Great start to the year!

2 weeks ago, was the opening round of the BTRDA Rally First Championship, The Wyedean Rally. Matt and I went into it knowing we had a realistic chance of claiming the class victory as long as we had a clean run.

We were seeded as the 1st Rally First crew, which meant we had no real way of judging our pace until service. So in the 1st stage, we tried pushing as hard as we dare, and we had a good run, taking 10 seconds of our nearest class rival, which was a great start.

On the 2nd stage, the crew we thought would push us the hardest made a mistake and lost 2 and half minutes, this meant we had a little breathing space, although we didn't know it until service. We carried on pushing through stage's 2, 3, and 4 and won all 3 stages despite having a big over shoot at the start of stage 3.

At service, the car only needed a clean and a re-fuel, excellent.

Stage 5 was our favourite, we managed to take about 30 seconds off 2nd fastest in class, so we knew we could ease off in the last 2. We also caught a car that started 2 minutes in front of us in stage 5.

Stages 6 and 7 were quite nerve racking as we knew all we had to do was finish, every noise and movement the car made worried us, but in the end it all came good and we finished. 1st in class and 63rd overall, this meant we claimed the Nicky Grist Trophy.

As well as this I won the Michael "beef' Park award, for being the highest placed co-driver under 23. And the class win puts me and Matt joint 1st in the English rally championship too.



Thanks to Chris Huish for the photo (http://www.chrishuishrallyphotos.co.uk)

2010 Plans

Looks like I will be busy this year...YES!!! But I may need my passport.

Again I will be partnering Matt in the BTRDA Rallyfirst in the Lupo. Hopefully this year we can show the consistency which we had in 2009, as well as more speed. As well as this, we are looking at doing other events to be able to get more experience at other surfaces.

Also, this is where I will need my passport, I have been asked to do the MSA Hankook Scottish Rally Championship alongside Lewis Roper in a class 12 Subaru Impreza GC8. The car will be hired off Don Murray of Highland Cars, and run by Tim Finch Rallyesport of Cumbria. Lewis, 25, also did the BTRDA Rallyfirst in 09, and won the 1 litre class in a Nissan Micra.



I am duly looking forward to both championships. And I am sure myself and both drivers will learn a lot.

Tough but good 2009

2009 turned out to be a good season for Matt and I in the end. The championship was won by Dave Bennett on the penultimate round, The Woodpecker. We went into the Woodpecker on quite a high, but it was to a be a tough rally. Although quick, which suited our car neither of us really enjoyed the event, and we managed to pick up another puncture which dropped us down to 4th in class. Luckily we still managed to hold onto 2nd in the championship, although others managed to close on us.



Between the Woodpecker and the final round, the Cambrian, I competed in a Historic Mk1 Escort on the Trackrod Rally of Yorkshire. This is a brilliant rally and I really enjoyed it, even better we managed to claim 3rd in Class.

The Cambrian was the final round of the Rally First championship, and the 1.4 class was to go to the wire. To win the class Matt and I had to hope that Chris' Jones and Spilstead had problems in their sister Lupo. Luckily for us, the Chris' did have problems on stage 3, with an accident approximately half way in. This meant that the class title went to Matt, but for me to win the co-drivers we had to gt a good finish, but once again a puncture scuppered any hope of this. About 7 miles into the final stage (16 miles) we ran wide and picked up a puncture, we decided to stop in stage and change the wheel, but unfortunately the ground was too soft for the jack to stand on and it fell over twice. This meant we dropped 10 minutes and finished last in class. But we finished...



Unfortunately due to the poor result on Cambrian, the co-drivers title was tied between myself and Chris Spilstead, who claimed the title as he won the 1st round. But Matt did in the Drivers class award and finished 2nd o/a.

I would like to thank: Matt for a superb drive all season, Rallyschool.co.uk for the car and the support all year, my dad for supporting me in what ever I wanted to do and to all the other drivers that have had confidence in me since 2006! THANK YOU!!!

2009 So far... (part 2)

After the slight disappointment of the Plains Rally, we went onto the Dukeries Rally. The Dukeries is based in Southwell, Nottingham and runs on the sandy forest roads of Sherwood Forest.

