Day 14 – Wednesday 15th May 2013
Ah, how sad, today is the last day of the Italian Job 2013 event, it has come round so quickly, and yet it seems ages ago since the start of the event! Today, they are pushing us to our limits with a timed start from the beginning at 08:33:30hrs and there is a gap before the start line of approx 15mtrs over which you must not stop so it’s a rolling start at precisely the right time, straight into a DOUBLE special stage in the hotel carpark, then straight out into Rome traffic using our road books for our arrival at our destination some 24.67 miles away, also timed so that we must arrive in exactly 1hr 10 mins after our start time, no pressure then!! The double special stage was going around a cone to a specified point in the middle in 9 seconds, and then to the end in a further 8 seconds, sounds easy enough but if you don’t get the first one spot-on right, it impacts on the second one, all technical stuff! We think we did reasonably OK on this, although Ian was supposed to shout as we crossed the middle line for the 2nd stop watch to be started, but he sort of forgot, so it just got pressed when I looked up and realised it needed pressing! Oops! Ah well, it’s the last day and the last special stage, so whatever’s done is well and truly done now, no use crying over spilt milk!
We proceeded to our destination at Cerveteri, Necropoli, which turned out to be a gathering of ancient (ie, many hundreds of years BC) tombs that were dug out from volcanic rock. We were given a fascinating tour around these tombs by an excellent tour guide, then we went by roadbook to a place called Ceri, which is an amazing little village with a population of approx 100 people, built on the top of a volcanic hill, with only one very narrow and twisty road up to it that is controlled by traffic lights. We had a lovely lunch there and purchased some lovely wine produced from that area. We were then free for the remainder of the afternoon, so we travelled a little further west to the Mediterranean coast, and both went and touched the Mediterraen Sea water on the beach! We then travelled back to the hotel, and after a couple of hours R&R, got ready into posh frock and DJ for the grand finale evening meal. We had a lovely evening, topped off by coming 2nd overall and also receiving the trophy for the oldest Mini, happy days! The event was won by Team 03, a great couple of guys Duncan Cook and Steve Taylor, who had sat with us for lunch at Ceri and were lying only a fraction behind us on day 1 when we had done so well, and 3rd was Team 22, Roger and Yvonne Hunt, a great evening and we’re very surprised but well pleased as we seriously thought we’d fluffed the whole thing a couple of times. The IJ organisers usually display the results of each day as the event goes along, but for some reason this year, after the first day they kept the other days’ results secret, so we really had no idea where we were and whether our major muck-up on day 2 had been included or not, but it would appear not, a great result, we are dead chuffed! The best dressed Mini, as voted for by the Jobbers, went to Bill and Linda Handley, team 28, who have a lovely Mini but have also been towing a Mini trailer, which is the front of a Mini facing the wrong way with two dummy ladies sat in it, looking like they’re driving! It gets plenty of stares and attention! Well done, Bill and Linda. The organisers also made a new award for this year of the Best Behaved Jobbers, which were presented to Giulia and Hannah Gray, young daughters of Neil and Rachel Grey, Team 54, who have been involved every day and have been as good as gold! Great results all round! Just really sad the event is now over, boo hoo!
