MSA Magazine, spring 2016

MSA SPRING 2016 THE

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DARE TO BE DIFFERENT SUSIE WOLFF’S NEW INITIATIVE TO ENCOURAGE MORE WOMEN INTO RACING

PUSHED TO THE LIMITS ACADEMY STAR DRIVERS WORK UP A SWEAT IN QUEST TO BE ‘EXCEPTIONAL’

BEN HANLEY INTERVIEW HOW FALLEN RACER USED KARTING TO REVIVE HIS CAREER

MAGAZINE FOR BRITISH MOTOR SPORT

Back with a splash The wait is over. We herald the return of the new-look British Rally Championship

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Contents

05 Forum

Welcome letter from the editor

06 Action replay

MSA Night of Champions

09 View from the MSA

Simon Blunt on misuse of social media

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11 View from the Volunteer Marshal Jon Binns on his love of rallying

13 View from the Competitor Ian Flux on the cusp of 750 race starts

14 BRC season preview

30 Team UK

24 Dare to be Different

36 Ben Hanley

Rebooted and stronger, says David Evans Susie Wolff wants more female colleagues

The tough get going – to Edinburgh From GP2 to karting… to ELMS!

40 Weekend Warrior

Alastair Moffatt's amazing Mini

43 News

Latest updates from the MSA

51 Place Notes

Paul Fletcher's PF International

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53 Toolkit

Education options in motor sport

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57 National Court

Notes from recent MSA hearings

66 Club Focus

Insight into Loughborough CC

contributors DAVID EVANS

TONY DODGINS

CHRIS McCARTHY

Britain's top rally journalist is our guide to the revived MSA British Rally Championship, which begins again in 2016.

The F1 writer and Autocourse editor met Susie Wolff to find out more about her new 'Dare to be Different' campaign.

Karting specialist Chris interviewed Ben Hanley to bring us his amazing 'rise, fall… and rise' story.

SPECIALISTS IN THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF GEARBOXES AND DIFFERENTIALS

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www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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Forum facebook.com/msauk twitter.com/msauk Instagram.com/msa_motorsport

Editor's letter As you will have noticed, we introduce a new look to your MSA magazine this spring. As in motor sport, nothing stays the same for long and there’s always room for improvement. The makeover, in the traditional engineering spirit of evolution over revolution, has hopefully found us a tenth or two here and there and offers us a great platform from which to dive into the new season.

Speaking of which, the revived MSA British Rally Championship will already have sprung into action by the time you read this, the Mid Wales Stages in early March heralding the beginning of a new era for Britain’s premier national rally series.

David Evans offers us his expert guidance to the championship, explaining the background to the year off in 2015, why it was needed and how the BRC now has the promise to live up to the halcyon days of the 1980s ‘Open’ era. On page 19, International Motor Sports managing director Ben Taylor draws comparison to its circuit-racing equivalent, the British Touring Car Championship.

He’s bang on in his assessment that the BRC has all the potential to create a similarly strong identity, to become a ‘destination’ series in its own right as much as a feeder of talent to the international stage. We look forward to tracking its progress in the seasons to come with relish.

twitter feed What people are saying about the MSA on Twitter Rory Bryant @RBryantRacing Feb 16. Just completed my @MSAUK online marshals accreditation with a cup of tea.

Have you done yours? #simples #RallyFuture https://www. msauk.org/MSA-launchesonline-marshals-training-andaccreditation

in Warwick! Many thanks to @tomcaverally & @StevenJGPerez for joining!

Paul Woodford @PaulWoodford84 Feb 22. Blimey well done @MSA_SRC; the #SnowmanRally made the @BBCNews website.

Rallying in the mainstream media spotlight.

Simon Blunt @MSAGenSec Feb 7. Great job by all @kartpfi @TVKCpfi . Huge entries new nose cones and all race n respect @MSAUK . Well done.

Seen Through Glass @SeenThruGlass Feb 20. I'M NOW A RACING DRIVER!!!! Passed my @MSAUK ARDS test. Incredible day, learnt so much & enjoyed every second.

MSA @MSAUK Feb 5. The second #RallyFuture forum is under way

Calum Lockie @CalumLockie Feb 4. A belated thank you to @msauk for a fantastic #NightOfChampions & thanks to @JakobEbrey for the ace photos

WE WANT YOUR OPINION ON WHICH ISSUES MSA MAGAZINE SHOULD COVER. Email us at: msa@motorsportmagazine.co.uk

Damien Smith, Editor

The official magazine of the Motor Sports Association (MSA). Published on behalf of MSA by Motor Sport Magazine Ltd., 18-20 Rosemont Road, London NW3 6NE. Tel: 020 7349 8497 www.motorsportmagazine.com. Editor Damien Smith, Art editor Damon Cogman, Designer Zamir Walimohamed, News Editor Tim Swietochowski, Sub Editor Gordon Cruickshank. Advertising Kit Brough & Marc Butler, Commercial Director Sean Costa, Publisher Sophia Dempsey. Printed by Precision Colour Printing.

The views expressed by the individual contributors are not necessarily those of the MSA. Equally, the inclusion of advertisements in this magazine does not constitute endorsement of the products and services concerned by the MSA.

2016 ENTIRE RANGE OF OMP AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE

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*FOR ORDERS ABOVE £50 EXCLUDING SALE ITEMS

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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Action Replay

Where: Royal Automobile Club, London What: MSA Night of Champions When: January 30, 2016 Among those recognised on the MSA’s grand prize-giving evening, race engineer Leena Gade holds the Wakefield Trophy, between 12-year-old double cadet kart champion Dexter Patterson and BTCC champion Gordon Shedden. Further left, Calum Lockie and David Mason grasp the impressive cup they received for taking the British Endurance title in their Ferrari 458.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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News The latest briefing from your governing body

COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS SOUGHT Susie Wolff, ex-Williams F1 tester, heads up new programme to inspire more females into motor sport

WOLFF AND MSA LAUNCH FEMALE TALENT INITIATIVE

The MSA is seeking nominations for individuals to join the Specialist Committees that represent the interests of the sport’s various disciplines, meeting at Motor Sports House to discuss regulations and other issues.

Applicants must be members of an MSA-recognised motor club or Regional Association, which must

Campaign will connect women in racing and draw more in Wolff. “Our UK events for young girls will boost Susie Wolff has joined forces with the MSA awareness and demonstrate the varied and to launch Dare to be Different, a campaign to exciting areas of the sport – showing that they inspire, connect and celebrate women who work too can dare to be different.” in every aspect of motor sport.

