Neil Weaver and Nick Thornton completed a difficult event as they finished 27th overall and 13th in class B13 in their Subaru Impreza on Saturday’s (22 September) Plains Rally. 

Ludlow driver Weaver and Holmfirth co-driver Thornton were making their debut together in a four-wheel drive car as they swapped their regular 1400cc Proton Satria for the more powerful ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres-backed Subaru, supplied by S.A.M. Engineering. 

The pair suffered misfortune on the 45-mile Welshpool-based event early on as they rolled the car towards the finish of stage one. Both crew members were unhurt in the incident but the car obtained superficial damage, including a broken windscreen, and they lost a considerable amount of time. 

The service crew managed to obtain some Perspex to fit a new windscreen so that Weaver and Thornton could continue their rally. But the fabric of the new screen caused problems as it impaired vision on occasions when mud flew up as the windscreen wipers failed to make much impact. 

But the pair – who were running a not so lucky 13th on the road – overcame the difficulties to eventually come home a credible 27th overall and 13th in class B13 with Weaver completing his first event behind the wheel of a four-wheel drive machine. 

“It was a really strange day,” Weaver said. “It was a challenging day but that’s the way rallying goes sometimes and we got a result and made it to the finish. 

“We rolled after clipping the edge on a 90 right around 100 yards from the end of stage one. We were both OK and we managed to get the car back onto its wheels straight away and get out of the stage to our service crew. 

“The car was OK mechanically, it was just dented and the screen had smashed, which was the major problem. The service crew did an excellent job as they managed to get hold of some Perspex so we could fix the screen and continue. We suffered a bit when the mud was flying up onto the windscreen as only one wiper was working – fortunately at the drivers’ side – but it wasn’t clearing it properly so it was difficult to see at times. 

“We’d like to thank all of our sponsors: Telford-based ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres for making it possible for us to be out there, S.A.M. Engineering in Cockermouth for the car and everyone else who helped this weekend.”