News from: the final round of the African Championship The Woodpecker Stages The African Pirelli Star Driver shootout Flanders Rally, Belgium The Trackrod Rally And so much more!
Geoff’s gossip History is being made as Geoff Mayes Media launches this, our first ever online newsletter. Priding ourselves on being at the forefront of new media we have been looking at new ways of profiling our customers world wide. Rally Ramblings is just a trial run, to gauge the response from people, but as with everything in life you never know until you try it, right? The world of motorsport has been pretty manic recently, but it is unfortunate that the pinnacle of our sport has been shrouded in controversy recently. Citroen and their random 1 minute time penalties in Australia and Renault for ‘fixing’ last years Singapore Grand Prix – both escaped rather lightly compared to similar examples in the past few seasons – think back to Ford and their rear windows that were 0.5mm too thin or McLaren and the spy allegations two years ago – to me it seems that France is the ideal place to have a motorsport team. If you cheat (be it on purpose or not!) all you are likely to get is a slap on the wrist and a notional penalty! Hopefully the FIA Presidential elections will resolve some of the irregularities going on. My vote is for 1982 World Rally champion Ari Vatanen and a bunch of us got together to make a small video showing our support for one of the original flying Finns Ari Vatanen! But enough about the politics, we are all about the hardcore side of the sport, where all the action should be taking place! And despite the feeble attempt at a British summer now drawing to an end our boys and girls have ensured that the action has been hot on the stages. In this, our inaugural on-line newsletter we look at the goings on in the past couple of weeks;
Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally – 28 to 30 August (FIA African Rally Championship/ ZMSF Zimbabwe Rally Championship) Young Chase Atwell may have won the rally in his Subaru Impreza N12, but by finishing third overall Jamie Whyte and Phil Archenoul, driving the ex Conrad Rautenbach Subaru Impreza N10, did enough to clinch the African Rally Championship title. Jamie now becomes the third Zimbabwean, after Conrad (2005) and Abe Smit (1994) to win this prestigious championship. Moses Matovu, possibly the most popular co-driver in his home country of Uganda, experienced another adventure filled event on the Challenge. After having to get his hands dirty by helping complete the rebuild of the Subaru Impreza N14 that he shares with Emmanuel Katto the pair then missed the official recce and had to borrow notes from other competitors! Despite all of these dramas the pair survived the 3 day event to finish fifth overall, cementing their third position in the championship.
KCB Mountain Gorilla Rally – 18 to 20 September (African Pirelli Star Driver shootout) No less than seven of Africa’s brightest young rally drivers converged on Kigali in Rwanda for the Pirelli Star Driver shootout. Kenyan Peter Horsey, co-driven by Moses Matovu in a Mitsubishi Evo 9, was the pace setter. By Saturday evening the pair were some three minutes in the lead of the rally. With the rally being run over open roads a tactical decision was made to drop time on Sunday morning to avoid running first on the road. Drama then unfolded as 26 year old Horsey picked up a puncture passing the car in front. The pair changed the wheel in two minutes but this time loss, added to their road penalties dropped the pair down to second overall. The judging panel, made up of experts from the African Continent including Ian Duncan, (former Safari Rally winner), Surinder Thatthi (member of FIA World Council), Muna Singh of Zambia (former African Champion), Richard Leeke of South African and Ralph Stead of Zimbabwe., chose Horsey based on his pace, mature head and mechanical sympathy. Peter and Moses will now tackle six rounds of the World Rally Championship in 2010 as part of the Pirelli Star Driver Scheme.