D2BD ambassador Claire Williams added: D2BD aims to increasing female engagement “I am constantly inspired by the women I and participation, on and off the track. It features work with within Williams and I hope that my an exclusive online community and associated participation can help to spread that message. networking opportunities, plus a series of special Sometimes it takes courage to pursue your events offering money-can’t-buy experiences. dreams, D2BD will provide that “This is an ambitious and Twitter: @D2BDofficial encouragement and support.” long-term project that will build Facebook: /D2BDofficial Visit www.daretobedifferent.org an online community of women Instagram: @D2BDofficial or email info@daretobedifferent.org. from all over the world,” said

The

Big number

1,465

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Female MSA Competition Licence holders

‘sponsor’ the application. However, there are no formal qualifications required. The role is voluntary and normally for a three-year term.

Applicants should submit a brief motor sport CV and covering letter to their MSA-recognised club or Regional Association, which will then forward the application, along with a supporting letter, to Andrea Richards at Motor Sports House. Any applications received after Friday 17 June 2016 will not be considered.

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News

Champion rally co-driver Nicky Grist launches online marshal training scheme at Autosport show

POSITIVE UPTAKE OF ONLINE MARSHALS’ TRAINING Internet initiative adds depth to rally marshal preparation More than 2200 people have completed the new online rally marshals’ training and accreditation since legendary co-driver Nicky Grist helped launch the scheme at Autosport International in January.

The accreditation is part of the RallyFuture campaign to further enhance safety on UK stage rallies.

RALLYFUTURE RUNS REGIONAL FORUMS

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Its purpose is to ensure that all rally marshals have a common understanding of their roles and responsibilities, the management of spectators and how to handle any incidents.

“This new scheme will dramatically speed up and improve the quality of new marshals, and it’s exciting that

they can now do it online and so quickly,” said Grist.

Jon Binns, the marshals’ representative on the Motor Sports Council in 2016, added: “It will help to ensure that everyone who marshals on a rally stage will have received a common level of training relating to their personal safety, managing spectators and what to do if an incident occurs. This not only better equips them to do their roles but also demonstrates to external third parties that we take safety very seriously.”

The online training takes less than an hour to complete, and many have reported finishing much quicker. It has been designed as a supplement to – not a replacement for – the high quality face-to-face training sessions currently being delivered across the UK. From now on all first-time rally marshals must complete the new online accreditation before applying for their MSA marshal’s registration, although existing MSA-registered marshals have until 2017.

Of the 2200 accredited rally marshals to date, more than 500 are new to the MSA database. For further information, visit msauk.org or email training@msauk.org.

British rally stars Tom Cave and Steve Perez joined the panel at the second RallyFuture forum, run by the Association of West Midland Motor Clubs in Warwick (February 4).

MSA chief executive Rob Jones opened with an introductory presentation, before MSA director Nicky Moffitt outlined the role of the safety delegate.

Sue Sanders, event safety coordinator for Wales Rally GB, discussed the particular challenges surrounding spectator safety. Cave and Perez offered the competitor’s behind-the-wheel view of safety matters, before compere Phil Pugh opened the floor to questions.

The next RallyFuture forum is at the Casa Hotel in Chesterfield on March 17 from 7pm, with all welcome. Speakers will include Perez and MSA directors.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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News

BRITISH KART CHAMPIONSHIPS RELAUNCHED

Jehan Daruvala was the last MSA British Junior Champion in 2013

New structure to reboot popular national series The MSA has revealed details about the revamped 2016 MSA British Junior and Senior Kart Championships, which will be promoted by Super One Series and run over three rounds.

The governing body has confirmed that Vortex (OTK) will supply the CIK-homologated DDJ engine for the returning MSA British Junior Kart Championship (CIK OKJ class).

Meanwhile the DDS engine (also CIKhomologated) will be used in the MSA British Senior Kart Championship (CIK OK class).

It has also been revealed that the Junior championship will run Vega’s CIK-homologated XH (option) tyre, while the Senior championship will feature the XM (prime) tyre (also CIK-homologated). The wet tyre for both championships will be the CIKhomologated Vega W5. These will also be used internationally as the selected tyres for this year’s CIK-FIA OKJ and OK championships.

John Hoyle, Super One promoter, said: “This decision will put a structure in place for the resumption of the premier MSA British Kart Championship series once again in the UK. All the feedback from teams and drivers points towards the OK engines being a hugely exciting challenge, and probably faster than the KF class. We just can’t wait to see them in action at our British circuits.”

In a further exciting development, there will be a special prize for the MSA British Junior and Senior Kart Champions: works drives with a Vortex team (Tonykart Racing Team or Kosmic Racing Department) in the 2016 CIK-FIA World Championships in Bahrain (16-19 November). This will be fully funded by OTK, including race entry, race material, mechanic, flights, accommodation and subsistence.

in brief

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NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD

SENIOR APPOINTMENTS AT MOTOR SPORTS HOUSE

KARTERS PICKED FOR CIK-FIA TROPHY

The MSA is seeking nominations for the 2016 Environmental Award, created to recognise outstanding achievement in environmental responsibility and the active promotion of sustainability within motor sports. The deadline for this year’s nominations is October 21, with the MSA Executive Committee set to confirm the winner by the end of November. The trophy will then be awarded at the next MSA Night of Champions ceremony in January 2016. For further details and to make a nomination, please visit www. msauk.org/assets/enviroaward2016.pdf

The MSA has made three senior appointments, with John Ryan promoted to technical director, Kate Adamson as safety director and Jonathan Day joining as development director. Ryan has worked at the MSA for 20 years and takes over technical matters. Adamson joins the governing body from McLaren and will take on safety responsibilities.

Day comes from British cycling to head the MSA’s talent development, grassroots participation, marshals’ training and safeguarding initiatives. Contact via firstname.lastname@msauk.org.

Callum Bradshaw and Oliver Clarke will represent the UK in this year’s CIKFIA Karting Academy Trophy, a world championship for karters aged 13 to 15.

Bradshaw (14) – runner-up in the 2015 Junior X30 international final – returns for a second Trophy campaign, having also been nominated by the MSA in 2015.

Clarke (13) is the reigning Super One Honda Cadet National Champion and will be tackling the Trophy for the first time. The championship comprises three rounds in France (34 April), Portugal (26 June) and Sweden (4 September).

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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News

Le Mans winner and endurance champion Allan McNish, right, says he’s right behind Race ’n’ Respect code

McNISH SUPPORTS RACE ’N’ RESPECT EXPANSION Behaviour code now to cover junior racing as well as karting Allan McNish joined the MSA at Autosport International (January 16) to extend the Race ’n’ Respect campaign across all karting, junior circuit racing and junior drag racing.

Race ’n’ Respect is underpinned by a Racing Code designed to apply not only to competitors

BOOST FOR MIDLANDS CLUBS

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but also to officials, organisers, parents, guardians and teams. It was trialled last year in the MSA Bambino and MSA British Cadet Kart Championship, with great success.

