GETTING up at 5 am for the start of the RAC Network Q RAC Rally at Cheltenham, took its tiredness toll at the last but one stage at Donnington on Sunday night. And, we were only covering the event, not rallying! - writes Robin Bird.
Hero Colin McRae was under orders from former Birkenhead schoolboy Dave Richards, boss of Prodrive, to win the rally and World Championship in a 555 Subaru.
Over three days, he has tough opposition from other top drivers, like Tommi Makinen in the Number 1 Mitubishi car and Richard Burns in a Mitsubishi.
Caldy's Tony Jardine swopped a F1 presenter's tv chair for driver's rally seat of the RAC Insurance Direct/ D.C. Cook, Ford Escort, number 80.
Photographer Frazer Bird caught the three of them, Makinen, McRae and Jardine, as they tackled a sharp bend in the black of the night.
By the time you read this, results of the 1997 RAC Network Q rally will be known and I will be having a sleep in!
Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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