Woodpecker Stages – 5 September 2009 (Gravel/ BTRDA/ Welsh National/ Welsh Clubman Rally Championships) Will Nicholls took the outright win in the BTRDA, and if the times were combined between the Nat A’s and Nat B’s the Subaru WRC pilot would have beaten Nat A winner Steve Perez, in his 2007 Ford Focus WRC, by over 10 seconds! Neville Jones was back from a summer holiday, and with a new B13 spec engine installed in the Vulcan Fasteners backed Subaru and brother in law Julian calling the notes Neville enjoyed a strong run to fourth in class, stating that there is more to come from both the car and myself as I am having to adapt my driving style to suit the new engine! As well as Neville, Geoff Jones Motorsport were running Gary Kenna (Subaru Impreza B13) and Nigel Seabold (Subaru Impreza N14) on the Woodpecker. Gary’s car was looking a bit the worse for wear after a roll during testing prior to the rally. An altercation with a solid bank then damaged the radiator and forced his retirement whilst lying inside the top ten of the National A section of the rally! Nigel and co-driver Tim in the N14, with their consistently as the pair this being only their Hugh Evans car.
Barton had a solid day out times improving got to grips with the car, second outing in the ex
Sara Williams, another to have recently suffered an inversion, was back in action on the Woodpecker Stages. The plucky young woman had to fight a persistent misfire all event long but she persevered to the end to pick up a solid haul of points and with one round left to go is looking good to take the under 25’s title’s in both the Welsh Clubman and National Championships in only her first season on gravel! Steve Holder was enjoying a brilliant run in his Subaru Impreza N11 until the gearbox cried enough on the final stage. But the Group N stalwart limped through to pick up a handful of points and heads to the Cambrian Rally still in the title hunt!
Pritchard shines on International debut British Rally Elite member Jason Pritchard shone on his first ever event outside of the United Kingdom when the 21 year old and co-driver Andrew Edwards set the pace on the recent Flanders Rally in Belgium. Builth Wells resident Jason was using the rally, officially known as Omloop van Vlaanderen, as a shakedown for his brand new Citroen C2R2 Max and despite ultimately retiring after running out of time, the reigning C2R2cup champion had run inside the top twenty all event long and was leading the class when he retired. The rally began with a 15 kilometre stage in the dark of Friday night and although the FCS Laser Mail, North Road Garage and Competition Car Insurance supported pair opted for a cautious start they were very pleased to end the opening day second in class, and ahead of no less than nine other Citroen C2R2 pocket rockets. Saturday morning saw the pairing continue their impressive run until a throttle problem cost them time on the seventh stage. Jason, who built this car himself, was able to replace the offending item between stages but then suffered complete power steering failure on the very next test. A union connecting the power steering to the fluid reservoir had broken, leaking fluid everywhere. Although the problem was quickly fixed the pair had to rely on local generosity for some cooking oil to see them through the next stage and back to service. It was only upon arrival in service that Jason and Andrew were informed that their road side repairs had exceed the time allowance and the talented youngsters were out of the event. I’m gutted and happy in equal measures. We had no chance to test the car before the event and so to be on the pace from the word go is very pleasing. The problems we had are minor but they did cost us a finish. I have to say a very big thank you to Christoff Dejonghe, a local navigator who helped us out enormously with tips and hints during the recce. This was a fantastic experience and we were made to feel really welcome by everyone. (www.jasonpritchard.co.uk)
International Rally of Yorkshire – 26 September 2009 (MSA British Rally Championship) The final round of an epic championship – Experience (Higgins – multiple BRC Champion) verses Youth (Cronin – 23 years old). And in the end Cronin was victorious, whilst Mark Higgins rally, quite literally, was turned upside down with a high speed roll on the last stage! Stuart Jones impressed mightily on his return to the series with a strong run to second overall and by doing so scooped the prestigious Pirelli Star Driver Award. The International Rally of Yorkshire (or the Trackrod as most of us call it) was Stuarts third podium in as many events (Bulldog Rally of North Wales in March – 3rd o/a, Rally Reykjavik, Iceland in August - 1st o/a)! This was also the best result on gravel in the UK for a Mitsubishi Evo X
Reigning R2 British Rally Champion Jason Pritchard successfully retained his crown but it wasn’t all plain sailing when the 23 year old Welshman lost his brakes for three stages! He still averaged in excess of 60 miles an hour through the Yorkshire forests in his little Citroen C2R2 Max! Jason and co-driver Andrew Edwards now change their focus to the forthcoming Rallye Le Touquet in France, which sees the pair going head to head with Citroen Racing Trophy rival Marty McCormack for the championship title! Newly crowned Scottish Group N Champion Euan Thorburn survived his first ever trip to the high speed forests of Dalby, Langdale and Cropton to bring his Revolution Wheels backed Subaru Impreza N12 home in seventh position overall. The team end their second season in the British Rally Championship third in the teams championship. 18 year old Tom Watson overcame a heart stopping moment during the third stage of the Trackrod Challenge Rally to bring his Ford Fiesta ST fourth amongst the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy competitors and thus taking his second top six overall result in a row. Not bad for someone who’d never contested a rally before the start of the season!
