During the transit to stage 2, the computer failed and took out the stock speedo and odo. We had nothing but a check engine light to cheer us. We're supposed to drive to perfect time and I cannot find out how fast we're going or have any means to determine how far we've gone. We're out of cell phone range already and there's no way to call Ashton. As we wait for the start of the next stage, I manage to identify the problem, disconnect the computer, reset the ECU and get a working speedo and odo. Unfortunately, the new gravel tires are oversized so now the speedo and odo are never going to be right. Owen gets down to some frantic recalculations and we head off on stage 2.

About 10km into the stage, we round a corner and see a few water bottles across the road. Must have fallen off someone's truck. Next corner, there's a small overnight bag. As each corner passes we encounter, a tow rope, a bucket, spare oil, a leather jacket, the list is long. At some point (I think it was the leather jacket), it dawns on me that the car in front of us has a rear door that must have come open and they are slowly shedding themselves of all their belongings. It's a historic Saab Sonet and the first clue the crew get is that Rebecca is getting sick due to the exhaust fumes coming into the cabin. It's not going to be their rally.

Our times flail between late and early as we chase an odo that drifts massively off target. Add to that the occasional route book inaccuracy and we are pretty much lost (as far as keeping perfect time).

Imagine also, Owen is in the middle of a 10 second countdown. 10...9...8...7... silence. I initially thought he noticed something in the calculations and was distracted. On no. Mr. KnowItAll had stayed up all the previous night playing on his computer. He's asleep. There's no point in trying to keep him awake so I let him sleep for a while. When I ask him if he needs to sleep, he just says "thanks" and beams back into his coma. He's too big to push out of the car while it's moving, so I plan on killing him at the end of stage. I'll have to make my excuses to his mother after the rally so that is not a concern during the rally.

Unfortunately, he cannot sleep all the way. I'm trying to drive and read the route book. But turn left at 60.87km means nothing when my odo reads just 58 something at that point. At 72kph, I fly past an intersection. I have to wake him. His eyes are open, and he's talking, but he's still asleep. Ok, he says, if we meet a bridge in 2km we're right. We don't. Screech, turn, and fly back down to the junction. Now we're moving. We pass car #10 (who should be 2 minutes behind us) sometime later. We should have had this section on video. It was a blast. We made up the time very quickly and thankfully nothing was coming the other way.

Going into the rally we shared the lead in the series with John McLaren and Brian Wende. Brian was absent, and John was wearing a big smile during day 1. Things were going his way. Well, this is rallying, and there's always a BUT. When the scores came in that night, John was not doing as well as he thought. His navigator had used the MPH figure in the route book to do his calculations instead of the KPH. Oh dear, that's a pity. We're leading the novice category after day 1 and John's over 100 points behind us.

After driving most of day 1 being totally dejected, pondering if it was even going to be worthwhile doing most of the remaining events, day 2 dawns and the fight is most definitely on. We now know what equipment we can rely on and with careful planning and lots of work on Owen's part, we can do it.

2nd to the last stage we round a bend to be greeted with an instruction that says "Bear right then over bridge". Well I can bear left and go over a bridge or bear right and hope that around the next bend there is a bridge. Owen's no clue. I choose left. Some of the others choose right and are left high and dry when the bridge fails to appear. Shouldn't happen, but that's rallying.

The last curve ball was a bad instruction that said turn right about 2km before you could turn right. In TSDs you hardly ever see another competitor during a stage. Imagine my surprise to see car #5 come down the road towards me, closely followed by car #1 who is making a sterling effort to break the sound barrier.

The rest of the day is uneventful. We complete the rally and, despite a mistake on my part (while trying to be helpful and do some of the navigator's job) we have had a reasonable day considering the circumstances. The only thing now is to wait for the scores.