Due to the fact that we didn’t do any rallying in 2020 and the Red Car has not been out on a rally since I did the Corinium Stages in it, my Dad took the decision to sell it to someone who would make more use of it. I initially said I would buy it as I thought it was shame to sell a 205 GTi, but eventually decided this wasn’t the best idea. It has therefore gone a friend of a friend in Lincolnshire who absolutely loves driving it around the lanes there. We still have the blue 205 XSi ‘Betsy’ and now have the new white Targa spec 205 Trio. My Dad is already wondering if he should buy a 205 Rallye…..
A Summary of 2020 – Covid-19, Cancelled Plans and a New Peugeot 205
I think most people’s experience of motorsport in 2020 is probably fairly similar. We started off the year with a list of rallies that we would like to enter and ended the year wondering if we would ever rally in the same way as we had pre Covid-19. We didn’t compete at all in 2020, despite the restarting of most forms of motorsport in a Covid-19 secure way.
I had booked to do a novice track day at Mallory Park in the Red Car in April 2020 and up to the announcement of the first lockdown in March was still widely optimistic that it would go ahead. I had booked 2 x 20 minute driver coaching sessions and was very much looking forward to the day. Of course it wasn’t able to go ahead and I have not managed to re-book yet, but am hopeful that I can do it at some point in the future.
The better news from 2020 is that we have a new Peugeot 205. It has been converted to Targa Rally spec and can also complete in Autosolo’s, Sprints and night Road Rallies. We haven’t done any events in it yet, but if I ever get round to re-booking the cancelled track day I will take it to that. It’s pretty quick, despite only having a 954cc engine.
Fingers crossed that 2021 and 2022 are better years for motorsport for us than 2020 was.
The PokerStars November 2019
As we weren’t competing in the PokerStars rally we decided that we would offer our services as marshalls for the event. On a previous Manx National Rally we’d lost stages due to lack of marshalls so we thought we would do our bit to help out.
Isle of Man event services booked our ferry and accommodation for us and Manx Autosport had kindly offered to refund 50% of the costs of travel and accommodation for anyone who travelled to the Isle of Man to Marshall on the event, which was a very welcome added bonus.
We were booked to travel on the 14:00 ferry from Heysham on Thursday 7th November. However, due to a forecast of high winds that sailing was cancelled and we ended up travelling on 02:00 sailing on Friday 8th November instead. Not ideal when we needed to be signed on on Thursday evening. Chris the chief Marshall was very understanding and agreed that we could attend signing on on the Friday morning instead. I spent the extra time at home making some alterations to the MSA Marshalls tabards – me and my Dad had both been sent XXL tabards, which even over big coats still looked a little roomy. With a few added darts and tucks they were a bit better fitting.
We arrived on the Isle of Man at 06:00 on Friday 8th November and had time for a few hours sleep in the hotel before heading over to the grandstand to sign on. For the Friday night leg of the rally we were going to be at Junction 8 of SS 4/7 Back of the Moon and for the Saturday leg we were going to be at Junction 8 of SS 9/12/15 Staarvey. We were the last marshalls to sign on and I think there had been some discussion about whether we were going to turn up or not! As an added bonus we were given a PokerStars woolly hat, a Manx Autosport thermal mug, a hand warmer and a key ring each – I do love gifts!
We spent the rest of Friday visiting Terry and John at T&J Auto’s in Peel. We took a trip to the Calf of Man and had lunch in the Sound Café. After stocking up on cup-a-soups, instant coffee and other provisions for the night we headed back to the hotel to put on lots of layers of clothing for the cold night ahead.
We arrived at Junction 8 of SS4/7 and met Claire, who was also marshalling in the same spot. Junction 8 was a modified junction so together we moved the bale and cones into position as per the diagram we had been given at signing on. Once the roads closed at 19:00 we moved the signs and cones into place to block off the access roads. We then had a bit of a wait until the first car and it was getting very cold! We could see ice forming on the roads and the bale in the junction. After what seemed like a very long wait the safety car came through and we gave the MSA delegate a thumbs up as we had been requested to do. We could now hear the sound of rally cars in ‘doing mode’ from other stages and were getting ready for the course cars to come through. However, due to ice forming at the next junction down from ours we were informed that our part of the stage had been cancelled due to dangerous conditions. What a shame not to see any cars at all! We dismantled the chicane, removed the bale and cones to the side of the road, removed the road closed signs and went back to the hotel hoping for a good nights sleep and a better day on Saturday.
