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and Castle Coombe Rally Day

Geoff’s gossip Well here we are, twelve months on from our first ever Rally Ramblings and, by a miraculous occurrence, we also celebrate thirty years since the Audi quattro burst onto the rally scene! Now whilst the quattro might have attracted a cult following I’m not so sure that Rally Ramblings will achieve quite the same global impact but as long as you lot keep reading I’ll keep writing! ☺

Now, as many people know, I am a massive fan of the 5 cylinder fire breathing quattro but let’s set the cat amongst the pigeons and ask ourselves – was it the start of an incredible five years of Group B rallying or was it the beginning of the end for the sport? Before 1980 there was a host of privateers fighting for the world championship in a large variety of fairly sideways rally cars. Suddenly Audi comes along with its all wheel drive and massive budgets and from then onwards the series has been all about the

manufacturers. And, as technology has advanced so we have had to wave good bye to the sideways nature of driving (well unless your name is Jari Matti Latvala!) Either way, I don’t care – what has happened has happened and the quattro is still an incredible piece of machinery. And I love it to bits! Last weekends Trackrod Rally of Yorkshire was the final round of a number of major rally championships. Whilst the ANCRO Gravel Championship had already been wrapped up at the previous round both the MSA British Rally Championship and the MSA Historic Rally championship went to the wire. And between all of the confusingly different rallies the event mustered up a fantastic 152 entries with everything from Minis and 2 stroke Saabs to modern Subaru and Mitsubishi Group N cars, an S2000 and even a handful of World Rally Cars… Incredibly 52 year old Gwyndaf Evans beat the best British youngsters to take his third win of the year! Keith Cronin showed a new more calculating side by cruising around to pick up enough points to take his second British title in a row! And, whilst his peers were intent on breaking their cars or throwing them off into the undergrowth, young Jason Pritchard came through to take third overall in the series in only his first year in a four wheel drive! But if your name is Cronin or Pritchard what’s next? The BRC is rife with murmurs that they are looking at going the two wheel drive route in the future and unless you have a modern Super 2000 rally car and a big pot of gold, going to Europe is out of the question. Even the best driven Group N cars struggle to make the top ten in an IRC round and a PWRC season will cost you the same as it would to buy a really nice house! Answers on a postcard please!

Perez takes title with perfect Woodpecker win Woodpecker Stages – Ludlow – 04 September

Steve Perez was in a class of his

own as the former Historic and National Rally Champion powered his ex Marcus Gronholm Ford Focus World Rally Car to a convincing victory on the penultimate round of the BTRDA Rally Series. Steve took victory on six of the seven special stages to take the overall honours by almost a minute from Roger Chilman in his Group N Subaru Impreza N12. The Woodpecker Stages would see an amalgamation of both the BTRDA and the ANCRO Gravel Championships and as such the best drivers from both series would go head to head for the first time this season. But Perez was focused on his own series, knowing full well that the interlopers could not affect the points on offer. Thus it looked like a battle royal between the Focus pilot and Andy Burton in his Peugeot Cosworth. Burton was aiming for his tenth outright victory on this, his home event… but the rapid Cosworth was a very early retirement with engine issues sidelining it in the opening test!

The only man who could now stand in Steve’s way was 2005 champion Roger Chilman. But Roger had dropped 14 seconds in that opening stage and by first service the Group N Subaru was already 23 seconds adrift! Chilman did restore some local honour by beating Perez on the penultimate stage of the rally, Wigmore! By virtue of another maximum production class score Roger is also the 2010 Group N Champion! The Woodpecker Stages was also a round of both

the Welsh Clubman and Welsh National Championships. Alex Allingham should know his way around the Haye Park stage by now, having convincingly won the gravel sprint there earlier this year! And his seventh overall was also a good enough result to give him maximum points in the Welsh National Championship. However Alex will still need to contest the final event, the Cambrian Rally, to secure the overall Welsh National Championship! Neville Jones continued his strong run of recent results in the new shape Subaru Impreza and, after being narrowly pipped last time out by young upstart Dylan Davies, Neville took away maximum Welsh Clubman points this weekend. The pair head to the Cambrian Rally separated by just two points, ensuring that this will be a battle to the end! Rally Results 1st Steve Perez/ Paul Spooner Ford Focus WRC 44 min 41sec 2nd Roger Chilman/ Andrew Sankey Subaru Impreza N12 45 min 40sec 3rd Nigel Griffiths/ Jon Scott Subaru Impreza B13 45 min 52sec

