Welcome to our first ever newsletter! Whilst Ti Motorsport has been around for quite a while this is our inaugural newsletter and we hope to turn this into a regular occurrence. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Tim at Quattro Projects for agreeing to come on board with this new venture and hope that it proves beneficial to all concerned. With the 2009 season almost at an end we will look at the past ten months and have a quick recap, so grab yourselves a cuppa and sit back and relax, Thanks for reading
Dave
What is Quattro Project Solutions? Quattro Project Solutions Ltd is a leading Project and Commercial management consultancy offering services to clients predominantly in the construction industry. The company has been built up by its Directors, Tim Warburton and Graham Harrison, who both have over 20 years experience working with leading names in construction on some of the UK’s and indeed the World’s largest projects. Coming from different disciplines within the industry, Project control and Commercial, they realised that there was a niche in the market for a company that could offer both commercial expertise and project control expertise as a combined service. Quattro also offer other complimentary services such as project visualisation and 4d planning, a relatively new technology which assigns cost and time to 3d cad modelling giving a truly virtual construction model that can be interrogated and refined at any stage of the build process. Their main aim was to try and level the playing field and to give the smaller players in the industry, access to the same tools and expertise that the bigger organisations appear to have at their disposal.. Projects include new Housing Developments, major new Shopping Centres and Hospital facilities, Major Rail projects such as the Jubilee Line Extension, High Speed Rail system in Taiwan and the West Coast Main Line regeneration not to mention their involvement on four major International Airports projects both in the UK and South East Asia.
www.quattroprojects.net
How Quattro and Ti Motorsport work together Over the years Ti Motorsport have been involved with the setup and running of Tim’s cars as well as providing cars for events on an ‘arrive and drive’ basis whilst his own ‘fleet’ have been out of action… Ti Motorsport has approached Quattro with a new challenge, one which at first appears a little strange, but actually makes perfect sense… With Ti Motorsport planning assaults on various events, series, championships and even continents, Quattro have been asked to help Project Manage the coming season’s escapades utilising their expertise in Logistics planning and commercial areas to such as cashflow planning / management and supplier management. “I sometimes use a motorsport analogy when talking to people about the services we offer” says Tim ” Project Delivery, I believe, can be likened to rallying. To be seen as being the top of the game in today’s events you don’t just need speed, you also need to have a vehicle that affords you the best control in the delivery of that speed. To deliver a project successfully requires all round capability…in project terms that versatility (the four wheel drive effect) being the management of Time, Cost, Quality and Risk…
Tim Warburton is one half of Quattro Project Solutions and along with business partner Graham Harrison the pair are self confessed petrol heads, hence the use of the word Quattro in their company title. Whilst Graham spends his spare time hurtling around racetracks in his rollerskate (read Westfield) Tim is an out and out rallying nut. After cutting his teeth in road rallies in the 1990’s, recording a number of top ten finishes at the wheel of a Renault 11 electronique, Tim soon spread his wings and has contested a variety of tarmac and gravel stage events in a 1300cc Nova, with a couple of class wins soon coming his way. Tim has also competed on a number of endurance events such as the Lombard Revival and, as well as owning a Subaru Legacy once owned by the late great Richard Burns, is also chairman of his local motor club. This coming year Tim is also looking to persuade Graham to come out, in the left hand seat that is, on a couple of events, but remains to be seen…..
The 2009 BTRDA Rally First Challenge is an exciting new championship within a championship aimed at encouraging people to go rallying the affordable way. Consisting of seven rounds around the U.K the series has proved very popular, with an average of 15 competitors on each rally, and offering some action packed excitement in these smaller engined hot hatches. Ti Motorsport has been running 29 year old Chris Hellings in a MG ZR all season long. After finishing as runner up in the highly competitive Peugeot 205 1400 championship in 2008 Chris had high hopes of a strong run in the BTRDA Rally Series this year. After finishing eighth on the snowy Wyedean Forest Stages Chris and co-driver Nick Farmer then finished second in class and 68th overall on the Somerset Stages in April. However since then a couple of non finishes due to minor technical issues have dropped Chris down the scoreboard and he ends his season down in tenth position, but has vowed to return in 2010. For more on the championship visit www.btrdarally.co.uk
Ti wins Quinton Stages‌ twice! Ti Motorsport enjoyed a very successful Quinton Stages in early July with two class wins on a highly competitive day out in Mid Wales. Rob Brookes, the son of former British Rally Champion Russell, was at the wheel of our 1800cc class N3 MG ZR and reveled in the handling and power of the MG, forging into a strong lead early on. As his rivals upped their pace so the battle tensed up and the scene was set for a final stage showdown. The end result was that Rob and co-driver Rachel Brockington came out on top by the slimmest of margins, just one second separating them from Tom Haines after eight action packed stages! Roger Mustoe and Alison Perkins also scored a resounding victory in their VW Polo, taking Class 1.4L honors by over one and a half minutes with a faultless drive. Richard Phillipson and Brian Cammack were due to shakedown the Peugeot 504 but admin errors (we mis-placed the paperwork after the 2007 Classic Safari!) meant that they were once again out in the reliable Honda Civic. A strong and consistent run saw the pair return to Llandovery fourth in class ending what was a very successful day on rallying for all of us!