The weather that greeted us on Saturday morning was not bright and sunny. The rain was already nearly torrential and the wind was definitely blowing strongly. We got a little lost on the way to our Junction 8 of SS 9/12/15 and arrived later than we intended to. When we got there we started to set up the box junction, which was very difficult in the strong winds. The barriers and tapes took on a life of their own and flew about wildly before we managed to secure them to nearby trees. We took respite from the rain by sitting in the car until the Safety car came through and then went to find a safe spot to stand in. It was great to see so many spectators out to support the event, despite the horrible weather. There was a steady stream of people coming to watch throughout the day. This time we got to see all 3 runs of the stage. Between runs we had to escape to the warmth and dry of the car as the weather got steadily worse throughout the day. Even the most waterproof of clothing begins to leak after 6 hours in the pouring rain. We were surprised and grateful to be given a packed lunch by the organisers. Thankfully there were no accidents at our Junction and once the roads were open we took down the box junction and removed the road closed signs. The rally was won by Aaron Newby and Rob Fagg in a Subaru.
On Sunday morning we travelled home on the 08:00 ferry back to Heysham. My Dad says he’s done his bit with marshalling now, he’s fed up of getting cold and wet. I hope I can persuade him otherwise though, I had a brilliant time.
The Corinium Stages 2019
After the Tour of Caerwent in March 2018 I had finished enough events as a driver and collected enough signatures on my MSA upgrade card to apply for a National A rally license. I did this with great glee and was very pleased to receive the new license.
The Corinium stages which is run at Down Ampney by Cirencester Car Club was next on my list of rallies to do. Down Ampney is near to home for me and is a single venue event. I decided we should go over to the venue on the day before the rally to scrutineer and leave the car in the service area. At scrutineering we discovered that the cut out switch had seized up due to the car living outside for several months between rallies. A bit of WD40 managed to solve the problem and the car passed scrutineering ok.
The following morning we arrived back at the venue to set up in the service area and sign on. It had been raining overnight and the track was still fairly wet. It was my first experience of driving in the wet and I was fairly concerned that I would spin off at the first corner. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to get through the first lap of the first stage with no spins, even managing to prevent a spin. On the second stage I caught up another Peugeot and managed to stay with him. I can only assume the wet conditions were causing him some trouble as it was the first time I have ever managed to catch another car in a stage. I was getting to the point of being brave enough to overtake when he went the opposite way to me at a split and saved me the trouble.
The stage got drier as the morning went on and there was no more rain during the day. The car wouldn’t start when we were leaving service to go to stage 3 and we thought perhaps the starter motor was failing. It still wouldn’t start after a bit of encouragement by tapping the starter with a hammer. We had to get a push start from a service crew across the service area from us. I daren’t turn the car off again between the service out control and the stage arrival control in case it wouldn’t re-start. During stage 3 I spun off and wasn’t quick enough the press the clutch to prevent the car stalling, however it didn’t start again ok with no need to get a push from a Marshall. It did continue to be a bit temperamental at starting after sitting in service and we had to be pushed a few more times when leaving the service area.
There were four stages in the morning and four in the afternoon going in the opposite direction. I preferred the afternoon stages (I’m still not sure why – perhaps I prefer travelling anti-clockwise), but I wasn’t as fast in the afternoon as I was in the morning.
I really enjoyed the event. The venue is great offering good, challenging stages that don’t feel repetitive. I will hopefully be putting in an entry for next years rally.
PokerStars 2018 – a more successful trip to the Isle of Man
After the disappointment of not getting to the start of the Manx National in May 2018 we decided to try again on the PokerStars rally in November. This time we entered in the blue Peugeot 205, with me in the co-drivers seat and my Dad driving.
Our previous trips to the island have prepared me for the fact that it is likely to rain heavily on the Isle of Man, particularly when you have gone there to do a rally. On this trip however, the rain was the worst I have seen.
