2008 News...

Apologies for not writing sooner, but I have been busy working as an Instructor at the Rallyschool and as Lifeguard at the local baths over the Summer months. I have recently started back at Myerscough where I'm now studying for Foundation Degree in Motorsport Logistics and Management for the next 2 years.

On the 9th August 2008, I competed on the 1400 Club Event as part of the Formula 1000 Forest Rally Championship. It was the event I was supposed to miss, but the money was found for me to do the event at the last minute. The team arrived at the rally and I didn't know who my Co-Driver would be. John Goff said we would find someone at the event and this we did and his name was Mark Mason who had 20 odd years experience. As for the rally itself, to say it was a disaster would be putting it mildly. The weather was appalling, with rain you never seen the likes of, especially in August. The event centered around one stage which would be repeated in both directions throughout the day. I started stage 1 with confidence and on the whole the stage went well except for the 2 or 3 fords that we had to drive through. We managed to get to the end of the stage, only for the engine to die on us after we had gone through the time control. Nothing would start the car and we tried to get a tow from one of the other competitors. One car stopped but the marshal at the time control insisted it was illegal and we would have to wait until the end of the stage to get towed back to parc ferme. Later we found out this was a load of Bollocks and the marshal had no rights to stop us having a tow once we were clear of the stage. I have to say that I was surprised that my experienced co-driver didn't know this, but there you go. We were OTL and out of the Rally.

The pictures above shows me splashing through one of the fords on the 1400 club rally

Yesterday I completed my first Co-Driver event at the K.A.Wood Stages at Three Sisters. I was ask by John Goff if I would do the event and I agreed straight away. My driver for the event was Jordan Mould from Nottingham and it was his first ever competitive Rally. The team was run by Chris 'I've got an important date this evening' Splisted. The day went well and we were actually winning our class up to stage 8. On stage 9 we made a couple of mistakes and dropped back to 2nd where we stayed until the end of the event. Jordan did well and my experience of three sisters helped a great deal. We stayed for the trophies and we both got a trophy for finishing 2nd in class. Whether Chris managed to get back to Shropshire for his date, I'm not sure.

The pictures above shows Jordon and myself tackling Three Sisters. More photos of both the Rallies can be found if you click here Rally Gallery.

On the 18th October I'm competing in the Bulldog Rally which I'm looking forward to.

Bye for now.