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Disappointing end to tough Scottish rally for Sykes

 

Stourbridge’s Richard Sykes had a disappointing end to his Scottish rally last weekend when he crashed out of the event while comfortably in the lead.

The event, round three of the British Rally Championship (BRC) Challenge, commenced on Friday evening with a very popular spectator stage near Dumfries. Sykes and co-driver Emma Morrison were the quickest of the BRC Challenge crews by 1.6 seconds in their Bathams Brewery and G I Sykes-supported Citroën C2 R200.

Day two started with stages in Twiglees and Castle O’er. Sykes continued to set the pace, extending his lead to 5.8 seconds over Ross Hunter, although the stages were not without incident.

“The Friday stage went very well and it was great to be leading,” said Sykes. “Day two got off to a fairly dramatic start, we hit a big hidden rock in Twiglees on the inside of a corner. The car was thrown up onto two wheels and I had to steer into the undergrowth to avoid rolling it. We just managed to keep the momentum going and took it steady to the end of the stage in case the suspension or wheels had been damaged. We made it to the end and then found a massive gash in the tyre so we were lucky not to have picked up a puncture. We’d also bent a ball joint. The tyre was changed and we headed to Castle O’er where we set another fastest time.”

The ball joint was replaced in service and new tyres fitted ready for the longest section of the rally, a loop of four stages totalling 30 miles including a 14 mile test in Ae forest. After three of the four stages Sykes had built up a lead of 31 seconds but it was all to go wrong on the fourth stage of the loop.

“We pushed very hard in the three stages after service and we built up a very good lead. The suspension took a hammering and we had to stop and make some repairs as the strut body bolts had all come undone. We managed to make the repairs without incurring a penalty.”

“With the lead we had we decided to maintain the position rather than take risks but disaster struck on the next stage. The event organisers had had to make an amendment to the route and it was too late for the pacenotes to be changed. We managed to borrow some notes from crews who were doing another event and had already had a recce drive of the stage.”

“Unfortunately when we arrived at the amended section we found the notes were not right for us, the first corner was described as a medium when in fact it was very tight so I was going way too fast. We slid into a large ditch on the outside of the corner and smashed into a tree stump, ripping off the radiator and holing the sump. That was our rally over.”

“I blame myself for the accident, we should’ve been more careful having not had chance to check that the pacenotes were correct. The only positive is that our two main championship rivals have already had one retirement on earlier rounds so it is still all to play for in the title race.”

“We’ll get the car up and running again and put it back into tarmac specification for the next round in Ulster. The Scottish was very disappointing but I will put that out of my mind and push hard for another win to keep up our championship challenge.”

The Ulster rally will take place in mid-August.

Image courtesy raceandrally.co.uk 

Sykes aiming for the treble on Scottish rally

Stourbridge rally driver Richard Sykes will be targeting his third win in three events this season when he contests the latest round of the British Rally Championship (BRC) Challenge, the Scottish rally, next weekend.

After wins on the Pirelli and Jim Clark Challenge events Sykes and co-driver Emma Morrison lead the championship in their Bathams Brewery and G I Sykes Ltd-supported Citroën C2 R200 and they are hoping for better luck than they had on last year’s event when a puncture dropped them down the leaderboard from 2^nd place.

“The puncture dropped us down to 9^th which was hugely disappointing,” said Sykes. “We managed to fight back to 5^th at the finish but we lost a lot of points. It’s the only puncture I’ve had on my Silverstone tyres in four years, they are normally very good and, dare I say it, more puncture resistant than most.”

“I’m in two minds whether to push hard for another win or have a steady run and make sure we get a good haul of championship points. The trouble is, when I get behind the wheel and put the helmet on, there is only one way I can drive on the gravel tracks and that is flat out.”

Sykes’ car is still damaged from the accident it suffered when another car pulled out in front of it before the Jim Clark rally but the damage shouldn’t hinder the performance.

