Photo courtesy of Paul Lawrence
The Harry Flatters Stages on Sunday 30th July 2017 was the sixth round of 2017 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship.
Phil Harris explained “The Harry Flatters Stages is a very long established event held over the military roads over the Epynt region of the Brecon Beacons. Epynt has a fearsome reputation – the roads up there are ultra fast and with lots of blind crests and corners that require immense concentration and commitment to the notes. That, coupled with the very variable weather in the mountains, means that it is one of the most demanding events on the calendar.”
The day saw a mixture of high winds, squally showers and sunshine. “The weather threw everything at us,” said Phil, “and it made a demanding day even more challenging.”
Despite the tricky weather conditions, the Mini Cooper had another strong run, winning the class and finishing the first BHRC Category 1 car.
“We had a brilliant day, going at top pace, thanks to my co-driver’s Richard Suter work on the notes. Richard was brilliant and allowed me to go as fast as I could with complete confidence. At one point we hit 97 mph over a blind crest, so we were fully committed,” beamed Phil.
“The only issue we had all day was a bit of a misfire that crept in part way through the last stage and then the engine stopped dead on the road section to the finish,” said Phil. “We thought it was all over for us, but we quickly traced the issue to a faulty fuel pump, switched to the back up and made the finish with time to spare.”
“We’ve now had five Class wins and five Category wins from five starts this season – the car has been absolutely amazing and full credit must go to RSR Historic Engineering for their work in preparing the car.”