Christmas ideas It’s that time of the year already and Geoff Mayes Media have a selection of ideas – be it a thank you to sponsors, a memento to a long suffering co-driver or a thank you to the team our range of gifts should do the trick! (As we are away for the month of November orders need to be placed by 1st November to ensure a Christmas delivery!)
Collages
Any size, any number of photos and in any layout you like – click on the image to view a larger version.
Calendars We can offer a selection of calendars, ranging from desk calendars showing the week ahead to A3 wall calendars, ideal for marking those important rally dates. These calendars are brilliant as you can have a different photo of yourself in action for each month!
€ € € €
Standing size : 24cm x 10.5cm x 14cm Month-to-view layout 26 pages Available with a white or black background £20 each or discount for multiple orders
€ € € € €
Folded size 28cm x 21.8cm (approx A4) Open size 28cm x 43.6cm (approx A3) Month-to-view layout 1 or more photos for every month of the year Available with a white or black background £25 each or discount for multiple orders
Photo of the Month
British off Road Championship Round 4 – Sweet Lamb
To the future…. This weekend Jason and Andrew head to France for the Rallye Le Touquet, the final round of the 2009 Citroen Racing Trophy. Experience gained on the Flanders Rally should give them a slight advantage as the Welsh pairing go head to head with their championship rivals for the 2009 title! The Cambrian Rally is fast approaching, and as well as a number of WRC drivers anticipated to be doing the rally, there is the exciting prospect of Geoff Jones tackling the North Wales event in a MG ZR! The Cambrian is also the final round of the BTRDA, Welsh Clubman and Welsh National Championships and as such the action should be pretty fierce! I hope you have all enjoyed our first ever Rally Ramblings and we’ll be back with more very soon!
In the meantime, take care and drive safe! €
Forthcoming events This is a list of events that Geoff Mayes Media will have a representative on – please contact us in advance if you would like photos or video at one of those listed, to ensure we film you! € October 2-4 3 3-4 9 17 Clubmans 16-18 23-25 31
Rallye Le Touquet, France Guru Nanak Rally, Kenya Latvia National Rally BRC open Day, Sweet Lamb Cambrian Rally, Wales
Citroen Racing Trophy Kenyan Rally Championship Junior Rally Scheme British Rally Championship BTRDA, Welsh Nat &
Antibes Rally, France Rally of Great Britain BRC Awards
European Rally Championship World Rally Championship BRC Prizegiving
November 2 7 7 13-15 21 19-22 23-30
Geoff and Zoe fly to Africa Sunshine – yippee! € Tempest Rally Southern England Mombasa Rally, Kenya Kenyan Rally Championship Roger Albert Clark Rally North England/ scotland Premier Rally Nottingham IRC Rally Scotland Intercontinental Rally Championship East African Safari Rally Kenya/ Tanzania
December 4 5 12 27
Geoff and Zoe fly to Mud Island Grizedale Stages Geoff Jones Motorsport party Pembrey Christmas Stages
I bet it’ll be raining! North England Wales South Wales