It will also now be adopted by the National Karting Association (NKA).

“I am sure drivers and teams all

realise from an early age that racing is not just about winning – it’s also a fun and social family sport for so many competitors,” said McNish, a three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 2013 FIA World Endurance Champion. “That’s what Race ’n’ Respect promotes and it’s why I’m right behind the campaign.”

McNish and MSA chief executive Rob Jones also presented awards to the top 10 competitors in the inaugural MSA Bambino Kart Championship.

Champion Taylor Orridge was thrilled to win a brand new IAME-engined Cadet kart, donated by the MSA.

Club motor sport in the Midlands will benefit from two new Go Motorsport regional development officers, Tania Brown and Bryn Pound.

Brown, the new East Midlands RDO, has been involved in grassroots motor sport for as long as she remember. “Being an RDO is an exciting opportunity to continue to show that cars aren’t just for boys as well as putting something back into what has been a wonderful hobby for me,” she said.

Covering the West Midlands is Bryn Pound, who competed in his first road rally aged 16. “This position is a great way of putting something back into the sport I love,” he said. “I have had a lot of contact with clubs over the years and can’t wait to get out and promote the sport.”

The pair joins a nationwide network of 10 RDOs, tasked with helping to develop motor clubs in their areas. Their contact details can be found at gomotorsport.net.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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Opinion

View from the MSA

Simon Blunt The MSA General Secretary asks why we let social media become anti-social

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n February I wrote to MSA kart clubs highlighting my personal concerns about the misuse of social media in our sport. Nearly 10 per cent of competition licence holders are children, and karting is where the majority take part, starting from six years old. But for the other 90 per cent the message must be the same: aggressive or abusive behaviour is not acceptable at events, so why should it be any different online?

There is no doubt that social media can be an incredibly powerful and positive tool, helping people and organisations to reach huge audiences. It is also great for two-way communication and conversations, and makes organisations – including the MSA! – more easily accountable to their customers or members.

My own recent tip-toe into Twitter has been an eye-opening new experience. Not being a ‘social media native’ (as I was recently described by an interviewee), to begin with it felt quite time-consuming to take in the mass of content, and to remember to give something back with tweets of my own. Then it dawned on me that actually I don’t have to read it all; now I read what I like, when I like, and skip over the rest.

I enjoy positive, fun and engaging content. For example

“Drivers, teams and families will often also have their own social media presence, where they celebrate their successes or reflect wisely and humorously on the mishaps” www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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social media has allowed me to follow the progress of a handful of YouTubers – with hundreds of thousands of followers between them – whose daily videos have recently focused on their journeys into MSA motor racing.

Many of our clubs and championships have embraced social media, in particular with dedicated Facebook and Twitter pages which are increasingly taking the place of slow-to-update and formulaic websites. The daily content is now increasingly community-driven, but with core information such as dates, results and points tables still made available.

Drivers, teams and families will often also have their own social media presence, where they celebrate their successes or reflect wisely and humorously on the mishaps which are all part of the fun of motor sport competition.

Yet sometimes social media seems to become antisocial, with negativity creeping into discussions. We must remember to keep it fun – after all, why spoil it? We should also make sure to consider the potential unintended consequences of a post – could it be misinterpreted or taken out of context?

In particular, ‘trial by social media’ following a motor sport event cannot be acceptable under any circumstances.

It is inappropriate, particularly if and when it leads to someone suffering abuse or threats online. There are clear procedures for dealing with almost any kind of dispute arising at an MSA-sanctioned meeting, and there is a time and place for everything.

Social media is about community and we all have a collective role to play in keeping it friendly by moderating our output – we should #SayNoToAntiSocialMedia.

Whether or not you agree, let me know by tweeting @MSAGenSec. n

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Opinion

View from the volunteer

Jon Binns Marshalling may not have changed over 28 years – but spectators have

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’ve been interested in motor sport since I was a young boy. Oulton Park was my local circuit and my dad took me to watch racing from the age of seven, but rallying is my main discipline nowadays.

It started at Oulton when the Lombard RAC Rally went all over the country, with a stage at the circuit. I caught the rally bug at the end of the Group B era, which I loved.

I went to work for British Aerospace, and there was a car section within the sports and social club and that introduced me to marshaling. With all those wonderful forests nearby, my new hobby quickly took over.

I started marshaling in 1988, running stages 10 years later.

This year I’ll mark my 50th event as a stage commander.

I also compete as a navigator, mostly on classic regularity events. It’s helpful having competitor experience, particularly when building a stage because you can spot more easily where cars are likely to go off…

What fascinated me about rallying was the speed and spectacle in the forests, especially at night. And of course when I first started you could basically go wherever you wanted during an event.

That’s all changed now, but it had to. I feel for spectators who have been attending events responsibly for years. The

Jon Binns Chairman, Buccaneer MSC 1988 Began marshaling 1998 First event running stages 2011 First stage command on Wales Rally GB 2016 will mark 50th event as stage commander; marshal representative on Motor Sports Council.

The views expressed by the individual contributors are not necessarily those of the MSA.

“What fascinated me was the speed and spectacle in the forests, especially at night. And of course when I first started you could basically go wherever you wanted” www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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trouble is common sense no longer seems to be so common!

A growing number would put themselves in great danger without some control, while the wider world expects higher standards of safety and is quick to blame if things go wrong.

From the spectator perspective things have changed a lot. People seem much less willing to listen to marshals, and sadly it can get confrontational from time to time. I should stress that it’s still great fun. I still thoroughly enjoy it, because you are in the thick of the action in the great outdoors. The camaraderie and team work are what I enjoy most, plus the challenge it always gives you. Every stage is different; there’s always something new to be thrown at you.

Recruitment and training have always been important, but more so now than ever. I put a lot of effort into developing people and it’s great to see them gain experience and confidence. Attracting new marshals is acknowledged as a problem across the sport. There is still a reasonable volume of new marshals coming in, but the demographic is getting older and there are definitely less than there were.

The decline accelerated a few years ago when fuel prices shot up and, even though they have now dropped, we’ve still lost people because they’ve found other things to do.

This year I’ve been invited to represent marshals on the Motor Sports Council. It won’t be my first experience of the MSA – I’ve been part of the training and marshals’ working groups for a while, and I’ve been involved in international training in Africa. My understanding is that, with so much change going on in rallying right now, it was decided it would be good to have someone this year from a rally background. Whilst rallying is my sport I am representing marshals from all disciplines, so where time permits I plan to visit other events to meet the marshals and further my experience – so a return to Oulton could be in the frame. n

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Opinion

View from the competitor

Ian Flux JEFF BLOXHAM

Veteran racer reckons racing is still healthy – but costs are a risk

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s I write I’m getting ready for my 42nd straight racing season and I’ve never missed one – I’m really proud of that. I’m also pleased that I’ve always worked within racing, whether it be driving, coaching or whatever.

