning 5-star casino hotel. They had arrived.
PODIUM AFTER STAGE 1
1. Steve Fenton / Nigel Armstrong (BMW M3) – 0.001 MPH from target
2. Paul Huxley / Karl Owend – 0.121 MPH from target
3. Allistair Brown / Richard Kettle (Porsche 911) – 0.140 MPH from target
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