The Roaring Season

WOW!

That is so funny Milan, wish I had been there. Can just see the drama that would have resulted.

In the seventies the MG Car Club ran an Invitation Rally in the Riverhead Forest. The organisers were always very picky about who they invited to compete and this rankled with some of the Auckland Car Club members.

So they decided to take the mickey out of the event.

They re-named it The Mug Rally and then went along as an FIA Judging Panel that would rate the performance of each competitor on a particular corner. Of course the FIA being based in France it was felt they should be made to feel at home by setting up a French Cafe on the Airfield adjacent to the corner they would be observing. This consisted of picnic tables with checked table cloths, sun umbrellas, lots of red wine, baguettes and cheese. Striped shirts and berets were much in evidence.

As each car passed the judges would hold up their score cards and other appropriate comments.

In those days rally organisers were worried about drivers being startled by photographers using flash lights so they insisted that a warning "Flash Ahead" should be displayed before the point where the cameraman was situated. Because the rally was run in daylight there was a slightly different meaning to the word "Flash" in this case.

Unfortunately things got a bit out of hand later in the day. As the day went on and the red wine bottles emptied some of the group decided they would like to watch from another vantage point so about 12 of them squeezed aboard Peter Levet's Mini Moke and drove off down the stage.

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