For the event, we decided to try a new brand of tyre, to see if we could stop the punctures occurring. Over the 1st few stages we took a little while to adapt to the open style of the tread and dropped a little time. But once we got acclimatised to them we were back on our usual pace and managed to take a comfortable 3rd, and got a little closer to the leaders. At one point we thought we had got 2nd, but unfortunately the crew that were in 3rd managed to over-turn a penalty against them and reclaim 2nd. Unfortunately, once again we claimed a puncture, luckily we only dropped 15 seconds as it was close to the finish, and Matt did well to drive out on it with little loss. 3rd in class and 69th O/A was the end result.



We then had a short break before the Quinton Rally, based in South Wales. In the break Matt and I decided to go to the Rallyschool in Shropshire and have a little test, this went well and gave some new confidence going into the Quinton.

On the 1st stage we dropped 4 seconds, this was partly due to catching the hanging dust of the car in front, and due to 1 little moment. On the 2nd and 3rd stages we then managed to get 9 seconds back, and take a 4 second lead in service 1. After this we lost 25 seconds on stage 4 as it started rain heavily as we sat on the start line, this put a little downer on the rally so far for us. But we kept our chins up and just attacked in the remaining 4 stages. Surprisingly, over the last 4 stages we and the car in 2nd were equal on times! But we had a 7 second deficit to 3rd in class, so on the last stage we went on a big attack, and drove the best stage of our season, managing to take 12 seconds back and thus claiming 3rd by 5 seconds, it was close! After the rally we got some great words of encouragement off World Championship co-driver, Nicky Grist! It also meant we hold a secure 2nd in Rally First and lead the Junior and Under-25 championships!



For me though, my highlight of the year so far has to be getting asked to do The Rally Isle of Man, in the International section. I was to do this with Belgian N1 champion of 2007 and 2008, Renaud Bronkart. It would the 1st time I had written my own notes, and the 1st time Renaud had used English notes! The rally consisted of 20 stages, 12 on Friday and 8 on Saturday. Unfortunately, we had to be in a class with all the 1600cc Suzuki Swifts (we were in a 1300cc Micra), luckily there was also a 1400cc MG ZR in our class, so we could compare times with them.

Unfortunately, the 1st stage was cancelled due to an accident earlier in the field, this added to tension. But once we got going, it went well. We went steady at the start to make sure Renaud understood the notes, but we soon picked the pace up as Renaud adapted excellently to the notes. Unfortunately stages 4 and 12 were also cancelled (in total 40 stage miles), but the rest of the day went well. On Saturday, it was quite wet, which unfortunately wasn’t good for us. We dropped a lot of time to the MG as they had better tyres to cope with the conditions, but we had a 10 minute lead over them as they snapped a shaft and dropped time. All was going well with 1 stage to go. It was then we started having trouble getting a gear. Then about 4 miles in, all gears went as we came out of a hairpin left. Renaud managed to, luckily, jam it into 2nd and coast it into the finish. We managed to finish the rally with 1 gear (including me pushing from a standing start) and beat the MG but 4 minutes, in a great 23rd O/A and 6th in class.


My next rally will be the Woodpecker on the 5th of September with Matt Griffin. I am also hoping to have some great news to announce very shortly!

2009 So far... (part 1)

I have been meaning to update my blog but I haven't had the time too really. A lot has gone in 2009, so where should I start?

At the end of 2008 Matt decided to do Rally First and asked me co-drive for him again, excellent. We would be using a VW Lupo, again prepared by John Goff and Rallyschool.co.uk. The car is virtually standard, having no diff or other tricks just a decent suspension and 105 BHP (standard!). The 1st time we got to use the car properly was the Wyedean Forest Rally, where it didn’t half snow in the week leading up to the rally.

The rally itself was really slippery. There were sections where we only just managed to get up hills or manage to get the car to stop for some tighter corners. Thankfully it only took Matt a few corners and 1 excursion to adapt his driving. We took it slow and steady, wanting to get some points on the board to start the season off. During the day we had 3 or 4 slight offs, which unfortunately all added together to loose us about 1minute, which is a lot in Rally First. We finished 8th RF1.4 and 114th O/A.


