...so we would be able to get to know our way around the vehicle and its mechanics, plus iron out any problems well before the launch date in July 2009 at Goodwood Race track.

So the hunt was on and a lot of reading and talking to mechanics was done to whittle down the choice of vehicle, our first obstacle was needing a car with an engine size of 1.2 litre or less. You are allowed to go over the stated size but with a fine to compensate for the extra horse power under the hood. We had the idea of a small 4x4 or conventional car and decided to go with a car even though a 4x4 makes more sense but in the spirit of the Rally we decided to go HARDCORE with an unsuitable car.

When starting to look at cars we were fond of Fiat Punto’s, Ford Fiestas ,Suzuki Swift/Alto and the Daewoo Matiz, after research we found that Punto’s are unreliable and fall apart easily, fiestas are a good little car, Steer well clear of Daewoo cos of a whole list of reasons to long to mention, Suzuki, now  here we found review upon review of praise for their little cars  and spoke to owners and all were impressed with the little Brutes.

We looked on WightBay (the Islands version of E-Bay) and called a few people but nothing really was very exciting until we came across a guy called Jamie Groves who was selling his Metallic Electric Blue 993cc Suzuki swift 2003 model. We arranged a viewing and test drive, every thing felt right in the stomach area the car had a few little things to fix but that’s what blue tack and duct tape is for. We explained what we wanted the car for and the Monster trip it maybe embarking upon and he was gob smacked and when he knew it was for charity reduced the price for us from £1800 down to £1400 (what a nice guy)

We Said yes we want it!!!!!!!

(The only problem was how to pay for it)

The next step was getting £1400 together and we certainly didn’t have that! We approached Nick Cottis of Osborne Garage who said he would put £1000 towards the car for us as sponsorship. Three days later on a Sunday morning I (Ross) woke up and was on a mission to get the car and to get it that day. So Seb was rang at the crack of Dawn and awoken from his slumber to the excited tones of “We need to get the car today, how much money can you get Quickly”.

The mission was on, and within 3 hours we had £1400 cash in our hands, if you get the chance to ask us it’s a classic story to ask us about. We arranged to meet Jamie at 15.00 the hand over was done and Seb drove away in what is now our Rally car.

The Rally was now very real.

We had the main piece of equipment.