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Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Successful Saltire for Rally2Raise team
The Rally2Raise team of Rachel Clark and Gary Simpson headed to Perthshire last weekend to take part in the Edradour Saltire Classic rally. The organisers, the Saltire Rally Club, have supported Rally2Raise since 2012 and as part of the support they let the Rally2Raise rally car run as the course car on the event.
The rally started from the Birnam hotel on a cold and clear morning with a wide variety of cars lining up ready to tackle the route and tests which would take them up towards Pitlochry, across to Loch Tummel and then north towards Blair Atholl.
The opening test was in a forest just outside of Dunkeld. The team’s Nissan Micra struggled to get traction on the very slippery and steep track but the test was successfully negotiated. A further nine tests took place in quick succession including one at the distillery of event sponsor Edradour which involved negotiating a course marked out by whisky barrels.
“The first few tests went well,” said Rachel. “Most were extremely slippery and, even though we’ve only got a 1300cc Micra, it was a struggle to find grip. Fortunately we didn’t suffer a repeat of last year where the exhaust manifold broke early on.”
After a lunch halt on the shore of Loch Tummel the Rally2Raise crew completed another test before the highlight of their event, a 12 mile section through a snowy Errochty forest. From there the rally headed back towards Dunkeld via Blair Atholl and the south side of Loch Tummel, taking in seven more tests before the finish.
“Errochty was fantastic, I’ve driven it on the McRae Stages rally but this was the first time I’ve seen it in the snow. The roads were pretty icy and it would’ve been easy to slide off but we completed the section with no problems. The remaining tests were fine and we made it back to the finish in one piece.”
After the rally a raffle was held in aid of “Funding the fuel for Flynny” which included prizes donated by Penny Street Boutique Lancaster, Motorsport Mugs, Colin Wallace, Martin Steele, Willie Greig, 2013 rally winners Noel Cochrane and Olly McCollum, Life Memories Photography and Songasport. A total of £270 was raised.
“Thanks to everyone who donated a prize and bought a raffle ticket, we were delighted with the amount raised. Thanks also to Colin Wallace and his team at the Saltire Rally Club for letting us run on a brilliant event, we had a great time.”
For more information on Rally2Raise please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise.
Monday, 3 March 2014
Wright looking to get rally season off to flying start
Bentham rally driver David Wright will start his rally season next weekend when he contests round two of the BTRDA rally championship, the Malcolm Wilson rally.
Having sold the Mitsubishi Evo 9 he had used for the last
three years Wright was hoping to debut his new Ford Focus WRC on the Cumbrian
event but the car is awaiting engine parts so a back-up plan has been put into
action.
“The pistons for the Focus are still in America with
Cosworth so we’ve had to sort another car to contest the Malcolm Wilson rally,”
said Wright. “We’ve got the Mitsubishi Evo 9 that we won the 2009 BTRDA title
in. It’s taken a lot of work but we’ve managed to get it into pretty much the same
specification as the car we used last year.”
“We’ll struggle to match the pace of the world rally class
cars but we’ll be pushing hard in what are some of my favourite stages in
rallying and hopefully we can target a podium finish. We’re planning to test
the car ahead of the rally which should iron out any problems.”
The Evo will be supported by Kumho Tyres, Drenth, Grove Hill
Garage, GPM and Owen Developments.
The Malcolm Wilson rally starts from Cockermouth on Saturday
morning and the crews will be tested over some of the classic Lake District
stages including Comb, Wythop and Grizedale.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Another successful year for Rally2Raise
The Rally2Raise motorsport team had another successful year in 2013 when it raised over £1,400 for the Nystagmus Network and contested four rounds of the Scottish Rally Championship (SRC).
The team was formed in late 2011 with the aim of raising funds and awareness for charities. The first full year of the project saw over £2,500 raised for four charitable causes. For 2013 the team decided to continue supporting one of those causes, the Nystagmus Network. Nystagmus is a presently incurable eye condition which Rally2Raise founder Rachel Clark’s son suffers from so it is a cause particularly close to her heart.