Through the sport I’ve brought up two kids, run a family and paid off the mortgage – and I’ve loved doing it. I will pass a couple of personal landmarks this year, too. By the end of 2015 I’d started 742 races, so I should push through the 750 barrier this year, and I’ll also be turning 60…

When you get older the first trick is to pass your medical to renew your racing licence. The second is actually having to do something competitive. You sit and wait for the pit board to come out for the first time, to see whether you can still do it or whether you’ve lost the plot. Once you’ve ticked those two boxes you’re away for another year.

The sport has changed beyond measure since I started out. If memory serves, my maiden season in Formula Vee cost about £1200 – and that included purchase of the car!

The biggest thing to my mind is the rip-off cost of entries.

At the 1977 British Grand Prix, it cost me £12 to enter the F3 support race – and you got several passes with that.

In more recent times, I shared a Mosler with Kevin Riley

1974 Switched from karts to Formula Vee 1975 British FVee champion 1976-80 British F3 1981-83 British Formula Atlantic 1986 British Sports 2000 champion 1988 Thundersports champion 1996 TVR Tuscan & British GT1 champion 2001-03 FIA Sportscars 2016 Will compete in Radicals, Historic F3 and the new BMW 330 Challenge.

Expects to make his 750th race start

The views expressed by the individual contributors are not necessarily those of the MSA.

“The sport has changed beyond measure since I started out. If memory serves, my maiden season in Formula Vee cost about £1200 – and that included purchase of the car!” www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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in the British GT Championship and somebody came around to collect our entry fee. They wanted £1700, which I assumed must be for the whole season, but it was for one event. And what did you get for £1700? In 1977, a good F3 mechanic was on £130 a week. If you applied the same rate of inflation F3 mechanics would now be on about £20,000 a week. I suspect that’s not the case…

I do worry about the sport pricing itself beyond reach. As I see it at the moment, there’s no middle ground. You have all us old boys, who’ve known each other for 40 years or so and are all still racing, and then lots of young blokes who’ll race for the next five years until their dads’ money runs out. Between 25 and 40, though, there’s a massive void.

Over the years I’ve seen lots of drivers give up the unequal struggle, because one rung up the ladder can become too expensive for a family. I was recently with a kid called Billy Albone, who won a 750 Motor Club series.

His prize included a couple of days of testing in a Radical.

I sat with him and he was brilliant, but you just know that without a budget he’s unlikely to get anywhere.

At the British GP last year, shuttles were supplied to ferry BRDC members back to their cars and I got in one with some friends. We were obviously chatting about the race, and Lewis Hamilton’s win. I’d interviewed Lewis back in 2003 as part of my role with the BRDC’s Rising Stars programme, and at the time one of his rivals for a place with the scheme was another Formula Renault driver, Chaz Small – who was now driving our shuttle bus. It just shows how things can go very differently for two drivers who were once at a very similar level. Chaz has all that talent, but Lewis has won a third world title and Chaz is still working at Silverstone’s racing school. You can never tell what hand life is going to deal. n

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MARK WRITTLE

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03/03/2016 14:45

Top of the

Bill 2016 British Rally Championship

The stage is set …for the return we’ve all been waiting for.

Yes, the MSA British Rally Championship is back and fighting fit. David Evans is your guide

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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23 03/03/2016 14:46

Top of the

Bill 2016 British Rally Championship

T

he thinking behind a year out is simple: go away, find yourself, reflect on what’s been and use it to shape what’s coming. The MSA British Rally Championship’s back, rucksack unpacked, ready to crack on.

The series has been rested, rebranded, reborn and 18 months’ work has delivered us to the Mid Wales Stages in March. Myherin, Hafren and Sweet Lamb are all classic, world-renowned stages and provide a worthy launch pad for the return of what was once the most talked about rally series in the world.

Domestic championships around the world would have delighted in half the history the British Rally Championship can boast. But such a golden past brings with it a significant weight of expectation for the future.

Two-time title winner – not forgetting the world championship he won soon after in 1981 – Ari Vatanen has always had a real fondness for Britain and British rallying.

A spell in politics has furthered AV’s ability to ground optimism with realism. Looking forward to this year’s BRC, the Finn talks about flying.

“The British Rally Championship,” he says, “is about to take off again. How far and how high it will fly depends on the stakeholders who are running the show. The start is good and promising, but now it’s a question of building the critical mass and inspiring competitors.”

Typically, Vatanen has cut to the core of where the BRC’s at and what this year’s all about: inspiring competitors.

Having worked undercover and behind the scenes for some time, Iain Campbell was named as BRC manager late last year. Campbell swapped a career selling Land Rovers for a life selling – not to mention living – his dream.

“This year is all about the competitors,” says Campbell.

“It has to be. Yes, of course, we need the events, just like we need the suppliers, the sponsors, the marshals, all of those people. But without competitors we’re nothing and we’ve got nothing to talk about.”

Even without the drivers, there’s been no shortage of talk. The chatter started mid-way through last year and has developed into an eruption of universal enthusiasm for the returning seven-round BRC calendar.

“It’s incredible,” says Campbell. “We’ve not turned a wheel yet, but everybody involved in whatever way, from fans right through to the guys who will be chasing the title, they seem to have gone away and got themselves a dose of the fever. It’s fantastic.”

But what about that weight of expectation?

“That’s massive,” he says. “Genuinely, there’s a serious sense of responsibility here. This is the MSA British Rally Championship and if you ever forget what that means, just take a look at the names on the trophy. And then take a look at the names that came close and didn’t quite win it.

This is a very, very big deal and it’s for that reason there have been more than a few sleepless nights.”

Those sleepless nights have been put to good use with a tweaked calendar and a heavily revised class structure

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returning the series to four-wheel drive, but it’s the need to bring people back to the championship that’s uppermost in everybody’s mind. By the end of 2014, the BRC had slipped. The cream was still rising, but a significant shortage of milk meant a crossroads had been reached in terms of its format and promotion.

For the first time since 1998 International Motor Sports, the commercial arm of British motor sport’s governing body, took the BRC back under its wing.

A position on the inside of Colnbrook’s Motor Sports House afforded the BRC the confidence to step away for a year, while providing an infrastructure – financial and organisational – in which to come back.

Don’t be fooled: finding a title sponsor is very much at the forefront of Campbell’s mind.

