by Geoff Mayes
Simon Harraway experienced mixed fortunes on his first ever World Rally when he contested the Wales Rally GB last weekend.
The former karting champion, who only began rallying earlier this year, was under no illusions as to how tough this three-day marathon would be.
He began the first stage well and at the 4.5mile spilt was only 8 seconds off Group N leader Guy Wilks. With conditions being the worst seen in years and competitors having to contend with fog, visibility was limited to 20ft. This caught Harraway out on a tight bend and he ran wide and mounted a bank.
This would not have been too much of a problem but spectators standing in a dangerous position had dived out of the way. Harraway and co-driver Craig Drew, not sure if they had hit and injured anyone, stopped immediately, halting the stage as an ambulance was summoned. Fortunately two specators suffered only minor injuries but by the time the Weston Super Mare-based man had completed giving a statement to the officials he was declared too late to start the next stage and would be forced to SupeRally.
Returning on Saturday morning the Bravo Racing-run Regency Group backed Subaru Impreza N10 pairing experienced a trio of relatively trouble free stages and Harraway was happy with his pace. On the second stage of the day he went quicker than BRC regular Wyn Humphries in a 2007 spec Subaru, showing once more that he has the ability to shrug off minor set backs and focus on the job.
Things began to go downhill in the afternoon though when gearbox problems slowed the car and Harraway was forced to limp through the whole loop of stages with limited drive to the wheels. The gearbox was changed during the evening service but
en-route to the stages the next morning the rear diff cried enough, ending his rally.
“I enjoyed this rally, it was an experience. We learnt so much this weekend and despite not having a single clean run we showed that we have the pace,” he reflected.
![Simon Harraway / Craig Drew - Subaru Impreza. Wales Rally GB 2007. [Pic credit: Rally Shots - www.rally-shots.com]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/400821.jpg)