The team’s season started with the Saltire Classic rally in March. The organisers, the Saltire Rally Club, supported Rally2Raise in 2012 and they kindly continued their support this year. Rachel drove the Rally2Raise Nissan Micra as course car on the event with Gary Simpson making his debut in the navigator’s seat. Despite severe exhaust manifold problems they managed to get to the finish where plenty of cash was raised with a raffle.
Following the Saltire rally the hunt was on for sponsorship to enable the team to run in selected Scottish Rally Championship rounds. Thanks to the support of E.Watson and Son, BSW Ltd Contracting Services, Pirelli, AW Motorsport, McPherson Document Solutions, Charles Derby Ecosse, San Juan Services and Halo Lettings, Rachel and co-driver Katherine Begg were able to enter the Granite City rally in April. A strong run on the events first two stages was sadly ended when the car clipped a bridge and bent the rear beam, forcing retirement.
The team’s next event was the Scottish rally in Dumfries. With Katherine suffering an illness Caroline Lodge took over on the pacenotes. A brilliant performance saw Rachel presented with the trophy for being the fastest lady driver at the events ceremonial finish in the town centre in front of a large crowd of spectators.
Following the Scottish the team contested the Elgin-based Speyside Stages rally. Although the car suffered major gearbox problems Rachel brought it home for another good result.
The team’s final event of the year was the Merrick Stages which used the classic Scottish rally stages around Newton Stewart. The season was rounded off in great style with a second in class finish.
Fundraising events, including a virtual navigational rally, continued after the Merrick and thanks to the generosity of those who supported the project the total raised was over £1,400.
“It has been another good year for Rally2Raise,” said Rachel. “The rally community has once again been hugely generous in supporting us and I am very happy that we’ve managed to raise almost £4,000 for charity in two years as well as raising awareness of lesser known causes such as the Nystagmus Network.”
“Thanks to the amazing help given to us by our sponsors we were able to contest four Scottish Rally Championship events and I’m pleased with how those went. It’s difficult trying to compete with cars that have two or three times the power of our Micra has but it was great fun trying and we got some good results.”
“We’re planning to continue with Rally2Raise in 2014 but we’ll have to see how the rally budget goes before deciding whether to compete on any SRC events. The Saltire Rally Club have kindly invited us to be course car on the Saltire Classic event again in March though so we'll definitely be doing one rally.”
“I’d like to thank our sponsors whose support enabled us to contest the events and also everyone who has donated money and taken part in our fundraising activities.”
Monday, 9 December 2013
Brown ends rally season on a Manx high
Rochdale rally driver Steve Brown rounded off his season with a fine performance on the Pokerstars rally on the Isle of Man last month. He finished 16th overall and first in class in his 1300cc Nissan Micra.
From a start position of 30 Brown made good progress on the opening day of the event to lie in 25th overall and 4th in class at the overnight halt. A storming performance in the Mintex Racing, Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oil's, PIAA, Sabelt UK and Six 80 Ltd Aviation Asset Management-backed Micra on day two saw him take the class win as well as moving up to 16th on the overall leaderboard.
“After a strong run on the Rally Isle of Man in September I decided to return to the island for the Pokerstars,” said Brown. “It’s a fantastic place for rallying, the stages are a great challenge and to come away with a class win rounded off the season perfectly.”
“We’ve had a mixed year as far as the MSA Tarmac championship goes but we had two good results on the Tour of Epynt and the Jim Clark National so I’m happy with that. The two non-championship Isle of Man events went very well and I’m delighted with the results we achieved on them.”
“It has been a good learning year and hopefully we can put the experience to good use next season. Thank you to all my sponsors for their support.”
Brown will have a new Micra ready for 2014 but he has yet to finalise his plans for competing.
“I think I’ll be doing a few of the Tarmac championship rounds in the new car but the first few events will be used to develop the car.”
“I will be keeping the existing Micra too and that will be rebuilt over the winter. If the budget allows I hope to return to the Isle of Man with it to try and further improve my times there.”
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