Exodus

Richard and I mentioned our plans to Paul and Edmund. Edmund owns an Alvis and fancied the idea and Paul agreed to come along for the ride.  Richard tracked down Simon Ayris of Rally preparation Services based in Whitney, Oxfordshire and organised for us to visit his workshop.

Simon provides many of the mechanics who support the Rally and is himself part of the back up crew. He spent considerable time with us.  His advice was to buy a 1930's American car as these are mechanically simple and therefore easy to repair, have powerful engines, so are reasonably fast and have good ground clearance, and so can cope with rough roads.Since Richard has a strong aversion to breaking down we took careful note of what Simon was saying.

He said that the winners of the race tended to go at a steady pace rather than hell-for-leather.  This was less stressful on the cars and the crew.  His strong advice was not to miss the people and the scenery for the sake of going faster.

Simon had a number of cars for sale, ready prepared for this type of Rally, but we weren't yet ready to buy a car.