Liège-Corse 2001 Rally Report

Rules and Regulations
Stage 1 - Spa to Aix-les-Bains (April 21^st & 22^nd)
Stage 2 - Aix-les-Bains to Marseilles (April 23^rd)
Stage 3 - Bastia - Ajaccio (April 24^th)
Stage 4 - Ajaccio - Ajaccio (April 25^th)
Stage 5 - Ajaccio - Ajaccio (April 26^th)
Stage 6 - Ajaccio - Ajaccio (April 27^th)
Stage 7 - Remainder of Holiday in Corsica, Part 1 (April 28^th to May 3^rd)
Stage 8 - Remainder of Holiday in Corsica, Part 2 (May 4^th to 11^th)

Corsica 2001 Index Photos

Kit Car Magazine Report


Stage 6 - Ajaccio - Ajaccio (April 27^th)
A quick blast down the R193 by the breakaway 289s, for a superb lunch on the quayside in the spectacular fishing village of Bonifacio at the southernmost tip of Corsica, and then back to Porticcio in time for the scheduled 17:00 prize-givings and presentations. The Butcher/Butcher BRA had to depart at 18:15, in order to cross the island and collect the keys to the bungalow that was to be base camp for the next week. The prize-giving ceremony was eventually held at 22:30 on the ferry back to Marseille - luckily the Butcher/Butcher BRA team didn't win anything!

The event winners were Roger Tushingham and John Sleightholme in their Caterham 7 - well done!

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SUMMARY:-

FUEL LOG for Butcher/Butcher BRA

Date	Location	Miles	Litres	Cost	l/100km	mpg
21.04.01	Spa - Start	36394	Filled	----	----	----
22.04.01	Burnhaupt-le-Bas (near Mulhouse)	36802	91,19	FFr.701,25	13,78	20,62
23.04.01	Vercheny (near Montelimar)	37165	83,61	FFr.677,20	14,38	19,75
24.04.01	Borgo, Corsica	37478	71,57	FFr.578,30	14,30	19,88
26.04.01	Porticcio, Corsica	37763	62,63	FFr.504,10	13,76	20,65
27.04.01	Bonifacio, Corsica	38041	57,04	FFr.464,30	12,81	22,18

You can clearly see the fuel economy improving above as soon as the Butcher/Butcher BRA stopped competing, and began enjoying the twisty roads! Would we do this again? Well, maybe when the next event comes around in two years, we may have forgotten the worst of the experiences, but if asked today, our answer would be a definite NO!
Some parts of the event were exceptionally well-organised (i.e. ensuring that the marshalls were (mostly) in the right place at the right time), but many fine details were missing - no-one knew where we were meant to be for meals, few details of the competitors' progress were issued, and the hard pace led to a very high attrition rate - luckily no serious injuries resulted, but a number of vehicles needed to be transported back home on a recovery truck ...
1) the TRAX SS100 ended up in a river on its' side (and nearly claimed the life of Trevor Seymour, who was driving for owner Robert Bousfield at the time). Trevor was lucky to escape with a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs, after nearly drowning in the icy water.
2) the GCS Hawke of Jeffrey Julier & Graham Morrant hit a rock on a sharp bend, throwing the driver out (who ended up with a broken shoulder), and writing the car off.
3) one of the Lieges was reported to have hit a caravan!
4) one of the Sevens was reported to have damaged a front suspension wishbone.
5) the Transformer Strato's of Jerry Bailey & David Page had oil pressure problems.

The 20+ hour drive from Spa was not unreasonable IF started shortly after a good nights' sleep, rather than at the end of a long day just waiting for the start time to eventually come around.
This is obviously NOT the sort of event to take your concours 289 out on, but a well-sorted and prepared car stands a good chance of getting a very high placing, provided that the crew do not get carried away with "rally-fever", and take unnecessary risks to gain a few lost seconds - much easier said than done when the adrenalin is cors(ica)ing through the veins, believe me!

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The above photos are of varying quality, because of the different technologies used. The first images to appear on this page were from a digital camera (taken by David Pilbeam), the second set (lower resolution) were single frames grabbed off our Hi-8 video camcorder recording, and the rest were scanned in from 35mm prints. The poorer quality of the single frame from the video here is more than compensated for by the action and V8 sound on the video tape itself. S-VHS or VHS copies of this video, and copies of the prints are available from the Butcher/Butcher BRA team (with medical certification of insomnia) for a significantly large donation into our holiday recovery fund.

Congratulations are due to Andrea, for handling the video camera, stills camera, tulip route book and maps - sometimes juggling all simultaneously, and whilst on the move at high speed!

Our thanks go out to Reifen Brock in Siegburg (+49-2241-61771), who managed to source two Michelin 205/70/15 inner tubes for us within 24 hours (it only occurred to me to take these whilst we were packing the spares and tools up, two days before the start!).

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Stage 7 - Remainder of Holiday in Corsica, Part 1 (April 28^th to May 3^rd)

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