When we completed our recce of the stages on Thursday the ford on SS3 (Brack a Broom) was a fairly fast flowing stream that made crossing it in the Skoda Octavia we used as recce car a little bit worrying. By the start of the event on Friday evening it had swelled with so much water that the rally organisers were forced to change the position of the stage start to after the ford as there were concerns that any cars crossing the ford would be washed downstream and end up in Peel harbour. This was not the only section of the stages to be water logged. At the start of SS1 (Little London) we were warned that there was deep standing water by Little London farm, but before even reaching this section we encountered very deep puddles and saw multiple cars drowned out and stopped at the side of the stage. We did spend about 2 minutes stopped on this stage behind several cars struggling to make it through the water logged area at Little London. The stage start of SS2 had also been moved about a mile further into the stage than originally planned due to standing water. On the approach to the arrival control we drove through water so deep that the bottom spot lamps of the car were underneath it. It wasn’t just on the stages that we encountered problems with the extremely wet conditions. We even saw cars drowned out on the road sections and had a few tricky moments trying to get through deep standing water. After the first 3 stages we headed back to service and were told at the service in control that stages 4, 5 and 6 had been cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions. I was very relieved at this news as I feared a second run through the stages might damage the car and end our event, but my Dad was disappointed. He had been enjoying the challenges of the conditions.
The rain did stop late on Friday evening and by Saturday morning it was looking a lot drier. We had a good run through the stages on Saturday with only one minor mishap. As the stages dried out further over the course of the day we were able to go faster and got caught out by some mud on a medium right and ended up sliding gracefully into a wall on the outside of the corner. There was no damage and we carried on, but this little off cost us about 20 seconds. We finished the rally 3rd in our class. It was the first time I’d won a trophy on a Manx rally, which was very exciting and made slogging through all the water on Friday night very much worth the effort.
Galway Summer Rally 2018
It had been 18 months since the blue Peugeot 205 XS (Betsy) had been out on a rally. The last event being the Hall Trophy rally in November 2016. She has been modified to compete in Ireland and the Galway summer rally was both mine and her first event over there.
There were three stages, each repeated three times. We had chosen to use Pattersons Pacenotes and it has been a while since we last used them on tarmac. We made a few minor changes during the recce on the Saturday, but were happy with them overall. After the recce we headed to scrutineering. It felt a little strange not to have to go to noise check first. As usual scrutineering made us a little apprehensive but the scrutineers put us at ease and explained the paperwork we had to fill in to give the specification of the seats, belts, fire extinguishers etc. The car then had to go into Parc Ferme and remain there until the start of the event.
Sunday morning was an early start to pick up Frank, who had kindly volunteered to be service crew for us. He dropped us off at Rally HQ in Galway for the drivers briefing and headed off to the service area at Tuam. After the drivers’ briefing we got a lift to Parc Ferme from a friend of Frank’s to go and start the event.
The first loop of the three stages went well. It was nice to be back in the blue car on some good, fast roads. After the fourth stage the car wasn’t ticking over very well and cut out a few times. Frank and a friend of his who had come to help out changed the spark plugs and that seemed to cure the problem. The next time we came into service there wasn’t a lot to do, just a quick change of tyres and re-fuel. We had started the day on wets in case of rain, but these were no longer needed.
The second and third passes through the stages were excellent fun and we really enjoyed them. It was a very nice surprise to find out that we were running 1st in class. We finished the day 1st in class, which we were very happy with. What a great end to my first Irish rally. It gave us a boost after the disappointments on previous events this year.
Thanks to Galway Motor Club for a fantastic, well organised rally and some great stages. We hope to be back next year. Thanks also to Frank for so much help and advice on rallying in Ireland and for being service crew.
Red Car. The highs and the lows.
Since the Red Car’s completion last summer we have entered five rallies in it. Three of them with me as the driver and two with my dad as the driver. Of the five rallies entered only three were finished…the ones with me as driver. My dad is now starting to take this personally. The red car behaved impeccably on the JRT Enville stages, Hall Trophy Rally and Tour of Caerwent, but unfortunately we weren’t so lucky on the Cambrian and the Chris Kelly Memorial Rally (IOM).
On the Cambrian a gear box fault saw us out of the event on stage 5. The gearbox oil all drained out and 5th gear seized up. The teeth that broke off 5th gear caused damage to the others and the whole box seized up. Although we were annoyed not to finish we were finding the event very hard going due to extremely rough roads which were causing damage to the car.
