I Had a Lot of Fun With an Escort Today

[Thotos]

A Ford Escort that is! I know that's probably like swearing on this forum but I have to admit it was a nice car to drive.

As I am now a man of leisure with a couple of Red Letter Day vouchers, I decided to have an afternoon of fun driving a rear wheel drive MkII Escort at the Bill Gwynne Rallyschool International. They are based in Brackley and I was planning to go there in the 131, in fact I washed and polished the 131 yesterday, but having got up this morning to about an inch of snow, I decided to leave the 131 tucked warmly in its garage and took modern Mercedes transport instead (so keeping to rear wheel drive  ). The temperature at the Rallyschool in Brackley never got above 2 degrees today so while they didn't have snow, there was ice on top of gravel on top of loose surface. So it was sideways all the way! 









Luckily for me, it's the time of year when they don't get much call for their rally lessons so not only I got a half price deal, I got the school to myself as there were no other 'students' this afternoon; just the owner, my instructor and me 

I think I'll be back there in the new year.... 

(if you are wondering who took the photos, they are not of me but 'library' photos I lifted off their website  )

[Rob 131]

I'd give Hugo a run on the course next time 

[Thotos]

I'd give Hugo a run on the course next time 

I suggested that and Bill said "we'll have to fill in some of the pot holes before a standard road car can go on that course".

[Tas131]

My son and I are doing the same thing next month.
http://www.wrxdrift.com.au/
Not RWD though.

[Thotos]

My son and I are doing the same thing next month.
http://www.wrxdrift.com.au/
Not RWD though.

I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun! 
If any members here are interested in having a go at Bill Gwynne's, I briefly talked to him about a group deal. I thought a few of us could have a half day driving event in the morning and then go for lunch. There's what seemed like a nice little pub in the village and the larger Green Man pub nearby on the A43. And there's always the Little Chef where I ended up for something to eat on the way back    If we have 5 people then we get the place to ourselves (the Rallyschool, not the Little Chef  )  Bill offered their standard 20% Corporate discount but we might be able to get a slightly better deal. If anyone is interested then please post here or email me. I'll certainly be going back as I have another Red Letter voucher to use    but I won't use that for our group meeting if we have one.

[N. Dinis]

How much would it be? I still dream about my first time..... with a RWD rally car on a gravel surface....  I wanted to go visit the UK and that could be an opportunity.. Still not abble to drive any of my 131's for next months but could get on a plane....

[Thotos]

The cost will depend on which of the many packages we go for and how many people we get to sign up. I'd suggest a half day event so the range for about 5 people should be from about ?70 for a "Rally Thrill Experience" to about ?120 for the "Clubman Experience".