Inside line: Mike Jordan
This GT racer has tried his hand at Historic Rallying and loved every minute!
How did the rally outing come about?
I’d been talking about having a go for a while and the chance to do the historic section of the Robin Hood stages in a Mk1 Escort came about through Jon Cropper at XS racing. I’d not even seen the car before the rally so it was a baptism of fire. How did the event go? We adopted a fairly cautious approach and just learnt through the event. We had a problem off the line of the last but one stage when the car just died and wouldn’t restart. So we took a stage maximum. That just really broke the rhythm a little bit. But it was even better than I thought it would be. It was fantastic. What was the biggest shock for a racer? If I’m honest, it was more dangerous than I expected. I’m now even more full of admiration for rally drivers. To do 110mph down a line of trees with the car dancing away from you in a straight line is quite stunning! How did you cope with stages in the dark? I have driven competitively in the dark before, but that was at Daytona and Le Mans! After the stages in the dark, I’ll never say that Mulsanne feels fast again. 90mph through these trees feels like 300 at Le Mans. What are your feelings about historic rallying now? I absolutely adored it. Everyone is so friendly, that side of it is just what I thought it would be. The camaraderie is super and the time in the car is just fantastic. It was an absolute learning opportunity and now I just want to learn some more.