Milner takes the title on dusty Woodpecker

Former Double British Rally Champion Jonny Milner wrapped by the 2010 MSA National Gravel Rally Championship in fine style when he and co-driver Ian Windress powered their Toyota Corolla World Rally Car to their third consecutive maximum points haul on the recent Sixty and Worcestershire Rally. Milner was only sixth fastest through the opening stage of the Ludlow based event. By contrast championship rivals Roger Duckworth and Nick Broomfield were some five seconds faster in their Subaru Impreza WRC. Duckworth was a further two seconds quicker through the 8.76 miles of Haye Park and by first service held a slim six second advantage over Milner. However by the end of the seventh test the title was all but decided when Duckworth was sidelined with a broken gearbox leaving Milner with a 12 second cushion over Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley in their Ford Focus WRC. Milner and Windress needed maximum points to secure the title with a round to spare but their task was only made easier when Payne suffered clutch failure on the start line of the penultimate stage! Whilst Payne and Thorley were able to complete the route the time loss ensured that Milner would end the day 15 seconds ahead and with the 25 points that he needed to take the championship victory!

In the Production Class category the Subaru Impreza N10 of Alex Allingham and Mark Glennerster triumphed over the Mitsubishi Evo 9 of season long rivals Tom Naughton and Horace Saville to move one step closer towards taking the Production Class crown. The pair only require a podium position on the season ending Trackrod National Rally to be crowned champions!

Stephen Petch and John Richardson spent the morning impersonating a spinning top when they began the event with the wrong compound tyres on their Hyundai Accent WRC. Their day did not improve when the pair suffered a broken exhaust manifold and when the turbo failed during the final loop of stages the pair were relieved just to see the finish ramp! Results (4th o/a) Jonny Milner/ Ian Windress Toyota Corolla WRC 46:03 (5th o/a) Charlie Payne/ Craig Thorley Ford Focus WRC 46:18 (7th o/a) Alex Allingham/ Mark Glennerster Subaru Impreza N10 46:57

Mixed success for GJM on Woodpecker Stages

The recent Ludlow based Woodpecker Stages showed how varied fortunes can be during a motor rally when four of the Geoff Jones Motorsport run cars returned to Ludlow Racecourse with decent results whilst the other three retired with varying ailments early on. Neville Jones and Ian Capewell extended their lead in the Welsh Clubman Championship with a fine third overall in class B13, the pair having enjoyed a very strong run through the Shropshire forests. The pair ran solidly inside the top twenty overall on this combined Nat A/ Nat B rally and a final overall classification of 13th is Neville’s best result on this specialised event! Sara Williams was debuting her new car, the ex Neville Jones Subaru Impreza N12b. Although

Sara only had half a day of testing earlier in the week the grin on her face indicated that she really liked her new stead. Co-driven again by Patrick Welsh the young Brecon based Sara had a good run all day long. The only major drama was when she clipped a chicane and bent a track control arm. 19th overall is a good result and Sara is confident that, given more time to learn the car, her pace will improve significantly!

Nigel Seabold and Tim Barton narrowly missed out on a top ten result in the Production Class after having a day of minor dramas. Early on the launch control button fell off the dashboard of their Subaru Impreza N2010! This left Nigel slightly flustered and, by his own admission, his driving was not up to standard! However by the end of the day Nigel was back on the pace and wanted the rally to begin again!

Young James Watkins might have ended the rally in 107th position overall but he did finish fourth in the Rally First 1.0 litre class in his little Nissan Micra! This was James’ first foray into the ultra competitive BTRDA Rally Series and he held his own against the more seasoned competitors. Co-driven by Chris Evans James, is a fully fledged gravel convert now! Phil Brown, Julian Jones and Gary Kenna all experienced dramas which ultimately saw the various Subaru Impreza drivers retire early on. Phil suffered a broken brake calliper on his N11 whilst Gary retired his immaculate ex Tommi Makinen World Rally Car with a broken gearbox. On his first visit back to the rally since he suffered a massive crash in Bringewood, Julian Jones again crashed out! And again the scene of his accident was Bringewood! Fortunately both Julian and co-driver Martyn Taylor were unhurt but the car needs a bit of TLC now!

Celebrating 30 years The Audi quattro

In October 1980 the face of motor rallying changed forever when Hannu Mikkola, already an accomplished rally driver with numerous titles and rally victories under his belt, ran as the zero car on the Algarve Rally in Portugal. His purpose was to debut the all wheel drive Audi quattro.