“Financially, this year is an enormous challenge,” says Campbell, “and a title sponsor would make a very big difference. This is what I’m talking about when we say we’re putting the competitors first. We talked to tyre companies about title sponsorship and running a control tyre. It probably made more financial sense to do that, but it wasn’t what the crews wanted so we haven’t gone down that road.”

IMS has brought breathing space and the opportunity to put British rallying and its premier championship first.

This year, the BRC needs to lay solid foundations from plans drawn last year. It’s in 2016 that the series’ future will be cemented.

“We set ourselves goals for this point,” says Campbell.

“We wanted to relaunch the championship with the best events, we’ve done that. Look at the calendar, everything that should be there is there; the geography’s right and the level’s right. We wanted the best possible structure to bring drivers through the ranks; we wanted to offer a young driver the chance to move from the British to the World Rally Championship and, with DMACK’s help the Junior BRC will do just that.

“At the same time, we had a duty to provide competitors in a range of cars – including World Rally Cars – with a place to come and compete. Again, we’ve achieved that, with non-homologated cars running for the National Rally Cup. “And we wanted television. The deal to take the BRC to Channel 4 with BT Sport as well is absolutely the best we could ever have hoped for. Or dreamed of. We have achieved the goals we set ourselves. But now’s the time to deliver.”

The crunch has arrived. By the time you read this, the Mid Wales Stages and Newtown will already have heralded the rebirth of the British Rally Championship.

“It’s important that we keep all of this in perspective,” continues Campbell. “Yes, we’ve been building towards this moment for a year. But that process of building continues this year. Like I said, 2016 is 100 per cent about the competitors and delivering what they want. Do that and they come back and they bring their pals with them.

Don’t be expecting bells, whistles and dancing girls this season. We’re in the business of rebuilding this giant.”

Understood. But still, the party that’s been 18 months in the making is ready. Let’s get it started. ❱❱

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 14:46

MARK WRITTLE

The BRC offers a canvas for a wide range of machinery, from cutting-edge Fiestas to fanfavourite Lancers

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03/03/2016 14:46

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Bill 2016 British Rally Championship

A rich heritage

Fifty-eight years ago, the British Rally Championship was born. As you’d expect, it has evolved significantly in almost six decades, but when Elfyn Evans and his rivals arrived in Hafren on round one, they were racing on the same roads Bill Bengry and Tony Fisher did all those years ago.

At its inception in ’58, the RAC British Rally Championship was made up mainly by navigational events. The dripdown from the RAC Rally’s arrival on Forestry Commission roads was felt slowly through the Sixties, spreading the word of stage rallying. The championship was usually well fought; the 1966 title race, for example, went to the wire on the International Welsh Rally in December. One point to the good going into the event, Tony Fall missed his golden opportunity to take the crown when his Mini went off the road in the rain on Epynt. Roy Fidler took advantage and the title in his Triumph.

The Seventies were when the series really moved through the gears – once it had overcome the loss of the first two 1974 rounds to the oil crisis. This was a time of significant manufacturer interest, with Ford, Vauxhall, British Leyland, Fiat and Saab all regular visitors to the series, or at least to some qualifying rounds.

Irishman Billy Coleman was the first non-British driver to take the title in 1974, but it was from the north that the real threat was coming. Two years on from Billy’s win, Ari Vatanen took the first of his two wins.

In recognition of the growing international influence, the BRC changed it formal title to the RAC MSA British Open Rally Championship in 1978. And Finns won for the next three years, with Hannu Mikkola, Pentti Airikkala and Vatanen dominating.

The Eighties, however, belonged to a Scot named McRae, James McRae. Jimmy. Equipped with Opel’s Ascona and Manta 400s and latterly Ford’s Sierra RS Cosworth, few could touch the legend from Lanark.

Globally, the middle Eighties are known for Group B and the supercars came and left their mark on the British Open as well. Without winning a round, Mark Lovell took the 1986 title at the wheel of an RS200 while few would forget Mikkola’s final outing in the series, winning the Welsh in an Audi Quattro Sport on the same weekend his countryman and friend Henri Toivonen was killed competing on the island of Corsica.

Group A took over and delivered doubles for David Llewellin and Colin McRae. Richard Burns and Malcolm Wilson followed them in 1993 and 1994, by which time change was upon the series. With increasing interest in Formula 2, the BRC went two-wheel drive from 1995 onwards, kick-starting one of its strongest and most entertaining periods since the Seventies.

Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Renault, Nissan,

26 BRC GC DS.indd 5

“The Eighties belonged to a Scot named McRae, James McRae. Jimmy.”

Peugeot and Ford were all involved in producing front-wheel drive machinery for the likes of Mark Higgins, Alister McRae, Martin Rowe, Gwyndaf Evans and Tapio Laukkanen to entertain fans.

The start of a new millennium brought fresh rule changes, with Group N now the preferred regulation base.

But that only lasted a season. When the BRC returned after a year lost to foot and mouth in 2001, World Rally Cars were in town and stayed for four seasons, before a serious lack of front-line entries brought the return of productionbased four-wheel drive competition.

The main alteration since then came in 2012, when two-wheel drive returned to headline the BRC act for the first time in 12 years. From then on, the BRC was all about one car: Citroen’s DS 3 R3. With some calling for the BRC to rebadged as a Citroën one-make series, another crossroads had been reached.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 14:47

Q&A Ben Taylor, managing director, International Motor Sports

McKLEIN

Ben, how difficult was the decision to suspend the British Rally Championship?

Very difficult. And it wasn’t one anybody at the MSA took lightly. When I made the suggestion to the MSA that IMS take on the series, it was because of a feeling that the series had gone as far as it could in its current form. That’s no reflection on anything the previous team did; people were voting with their feet and something had to be done. It’s a decision which has brought me more stress and anxiety than any other aspect of my job.

Not much stops your average British rally fan in their tracks, but June 25, 2014 did. The British Rally Championship was taking a year off.

Taking a year off? Could the British Rally Championship really do that? Since Ron Gouldbourn and Stuart Turner won that inaugural title in a Triumph TR3A, 2001 and its shocking agricultural crisis was the only thing to derail the BRC. And now it was taking a year off.

“There’s no doubt,” says IMS managing director Ben Taylor, “that was a big call. I’d only been in my new job for about a fortnight, but there was a lot of deliberation about what to do with the BRC. I’d spent a lot of time looking into it and talking to everybody involved. Before I knew it, in a fit of over-exuberance, I’d put my hand up. It was a time for action.”

And, well away from the stages, last year was certainly action-packed. ❱❱

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

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How big a task has it been?

Huge. I think we all – me in particular – underestimated the work involved. It’s been absolutely flat-out for 18 months to get to where we are today. After we shelved it, we had absolutely nothing.

We didn’t even have the corner pieces in the jigsaw; genuinely, we started from a blank sheet of paper and moved forward from there.