The bigger disappointment came on the Chris Kelly in May on the Isle of Man. After several weeks of hard work prepping the car, days spent making pacenotes and all the effort to get to the event the cam belt snapped in service just 1 hour and 45 minutes before our start time. With the help of Heidi in rally HQ and another competitor (sorry, I can’t remember his name) we managed to find someone with a spare cam belt for a Peugeot 205. Adrian Drury and Cat Lund in car 102 were very kind to help us push the car all the way across the paddock to their service spot so it could be worked on under cover – the rain was torrential. Cat’s friend Mark came to lend a hand and did an amazing job in trying to help us achieve the impossible and start the event. Despite best efforts from my dad, Mark and Adrian’s service crew we didn’t make it out on the event – the engine was damaged when the belt snapped. We spent Friday night chatting to crews in the service area and wishing we were out rallying. On Saturday we went out spectating, which was fun, but not quite the same as competing.
We’re very grateful to the man from ERO who gave us the cam belt – we tried to find you in service on Friday night and on Saturday but kept missing you. Thanks also to Adrian and Cat, Mark and the other chaps who worked on the car and to Heidi for not letting us give up without trying to fix the car. My brother Michael and Peter, my uncle, tried their best to keep our spirits up and got thoroughly soaked helping us push the car around. I’m hopeful that it won’t be our last trip to the Isle of Man and that next time will be more successful.
Tour of Caerwent 2018
The Tour of Caerwent fitted quite nicely into my rallying plans for this year and is only an hours travel from home, so was a good choice for my third event as a driver. Before submitting my entry I watched some YouTube video’s from previous years and was pretty excited at the idea of doing 10 mile stages without laps, splits or merges. My entry was accepted and I was seeded at car 81. The day before the rally the scrutineers, the ladies at signing on and fellow competitors all had the same piece of advice for me – ‘don’t cut!’ The roads all have kerb stones which are ready and waiting to cause damage if not respected. As I’d never been to Caerwent before one of the ladies at signing on gave me lots of advice about how to drive there, including the apparent randomness of the junction numbers and a warning about the infamous ‘quarry’. If I wasn’t apprehensive before I was then!
With the words ‘don’t cut!’ still ringing in my ears I started the first stage and promptly cut a corner…thankfully the kerb was kind to me and no damage was sustained. I found my first visit to the quarry a little nerve racking, but I got through it o.k. On each subsequent pass I managed to go a little faster. After the first two stages I was really enjoying the challenges of Caerwent, despite getting a little lost on one of the stages and ending up doing a bit of mud plugging trying to find the road again. On one of the stages I had a spin at a 90 left, but, despite stalling I didn’t loose too much time.
I had track day tyres on the car as I’d had trouble getting any heat into the slicks I used at Blyton. On the track day tyres I managed to get heat into the fronts and even the rears were luke warm! I felt like I was going much better on this event than at Angelsey and Blyton.
On the last stage of the day I had a near miss when I lost the car under breaking at a 90 left, slid onto the grass and nearly tipped over the edge of a bank. I avoided rolling as the car wedged on a tussock of grass and finally came to a stop teetering on the edge of the bank. I hardly dared to move in case it over balanced and we ended up on the roof. We eventually got the car back on the road and carried on to complete the stage, managing to drop only 3 minutes 15 seconds, which meant we didn’t get a stage maximum. It took a while for the adrenaline to subside though!
I ended the day 51st Overall and 16th in class 3. And I now have enough signatures on my upgrade card to get a National A license! Happy days
JRT Enville Stages and Hall Trophy Rally 2017
I’m pleased to say I’ve now driven in two rallies and not been last in either.
On the Enville Stages rally at Anglesey Circuit in July I was seeded 64 and was happy to finish 48th overall and 19th in class C. I learnt that I need to be more consistent with speed and braking and that the car will go round corners much faster than I was willing to! I managed to improve on my stage times by about 20 seconds on each second pass. One of the photographers took a brilliant photo of me going over a jump with all 4 wheels off the ground, which I’m quite proud of. Overall I had a really good day and didn’t manage to make my Dad, who was sitting in the co-drivers seat, feel travel sick. He did say he was feeling hoarse from shouting at me to go faster and remember to use the brakes though…there were times when I was arriving at corners and forgetting that the brakes existed at all, definitely something to work on.
