Team Deli do the RAC

Day 1 of the event… I headed to Duncombe Park near Helmsley for signing on and scrutineering. Went for a walk around the stage and saw plenty of historics on the course, including Pughie, Tyke and JP. Plenty of nice cars in the service area although some seemed to be already having problems.

I met up with the other Team Deli members Barney and Carol as well as Simon Clarke who, despite getting stuck in Langdale last year, was once again using his Royal Mail Skoda Yeti.

We all headed to Dalby for the evening’s two stages. Conditions were rather different to last year, dry and no snow!

We found a decent slight right into uphill 90 right for the first spot. We were quite near the end of the stage so we could hear the cars going up and down the long Dalby straights a long time before we saw them.

Bob Bean was the first to come into view, spotlights piercing the trees. He was followed by a few Saabs and the Lancia of Steve Graham.

Then it was time for the main field, most of the leading crews taking a neat line but some getting nice and sideways including Phil Collins in the Ascona.

A few cars had already been in the wars, car 1 (Stefaan Stouf) not even reaching where we were after going off the road.

With Simon staying at the same corner for the second run Team Deli had a short drive to another corner, a long straight into a hairpin right quickly followed by a left-hander.

Marcus Dodd came round with a reshaped roof on his Mk2 and Malcolm Mawdsley’s Impreza had a little go at scaring Barney by getting out of shape exiting the left-hander.

The stage finished and it was back along the track to see Simon who had decided to go to Gale Rigg for the next day’s stages, apparently worried about getting stuck again if he went with us to Langdale.

Team Deli headed along the forest drive and into Langdale, parking near the stage ready for day two’s action. Under the clear Yorkshire night sky Ballycastle-supported Carol had a quick drink or two before nodding off.

Glorious sunshine greeted the crews on day two. Barney and Carol stayed at the hairpin near where we’d parked while I wandered up to the double junction where a crowd of spectators provided a good backdrop for my photographs. There was plenty of good action with a lot of sidewaysness going on.

A quick break for a meal (Covent Garden veg soup, very nice) and then it was time for the second run for which I walked up to a fast left hander with a bit of a rut on the inside which kicked a few wheels in the air.

After the Yorkshire stages the rally carried on with tests at Croft, Hamsterley and, the last stage of the day, Shepherdshield. With Simon deciding to retire from the event again (tired) Team Deli headed up to Shepherdshield by themselves.

This turned out to be quite fortunate as what looked like a good forest track on the OS map turned out to be a bit of an off-road course that would’ve swallowed the famous Yeti.

Barney had a sleep so Carol and myself went to watch at a quick left/right corner in the dark. Driving rain made spectating not as much fun as it had been earlier but it wasn’t too bad!

We left Shepherdshield and joined the military road towards Carlisle. The heavy rain made the road flooded in places which made for some good watersplash incidents.

By the time we got to Ae the Delica’s were cleaner than when we’d started the event. We went to park up at the same spot as last year, our journey interrupted slightly when we came across a Volvo estate stranded in the middle of the forest. Barney did his AA man duties and got it going again.

We got parked and had a natter for a while with Ballycastle-supported Carol having another drink.

Early morning in Ae and the trees were getting white – it was snowing! Barney and myself walked along the stage a bit to a series of corners.

The first car on the road was Bob Bean. He was also the first car off it as he slid wide at a corner just prior to where we were watching. A rope appeared and he was hauled back onto the road eventually.

Later on Dave Hemingway went off at the same spot after some blizzard conditions but despite 7 of us pulling the rope we couldn’t get him out of the ditch and he had to wait for the link car.

We stayed in Ae for the second run, Paul Griffiths ended his event going off the road just after where we were parked. "Media lady Carol” went to check he was ok which he was but his car was too far off to get back on. After last year’s monk incident we got out of Ae with no problems and it was straight off to Newcastleton. As we neared the stage the roads became very slippery but the forest itself wasn’t so bad. Two stages there ended our third day.

With day four being held in Kershope forest next door we didn’t have a very long drive on Sunday night. We went to park up in the quarry and found that “Davestaxi” and “Polo” were already there, along with two guys who were cooking some soup in a fire.

Ballycastle-supported Carol had a drink and Barney’s mobile disco played some Dire Straits as we gazed at the stars. There was a bit of frost on the ground but otherwise the tracks were clear.

A few hours later and it was all change! A load of snow had fallen overnight and the rally stage and the road leading to it had become treacherous. After a bit of a delay all the rally marshals and rescue crews were in position and the stage started.

