The Mini Tempest Stages 2003 review. Story and images provided by RallyingOnline.com. 30 March 2003
Kings do Battle
This years Mini Tempest was unusual as there were no previous winners in the 67-car field. With eight smooth and fast special stages on offer, car 1 was Mark and Michael Slater in their fabulous new Vauxhall-powered Escort Mk2. Car 2 was the similarly powered Escort of Pauls King and Hollingham and seeded in third was Dick Mauger and Andrew Street in a BDA-powered derivative.
Fourth seeds Stuart and Teresa Fossey had their usual Mark 2 laid up with engine problems, so they were out in a Sunbeam.
Other crews to watch were Kevin King/Robert Mallet in an immaculate 2.8-litre Metro 6R4 at number 10, and seeded down in 24th was Chris Davies and Brandon Parker in a Darrian T90.
SS1 saw fastest time go to Martin Pilcher/Jon Jeffrey in an Escort with the King/Mallett Metro a second behind, and the other King (Paul), a further two seconds back.
First victim of Longcross' notorious jump was car 29, the Astra of Tim Mewett and Liz Jordan. After a spectacular "air" moment, the cars front suspension collapsed on landing sending them sliding into the wall, fortunately without injury.
King and Mallet's 6R4 was also spectacularly airborne at the same spot on SS2 but survived the heavy landing. The Slaters left the fray at this point with new car teething problems. However, king of the Escorts, Paul King, took the lead after SS2 opening a three second gap over his namesake.
SS3 saw King dethroned by King with the Metro and Escort swapping places. Advantage Metro and four-wheel drive.
SS4 was cancelled after Neville Sutton and Kevin Ward's Mitsubishi Evo 6 came off second best after an argument with a concrete block and subsequently blocked the stage. The crew was fine after the incident but the car will need a lot of TLC to restore it to its former pristine condition.
So at the halfway point, King led from King, with Chris Davies in the Darrian 3rd, one second ahead of Paul Boxall and Teresa Butler in a Peugeot 205 and the flamboyant John Reddington/Brian Rudden 5th just two seconds behind Boxall. Jim and Frank McArdle were having a good day in their rear-wheel drive Fiesta Turbo lying 6th overall.
After the lunch break and under a blazing sun, the two Kings set about the afternoon stages to see who would be crowned the winner of the 2003 Mini Tempest.
First blood went to the Metro crew, eking another 3 seconds out of the two Pauls. SS6 saw a tie for fastest time. It seemed that the Metro was not going to be caught…
One thing that was catching people out was the split on SS5 with no fewer than five crews including the Mitsubishis of Roger Binyon and John Van Camp as well as early leader Pilcher getting it wrong.
Going into the final stage the Metro duo held sway by 14 seconds and managed to increase their advantage over the final test to take victory by 16 seconds. In second place after an excellent drive was Pauls King and Hollingham - a great effort keeping the Metro honest all day. In third place was the Darrian T90 of Chris Davies and Brandon Parker and in fourth was Paul Boxall and Teresa Butler after a daylong battle with fifth placed John Reddington and Brian Rudden. Rounding up the top six were the McArdles after a good clean run.
In the classes, A was won by Dave Keen/Matt Bateman in a Skoda Felicia from Tom Saxton/Joe Mulford in their Mini Cooper S.
Class B saw a win for Martin Thomas/James Rich driving a Sunbeam ahead of Alan and Helen Thompson's Avenger.
Class C went to 4th placed Paul Boxall/Theresa Butler from the very sideways John Reddington/Brian Rudden.
In class D, the McArdles took the win from Ian Rix and Stuart Delf in their immaculate Mk2 Escort, and finally, class E was won by David Rayner/Phillip Smith in their rare Ford RS 200.
Sutton & Cheam Motor Club - the rally organisers
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