I have to pay tribute to all of the events, the suppliers, the competitors, the sponsors, Channel 4, BT Sport, all of these people who have bought into this on the back of a lot of promises.

It’s a massive leap of faith on everyone’s behalf.

Are you confident you can deliver on those promises?

It’s quite simple: we have to, for the good of the sport. We have a fantastic team involved now. It was a very big, brave call and potentially it could have been the wrong one – for sure, some people thought the BRC wouldn’t be coming back. But we are back and it’s been blood, sweat and tears to get here. What has driven us on through that process is the genuine desire and enthusiasm to get the British Rally Championship back on track and back where it belongs.

What’s been the highlight of the process so far?

There have been a few. Seeing the calendar come together into what

I believe is a really fantastic group of events; seeing competitors coming from all levels of the sport and from all over the world to support something which, let’s be honest, has no track record yet; a whole lot of history, but no substance yet. And, of course, securing a great television deal – with the BRC back on terrestrial television on Channel 4 with further coverage on BT Sport. In its first year back, that’s a hell of a result.

What does this new British Rally Championship stand for?

I’d like to think it’ll be a barometer of the sport’s health in Britain. We have a brilliant round of the World Rally Championship in Wales Rally GB and we have fantastic series in the BTRDA and now we have the chance to put a level between those two – how it goes will be a gauge of where we’re at with rallying in Britain. I’d like to think we can push on and become a flagship series again.

Who’s the BRC going to serve? Is it about entertainment or is it about career progression?

Taking drivers from the BRC to the world championship is important, of course it is. But as well as that, we want a championship that stands for itself and becomes the most sought-after domestic title in world rallying again. What doesn’t work is a completely transient population of competitors.

Look at the British Touring Car Championship: year-on-year the same guys come back and enjoy titanic battles, the kind of competition which makes really great television. That’s what we want in the BRC: the likes of Euan Thorburn and David Bogie coming back year after year to fight with Osian Pryce or Elfyn Evans or Marty McCormack or Neil Simpson.

We need this championship to be sustainable in terms of competitors, events, partners and entertainment.

When we have that, we’ve genuinely achieved something.

27 04/03/2016 15:09

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Class structure explained BRC1

This is where our 2016 British Rally Champion is almost certain to come from.

These are the four-wheel drive big boys. The R5 car is going to be most popular here (Ford Fiesta R5, Peugeot 208T16, Skoda Fabia R5, Citroen DS 3 R5). The R5 car has a 1600cc turbocharged engine with a 28mm restrictor.

There are two other BRC1 alternatives, including the S2000 car, which has a naturally aspirated two-litre engine (Ford Fiesta S2000 and Skoda Fabia S2000 will be the most popular) and the R4 car, which will come in the shape of slightly older Mitsubishis and Subarus. These Lancers and Imprezas will come in an evolved Group N specification – but they’re unlikely to challenge the R5 machinery.

BRC2

Current, homologated 2-litre-plus fourwheel-drive Group N machinery can be found in this class. British team JRM’s NR4 Subaru WRX will be included in BRC2 as will any latest-specification Mitsubishi Lancers.

BRC3

Two-wheel-drive modified cars with nonturbo engine sizes between 1600cc and 2-litre (if they do have a turbo, displacement must fall between 1067cc and 1333cc) will be catered for in BRC3. Expect Citroën’s DS 3 R3 to be a potent force here, but the Renault Clio and Toyota’s all-new GT86 could also spice up the race for this class title.

BRC4

Two-wheel-drive modified cars up to 1600cc for non-turbo and between 927cc and 1067cc for turbocharged motors. Standard Group N production cars are also allowed to compete for BRC4, again with two-wheel drive only, but with engine size between 1600cc and two-litre. Cars not competing in the DMACK Junior BRC will compete for BRC4 honours.

BRC5

This is where we’ll find two-wheel-drive Group N or modified cars with an engine size of up to 1600cc.

28 BRC GC DS.indd 7

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 14:48

DMACK Junior BRC

Drivers under the age of 26 in homologated R2 cars found in BRC4.

Cars such as the Vauxhall Corsa or Ford Fiesta R2 will be fighting for the golden ticket of a subsidised (to the tune of £60,000) entry in the 2017 World Rally Championship-based Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy. That means five WRC rounds in a Fiesta R2. Drivers must start all seven rounds of this year’s British Rally Championship, but they can only count their best six scores. Within those six scores, the drivers must nominate a joker event where they take double points. And, like all other BRC classes, the final round, September’s Rally Isle of Man will also count as double points.

National Rally Cup

This category, run for nonhomologated cars, is broken down in seven sub-classes (it’s honestly not as complicated as you might fear…), ranging from two-wheel-drive machinery powered by anything up to 1450cc all the way up to classes six and seven for banging four-wheeldrive World Rally Cars or M-Sport’s glorious-sounding Fiesta S2400.

This is the place where we’re going to find all manner of rallying treasures including the evergreen Ford Escort Mk II. These cars will run to a slightly different set of sporting regulations, with crews not permitted to complete a recce ahead of each round and, while they can potentially win rallies and be classified in the results, they will score points in the National Rally Cup (except World Rally Cars, they’re not eligible for NRC) rather than the British Rally Championship.

BRCR-GT

Aston Martin, Porsche, Ferrari… they’ve all got entirely legal rally cars and this is where you’d find them competing if they came to the British Rally Championship. A Richard Tuthill-run Porsche 911 GT3 is the most likely – particularly on some of the asphalt rounds. ❱❱

29 BRC GC DS.indd 8

03/03/2016 17:02

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Bill 2016 British Rally Championship

Runners and riders

At the front of the field, it’s going to be impossible to look past Elfyn Evans. The Welshman’s WRC2-winning performance aboard a Ford Fiesta R5 at this year’s World Rally Championship-opener in Monte Carlo was exceptional, and a real wake-up call to those hoping to challenge him across the spread of a BRC season.

There will be a fleet of Fiesta R5s in the 2016 BRC field and those cars will be divided into the haves and have-nots, the haves being the ones upgraded into the 2016 evolution which comes with a chunk of extra power and torque. Anybody running without that won’t exactly be pushing water uphill, but they’re likely to struggle. Evans has that upgrade.

The first place to look for Evans’ chief rival has to be his DMACK team-mate Max Vatanen. If family history’s anything to go by, the Finn’s onto a winner – his dad’s won the BRC twice, compared with one title for Gwyndaf. Talking to Ari about Max’s chances, the 1981 World Rally Champion is sure the time has come for him to take a step back.

Team-mates Max Vatanen, left, and Elfyn Evans look likely top runners in the revived series

The events March 5/6, Newtown

MID WALES STAGES

As the name would suggest, this runs through the best woods on offer in Wales. The BRC’s first stage back after a year out? A dark run through JariMatti Latvala’s favourite: Myherin – it doesn’t get any better than that.

