RtG The Daily Dispatch - Generations - sm - Flipbook - Page 2
25 to 27 March 2022
Day 1
Northern Lakes (108 miles)
25 March 2022
Low Wood Bay maybe had a touch of the Riviera about it this
morning. Perfectly positioned alongside Windermere under
a blue sky, full sun and with the promise of more to come
throughout the day. The exotic cars and the yachts, berthed
alongside in the marina also helped with this illusion but,
once we raised our eyes towards the fells, dotted as they
were with fluffy white sheep we were left in no doubt about
exactly where we really were.
The English Lake District. The spiritual home of William
Wordsworth, Alfred Wainwright and One man and his Dog the smash hit BBC TV show which pitted a man and his best
friend against the clock and a flock of wilful ruminants.
It was first aired in 1976, at about the same time that the
two big Mercedes of Jan and Koen Altena and Ben and
Adrian Brooks - as well as the Porsche of Josh and John
Whitelock - rolled off their respective production lines and,
on reflection, it’s good to see that some things from the
’70’s have stood the test of time.
Who was most surprised? Charlotte and Pierre van Houtte in their 1965
Porsche 911 come across some local traffic
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
They say that youth is wasted on the young. Well,
that’s as maybe, but old cars certainly aren’t;
judging by the way the younger generation have
approached this challenge.
Fred Gallagher flags away Luke and Andrew Bailey, Bentley Supersports
This, the first Generations Rally, is a short one certainly
but, according to the schedule a lot has been packed into
it and the first jobs of the day were to get the cars through
scrutineering, pay a visit to Andrew Kellitt, Audrey Rudd,
RtG’s Vice Chairman David Roberts and his daughter
Lindsey, to collect the vital paperwork and changing into
the, perhaps unnecessarily warm and snug, rally clothing
which the Organisers had kindly supplied to all of the crews.
Down in the car park the sweep crews comprising Andy
Inskip, Charlie Neale, Owen Turner, Geoff Lobb, Jack Amies
and Russ Smith were on hand, along with two Motorsport
UK scrutineers, also a father and daughter pairing of Peter
and Caroline Elliott, to ensure safety and compliance, and
to sort out any last minute issues, such as repairing the
faulty brake light switch which Andrew and Luke Bailey’s
Bentley had developed on the way to the start.
Some seventy five cars sailed through this process in
around three hours and, once the spanners were stowed
and the signing-on-desk had closed, Rally Director Fred
Gallagher stood up and gave a short briefing to welcome
the crews to the event, give an explanation for some notable
absences. He explained that when the phrase the ‘thin red
line’ was first coined it meant something totally different
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