Win win win with Rally2Raise!

The Rally2Raise team are organising a raffle to help raise funds for the project’s supported charitable causes and tickets are now available to purchase via www.rally2raise.co.uk, priced at £5.00 a strip.

A fantastic range of prizes has been generously donated so far including a subscription to Motorsport News from Haymarket, rallying DVDs from Duke Marketing, loads of confectionary from Tunnocks, a motorsport figurine from Out of Caricature, mugs from Motorsport Mugs, a framed print of Colin McRae’s Mk 2 and various items signed by world rally stars including a cap from M-Sport.

The prizes will be on display at Colin McRae Forest Stages rally HQ on 5th October and raffle tickets can be purchased at the event. Tickets will be on sale up to the Scottish Rally Championship awards presentation evening on 1st December and the raffle draw will be made on that night.

In addition to the raffle the Rally2Raise team will also be selling copies of the recently published Colin McRae bookazine at the rally. The publishers of the bookazine, Haymarket, have kindly offered to donate £1.00 for each copy sold to the Rally2Raise charities.

A list of some of the raffle prizes promised so far is as follows:

1. Subscription to Motorsport News donated by Haymarket
2. Rallying DVDs donated by Duke Marketing
3. Packs of Tunnocks products donated by Tunnocks
4. Motorsport figurine donated by Out of Caricature
5. Mugs donated by Motorsport Mugs
6. Ford World Rally Team cap signed by Mikko Hirvonen donated by M-Sport
7. Colin McRae Sport baseball cap signed by Stig Blomqvist, Sebastien Loeb and David Bogie donated by San Juan Motorsport
8. Framed Colin McRae Mk2 print donated by Songasport
9. Framed and signed Jari-Matti Latvala print donated by Songasport
10. Rally2Raise cards signed by Sebastien Loeb, Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti-Latvala
11. Ford World Rally Team t-shirt donated by Rally2Raise

Please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk for more information on the Rally2Raise project.

BRC Challenge Champion Sykes aims to end season on a high

Stourbridge’s Richard Sykes is aiming to finish his championship-winning BRC Challenge season on a high next weekend when he contests the Trackrod Challenge rally in Yorkshire.

After a double-success on the last round in Ulster Sykes took an insurmountable lead in the BRC Challenge title race to take the championship crown and he is looking for another win in the final round to round off a fantastic year in his Bathams Brewery, G I Sykes Ltd, Boroughbridge Marina and Silverstone Tyres-supported Citroën C2 R2 Max.

“I can’t wait for the Trackrod,” said Sykes. “I can go flat out from the start without having to worry about the championship. We are happy and confident in the car and after watching Rally GB last week I can’t wait to get back in the forest. We will be testing before the event to shake both us and the car down.”

“We’ve really enjoyed the BRC Challenge this year and would recommend the championship to anyone as it’s a great competition with great events and great coverage. We hope to look at the main BRC again next year with our prize entries. Massive thanks to all my sponsors and the team members who have put in such a fantastic effort.”

 The rally starts on Friday evening with a challenging 15 mile stage in the pitch dark of Dalby with the Challenge crews facing a total of 45 miles of competitive stages in the forests of North Yorkshire.

Television coverage of the BRC Challenge is on British Rally Zone this weekend on Sky Sports.

Image courtesy Jakob Ebrey

Images from Rally Isle of Man

Please click here to see the images.

Images from BCCC Ednol Hill

Please click here to see the images.

Images from Ford World Rally Team testing

Please click here to see the images.

Images from the Speyside and Merrick Stages

Please click here to see the images.

Magnificent Merrick for Rally2Raise team

Rally2Raise crew Rachel Medich and Katherine Begg joined the likes of Colin McRae on the list of winners of the ‘man of the rally’ award on last weekend’s Ian Broll Merrick Stages. The girls finished second in class on the rally on what was only their second competitive event together and only Katherine’s second event ever.

With no means of towing the car Rachel was forced to drive her Clark Motorsport and DMACK Tyres-supported Nissan Micra 250 miles from her home in Aberdeen to the event base in Wigtown. After a successful test on Friday they started the opening stage of the event with the objective of completing the rally with the car in once piece.

Despite very wet conditions stage one went well and the girls headed to the 19 mile second stage in Glen Trool in a confident mood. Rachel was enjoying the fast and flowing stage but unfortunately another crew had an accident near the stage finish so they were forced to stop just before the end.

“I was feeling nervous before the first stage,” said Rachel. “I think having to drive the car home after the event added pressure on us to get to the finish but once we were in the stage things went well.”

“Glen Trool was fantastic, I really enjoyed it. It’s a shame we didn’t get to do the full 19 miles but we completed around 18.”

Another two stages completed the rally and Rachel and Katherine had a good run through them both to finish the event second in class. As well as successfully completing the rally the girls also raised around £350 for the charities that Rally2Raise is supporting this year.

“I’m absolutely delighted to have finished the event,” said Medich. “We may not have been the quickest but our plan for the rally was to get to the end, especially as I’d to drive the car home afterwards!.”

“Thank you very much to everyone who supported the Rally2Raise charities and also to the organisers for inviting us to compete. Thanks also to David Wright’s team for checking the car over in service – as well as no trailer we also didn’t have a service crew or any parts!”

“Winning the ‘man of the rally’ award was completely unexpected and we’re honoured to join some of the most well-known names in Scottish rallying on the trophy.”

The Rally2Raise team’s next event will be the Knockhill Speedfair next weekend. Please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise for more information.

Puncture damage robs Wright of good Merrick result

Bentham’s David Wright had a disappointing Merrick Stages rally last weekend when damage caused by a puncture caused him to retire from the event.

Wright made a good start in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9, setting fourth fastest time despite having to get used to a slightly different pacenote system to that used on the events he normally contests.

Stage 2 was a 19 miles-long test in Glen Trool and Wright was hoping to progress up the leaderboard. The stage was going well but sadly a puncture five miles into the stage meant he had to stop and change the wheel, dropping him three minutes and losing him any chance of a top result.

Wright was third quickest on stage three but damage on the car caused by the puncture was exasperated by some rough regraded sections on the track so it was decided to retire rather than risk doing more serious damage.

“I was pleased with our stage one performance,” said Wright. “It took a while to get used to the different notes and I found it difficult to commit on the fast parts of the stage so fourth fastest was a good time.”

“Glen Trool was our chance to push really hard and gain some time on the leaders and we were on target to do that but the puncture ended our hopes. We planned to do the last two stages as a test but it wasn’t worth chancing further damage to the car after completing the third stage.”

Wright’s next event will either be the Cambrian rally or the Grizedale Stages.