MINI EUROPE RALLY '98  THE SECTIONS - DAY BY DAY

What a week! This was our first Mini Europe Rally - so we were very happy with our fourth place! No surprise that we had something to smile about on the day we left back for Cologne. The cup now has a very special place between all the Mini models. But it was a hard piece of work - being on holiday definitely is something different! All in all we drove about 4000km. 2000km of it for the rally, which makes approximately 400km each day. Wake up time was about 7.00 each morning, and in the evenings we were tired enough at 11.00. And next year? The Mini Europe Rally 1999 goes to England - to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Mini. You can count on us - if nothing comes in between.

The Route - Day By Day

Day 1 - Saturday	Section 1:	Technical Check Amsterdam Slalom in Amsterdam
Day 2 - Sunday	Section 2: Section 3: Section 4:	Amsterdam- Aarlandsveen - Tiel Slalom in Tiel Tiel - Brussels
Day 3 - Monday	Section 5: Section 6: Section 7:	Brussels - Artres Artres - Peronne Peronne - Paris
Day 4 - Tuesday	Section 8: Section 9: Section 10:	Paris - Combertault Combertault - Baresia Baresia - Champagnole
Day 5 - Wednesday	Section 11: Section 12: Section 13:	Champagnole - Epagny Epagny - Alpe d'Huez Alpe d'Huez - Guillestre
Day 6 - Thursday	Section 14: Section 15:	Guillestre - St.Dalmas de Tende St.Dalmas de Tende - Monaco

Day 1 - Saturday (Amsterdam) Technical check The first day started with a technical check - mainly lights and tires - of all cars. Finally we got out rally stickers. Section 1 - Slalom This years speed contest (two slaloms) was out of the normal classification. So participants from both classes (Rally and Touring) could start. The first slalom was a short and narrow first gear course in the hotel parking area.

Day 2 - Sunday Section 2 - Aarlanderveen to Tiel Imagine a small, typical town in the Netherlands. Windmills, waterways, cows, ... and about 40 Minis. This is the Mini Center Ben v.Leeuwen in Aarlanderveen. In this section some cars got lost (including us) because there was a detour in the middle of the section - but we and also some of the others didn't see the rally detour signs. Section 3 - Slalom in Tiel Again a really narrow course on a parking place in an industrial area. Section 4 - Tiel to Brussels Navigating by a combination of "map segment seeking" and "point to arrow system" we reached Brussels. All questions were correct - 100 points (which means place one in this section).

Day 3 - Monday Section 5 - Brussels to Artres More and more we became experts in the sections were you have to navigate with map fragments. Another 100 points! Section 6 - Artres to Peronne This was really difficult. Directly after reaching the finish of the last section we got a peace of paper with a drawn line: the route for this section. Time was already running, so we had to copy the line onto the map and go! On the way we had to collect the characters on special signs on the right side of the road. Section 7 - Peronne to Paris Point to arrow through Paris! Sadly it was very late when we reached Paris (the finish line was under the Eiffel Tower). But the driving (and navigating) in Paris was very exciting! After dinner - like every evening - we got the daily results: Place one in the Touring Class!

Day 4 - Tuesday Section 8 - Paris to Combertault A 250km trip over the french highways. Boring? No, it wasn't. It was really difficult to drive an exact average speed of 95,56km/h over such a distance! Section 9- Combertault to Baresia Map segments - easy to find, but this time we had a problem with a question. No end time penalty but only 75 points (place five in this section). Section 10 - Baresia to Champagnole This was one of the best sections. On the last 20km to Champagnole there was no more oncoming traffic, it was like driving on reserved roads.

Day 5 - Wednesday Section 11 - Champagnole to Epagny ... Section 12 - Epagny to Alpe d'Huez This was not our day. We lost the way directly after a peage - 80km in the wrong direction. After buying a map we turned around and race back. End time penalty: 34 minutes (place five in this section!) Section 13 - Alpe d'Huez to Guillestre Pass after pass we drove through the Alps. Luckily there was no more snow on the roads.

Day 6 - Thursday Section 14 - Guillestre to St. Dalmas de Tende After a short trip through Italy we reached this nice restaurant in the french part of the Sea Alps. Section 15 - St. Dalmas de Tende to Monaco Here we got the roadbook for this last section - "Point to Arrow" but all symbols were in the wrong sequence! This made it really difficult to navigate! The last section contained nearly everything you could possibly integrate into a treasure hunt rally. Hard but fair! Finish The finish was outside of Monaco. After a drive over the original Formula One course we reached our hotel in Cap d'Ail. What a week! And what an evening in Monaco! After a perfect dinner in the Ramada Hotel Cap d'Ail the final results were presented by the rally organisation and we've got our cups. I guess I have never seen so much tired but happy people before!

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