The car performed so well that Audi signed off a rallying programme which resulted in a dominant victory on Rallye Sweden just four months later. By 1983 two wheel drive was a thing of the past and since then the World Rally Championship has only ever been won by all wheel drive machinery! The world had never seen a more dramatic beast – a 5 cylinder turbocharged engine sending

power to all four wheels and propelling the car through the forests at an alarming rate – the fire breathing quattro really stirred up the interest in the World Championship, both from manufacturers and spectators alike. When the new Group B rules were signed off at the start of 1981 Audi had the edge and, despite the uniquely flawed design of their car, were still a force to be reckoned with right up until the category was banned five very short years later!

The quattro is unique in a number of ways – not only did it pioneer four wheel drive and show the world what a turbocharged engine could really do but it also powered Michele Mouton, the worlds fastest woman driver, to a number of victories across the globe! Hannu Mikkola, Stig Blomqvist and Walter Rohrl – all world champions – also mastered the beast and beat the best that Peugeot, Lancia, Ford, Nissan and MG could throw at it! That original car began life with a little over 300bhp but by 1986, the true height of Group B, these monsters were pushing out in excess of 500 bhp and could out accelerate a supercar from standstill to 60 mph… on gravel! However all of this horsepower occasionally led to accidents. And with the number of spectators growing to epic proportions safety was becoming a serious issue. And then, after a number of tragic accidents, including that of championship leaders, Henri Toivonen and Sergio Cresto (Lancia Delta S4), on the Tour de Corse less than six weeks later the powers that be took the decision to ban the cars completely! And that was that – although these amazing cars went on to play in rallycross and make and break new records in America with the Pikes Peak Hill climb they all but disappeared from the public eye. But now, thirty years later, thanks to enthusiastic owners like John Hanlon, these wonderful cars are back in the public domain… thank you John! ☺

Peter focused on France

Kenyan rally driver Peter Horsey heads to France for this weekends World Rally Championship event on the back of two strong rallies in a row and will be aiming for a strong run on the final tarmac rally of his year. This event is also the penultimate round of his Pirelli Star Driver season. A fortnight ago Peter enjoyed a number of top three stage times on the sixth round of the Kenyan National Rally Championship before punctures robbed him of a strong overall result. Peter and co-driver Dez Page Morris eventually ended the Kajiado based event fifth overall despite being forced to change one puncture mid

stage and limp out of another test on a second damaged tyre! A week later Peter had a competitive run on only his second ever visit to the MSA British Rally Championship. Peter experienced his first ever night time stage and was on the fringes of the top ten overall by the end of the high speed International Rally of Yorkshire. Co-driven by Welshman Chris Davies for this event, Peter impressed with his pace through the specialised Yorkshire forests and admitted to really enjoying the night stage a lot more than he’d expected.

With no time to dwell on the last two events Peter is now on his way to France to join up with regular co-driver Calvin Cooledge for Rallye de France. After taking time to adapt to tarmac rallying last time out in Germany, Peter will be hoping to use those lessons to good effect this weekend. After two great gravel rallies in a row, I’m a little apprehensive about going straight into another tarmac rally. I learnt a lot in Germany and have been told that the French stages are a bit more flowing, which could suit my driving style a bit better!

Rallye de France is new to the World Rally Championship for 2010. The Strasbourg based event replaces the Tour de Corse in the series and will count towards all three support series. The rally is also the fifth and penultimate round of the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver scheme with only Wales Rally

GB left on the calendar.

For more on Peter please visit www.peterhorsey.com

Evans above, Cronin King again International Rally of Yorkshire – 25 September

Five rallies, three major British Championships, 150 entries and some of the fastest forest rallying in the United Kingdom. Welcome to Yorkshire, then, for the final rounds of the National Gravel, British Historic and British Rally Championships. The British Rally Championship crews tackled over 85 stage miles and began their weekend with a mammoth 16 mile test through Langdale on Friday night. Young Craig Breen stopped the clocks fastest in his Ford Fiesta S2000, but the oldest man in the field, Gwyndaf Evans, was only 1.5 seconds adrift! Keith Cronin needed a top six position to claim back to back British titles and as such was driving cautiously. His “safe” mode was still quick enough for third fastest!

Overnight rain made the going equally as treacherous on Saturday. Jason Pritchard survived a 100mph spin early in the opening stage of the day and was lucky not to roll his Subaru. Season long championship leader Jonnie Greer was not so lucky and inverted his Mitsubishi Evo 9 later in the very same test! But through all the carnage came Breen, fastest from Evans again, but this time by 8 seconds!

