Chris Jones

Hi, I thought you rally fans out there might appreciate my story on the Rally. My experience was way beyond what I expected. My brother and I had 2 contractors passes given to us on Sunday while we were trying to figure out how to get tickets for Walters Arena. We had virtually unlimited access to all the events on the day which we put to good use, seeing all the stages we could manage. The main highlights for me were travelling to the finish at Cardiff on the motorway and seeing Harri Rovanpera in my rear view mirror and a few minutes later Freddy Loix. Needless to say I got out of their way and watched them drive right past me. I almost followed Rovanpera into the Castle grounds until I noticed all the cameras flashing and quickly turned out of the way.

The next bit I will never ever forget!!! Me and my brother Nick parked near the castle trying to look for the entrance to see the podium finish. We tried at one set of gates and as we had our contractors passes on full display we were let in. We were walking down this lane and coming towards us was Petter Solberg, he stopped metres away from us. In quick succession we saw Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and I think Juha Kankunnen, Tommi Makkinen and all the rest of about 15 of the top drivers and cars all parked down this lane.

Makkinen pulled up right in front of me, stalled the car in front of McRae and got out of his car. He saw me first and all I could think of saying was "well done" which he cheerily said thanks to and walked right in front of me stretching his legs. Colin McRae walked along in front of all the cars and gave a steely glance in our direction probably wondering what the hell we were doing in the driver's area. I can tell you that McRae had a presence all of his own in that lane !!

We walked up and down the row of cars admiring the computer screens inside the Ford Focus which had all it's screens still displaying info. We went up and down about 6 or 7 times seeing Makkinen sitting on the bonnet of one of the other cars and various other amazing drivers just standing right next to us. The cars then made their way through the large gate into the castle grounds and we could see the crowd cheering through the gate. I still don't believe I was so close to some of my heroes and am still on a high almost a week later. Later on we walked around to the proper entrance where everyone was leaving, I saw about 7 members of the Subaru team walking up the road with 2 massive silver trophies and again all I could say was "well done".

All in all it was one of the highlights of my life and for the first Rally I've ever been to I don't think I could have done any better ! Thanks to RallyGB.co.uk for all the hints and tips before we went. Even though we did end up setting out without tickets!