April 8/9, Belfast

CIRCUIT OF IRELAND

Not quite the formidable round-Ireland marathon it once was, but this rally is still getting better and better in its current form. Will pitch the best of the BRC against the European Rally Championship’s finest on the lanes north and south of Belfast.

April 30/May 1, Carlisle

PIRELLI CARLISLE RALLY

A BRC season wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Kielder and this comes courtesy of the Pirelli. Europe’s largest manmade forest is a fearsome place, with deep ditches lying in wait for those straying wide of anything but the perfect line.

June 25, Dumfries

RSAC SCOTTISH RALLY

This is another rally with real BRC heritage and a long history in British rallying; one of the first to take crews

30 BRC GC DS.indd 9

onto forestry commission roads, starting in the Fifties. Stages in Ae and Twiglees ensure this remains as much of a challenge as ever.

July 9/10, Builth Wells

NICKY GRIST STAGES

Like the iconic Welsh Rally of years past, this event will blend the best of gravel stages like Halfway with the enormous challenge of a day on the blindingly quick Epynt military ranges.

First time since 1987 a BRC round has run a dual format.

August 19/20, Londonderry

ULSTER RALLY

Emerald Isle rallying is never short on atmosphere but the Ulster, running into the night, will be one of the highlights of the season. Counting as a round of the Irish Tarmac Championship, the Derry lanes will provide scintillating competition.

September 15-17, Douglas

RALLY ISLE OF MAN

With 23 stages and 160 competitive miles it’s fair to say the Isle of Man is a fitting finale for the BRC’s first season back. The Manx has provided some of the best final-round action ever and, with double points on offer, 2016 will be no exception.

With typical eloquence, Vatanen Sr says: “Max deserves the sunshine, not my shadow. I don’t want to elevate Max to any level because of his name, but people love this kind of human story from one generation to the next.”

Beyond the DMACK boys, Fiesta-wise, David Bogie brings more Scottish titles than you shake a stick at, the Moffett brothers Josh and Sam have huge speed on asphalt and Tom Cave and Fredrik Ahlin both have pace and pedigree.

Outside a Fiesta, the favourite has to be Keith Cronin.

The Irishman’s a triple title winner and one of the fastest drivers ever to come out of Ireland. He suffered shocking bad luck, crashing at his first pre-event test of last season, which forced him to spend 2015 rebuilding his DS 3 R5, while champing at the bit to get back out there and show off his talent. Jonny Greer is also running a DS3 R5 and is sure to be near the front. Euan Thorburn’s Peugeot 208T16 will bring speed and variety to the sharp end.

Ollie Mellors (Proton Satria S2000) and Marty McCormack (Skoda Fabia S2000) will lead the screaming Super 2000 brigade and are both more than capable of upsetting the R5 runners.

Finally on the title hopefuls, special mention has to go to Neil Simpson, who makes his British Rally Championship return after 15 years away. Once one of Britain’s brightest and most underrated talents, the quickest thing to come out of Colne brings a gorgeous Skoda Fabia R5.

The scrap for the Junior BRC title will be just as hardfought and worth watching as the race to the overall crown. With a £60,000 leg-up to the WRC on offer, the Junior fight will be white-hot with Vauxhall Junior Rally Team drivers Rob Duggan, Mattias Adielsson and Aaron Windus arriving from Ireland, Sweden and Australia respectively, ready to carry the fight to the myriad of Fiesta R2s and R2Ts on parade.

It was the Junior BRC that caught Evans’ eye when the 2016 regulations were written. He says: “When I heard the BRC was taking a year out, one of the things I said it needed was something like the DMACK Junior BRC and that’s exactly what’s been delivered. It always needed a path from the lower ranks of the British Rally Championship straight up through the series and into the WRC, and now it does offer that.

“What’s been achieved for the Juniors is more impressive than all of the R5 cars they’ve got – the BRC is about giving crews a chance and this year certainly does that.” n

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 14:48

Dare2BeDifferent GC DS.indd 1

03/03/2016 14:52

She’s leading by example

Susie Wolff came so close to racing in Formula 1. Now her focus is on a campaign with the MSA for more women to follow in her footsteps and work in the sport she loves. By Tony Dodgins

M

ercedes F1 co-owner and team principal Toto Wolff has described wife Susie’s failure to land a full-time F1 race seat as a missed opportunity for the sport and is convinced that, even with her lack of seat time and mileage, she was good enough for the midfield.

Her first appearance of 2015 in Friday practice for Williams in Barcelona appeared to bear that out as she joined reigning GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer in the Lotus and former European F3 champion Raffaele Marciello in the Sauber. At the end of the session, with reputedly similar fuel loads and hence car weight, just 0.07sec separated Marciello, Palmer and Wolff.

For Susie, 33 in December, the future path was clear: it was either a full-time place on the 2016 grid, or retirement.

“For me, it was very clear that I had to do more than just testing next year,” she says. “What people don’t realise is that the smiling in front of the camera and doing the photo shoots and the marketing is the easy part. The hard bit is the hours you spend building your neck up, all the training you do, the days in the simulator, the days sitting down with the engineers learning everything you need to know so that you’re ready for that opportunity in the car.

I was only in the car four times and the work I had to do

to make sure that when I got in it I could capitalise, was immense. That’s the part people don’t see and very much underestimate. Because the world was watching and the world was waiting for a mistake, and I knew that.”

Wolff started karting at eight and from the age of 13 knew what her goals were. Having made the decision to hang up her helmet, she knew immediately that she wanted to help other girls who share her passion; hence the recent launch of Dare To Be Different (D2BD), which she founded alongside the MSA. “I knew that I wanted to give something back and I very quickly sat down to discuss it with Rob Jones [MSA chief executive], who shared my enthusiasm and passion.

“For me it was very important to have clear objectives and hit the main issues right on the head and not have something that was just for show. It’s about using my visibility and experience to help the next generation.

Everyone always said to me that I was breaking through in a man’s world but the truth is that it’s not as maledominated as it was. That’s the preconception that you have to try and change. I think there’s many successful women in the paddock who, for me, are role models for others, it’s just that you don’t know of them.”

With perhaps not the greatest timing, a certain Bernie ❱❱

33 Dare2BeDifferent GC DS.indd 2

03/03/2016 14:52

Dare To Be Different

Wolff reckons her Williams test drives proves women can match the men

Ecclestone was quoted saying that women would not be taken seriously as frontline F1 competitors. It might have been a ‘headline’ but is he right? There are certain sports where the different physicality of men (who typically have 30 per cent more muscle) gives them an insurmountable advantage. Put Serena Williams on the same tennis court as Novak Djokovic, and she’ll be wiped off.

