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My introduction into rallying, started back in 1986 whilst I was working for the London Borough of Bromley. One of the other technicians in my office had loads of rally pic's on his wall and after I had shown an interest, he enquired would I be interested in giving it a go, (rallying that is), and introduced me to The Borough 18 Motor Club
Now came the decision, to drive? or to navigate? three things affected my final choice 1), I couldn't afford a suitable road rally car. 2), I excelled at map reading in geography. 3), My driving really sucks.
After a year doing scatters I finally teamed up with another newcomer to the sport, Murray Spencer and we set about trying to get our International licences the easy way (by finishing 6 road rallies) and we just did it, one more minute and we'd have been OTL on the final event of the year (the 1988 Preston).
1989 saw our attentions turn to the gentle art of stage rallying and our first event on the loose was the Driveshaft stages organised by Devises MC. Our rear wheel drive 130 Skoda Estelle Gp A ran faultlessly throughout the day although the service crew all managed to get sun-stroke, a truly memorable day out.
After finishing the season with a few national events (Kayel Graphics and the Shell Oils Cumbria) we progressed to our main aim, the 1990 Skoda Trophy, The Skoda trophy in those days used to be made up of some events from the British Open and some from the National championship, this gave us a class season to compete on.....
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Cartel International, |
The Vauxhall Sport, |
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Fram Welsh International, |
The Kerridge, |
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Shell Oils Cumbria, |
The Trackrod, |
and The Audi Sport International
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At the end of the 1990 season Murray sold the car to Dave Bradley and started to prepare a new Skoda Felicia ready for the 1993 season. During this time and also in 1990 I managed to do a few events, both road and stage, with other members of the club. Events included - The Preston, The Powerush, The Night Watchman, Bagshot Stages & an Enstone Airfield event (name?)
1993 and we were invited to a press day to shake the car down prior to the start of the season, throughout the year we kept the same team, Orange and Skid on the spanners, (with Dave G and Sarah on the Woodpecker and Plodder on the Ulster). The Trophy had changed its format slightly, most of the international events had been and gone and the season consisted as follows
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The Breckland Forestry Rally |
Malcolm Wilson Lakeland Stages |
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The Woodpecker |
The Plains |
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The Kerridge |
The Village Home Ulster |
and The Artemis Stages
 Going a bit wide on the Breckland |
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 Getting it down on the Woodpecker |
 The team after a session after the event |
 Northern Ireland - Bushmills Distillery - Nice |
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 Final shakedown on the Artemis |
 Collecting awards at the London Motor Show '93 |
The 1993 Network Q RAC Rally
Never as a boy watching the RAC rally on telly did I ever think that I would be competing on the country's premier event. Steve Isles our PR man was working hard to give our sponsors coverage for their money, Murray did many interviews on the radio with Invicta and BBC Radio Kent Prior to the event Meridian Television and BBC South East TV came up to Brands Hatch to interview and film the team and with just a day to spare The Sun newspaper carried a brief story and photo of the pair of us.
Unfortunately the event came to a untimely end for us on the third day as the car slid off the road in really horrible conditions, and my dream finished.
1993 Network Q RAC the day before going off
In 1994 we secured major sponsorship but a string of non-finishes resulted in our sponsors pulling the plug on our season and with Murray deciding enough was enough the car, van & trailer was put up for grabs and the team folded, Murray still wants to get back into the sport, perhaps one day he will
In 1995 I was offered the chance to co-drive for another Trophy contender Andrew Howard in a left hand drive Skoda Felicia, we did a couple of events together but with the imminent arrival of my second child I had to quit, I handed my passenger seat to the Orange (my mechanic from the Spencer days) and hung up my flameproofs for good.....
Through the Sweet Lamb water splash and a grinding halt, one broken driveshaft
Talked into competing in a scatter series, I then decided that one more road event would be good for the system, and with Mark Lodder I completed on the Bullnose, first in class and a top ten finish, perhaps I might dust off the old flameproof's watch this space.
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