Neath Stages 2009 From the Savannas of Africa to a wet and windy Neath Valley Richard Phillipson had his first taste of rear wheel drive action in quite sometime when he helped us shakedown the trusty old Peugeot 504, last seen in action in Gogi’s hands on the East African Safari Classic back in 2007. And Richard could not have picked a more difficult day to reacclimatize with the area besieged with torrential rain all day long. Despite this he and co-driver Stefan Arndt seemed to be having a laugh when they arrived back at Walters arena for mid day service. Apart from a routine spanner check everything was under control – for a car that had survived the torture of Africa, not once but twice, the Swansea forests were a doddle. But then it all sort of went wrong in the afternoon as Richard arrived back sans car – never a good sign! An electrical gremlin, possibly caused by the incessant rain, had stranded the car and although she fired up immediately the 504 soon cut out again and the rally, for us, was over.
Trials and tribulations James Shallcross and his intrepid Peugeot 205 GTi have been regulars on the 2009 Classic Trials Scene, with a fair bit of success! Classic Trials are only truly ‘classical’ in the fact that they are still run to the same guidelines that were laid down in the 1930’s – the classes are varied and allow anything from a true vintage car all the way through to modern machinery like James’ 205 to compete. The concept is for the vehicles to tackle a series of sections designed to test the drivers skill over a variety of terrain and whilst there is a competition element James is quick to point out the camaraderie of his fellow competitors; people are always willing to chip in and offer advice, even our class rivals. I got involved when I saw a piece on Fifth Gear where two of the presenters entered the 2007 Exeter Trial. It looked like great fun and me and a friend decided we would like to have a go. We entered for the 2008 Lands End Trial and I absolutely loved it, I have been hooked since and have entered pretty much every event since then. James recently contested the Launceston & North Cornwall Motor Club’s Tamar Trial and led for most of the event before dropping back to second after one particularly difficult section. He plans to upgrade the 205 with a 16v engine for next season!
Ti returns to tackle the world’s toughest rally U.K based rally preparation firm Ti Motorsport is returning to Africa to tackle what is widely regarded as the world’s toughest motor rally, the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 2009, which takes place from 22 November to 01 December 2009. Ti Motorsport, based near Pangbourne, Reading in South East England, will be running a Ford Escort Mk1 for Hardev Singh Sira who has contested this classic bi-annual event since its conception back in 2003. After strong runs in a purpose built Peugeot 504 V6 coupe Hardev, affectionately known as Gogi, will return to Africa for the 2009 running with International Rallying co-driver Denis Giraudet calling the notes. Using a Ford Escort Mk1 that has been built with the Safari Classic Rally in mind and with lessons learnt in the past the team is as prepared as possible. Team principal Dave Gough is looking forward to returning to Kenya “We’ve had some good experiences on the Safari in the past and learnt a lot. It is a bit strange to not be taking the Peugeot out but the Escort is a fantastic piece of kit and Gogi is really looking forward to tackling this marathon event again. Gogi’s 2007 result was blighted by mechanical gremlins early on but once these issues had been resolved the U.K based Kenyan was on a mission and returned to Mombasa for the ceremonial finish 34th overall. The Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 2009 begins with a ceremonial start in Mombasa on 22 November. The crews then travel across a variety of terrain, ranging from car breakingly rough to some of the fastest gravel roads in the world, interspersed with exotic wildlife, enthusiastic locals and breathtaking scenery before returning to the seaside town for a ceremonial finish some 4500 kilometres later on 01 December! For up to date information on the rally please visit www.eastafricansafarirally.com or www.siraracing.com