Fisher's Peugeot prize turns sour.

"It's like driving a grizzly bear!" was how Mark Fisher summed up the Friday stages of the Rally of GB. Unfortunately, Saturday would be no better, and retirement soon beckoned for the Super 106 Cup prize winner.

Fisher's Peugeot prize turns sour.

"It's like driving a grizzly bear!" was how Mark Fisher summed up the Friday stages of the Rally of GB. Unfortunately, Saturday would be no better, and retirement soon beckoned for the Super 106 Cup prize winner.

Problems struck immediately when, on stage one of the seven, the car went on to three cylinders. Despite this, Mark and fellow Irishman Gordon Noble posted a twenty-fifth fastest overall time, moving them up into fifty-second overall.

The next stage, Rheola, still in the Neath valley complex, saw the gremlins re-appear. An unexplained suspension failure caused damage to the main water hoses, losing all the water and causing the engine to overheat - up to 120 degrees!

They limped through the last five miles of the stage, only for the car to initially not re-start on leaving the time control, but persistence paid off and they finally coaxed it into the service area.

Retirement was inevitable and the crew hung up their helmets on arrival into the park. Their time through Rheola netted them a place on the results sheet, ironically another improvement into forty-fifth place, their exact seeding for the rally.

During that troublesome last stage, they narrowly avoided a collision with fellow competitor Papadimitrou, as they lurched sideways at a hairpin. The Peugeot pair
hadn't seen his approach, despite keeping a watchful eye out, and as Papadimitrou started his passing manoeuvre, they were nearly ditched as they took avoiding action!

Understandably, the crew are distraught that their prize drive and all the work they have put in through the year has turned sour, but they can take satisfaction that they have put their best into it, and on this occasion, the car has just let them down.

However, the team remain positive that so many miles were successfully achieved in testing, and appreciated that some improvements must be made in event scenario.

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