However Breen had problems in the third test and then, anxious to catch up lost time, pushed too hard in Stage 4 and ended up rolling the Fiesta and dropping over six minutes! This meant that, half way through the rally, Gwyndaf Evans led his team mate Alistair Fisher by 22 seconds with Keith Cronin third. Fourth was another Irish interloper, Daniel McKenna was making his four wheel drive debut and astounding all of the regulars with his pace.

Four stages later and the top four were completely unchanged with Evans taking his first ever Trackrod Rally victory by a comfortable margin of 41 seconds. By finishing third, half a minute behind young Alistair Fisher, Keith Cronin was assured of the 2010 British Rally Championship title! McKenna was fourth and Pritchard, who had re-discovered his confidence after that “moment” earlier in the morning returned to Scarborough fifth and by doing so claimed third overall in the championship, behind

just Cronin and Evans, two multiple champions! 1st Gwyndaf Evans/ Claire Mole Mitsubishi Evo X 1:18:27 2nd Alistair Fisher/ Rory Kennedy Mitsubishi Evo X 1:19:09 3rd Keith Cronin/ Barry Mcnulty Subaru Impreza N15 1:19:38

Banner best Historic, Payne nails the Nationals

The British Historic Rally Championship saw a three way fight for championship honours between the Porsche 911 of Dessie Nutt, the Sunbeam Tiger of Jonathan Gale and the Ford Escort Mk 1 of David Stokes with the latter coming through at the end to clinch the 2010 championship. This is all the more impressive after three non finishes from the opening four rallies!

The overall honours on the Historic rally went to local man Steve Bannister who powered his Ford Escort Mk2 to a dominant one minute victory over the ever rapid Nick Elliott, with Manxman Connor Corkill returning home third overall, also in an Escort. In fact the only non Escort in the top fifteen of Class D5 was the Opel Ascona of Steve Magson who finished fourth overall! Steve Perez made one of his rare appearances in the gorgeous Lancia Stratos but once again this fragile car did not make it to the end of the rally. Steve must be one of the most patient people in the world with this beautiful beast! The Trackrod National Rally was the final round of the National Gravel Rally Championship which Jonny Milner had already wrapped up earlier in the month. This was just as well as Jonny, in a Toyota Corolla WRC, struggled to keep up with a fired up Charlie Payne, at the wheel of a Ford Focus WRC. After three stages Jonny was already thirty seconds adrift but was to retire shortly afterwards with damaged suspension. This allowed Stephen Petch Junior through to take second overall in his Hyundai Accent WRC despite his normal quota of spins and massive moments! This young driver never has a dull rally! The Group N award went to Jamie Andersson in a Mitsubishi Evo 8 after Alex Allingham chose to drive like his grandmother to ensure that he reached the finish of the rally and picked up the necessary points to claim the Production Class Championship title! To be fair to Alex he was still fourth overall! The rally, statistically, had a high rate of attrition, with over half of the field failing to make the finish… but as there were only 11 starters that doesn’t really mean too much!

Christmas ideas

It’s that time of the year already and Geoff Mayes Media have a selection of ideas – be it a thank you to sponsors, a memento to a long suffering co-driver or a thank you to the team our range of

gifts should do the trick! (Orders need to be placed by 1

st December to ensure a Christmas delivery!)

Collages

Any size, any number of photos and in any layout you like

Calendars We can offer a selection of calendars, ranging from desk calendars showing the week ahead to A3 wall calendars, ideal for marking those important rally dates. These calendars are brilliant as you can have a different photo of yourself in action for each month!

• Standing size : 24cm x 10.5cm x 14cm • Month-to-view layout • 26 pages • Available with a white or black background

£25 each or discount for multiple orders

• Folded size 28cm x 21.8cm (approx A4) • Open size 28cm x 43.6cm (approx A3) • Month-to-view layout • 1 or more photos for every month of the year • Available with a white or black background

£30 each or discount for multiple orders

Forthcoming events

This is a list of events that Geoff Mayes Media will have a representative on – please contact us in advance if you would like

photos or video at one of those listed, to ensure we film you! ☺☺☺☺

October 1-3 WRC Rally du France World Rally Championship 8-10 Tour of Mull Mull Island 16 Mombasa Rally Kenyan National Rally Championship 16 Cambrian Rally BTRDA Rally Series 16-17 IRC Rally Scotland Intercontinental Rally Challenge 31 Sweet Lamb Time Trial Sweet Lamb, UK November 06 Tempest Rally English Rally Championship 12-14 Wales Rally GB World Rally Championship 20 Nairobi Rally Kenyan National Rally Championship 21 Premier Stages Mansfield, UK 26 – 28 Roger Albert Clark Rally

Photo of the Month

52 year old Gwyndaf Evans shows the youngsters how it is done!