Most of the rally cars tiptoed through the long course, desperate not to bin it on the final day. With the track cutting up and the public road likely to freeze again the last stage was cancelled.

And so we all headed out of Kershope, said our goodbyes and went home. As usual the RAC had been a highlight of the rallying year, once again we’d had a variety of weather conditions, great action, a good chat between stages and meetings with lots of like-minded folk.

Roll on next November when we’ll do it all again.

Images from the Roger Albert Clark rally

Please click here to view the images.

Sykes set for forest rally return in Yorkshire

Stourbridge rally driver Richard Sykes will make his return to forest rallying next weekend when he contests the Kall Kwik rally in Yorkshire.

Sykes has had a quiet rallying year in 2011 with his events restricted to two outings in the BRC Challenge championship. He led both events and finished a very close second on the Jim Clark Challenge rally.

“Rallying has taken a back seat this year as I got married and had a six-week long honeymoon at the rugby world cup in New Zealand,” commented Sykes. “I enjoyed the two BRC Challenge events I did though and the competition was very close.”

“I’m aiming to do a full BRC Challenge season next year and I’ll be going all out to win the championship. The first two rounds are in the forests and as it’s been over a year since I competed on gravel I have decided to enter the Kall Kwik to get back into the swing of it.”

Sykes will use his usual Citroën C2 R2 Max with support from G I Sykes, Boroughbridge Marina, Silverstone Tyres and Bathams Brewery. Simon Taylor will be on co-driving duties.

“I’m delighted to have Bathams Brewery to add to my other sponsors, their support is vital if we’re going to push for the BRC Challenge title next year.”

“The Kall Kwik will provide us with a tough test as it uses some of the very challenging Yorkshire forest stages such as Dalby and Langdale. There’s the added ingredient of doing some of the stages in the dark too. I can’t wait to get to the start line of stage one.”

The rally will start at Duncombe Park near Helmsley on Friday night with two stages before a further six stages on Saturday.

Wright ends rally season on a high with Grizedale win

Bentham rally driver David Wright enjoyed a brilliant end to his rally season last weekend with a dominant win on the Grizedale Stages in Cumbria.

The event started on Saturday evening with a stage in the dark. Despite the very testing wet and misty conditions Wright stormed through the stage faster than any other crew in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery and Grove Hill Garage-supported GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

“We went really well on the first stage, conditions were pretty tough but we knew that a good performance could give us a decent lead to take into the daylight stages,” said Wright. “I was very pleased to be 12 seconds faster than anyone else.”

The crews contested a further six stages on Sunday with the bulk of the action taking place in Grizedale forest. Wright continued his charge with fastest time on the first two stages of the day to extend his lead to 54 seconds.

Despite the good lead Wright pushed hard on the remaining four stages and was rewarded with second-fastest times on each of the tests, only beaten by a more powerful world rally class car. He arrived at the finish in Coniston with a lead of 1m 38 over the second-placed crew.

“Day two started with a fairly long stage and we wanted to be quick out of the blocks to drive home the advantage we had from stage one. Once we had built up a healthy lead it was tempting to back-off a bit but we decided to push as hard as we could while not taking any risks. I’m delighted with the win, we’ve had a mixed season this year so it’s brilliant to finish off with a victory.”

“Thanks to all my sponsors who made the win possible and also to GPM for the car. I can’t wait for the 2012 season to start!”

With his rally season finished Wright will now concentrate on building a new car which he hopes to use on some tarmac rallies next year. He will also contest selected forest events in his usual Evo 9.

Wright ready for season-ending Grizedale test

Rally driver David Wright will end his season next weekend when he contests the Grizedale Stages event in Cumbria.

Bentham-based Wright narrowly missed out on winning his BTRDA class championship on his last event in North Wales so he is hoping for a successful run to finish off his year in his Kumho Tyres, Drenth, Proflex, Grove Hill Garage and York Brewery-supported GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

“It was very disappointing to lose out on the class championship when we had a problem with the car on the previous rally,” commented Wright.

“We’ll be pushing hard to get a good result in Grizedale, it’s a forest I like competing in and we’ve set some good times in there before.”

The rally starts in Coniston and features a stage on Saturday night before six more stages on Sunday which will test the crews to the maximum.

“Grizedale forest is notoriously tough to compete in and running a stage in the dark is going to present a real challenge, I’m looking forward to it.”