It’s effectively a mobile garage and is kitted out with spare parts, tools, a fridge and vast stores of brown food.
All hands on deck
Each crew has just 25 minutes to service their car, which normally involves changing tyres, refuelling and attending to any mechanical problems.
Ours works like a well-sorted Formula 1 team when our Peugeot comes in for its stops. Sure, we don’t have the wheels swapped in under two seconds, but everyone knows their job.
I leave the mechanical tasks to the others and instead prepare hot drinks and food (lots of coffee and carbs), clean the car and, as the youngest member, do all the literal heavy lifting.
Just as we are about to send the car out after service, we pull a wheel stud out of the hub while trying to change the wheels. A frantic, quick-fire replacement is performed and they head out for the remaining stages just in time.
Spirit of the RAC
The service area is a frenzied, chaotic place that captures the true spirit of a historic rally, as demonstrated by the camaraderie and refusal-to-quit attitude of teams both large and small. This is best shown by a Czech team competing in a 1961 Skoda Octavia Super.
It crashes heavily early on and looks damaged beyond repair, so you can imagine my surprise when I find the crew winching the inner wing back into place and mending the engine in the service park on day two.