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“Firstly I must apologise for not sending any reports to date after various events that I have competed in under the King of Shaves banner for the 2007 season. My rallying year is going OK , however, my personal year is unfortunately not going so well. To date I have competed in three national rallies as well as a rallycross meeting in front of circa 15000 spectators.
The competition has grown significantly in The Historic Rally Championship for 2007 especially in the category 3 cars as my own, with such names as Jimmy McRea (ex five times British champion and Colin McRea's father ) competing in a similar car. I use Jimmy as a benchmark to see how well I am driving as not only he has a vast experience but also a much better car, endless supply of tyres and no worries about the car as it is leant to him, therefore he does not have to pay to rebuild the car or components in the event of an accident!”
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“After round four the championship moves onto tarmac, including the Manx Rally. These events are very expensive and I have decided to carry out some essential work on the car. The body shell is now very old and in need of replacing, I have just finished preparing a new one so am going to take the opportunity to reshell the car. At the same time I will rebuild the engine and gearbox and hopefully have the new car ready for the last 2 rounds of the championship.
As I am sure you can imagine this can be both very expensive and time consuming (although not as expensive as a formula one powerboat!) and I will keep you informed as to how it goes through the following months.
Thanks for your valued support this season!”
40th Anniversary of Rallycross Lydden Hill Circuit Easter Monday
“This was a celebration rallycross race to celebrate the 40th aniversary of the first ever rallycross meeting and I was invited to participate. The three races took part in-between the National rallycross races in front of a crowd of circa 15000 at the Kent circuit. I have never been on a start line with other cars around me and had to try and overtake cars in anger (in rallying you start a minute intervals and hope that the seeding has been done correctly and never catch the car ahead). I thoroughly enjoyed the day along with the rest of the crowds.”
Round 4: Mid-Wales Stage Rally June 23/24th Mid Wales
Report to come...
Round 3: Severn Valley Stages Rally June 2nd Mid Wales
“I had been looking forward to this event as the wide fast flowing stages suit my driving style, whatever that is! In 2006 I was leading the event 1st overall until I went off on the last stage damaging the car too much to carry on.
The first stage was a gruelling 17.5 miler through Radnor. I stopped the clock 7th fastest and only 22 seconds off Jimmy. The tyres had worked well through the stage although they we quite badly worn. We put new tyres on the rear for the next 3 stages which totalled another 17 miles, however, I was horrified to see that after the first stage of 6 miles these new tyres looked as bad as the previous pair after 17.5 miles. The forest we were now in was much more abrasive and seemed to be eating everybody's tyres. With only a second hand pair of tyres in the boot and no service until we had completed the 17 miles I decided to use the tyres on the car for the following stage and then put the worn ones in the boot onto the car for the last stage before service.
We entered service 7th overall and 5th in class. there was now only one 12 mile stage left in the day, the same stage I crashed out on in 2006. Nerves got the better of me and I not only spun at one junction but also basked off drastically at the accident corner, we finished the day 9th overall and 5th in class only 1:10 off Jimmy, less than 1.25 seconds per mile.”
Round 3: Pirelli International Rally April 20/21st Carlisle
“This event like the first round had night stages which I was dreading after the bad run in Nottinghamshire. I had spent many hours redirecting the spot lights but still did not feel very confident especially as I have never competed in the forests before and they have a reputation for killing rally cars.
Not only was it dark for nearly half of the rally but the stages were very tight and twisty which what I like. By the time we put the car into park ferme after 28 stage miles in the dark we were lying 17th overall, 9th in class and only 0.7 seconds from Jimmy (he had a puncture on one stage). I felt quite good by this position as i had not enjoyed the stages and decided to push on next day when I could see properly without having to rely on light.
The stages the following day were much nicer even though there were some very big rocks strewn over the track, at one point I came round a corner and there was a loose rock about the size of a football right in front of me, I had no option but to drive over it hoping that it did not damage the car too badly, trying to avoid such obstacles sometimes leads to large accidents! I picked up a puncture on the penultimate stage which lost ma maybe 15 seconds but I did manage to drive through the stage on the rim and did not have to stop to change it which would have taken about 3 minutes.
We eventually finished the day 12th overall, 8th in class and 2:32 off the leader after 50 stage miles.”
Round 2: Astra Stages North Wales
Unfortunately this event was cancelled due to lack of entries.
Round 1: Robin Hood Stages Rally March 10/11th Sherwood Forrest
“The event runs with the first four stages being run at night, it is always an interesting season opener and certainly tests the crews nerves after the winter lay-off. I found it very difficult getting up to speed in the dark, I had spent the previous evenings setting the spot lights to where I thought they should be only to find that once we were at competitive speeds in the forrest they were pointing in the wrong direction. As I did not have the correct tools onboard the car to redirect the lights we just had to struggle through the night stages as best we could.
When we restarted on Sunday morning we were a lowly 12th in class with a lot of time to try and make up, we were 1minute 24 seconds off Jimmy after only 15 miles. We decided that we were so far down it was just a matter of struggling to the end of the event and try to put some points on the board. By the end of the day we had worked our way up to 9th in class 2 seconds off 8th, but a whopping 2:52 off Jimmy who won the class after only 45 miles.
This was not a good start to the season but at least the car was still in one piece.”