2 weeks after the Wyedean, we decided to do the North West stages, for 2 reasons: To get more seat time in the car on proper conditions and because its our local rally. And what a rally it is to call our local one. We started at about 7pm Friday night and did 2 stages both repeated. We finished Friday night at about 11pm and in 83rd O/A (after starting at 104).



We then re-started Saturday morning and went on a push to see how we could do. Despite being in a standard 1.4 we were setting some respectable times and manage to hold our own against the bigger cars. We had a clean run on Saturday, despite the stages being slippy (especially Lytham Hall!). We ended up 39th O/A and 4th in class.



After the NWS we had a month’s break, due to the RF championship not counting the Malcolm Wilson as a round. This meant that Somerset Stages was our next rally together. Meanwhile I had done the Roskirk Stages at 3 sisters with Matt Jones on his 1st rally. We managed to finish 6th F1000, which was good going for Matt.



On the Somerset, I and Matt Griffin decided we would try and get more points, but after the 1st two stages we were lying 4th in class (this includes catching the car that started in front of us). So we decided to carrying on pushing, unfortunately we picked up a puncture on stage 3 when we pulled the tyre off the front left wheel. We then had a spin on stage 4. We then got our heads down on the next 5 stages and with a lot of trying we managed to get 3rd in class. During this we set some top 3 times, which was great to say we had never driven the car on gravel! We may have got 2nd, but the last stage was cancelled due to a earlier car having a accident.



Our next rally was 3 weeks later. This was the Plains Rally, based around Welshpool, and included the infamous Timber Yard Stage as stages 1&9, and would prove decisive in our rally. We went into stage 1 trying hard, maybe too hard as we lost 9 seconds to our main rivals. This was the same story with stage 2, again another short stage. For stage 3 we reassessed and went in with a smoother style. Here we managed to make up some of the time we had lost and clawed our way back into the top 5 in class. After stage 5 we had managed to get within 7 seconds of 3rd. During the next 3 stages we traded time with Roy Gravestock, and went into the final stage 6 seconds ahead. Unfortunately we managed to pick up a puncture during the stage, which caused us to run wide on the last corner into a field. We lost 9 seconds on the stage, and thus ended up 3 seconds behind 3rd. But our 3rd in class and 61st O/A meant we moved into the top 3 in the championship.

My CV

Age: 18 DOB: 13th March 1990 Current licence: International Rally Occupation: Student


Intro

Motorsport and rallying in particular, has been my passion since I was very young, firstly as a spectator with my parents, and later as a marshal. I have been actively involved in motorsport from a very early age and competitively since the age of 12.

In 2002, at the age of 12 I took up Autograss racing, joining Leewood Autograss Club and winning an award for most committed club member in my first year. I built and maintained three 1000cc Minis, in which I competed at both club and championship level all over the country. I am currently Membership Secretary of Knowldale Car Club, and have acted as assistant Chief Marshal for the Pennine Stages, Anglesey Circuit.

My main aim was always to start rallying, and in 2004 at the age of 14, I started navigating in Road Rallies for my father and other club members, gaining an understanding of O/S maps, plotting and practical knowledge of road and control timings.

After demonstrating a commitment to and enthusiasm for rallying, I was invited to attend the F1000 Rally School in Shrewsbury, arranged for young competitors who showed an enthusiasm for the sport. Along with Elfyn Evans and Nick Rowland, we became fundamental in getting young people into motorsport.

My involvement in rallying continued to grow, navigating support vehicles on the Roger Albert Clark rally in 2005 and 2006, and continuing marshalling, running start and finish controls and later Rally Radio operator, which I am still involved with, travelling all over the country.

In April 2006, less than three weeks after my 16th birthday, I competed in my first stage rally: the Oak Leaf Stages, co-driving in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, finishing a very creditable 1st overall. In my first year I went on to compete on a further 7 events, gaining a class win on the Tourqe Bac stages, and a 3rd in class on the Promenade Stages. During this year I developed my co-driver skills and responsibilities, my marshalling background assisting me in the understanding of stage timings and controls and regulations. I also gained further class awards, partnering different drivers in various cars.

