Brown ready to take on Epynt challenge

Rochdale’s Steve Brown will start his MSA Asphalt Rally Championship next weekend when he takes part in the Tour of Epynt in Wales.

Brown will use his old Nissan Micra 1300 as it has not been possible to finish work on his new Micra kit car in time for the event. The car, which is supported by Mintex Racing, Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oil's, PIAA and Sabelt UK, was tested by Brown on the Roskirk Stages last weekend and he had a trouble-free run to 20^th place.

“I’m looking forward to Epynt,” said Brown. “It’s a very challenging place to compete, especially in March when the tarmac roads are likely to be very slippery”.

“I’m aiming to get a good finish to kick off the championship, it’s a shame the new car won’t be ready but I’m confident we can go well in the old one, it has served me well over the years.”

“We put a late entry in for the Roskirk Stages to give the car a run before Epynt and that went really well.”

The Tour of Epynt takes place on the Epynt military ranges near Llandovery. Please visit www.facebook.com/stevebrownrallying for all the latest news and pictures.

Dramatic crash ends Wright’s Malcolm Wilson rally hopes

Bentham’s David Wright and co-driver Michael Wilkinson were lucky to escape without serious injury after a broken part on their car resulted in a high-speed accident on last weekend’s Malcolm Wilson rally.

After a good result on the opening BTRDA championship round in February Wright was hoping for another fine performance on his home event in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

The event started with the Hobcarton stage and Wright was going well until the car stalled at an uphill hairpin costing him 10 seconds and leaving him in 13th place going into stage 2 in Comb forest.

Wright was storming through the stage and was all set for a top time when, towards the end of the course, a suspension arm broke while braking for a corner. With the car unable to steer it flew off the road and straight into a tree stump before rolling onto its side and setting on fire. Wright’s own fire extinguisher ran out with the flames threatening to destroy the car but fortunately fellow drivers David Bogie and Connor McCloskey stopped at the scene and they helped put the fire out with their own extinguishers.

“It was a scary accident,” said Wright. “We were slowing for a right hand bend and suddenly there was no steering, we went off and hit the tree stump head on with a very heavy impact. We got out of the car ok but then we had the fire to deal with. I’m very grateful to David and Connor for stopping, without their help the car would’ve burnt out. Thanks also to the rescue and recovery teams who attended.”

“We’re both bruised and shaken but it could’ve been a lot worse. The car can be repaired but there is a lot of work today. Hopefully we can be back out again soon.”

If the car can be repaired in time Wright’s next event will be the Somerset Stages in April.

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.