Wright looking forward to tough battle on home event

After a brilliant second place finish on the opening BTRDA rally championship round David Wright will start round two, the Malcolm Wilson rally, next weekend in a confident mood.

 

Bentham’s Wright will use his usual Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9 and Michael Wilkinson will be in the co-driver’s seat.

The rally is based in Cockermouth and uses the classic rally stages of the Lake District, including those in Whinlatter and Grizedale forests, and it’s an event that Wright usually goes well on.

“We made a really good start to the season and were very close to winning the Wyedean,” said Wright. “It’s going to be very tough to get a top three result next weekend as the rally has attracted an extremely high quality entry but we’ll be pushing as hard as we can.”

“The stages in the Lake District are excellent and I especially love the Grizedale ones. A good run in there can see you gain a lot of time on the opposition.”

“The car will be in the same specification as the Wyedean so hopefully we’ll have a troublefree run.”

The rally starts from the M-Sport headquarters at Dovenby with the crews facing seven stages before the finish at Cockermouth.  

Image courtesy Simon Clarke

EMMU motorsport rescue service gets new support for 2013

Morecambe-based rescue service EMMU (Emergency Mobile Medical Unit) has received a boost with the news that the motorsport insurance company MIS Motorsport will support their work.

EMMU predominantly provide rescue services to motorsport events including car rallies all over the UK and world rally team testing sessions.

The service has two specially-prepared Mitsubishi Delica ambulances which are equipped to deal with the conditions that rallying takes place in.

Part of the service provided by EMMU includes vehicle extraction. All the EMMU team members are trained to use the powerful cutting and sawing tools which are necessary to cut away car bodywork in the event of a causality being trapped or not being able to be moved from the car seat.

The support from MIS has enabled EMMU to purchase some new cordless reciprocating saws which play a vital role in undertaking casualty extraction work.

EMMU team leader Stuart Westbrook commented: “The new saws are much more efficient that our previous equipment, they are more powerful and also have a much longer battery life so they help to decrease the time it takes to access trapped casualties.”

“We tested the equipment at our training day in January and were extremely impressed with the performance. I am very grateful to MIS Motorsport for helping us with the purchase.”

A video and pictures of the EMMU training day are available to view on www.emmu.co.uk.

Brown targets Tour of Epynt for new car debut

Rally driver Steve Brown, from Rochdale,  is hoping to debut his new Mintex Racing, Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oil's, PIAA and Sabelt UK-supported Nissan Micra on the Tour of Epynt event on 10th March as he kicks off his 2013 MSA Asphalt rally championship campaign.

Brown has been rallying since 2006 when he won the Formula 1000 co-driving championship. In 2007 he swapped seats to drive a Micra in the same championship and he finished 2^nd overall as well as taking 1^st in class and winning the ANWCC Novice and Junior Driver titles. He went one better in 2008, winning the Formula 1000 championship outright.

 

The Micra was changed to gravel specification for 2009 and Brown won his class in the F1000 Gravel championship before winning the championship overall in 2010, taking four wins out of six events in the process. He also won the BTRDA Junior Driver and RF1.0 championships.

 

An upgrade to a 1300cc engine saw the success on gravel continue in 2011  with numerous class wins but for 2012 Brown reverted to tarmac events, finishing 2^nd in class on the MSA Asphalt championship as well as contesting high-profile events such as the Rally Isle of Man.

 

Brown’s 2013 plans involve another assault on the MSA Asphalt series and he is hoping that his new vehicle, a Micra 1300 kit car, will be ready for the opening round.

 

“It’s touch and go whether the car will be finished in time for the Tour of Epynt,” said Brown. “The old Micra is ready to go though so we will definitely be at the event.”

 

“I enjoyed the tarmac events last year so the plan for this season is to do the Asphalt championship again. We’ll be doing most of the rounds and I’m hoping to return to Rally Isle of Man also.”

“I’ve had good results in each of the 7 years I have been competing so hopefully that will continue this season. We’ll definitely be pushing the Micra hard to get as high up the leaderboard as we can. Thanks to Mintex Racing,  Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oil's, PIAA and Sabelt UK for their valuable support.”

 

The Tour of Epynt will take place on 10^th March on the Epynt army ranges near Llandovery in Mid-Wales.

 

Brilliant drive nets Wright second on Wyedean rally

Bentham’s David Wright put his disappointing 2012 rally season behind him on the Wyedean Forest rally last weekend when he stormed to second place overall in his  Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9. The event was the first in this season’s BTRDA rally championship which Wright intends to contest.

Wright’s rally got off to a frustrating start when he was forced to run in the class for much more powerful world rally cars rather than the B13 class he usually runs in but he used this frustration to good effect as he led the event after the opening four stages.

“The hassle about the class we were in was not an ideal way to start the rally but it made us even more determined to show what we can do,” said Wright. “We set a good time on the opening stage and then started to push harder.  Keeping a good rhythm going in the tricky slippery conditions was the key to a good time and after being fastest in Serridge and Chepstow Park we held a slender lead at service which I was really happy with.”

Wright dropped to third following stage 5, Mailscot, after clipping a rock and bending the front wheel which resulted in a puncture. Despite this handicap he was only 10 seconds slower than the fastest stage time.

The puncture was changed at the end of the stage and Wright drove out of his skin on stage 6 to try and regain the lead. Unfortunately he beat the stage bogey time by 9 seconds so did not move up the order despite being quickest.

A charge through the final Speech House stage saw him overhaul the world rally car of Hugh Hunter to take second place but his time was not quite enough for the win.

“We were so close to taking a victory, those few seconds lost on stage 5 and 6 made all the difference. I’m still extremely happy with second place though, we’ve shown we have the pace to beat the world rally cars and it bodes well for a good season. I can’t wait for the next event!”

Wright’s next event will be round two of the BTRDA championship, the Malcolm Wilson rally, which takes place in Cumbria on 2^nd March.

Image courtesy Simon Clarke

Wright to kick off rally season in Forest of Dean

Bentham's David Wright will start his 2013 rally season next weekend when he contests the Wyedean Forest rally in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

The Chepstow-based event is the opening round of the BTRDA rally championship which Wright is intending to contest this season.

"I can't wait for the season to start," said Wright. "I'm keen to get the year off to a good start after our disappointing retirement from the Grizedale Stages at the end of last year."

"I enjoy the Forest of Dean stages that the Wyedean uses although I am hoping that conditions will be better than last year when the stages were covered in sheet ice - it becomes a bit of a lottery when we have zero grip."

"Thanks to the support from my sponsors we are starting the year with the aim of contesting the full BTRDA championship. I will be trying to repeat the title win I achieved in 2009."

The rally starts from Chepstow racecourse on Saturday morning with the crews facing tough stages such as Speech House and Serridge.