In 2007, as a member of the F1000 Rally Club, I was invited to navigate for Paul Martin, in F1000 Forest Rally Championship; my first event with Paul was the Wyedean Forest Rally which, despite atrocious conditions, we successfully finished.

I then continued to compete in stage rallying and forest events, using pace notes in both numeric and descriptive formats. Due to financial constraints I had to turn down some of the events I had the opportunity to compete in, but still competed in the Bloodhound Stages and Tourqe Bac single venue events (gaining a class award in the latter). I also continued with forest rallies (the Humberside, Dukeries and the Cambrian), ending the season with 2nd in class A of the F1000 rally championship.

2008
I obtained my International licence in April 2008 and competed in my first International event in May, The Jim Clark Rally. I did the event with Martin Laverty in his C2 R2, in which we encountered problems for the whole rally. This was mainly due to an overheating engine which cost us around 20 minutes in 4 stages. Also, I have competed on the Trackrod International Rally Yorkshire with Martin Laverty, where we finished 19th O/A, 7th in class and 4th C2.

Also in 2008 I have competed on the Manx National Rally, this rally ended before it started as we had to retire on the last stage on the first day with fuel problems.

I have also won 6 co-driver classes in the ANWCC forest championship, these being: Class F, Class B, Juniors, Novice Class F, Novice Class B and Newcomers. I am running in the Novice and newcomer sections as this was the 1st time I had registered for the ANWCC championships.

Here are the events I have done:

Event Driver O/A Pos Class Position
Oak Leaf Stages 2006 Paul Haberlin(Evo 8) 1st -
Tourqe Bac Stages 2006 Andrew Lord(Ford Capri) 34th 1st
Pennine Stages 2006 Jon Seggar(Escort Mk2) 20th 5th
Weeton Stages 2006 Andrew Lord DNF Gearbox
Promenade Stages 2006 Bill Bates(Peugeot 106) 37th 3rd
HMMC 3 Sisters 2006 Andrew Lord DNF Suspension
Adrian Barker Stages 06 Richard Wormbald(Astra K/C) DNF Engine Mounting

Roskirk Stages 2007 Clive Baty(Renault 5) 39th 8th
Wyedean Forest Rally 07 Paul Martin(Peugeot 205) 110th 4th
Bloodhound Stages 2007 Ian Bainbridge(Peugeot 206) DNF Accident
Humberside Rally 2007 Paul Martin 76th 6th
Dukeries Rally 2007 Ian Bainbridge 64th 5th
Tourqe Bac Stages 2007 Andrew Lord 19th 3rd
Cambrian Forest Rally 07 Paul Martin 90th 14th
Clitheronian Road Rally Ian Aitken(Peugeot 205) 24th 5th

Riponian Stages Rally 08 Yuk Hodgson(Escort Mk1) 24th 6th
SMC Stages 2008 Ian Sibbert(Escort WRC) DNF Driveshaft
Lee Holland Memorial 08 Darren Doherty(Impreza N10) 6th 2nd
RBSI Manx National 08 Lee Perry(Escort WRC) DNF Fuel Starvation
Jim Clark International Martin Laverty(C2 R2) 37th 6th
Dukeries Stages 2008 Stuart Grainger(Micra) 80th 5th
Quinton Stages 2008 Matt Griffin(Nissan Micra) 75th 5th
Coracle Stages Keith Parry(Subaru Impreza) 4th 2nd
Pendragon Stages Paul Miller(Escort Cosworth)DNF Propshaft
Int Rally Yorkshire Martin Laverty(C2 R2) 19th 7th
Bulldog Clubmans 08 Matt Griffin(Nissan Micra) 66th 3rd

End of year!

After the Pendragon, I competed in the Trackrod International Rally Yorkshire with Martin Laverty in his C2, here we finished 19th and 3rd C2 after a steady run on the 1st few stages, and then attacking the afternoon stages.

Also towards the end of the year I competed on the Bulldog Clubmans rally with Matt in the Micra. Here we finished 3rd F1000 and 66th overall.

And thats that as they would say. I would like to say thanks to everyone who has helped this year and allowed me to co-drive for them. Mainly Martin for having the faith in me to give e two shots at International rallies, and to Matt for having the best sense of humour.