One of Monmouthshire's well known rally crews, Chris and Jo Tooze, took part in the Woodpecker Stages Rally on Saturday 30th August. This being the seventh round of the 2008 Silverstone tyres BTRDA rally series was also the first rally for the crew since a new head gasket, turbo and re-map was undertaken on their group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

The quiet Shropshire town of Ludlow played host to the event with all the action being centred at the racecourse. Chris and Jo set a good pace from the start with a 22nd fastest time overall on the first stage in Bringewood even though the pair complained of an 'aggressive' anti-lag and a slight overheating problem.

This continued throughout the day with water being added to the coolant system at management service intervals.

At first service the team was lying in 8th in the production car class, no major problems were faced although a suspected loosening sump guard was rectified.

More stage mileage continued to unease Chris slightly with the Anti-lag system (ALS) wanting to push the car on in addition to the engine temperature rising. This was answered by running part of some stages with the ALS turned off, perhaps costing time but saving the engine. With a transmission rebuild overdue, the clutch became the newest of gremlins as it began to play up nearing the end of the rally.

"We are very pleased to have finished this rally, I don't think the clutch would have done another stage but I will be overhauling the transmission before the next event and going through it."

Fellow Forresters Car Club Members Ian Sutton and Heather Watkins probably had the most eventful day of all after suffering gearbox woes in the morning with the car being stuck in gear until service, only to roll in the afternoon.

Credit to the service crew was due when they managed to beat the car back into shape, have it re-scrutineered and then finish the rally. For all of their troubles they were awarded the Spirit of the Rally prize.

Chris and Jo will next compete in October in the Tour of Mull rally on the Scottish Isle of Mull. The crew are no strangers to the event and hope for a good result after two years of not finishing.

At the end of the day they finished 21st overall and 9th in their class despite all that was thrown at them. Amazingly only two seconds split three production class cars showing how close the battles had been.