2008 News...

Yesterday I competed on the Grizedale Stages Rally, which had 6 stages, using the Grizedale forest in the Lake District. I won a free entry into this rally through a raffle run by the organisers of the Formula 1000 Forest Rally Championship and I wanted to make the best of it because its the nearest rally to where I live. My co-driver for this event was Chris Spilsted from Shropshire and he is one of the instructors at the Rallyschool.

The rally started well with us posting a good time on stage 1, but on stage 2 the electrics packed in and brought the car to a resounding halt. The problem took about 10-15 minutes to sort out and we finally got the car to the end of the stage only to find out we had been classified as a retirement. We then went back to the service area, where the back up crew (Fellow Students from Myerscough College - see picture below) made the fix more permanent. Under the super rally rules, we had the car re-scrutineered and were allowed to rejoin the event starting on stage 5. This meant although we were not in the rally as such, we would at least get more rally stage experience, but actually we posted some good times. Throughout the rally we were either driving in fog or not being able to see properly because of the bright sunlight. The best quote about our performance I've found on the internet is on a photographic forum and it is "The best sounding Micra I've ever heard....and the Driver wasn't hanging around either !"

The picture above shows me on stage 1 of the Grizedale stages Rally 2008.

This picture shows the team, from the left Simon Webb, at the back Richard Coates, Joe Scott, Phil Spilsted ('The Doc'), Dan Ball, Chris Spilsted my co-driver for the day and at the back Me.

Thanks to Chris Spilsted for volunteering to be my co-driver for the event and the Myerscough lads for being my back up crew. I must also thank John Goff and the Rallyschool for preparing the car.

That was my last rally for 2008. Its been a great year and I have learnt a great deal about rallying and everything that goes on behind the scenes. I need to thank Neil Johnson from the Lancashire Telegraph, for covering my Rallying exploits in the local newspaper throughout the year. Next year I will be competing in the BTRDA Rally First Championship which starts in early February 2009 on the Wyedean Rally. I will be using one of the Rallyschool's cars for the championship, but as to which one has not been completely decided as yet.

I hope everyone has a fantastic festive season.

Bye for now.