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Photo courtesy of Paul Lawrence
On Saturday 30th April, the Harris & Co backed Mini Cooper took on the challenge of the notorious fast flowing stages of Kielder Forest in the 3rd round of this year's Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship.
Kielder Forest is famous for its ultra fast roads over many blind crests. It demands complete commitment from the crew and its deep ditches await the slightest error.
"Kielder Forest is one of the toughest events in the calendar," said Phil Harris. "It catches out even the top crews and it's easy to have a big accident in there. You really need to be on the top of your game."
The snow of the previous day had made the challenge of Kielder even harder, with odd patches still lying on the tracks, waiting to catch the unwary.
Despite the challenges presented by Kielder Forest, Phil and co-driver Graham Wild had a trouble free run to take their 9th straight class win as well as third in Category 1 (for all pre 1968 cars).
"The car performed faultlessly again," reported Phil. "RSR Historic Engineering have built a superb car for me! I can't believe that we've had 9 starts, 9 finishes and 9 class wins!”