The rally that changed my life — the first one.
Vecchio Bambino 2017, held in Okayama. My first appearance there began cheerfully thanks to a large piece of chaos the day before 💓
I wanted to go to the party
I had met the driver a few years before this event; he liked old cars (and we have driven as a pair ever since). We did not often drive together — I was given the occasional lift — and nothing had given me any reason to be interested in classic cars.
One day: “There’s a car event on, do you want to come?” I answered without much enthusiasm: “Fine, but it’s not as though I’m interested in cars.”
“But apparently there’s a party the night before.” “What! A party? 💓💓 I want to go to a party!” And on that basis, off to Okayama.
I hitchhiked to the party
Being a classic car, it went wrong repeatedly on the motorway on the way, and finally stopped, broken down, at a service area.
My driver said he wanted to go back and repair it so we could do the event.
What? “I’m looking forward to the party, I want to go to the party.” Our views diverged, and my decision was: “Right, I’ll hitch a lift with somebody and go on ahead to the party.”
Desperate to get to the party I had been looking forward to, I was picked up by a lovely couple and duly arrived at the venue in Okayama.
One of us going to a repair, the other to a party — that is how we started our first rally together, in opposite directions.
The organisers and guests of honour welcomed me warmly
I opened the door of the party I had dreamed about. Having got there on nothing but the wish to attend, I had no idea what the party even was, and was simply overwhelmed by the room. Moved. Thrilled.
They welcomed in the one over-excited person who had turned up late, and when I made a point of saying I had hitchhiked there, they put me at the guests-of-honour table, right in the middle.
Sitting next to famous performers, without the least deference to the guests of honour: thanks to the organisers and everyone around me, who warmly took in a party-crashing woman with no sense of propriety, I made a very enjoyable start.
So — what is a rally?
Reunited with the driver and the repaired car, our two-day first rally began cheerfully. Having had a small lecture on what a rally is at the party, I opened the route book with great authority and lectured the driver.
Do look at this. Me at my first rally, dressed entirely inappropriately.
“Apparently you drive while looking at this map.” “Competition? There is something, but I don’t really understand it.”
And so it was less a rally than a drive with detours in it.
What is good about Vecchio Bambino in Okayama is the cheering along the roadside, and the welcomes and entertainments laid on at every checkpoint the famous cars visit — and that it has charity as its theme, so it does some good as well.
From that day my life turned into a rallying life. I will never forget it.