This site is aimed at sharing my experiences as a rally driver and co-driver in local club stage rallying.

A year of stock car racing back in 1994 got me hooked on motorsport, but it took until 2002 before I got the chance to compete again. I bought an old Road Rally car from a friend and converted it to Stage Rally spec. See photos.

So, with MSA competition licence in hand, MSA logbook in the car and a scared co-driver next to me we went RALLYING!.

68 Entries
45 Classified Finishers

9 Entries in our class (1600cc)
7 Finished in our class

Well I’m back in the navigator seat again after a long break away from the sport. And what a feeling it is too. I’ve been looking forward to this day for some time now.

The day started well with a clean stage one, just a broken drive shaft boot to be fixed. With this job soon complete we were off to stage two. Fading brakes caused a bit of a drama but we completed the stage well, much quicker that the first time through. A quick change of brake pads and we were off to stage three. Three and four were much better, with Brian a lot more confident on the brakes. I’m really enjoying it so far and we seem to be doing quite well.

A break for lunch and we line up for the first of the reverse stages, stage five. But there is a short delay due to an accident. We are soon under way. We finish the stage in good time but I am feeling a little unwell, but no time to think about that now. The previous delay means we only just have time to check fuel and wheelnuts and we are away again for stage six. I have a relax and some food between six and seven and feel much better. Seven and eight go well and were great fun although we lost some time on eight with some traffic. Not a problem really as we were too far behind the next person in class to really worry them.

We finally finish 35th overall and 6th in class. Not bad after a two year break.

Thanks to Brain Birkin for a great day. And thanks to Ashley and Steve for helping us out, much appreciated.

Results

Photos

98 Started
53 Classified Finishers

14 Entries in our class (1600cc)
7 Finished in our class

Rockingham! What a great venue. Standing on the top tier of the grandstand before the event gives a great view of 90% of the course. It looks fantastic with the banked corners and fast straights. It looks like we are in for a great rally.

Stage 1 gets under way on time, but before we get going it is halted due to an accident. It appears that a Metro 6R4 and a Mini collide causing the Metro co-driver to be trapped for a while. Happily, after being checked over, she seems to be OK.
We get to start stage 2 but half way through we have problems of our own. Brian mis-heard my call on the split and we ended up finishing a lap short, resulting in a stage maximum. Added to this I am feeling a bit travel sick. Not a good start!
We start and finish stage 3 with no major drama, albeit very slow by comparission, the setup of the car does not seem to suit this circuit and Brian is not enjoying the drive. But, the main problem is that I am feeling very sick by now. We discuss our options (while I sit and recover in the fresh, cold air of the approaching night) and decide to call it quits for today and enter the trophy rally tommorrow.
Stage 4, the last of the day, starts in the dark… Without us.

It’s a new day and after a few tweeks to the car we are both feeling optimistic about the trophy rally ahead of us.
Today the stages are in the reverse direction. We complete stage 5 OK, although some are not so fortunate. A Darian ends up on the wrong side of the armco barrier just after the tunnel. Several others slide off from the same corner so the organisers shorten the following stages for safety reasons.
But, the slippery conditions are not what is playing on my mind. Although not as bad as yesterday I am not feeling great at the end of this stage.
We start stage 6 and complete it without any major problems but by the end of it I am very unwell. So, we retire from the trophy rally as well. Not a great weekend.

I end up watching the remainder of the event from the grandstand but Brian still managed to have some fun as he took over the Zero car duties since the official car went the way of the Darian earlier in the day.
It’s disappointing to retire under such circumstances but we are only here for fun. This certainly was not fun for me.

Maybe one day we’ll come back and try again.

Results

Sorry, no photos at the moment.

51 Entries
31 Classified Finishers

13 Entries in our class (1600cc)
10 Finished in our class

My second dry event at Oakington but this time with a new co-driver, one that had never competed in an event before. This was to be a fun event for him
but I’m sure he wasn’t thinking that before the event started… I think it was the “Whose silly idea was this?” remarks and the chain smoking that gave me that impression.

Despite initial nerves he managed to get us to stage 1 on time, and once under way I think he thoroughly enjoyed the day.
As always we were only out to have fun, and fun we had. A quick spin on stage 1 didn’t slow us down too much. Investigation when we arrived back in the
service are showed that the rear tyres were over inflated. With that sorted we went for stage 2.

Stage 2 was not quite incedent free either. Too hot into a 90 degree left had me a bit out of shape trying to slow the car down, the resultant elbow flying
had me clipping a tractor tyre on the inside of the corner, but fortunately it bounced out of the way and we continued without losing any time.
There’s just a tell tale rubber mark on the front skirt to show the close shave.

The rest of the day went without a hitch. I was playing with differnt tyre compounds from my stash of part work Dunlops, and tweaking the pressures.
We seemed to be getting faster and faster with each stage, and my co-driver seemed to be having more and more fun as he relaxed.
Despite my best efforts I did not manage to clip the co-drivers wing mirror on any chichanes.. Next time

We finished 29th overall and 8th in class, beaten by 5 seconds by my good friend Brian who was 13 seconds quicker on the last stage and just managed to beat me… Grrrr

The only damage sustained was a broken headlight, and that happened as I took the tape off the light so that i could drive it on the road.
The glass lens just came clean off with the tape. I guess the brush with the tractor tyre was a bit too close after all.

