I'm looking for some information to supplement the spectator information on the web-site.
Are any of the crews that have your road books and maps able to confirm which direction Mikkola's Bend is being run in the Dalby Complex, i.e. from the south to north or from the north to south. Also does this form part of SS3 or SS4?
Miccola's is a couple of miles into stage 4 and I suppose North to South is the best way to describe it. In through Sneverdale an out up Housedale Rigg
Will the cars be running through the quarry on the Dalby stage. Where there was a bit of a water splash last year. If they are, will they be running the same way as last year.
We're running down sneverdale and up housedale so it's a long sweeping left. There used to be a tree stump on the exit of the junction at the bottom of Sneverdale where I took the famous picture of Colin McRae in the Nova with the back end about 6ft high. Don't know if it's still there but it's worth missing.
Quarry is a couple of miles further on and is run the opposite way to last year.
From an organisers point of view the bend is being run the safe way i.e up hill.
The bend is an MSA Black Spot when run down hill as the bend keeps coming back on you.
In the 1970's Hannu Mikkola left the road at this point in a very big way and the bend got named after him. In 1984 on the National Breakdown Rally an Icelandic drive lost his life on the bend by hitting one of the tree's.
The driver who died at Mikkolas bend was an icelandic national named Hafstein Haukson. It would be good to know what happened to the car, which was destroyed in the acident. I was a marshal on that years Mintex international; and heard witness reports of it rolling; then barrel rolling; and hitting a tree 4 feet off the ground; across the roof, just behind the seats.
I agree with the viewpoint that Ford should have retained such a historic car. Which now appears lost. A double tragedy
