Round 4 of the 2016 Mintex MSA BHRC, the 2016 Severn Valley Stages on 4 June was held in hot, dry dusty conditions over the ultra-fast forests near the Epynt military ranges.
Phil Harris said “Lots of crews reported having trouble with the dust and with tyre wear on the highly abrasive tracks. We didn’t really suffer with either and had a pretty trouble free run.”
With regular co-driver Graham Wild unavailable, Phil also had the additional challenge of a new co-driver for the event. “I was very flattered that Alun Cook agreed to sit in with me. He’s vastly experienced as well as being one of the top co-drivers in the UK. Having him alongside me made it a lot easier to deal with challenges of the high speed stages on the event – one mistake on them and you’ll have a big off!”
The very demanding conditions meant that the rally had a high attrition rate, but the Harris & Co Mini Cooper ran faultlessly and finished in the points for its tenth successive time.
“We were delighted to get second in our class and third in Category 1 in a very strong field,” said Phil Harris. “We’ve kept up our challenge for overall Category 1 honours in the Championship thanks to the brilliant car that RSR Historic Engineering prepare for us.”