DANIEL Harper rewrote the history books with his drive on the 1997 Network Q RAC Rally.

In over 35 years of motorsport, the Mini has won all the major titles - except one.

And the Barley driver rectified that this week, when he gave the car its first ever class win on a World Championship Rally.

"It's fantastic, but I don't think it's sunk in yet," said Daniel.

"It's a unique achievement, made all the more worthwhile because we had to battle so hard for the win."

Partnered by co-driver Les Reger, from Burnley, the Mini Sport of Padiham-run car began the gruelling three-day event from their seeded start number of 149.

A measured drive on the traditionally treacherous 'Spectator Sunday', which consists of stately homes and racing tracks, saw the pair climb 41 places to finish the first leg in 108th and fourth in class, ready for the real action in the Welsh forests. When class favourite Geoff Jones retired his Nissan Micra kit car in Dyfi, the stage was set for Daniel and Les to make their move. A blistering run through Monday's last stage at Myherin - shrugging off problems with a broken shock absorber - saw the Mini Cooper open up brilliant forty-four second lead over the Peugeot 106 of Stephen Chamberlain, with Japanese driver Masahiro Takasaki, driving another Micra, in third place.

The final leg of the rally saw all the competitors using the unfamiliar forest roads in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.

A cracked windscreen on the opening test at St Gwynno made flat-out driving difficult for Daniel, but worse was to come on the second stage.

"The rear subframe broke as we started the stage, which basically gave us a rear wheel steering Mini," he explained.

"Although we could keep going, the car was very unpredictable in corners, and it was obvious we were losing a lot of time.

"By the time the service crew had repaired the car, Takasaki had nipped in front, and we were two seconds behind."

With other class contender Chamberlain rolling out of the event on SS22 Resolfen, the two drivers were almost inseparable going into the final stage of the event at Cheltenham.

But determined display of flat-out driving gave the Mini men a unqiue and history victory by just one minute and three seconds - after a gruelling three days and 250 miles.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.