“The car is not quite straight but we will have to dial that out and get on with it. After the tarmac roads of the Jim Clark rally we’ve put the car back into forest specification ready for the gravel tracks the Scottish will use.”

“A third win would be brilliant but any podium result will leave us in a very healthy championship position before we head to Ulster and the Isle of Man for the next rounds.”

“Thanks to Bathams Brewery for their continued fantastic backing, G I Sykes Ltd for their support and car preparation and Martin Billings for on-event support.”

The rally is based in Dumfries and the crews will tackle 59 miles of forest stages including Ae, Castle O’er and Twiglees.

Images from BCCC Forrest Estate

 



Please click here to see the photographs. Prints and electronic images are available from the BCCC official photographer, songasport@gmail.com.

Sykes takes Challenge win on tragic Jim Clark rally

 

Stourbridge’s Richard Sykes won a tense battle in the British Rally Championship (BRC) Challenge category of the Jim Clark rally last weekend but the event ended in tragic circumstances with an accident involving some spectators.

Sykes endured a difficult run up to the rally. The Bathams Brewery and G I Sykes Ltd-supported Citroën C2 R200 had to be quickly converted into tarmac trim following work  on the engine and on the Wednesday before the event the car was sent to a rolling road facility to check that the engine work had improved the performance. Following the test, team member Simon Hawthorne was driving the car back to base when another vehicle pulled out and hit the car, completely smashing up the front and side of it.

“It was not the start to the rally preparations that we wanted” said Sykes. “Fortunately Simon wasn’t badly injured but the car was a mess. We ordered some parts to be delivered on Thursday and Simon and Martyn Billings started work on the repairs at 6am. They worked through until 2am Friday and then drove five hours to the rally at Kelso so I could test the car on the shakedown stage.”

With the shakedown stage successfully completed Sykes could finally concentrate on the event itself. The BRC Challenge rally started on Friday night with a stage around Duns town centre. Sykes was quickly into his stride, setting the fastest time by nearly three seconds from Ross Hunter. The fastest times continued on stages two and three which allowed Sykes to take a 9 second overnight lead.

The warm weather which greeted the crews on Saturday morning caused problems for Sykes. The pre-event accident destroyed the radiator and it was not possible to get a competition-spec replacement so a standard part had to be used. This wasn’t an issue on the cool Friday night stages but the car started overheating on Saturday.  The team had to remove the grill and lift the bonnet up slightly to try and get extra air to the engine and the car was run with the heater on full blast which made the interior very uncomfortable for Sykes and co-driver Emma Morrison.

Despite the overheating Sykes was able to maintain his lead up until stage 14 when Hunter overhauled him. Sykes was not going to give up though and he charged through the 11 miles of stage 16 over 13 seconds quicker than Hunter to lead by two seconds.

There should have been a further two stages but sadly an accident caused the event to be stopped.

“It had been an amazing rally and a great battle with Ross, who won the event last year.  We had a decent lead going into day two but Ross fought back and was 11 seconds up on us going into stage 16.”

“I was not going to settle for second though, after all the work the team put in getting the car to the event I wanted to give them a win and, having finished second three times, I wanted a win for myself too. I pushed as hard as I could on the long Swinton stage and then waited at the finish counting the seconds until Ross arrived. We had done enough to get back into the lead but only by two seconds. It was still all to play for on the final two stages of the event.”

“However, on the way to the next stage we passed many emergency vehicles and then we were told the event had been cancelled. Information was sketchy for a couple of hours and the mood in the service area was very subdued. Tragically some spectators had lost their lives after being hit by a car after we’d passed through the stage.”

“We left the event not caring what the results were as it all seemed a little unimportant after what had happened. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the people who lost their lives and with the crew involved who must be devastated.”

“We will take the win and dedicate it to my service crew who worked miracles but we will only remember the rally for the events which caused it to be cancelled.”

Image courtesy raceandrally.co.uk