The slow road to the fast lane

THERE is a vast forest wilderness in the border country between England and Scotland — roughly half way between Hexham and Hawick — known as the Kielder complex and in rallying terms this bleak, barren unforgiving landscape is as central to the mythology of the sport as Monaco is to Grand Prix racing.

It is here where reputations are made or shattered. 'Killer Kielder' or 'Kielder Bites' are two of the career obituary titles awaiting any driver who has come to grief on the impossibly fast forest tracks which criss-cross this massive wilderness.

As an integral part of the British round of the World Rally Championship event, Kielder has often decided the champion and it is a place where even the Finnish driver Markku Alen's legendary 'maximum attack' policy was scaled back simply to secure survival.