Ok, not a race exactly...
I'm putting some feelers out to see if I can find some mountain people that are fond of classic/sports cars, or indeed some classic/sports car enthusiasts that are fond of the mountains.
My idea is to stage what I think will be the first 'proper' National Three Peaks Rally, hopefully raising plenty of money for Mountain Rescue, but mainly to have a great time.
It has been said by those used to long days in the hills that the hardest part of the National Three Peaks is the driving (or rather, to deal with being driven), so I had the idea to make the most of that part, too!
By 'proper', I mean that there have been a few events that have used the term 'rally' - but they rally MPVs and minibuses.
- My idea is to use a fleet of cool cars to shuttle the walkers between their objectives.
The criteria for the cars are that they must be one or more of:
- Recognised Sports (or supercar!).
- Recognised Classic
- Roofless, Convertible or Cabriolet*
- Over 20 years old
(* In this case, the car must be open-topped whilst travelling, unless a dispensation is given by consenus!).
The criteria for walkers/runners are:
- Must be confident of completing the route within 24 hours.
- Must be confident to navigate themselves in a mountain environment.
Walkers/runners will be given the opportunity of travelling in two different vehicles, where possible.
Drivers don't walk for safety reasons.
Teams leave each mountain together, travel in convoy where possible and aim to arrive at their destination within 30 minutes of each other.
The routes are:
Ben Nevis from Achintee via the pony track.
Scafell Pike from Wasdale Head via Brown Tongue.
Snowdon from Pen y Pass via Pyg track (and down the Miners).
By 'Rally' I mean a gathering of vehicles that travel a set route together, not a race (for obvious reasons).
So far we have a Vindicator Sprint, an MX5, a Rover SD1, two Toyota Supra MkIII's, maybe a Triumph Herald and Stag and someone threatening to hire an AC Cobra for the purpose.
I'm encouraging my walking buddies to treat themselves to older cars so as to qualify, but aside from this I'd really love to broaden the list this to include all sorts of different cars. You could get a team together and buy an old Merc or Beemer for less than 500 quid...
There are, of course, plenty of details, logistics and 'rules' to be figured out, but at the moment I am just trying to get the ball rolling so we can gather momentum via enthusiasm.
Would this be of interest to anyone?
I'm happy to hear all constructive advice and comments about the idea.
I've started a Facebook page for those interested - search for 'Three Peaks Rally' and 'Like'.
Cheers,
Joe