Many thanks to Greg Knight for sitting next to me. I hope I didn’t scare you too much.

Results

Sorry, no photos at the moment.

9 Finished in our class

Many thanks to Brian for inviting me to co-drive this event with him.
It was far from the tarmac events that I have been used to in the past. This event was a mixture of broken concrete, loose gravel and grass.
There were 15 stages in all, with public road sections between each.
We had 6 stages in the morning before first service. Things were going well until we hit some concrete near the end of stage 3 and damaged the
nearside front wheel and suspension, but we managed to make it through the next 3 OK, and had the wheel and lower wishbone changed during our 30 minute service.
Following the service were 5 more stages, taking us out to Dengie and back. These were very slippery, bumpy stages along grass tracks. We were airborne several times
but survived, without damage, to the next service. The car was quickly checked over and we were off again.
The remaining 4 stages were a repeat of some of the morning stages, ending on the airfield, where we helped the local farmer plough his field after a slightly
ambitious right sent us skidding into the corn. No problems though, we made it back on the road with the minimum of fuss. And apart from the corn in the radiator,
no-one would have been able to tell.

This was a great event and an experience not to be missed, but I am glad I did not take my car on this one. It was very rough and I think it may just have killed it.

We finished 27th over all, and 7th in class

Results

Photos

38 Entries
26 Classified Finishers

10 Entries in our class (1600cc) .. Classes A and B were combined.
7 Finished in our class

We were in trouble before we even started. Our start time was getting close so we were warming the car up when it suddenly started to cut out.
It couldn’t be driven like that so out came the spanners and screwdrivers, but unfortunately the problem could not be solved before our start time
so we were excluded before we had even started.
The problem turned out to be the master cut off switch, so it was replaced and all appeared to be OK.
After speaking to the officials we were allowed to start on stage 5, in the Trophy rally. All that remained was to get the car re-scrutineered,
which should not be a problem as it was scrutineered OK a couple of hours before. But, when the scrutineer pulled the external electric cut off,
the cable snapped. Not good.
A quick trip back to the service area to get the cable changed and we were in business.

We completed the Trophy rally without any furthur problems but were, of course, not classified in the overall results.

Results

Sorry, no photos at the moment.

60 Entries
41 Classified Finishers

21 Entries in our class (1600cc)
16 Finished in our class

This was my first event in a rear wheel drive car, and it was great.. We were competing in a Mk2 Escort that was hastily prepared after the engine for the Ford Anglia was delayed.
The event was mostly tarmac/concrete but there were a couple of gravelly sections. However, there was a lot of rain the evening before, so the gravel sections just turned into a very slippery, muddy slime..
The rest of the event was very good with a good mixture of twisty bits and straights.
In all, a great day.

We finished;
35th over all
14th in class

Results

Photos

77 Entries
70 Started
44 Classified Finishers

15 Entries in our class (1600cc)
15 Started in our class
9 Finished in our class

This was our first event in the wet weather. And what fun it was too. A good job I’d fitted a limited slip diff since the last event.
It was not fun for everyone as stage two was cancelled due to a bad accident where one of the co-drivers had to be taken to hospital.

We had a great start.
Stage one. We started 69th and finished the stage 49th.
We even caught and overtook the car that started 30 seconds in front of us.
Then I slid wide on the next corner. (trying too hard to put distance between us and the car that we had just passed.)
We managed to stay ahead then pull away. Very satisfying. That new LSD was a great help.
Stage three was another good one but the car cut out on one of the corners. I managed to start again with minimal loss of time.
Stages four and five were tough as the car was severely lacking in power due to a carburetor fault.
We tried several things to fix it but nothing seemed to work.
Stage six. The car seemed to be flying again now. We were catching the car in front again but suddenly,
about 3/4 of the way through the stage we suddenly lost power and had to limp to the end of the stage.
Unfortunately we retired on stage seven, (the eighth was the last stage anyway). The problem that had been getting progressively worse since
stage three finally caused the car to stop. We completed 1/2 of the first lap, (two laps per stage), then pulled off.
We waited for the last car to pass then crept to the finish at little more than tick over.

It was disappointing to retire but I am happy that we were doing so well.

At the end of stage 6 we were;
40th over all, out of 51 still classified
9th in class, out of 11 still classified

Results

Photos

80 Entries
75 Started
45 Classified Finishers

14 Started in out class (1600cc)
10 Finished in our class

We finished
AND NOT last
(but close)

We finished 44th / 10th in class.
No trophy today.

There were actually 63 finishers and 11 in our class by those who took a stage maximum at any point, due to problems on a stage, were not classified. This means that the one car we did beat was not because they had major problems.

Disappointing average speeds… must try harder.
The maximum speed that I saw on the speedo was 97mph.

Considering that this was our first rally I am very please to have finished… And not last… bonus!

A Great day!

Results

Photos

Results

Photos