The Hall Trophy Rally at Blyton on 25th November was great fun. It was a very cold day, but no rain (or snow), so we made the right choice leaving the wets at home. I was seeded 57 with 18 other cars behind me. As we were starting at 30 second intervals I was a little worried about having to let other cars pass me. I was determined that none of the 1L Micra’s seeded behind me would catch me though. I had trouble getting off the line on the first stage, but once I got going I was happy with how it went. I felt much more confident and in control than on the Enville Stages. I was about 15 seconds quicker on the second pass through that stage. On stage 3 I had a big spin just before a hairpin left and stalled the car. Once I got running again I tried hard not to slow down on the rest of the stage. Miraculously, the car didn’t hit any cones whilst spinning. With no spin on stage 4 I was 7 seconds quicker. My time on stage 6 was 4 seconds slower than stage 5. Quite a few other cars caught me up on stage 6 and at one point three overtook me at once. After the break when the stages were turned round I found it more tricky and my stage times were slower on stages 7 and 8. A long righthand corner not far from the start nearly caught me out both times but I managed not to spin. By stage 8 it has started to get dark so I got my first experience of rallying at night. This was a whole different game and a big learning curve. I find it difficult enough to find my way through lots of cones in the daylight, but at night the reflective parts lit up in the spot lamps and made it even more difficult. Add to that, being dazzled by everyone else’s lights and you have a real challenge. On stages 9 and 10 I went faster and put in better stage times than on 7 and 8. Perhaps it’s easier to be brave through corners when you can’t see where your going as easily?! I finished the day 56th overall and 9th in class, which I was very happy with. Now I need to decide which rally I will do next. I only need one more signature on my license upgrade card and I can apply for a National A license.
A day at Rally School
On 18th June I spent the day at Phil Price Rally school doing an intensive 1 day course and my BARS test. It was an early start from my house to get to the rally school for 8:30am. The course started with Phil giving an introduction to rallying. He talked through all the basics including warning signs, yellow flag procedure, stage starts and finishes, timing, lateness, safety equipment for the car, helmets and HANS devices, time cards, road book and pacenotes and the importance of marshals. He also explained the role of the co-driver. Following this everyone for the BARS test got given the test paper to complete. After this we had an introduction to driving the cars. Phil explained the techniques needed to drive sideways on gravel. Then it was time to go outside and get into the cars! For the first go we all got to do a few laps of the track to get used to the layout and how the cars handle. Whilst we were waiting between goes Phil drove each of us round the forest rally stage to get an idea of the route for later when we would get a chance to drive. The stage is brilliant, about 3 miles with lots of good corners and some fresh air drops! After going round the stage with Phil it was back down to the track to get some practice in the cars. I initially found it hard to use enough power to get the car sideways, but started to get the hang of it on my second and third go. It was then a case of building up some speed to drive more smoothly. By the time we stopped for lunch I thought I was going quite fast, but my dad had taken a video of me and it looked very slow! After lunch I tried to go faster but forgot all the techniques I’d learnt and spun off a few times. Bert and John the two instructors were very patient with me and kept reminding me what I needed to do. We all got to have a go at driving round the forest stage with Phil in his dual control car. It was a bit strange going round in a dual control car. Phil had already done a lot of the braking and steering before I had chance to, which was probably a good thing! I really enjoyed going round the stage, it was good to try and practice some of the techniques I’d learnt on the track. Towards the end of the course we did some timed laps in both directions with penalties for hitting tyres or spinning off. My first laps were fairly steady, but I didn’t hit any tyres. My second laps weren’t so good and I spun off twice, which I wasn’t happy with. Thankfully we got to have another go to beat our slowest time and I managed to improve on mine a lot. I had an amazing day and passed my BARS test – a good job because I’d put in an entry for the JRT Enville stages on 2nd July before going to the rally school day! I’d like to thank everyone at Phil Price rally school for a brilliant day and excellent tuition. I can really recommend it to anyone looking for a good rally school (whether you want to do the BARS test or just have a rally driving experience). You get so much time in the cars and it’s really great fun. With the BARS test done I had my first event to look forward to!