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Swan 2004 Rally
Sponsored by Stanwell Trailers
Windsor Car Club + High Wycombe & District Motor Club + Craven Motor Club
13th/14th March 2004
Clerk of the Course: PRAR
Route: 170 Miles
Maps: 174 & 175
Starters: 20
Winners: Steve Cole/Bob Blows (Peugeot 205)
Reigning southern area champions Steve Cole/Bob Blows took their first win of the year on the Swan Rally. The 170 mile event proved a tough test, with the all tulip diagram navigation and slippery conditions challenging all crews.
Navigation once again was via tulip diagrams. Competitors were supplied with a large booklet of numbered tulips; at the start of each section, at a car's departure time, the marshal showed a 'flash card', this gave the number of the tulip with which to start navigating the section.
This system fell apart at ITC54 when the marshal had been given the incorrect flash card; this pointed navigators to the first tulip for the following section. With no obvious route, a degree of mayhem ensued. Penalties for the remainder of the event were cancelled.
The event was run in torrential rain and high winds. The latter caused a number of code boards to be either blown down or away. The position was made more confusing for competitors as the equipment van got lost.
The rain made the going difficult, with the route using a large number of tracks and fords.
Doug Kingsley/Ben Greenfield were the quickest crew of the night but an error at a triangle control on Buckleberry Common saw them pick up a fail and a ten minute penalty which pushed them first to fifth at the Finish. Without the error, they would have won by four minutes.
Kent rally winners Olly Smith/David Coles had managed to eek out a small lead by TC5, but their Peugeot 309 lost all its coolant, this was caused by the inlet manifold retaining nuts coming loose. They withdrew rather than risk blowing the head gasket.
Cole/Blows were the fastest of the four crews who completed the route correctly and finished just over four minutes ahead of Phil Kendall/Sue Broughall (Peugeot 309 GTi).
The leading Semi-Expert crew, Toby Jefferies/Nick Clarke, to their surprise, were third. They had lost ten minutes after drowning out in the first ford and then pciked up a puncture in the second half.
Tony Brooks/Tony Brooks (Renault 5 TR) were classifed fourth and were the winners of the Clubman Rally. They had been one of the quickest crews through the second half.
Simon Bush/John Upham also ended with a fail after booking in early at a time control; they finished in seventh.
Neither Bob Wisniewski nor Ken pape made the start, neither had managed to sort out their cars after previous events.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Steve Cole | Bob Blows | Peugeot 205 GTi | 18m 15s | |
| 2 | Phil Kendall | Sue Broughall | Peugeot 309 GTi | 22m 22s | |
| 3 | Toby Jeffries | Nick Clarke | Vauxhall Nova SR | 56m 51s | |
| 4 | Tony Brooks | Tony Brooks | Renault 5 TR | 1h 33m 38s | |
| 5 | Doug Kingsley | Ben Greenfield | Peugeot 205 GTi | 1F 24m 22s | |
| 6 | Ian Mepham | Ian Collings | Peugeot 205 GTi | 1F 53m 33s | |
| 7 | Simon Bush | John Upham | VW Golf GTi | 1F 1h 22m 55s | |
| 8 | Colin Hiscock | Chris Foxley | Ford Fiesta | 2F 2h 09m 35s | |
| 9 | Jason Mortlock | Bill Smith | Ford Sierra | 2F 8h 44m 06s | |
| 10 | Paul Fillis | Tim Daltry | Peugeot 205 GTi | 3F 2h 57m 54s | |
| 11 | Carl Gibbs | Lizzie Pope | Peugeot 205 XS | 6F 1h 25m 09s | |
| 12 | John Wright | Phill Canon | Peugeot 205 GTi | 6F 2h 43m 30s | |
| 13 | Rob Aslett | Gus Hyne | Peugeot 205 GTi | 7F 2h 19m 19s |