But is motor racing one of those sports? The fact that a 57-kilo Alain Prost was a multiple world champion in an era when F1 cars had 1500bhp in qualifying and no power steering, might suggest otherwise.

Says Wolff: “My lightness was definitely an advantage in karting and, in F1, when driver weight became an issue, I had a huge advantage. I was 10 kilos lighter than Felipe Massa and so when I was in the car the team was able to try things that they couldn’t try with another driver.

“I hit a moment in the sport where the car was right.

It was down to the driver being small and light and the cars not so physical in terms of g-force. I’ve had open conversations with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg about the past and they say that it was tough for them to manage a race. So I’m realistic enough to know that if it was tough for them it was going to be even tougher for me.

But in the car that I was in, I definitely believe women can be successful.

“The reason that I’ve often said in the past that it’s a numbers game is that if you’ve got a 1000 little boys trying to get to F1 and only 10 girls, it’s not going to happen. But I think that’s linked to the fact that a little boy watches a Formula 1 race and dreams of being Vettel or Hamilton or Schumacher, whereas a little girl who has that passion, character and fire, has no role model to tell her, ‘Hey, you could be a racing driver!’

“I think it’s all about knowing what level you have to achieve to be able to drive the car. I did a race distance with Williams at Barcelona in February last year. The team didn’t know if I’d be able to manage it, I didn’t know if I’d be able to manage it, but it was manageable, and that’s from someone who’s not even in the car every month.

“At the end, when I was braking for Turn 1, my head would be coming forward and I was having to lift it back

34 Dare2BeDifferent GC DS.indd 3

From left: Rachel Brookes of Sky Sports, Claire Williams, Rob Jones and Wolff launch the initiative at ASI

up. It was bloody tough but the truth is there’s three sports in the world where women compete with men: horse racing, where Michelle Payne won Melbourne Cup last year, sailing, and motor sport.

“All three sports involve either an animal or a big piece of equipment. I’m completely realistic: if I go next to a guy, on sheer strength I’ll never be as strong, but our sport is a lot more than sheer muscle and strength. From all my experience in racing, we can compete – there’s no reason why we can’t.”

The important role that Wolff sees that she and Dare To Be Different can fulfill is giving direction.

“There’s three different avenues that we want to go

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 14:53

Twitter: @D2BDofficial Facebook: /D2BDofficial Instagram: @D2BDofficial daretobedifferent.org/sign-up info@daretobedifferent.org

down,” she says. “The first is that with the MSA being UKbased it’s important that we get it right in the UK and build it before we think of connecting globally.

“I also want to create a team mentor system. So take a young girl who’s maybe 13 and knows she’s very interested in maths and physics and wants a career in F1. She can log in and see all the different women, not just in F1 but BTCC and all the different disciplines within the industry.

“She might say, ‘Ah, race strategist at Haas, that could be a really good job.’ Or trackside aero like Kimberly [Stevens, aerodynamicist] at Mercedes, ‘I’d really love to do that’. So she’ll be able to click on her profile, see what she studied, see the steps she took and then clearly have an idea of what she has to do to get there. A lot of the time a girl gets to 18/19 and starts to falter because she can’t see someone who’s done it.

“Then, aside from the community aspect, D2BD is also about getting little girls to a race track, many who will never have been. They will get to try karting and be opened up to the different avenues of the sport: the engineering challenges, talking to nutritionists, and maybe doing a piece to camera and learning about journalism, social media and digital platforms [Sky Sports presenter Rachel Brookes is also involved with the project].”

Wolff firmly believes that the opportunities are there for women in motor sport and that it’s competence rather than gender that is important.

“We can’t forget that F1 is performance-based. Teams are there with one objective – to win. Nobody plans quotas, saying ‘we need more women’. The ones that are there are there because they are the best for the job. It’s about showcasing them, using their experience to help others.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

Dare2BeDifferent GC DS.indd 4

“I don’t think the industry does favour guys and that’s why, for me, the opportunities are out there and you’ve got to take them. The ones who have been through it also need to pass on their experince. I need to tell the next generation I did this and this wrong, so do this and this.”

So, looking back at her own career, what does Susie think she did right and wrong?

“I think what I did right was grasp little opportunities and turn them into big ones. There were two outstanding moments in my career which I think I will always be very thankful for: the first was being nominated for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award, because that ultimately led to me being noticed by Mercedes. But that Mercedes test was only an idea to maybe have a girl in the team and Gerhard Ungar (former manager of the AMG DTM team) is not an easy guy to get past! But the test went well and it was only ever a one-year contract but I ended up staying seven years.

“And the same at Williams: it was only a one-off 20-lap run at Silverstone and never meant to be more, but I got in the car, did a good job and they suddenly realised OK, this could be more. So what I did right in my career was grasping little opportunities and making them bigger.

“From all my experience in racing, we can compete – there’s no reason why we can’t.”

“What I didn’t do right... I think I wasn’t vocal enough at times. At the beginning in DTM when it was really tough I should have asked for more support, should have told them that I needed more help. I was languishing at the back in a B-spec car and I should have been asking for more help.

“It’s easy to say that now, looking back, but at the time I had nothing, I had been picked up by Mercedes-Benz and suddenly I was a professional racing driver getting paid to drive, going to events representing Mercedes-Benz and with a Mercedes car in my driveway. I was too scared of losing that.”

In Susie’s immediate future, as well as D2BD, watch out for a new role with Mercedes and, possibly, some media work. She would also like to have a family but despite the great life motor racing has give her, won’t necessarily be pushing any children in that direction.

“I’ll push them towards whatever they are passionate about,” she says firmly. “I consider myself incredibly lucky to have found my passion in life and I’d support them in whatever they enjoy. I’m a great believer that if you do something you enjoy in life, success comes that much easier.” n

35 03/03/2016 14:54

Where exceptional The MSA Academy’s class of 2016 is bursting with natural talent, but how can they make the most of their abilities?

David Evans finds out

38 MSA Academy GC DS.indd 1

J

ake Dennis dips his head. The recently announced GP3 racer is feeling the pain.

A quick glance to his left – GP2 star Nick Yelloly is powering on. Dennis digs deep.

Deeper. Finally, after a lifetime in two minutes, it’s over.

Some sit. Some stand. There’s barely a word spoken.

Welcome to the Katherine Grainger Rowing Suite, University of Edinburgh.

Britain’s brightest, best and most talented race and rally drivers are wondering if their lungs will ever work properly again. Already good, the MSA Academy has brought them here to make them better.

London 2012 gold medalist Grainger is an Edinburgh graduate, hence her name above the door. But it’s what’s written into the walls of this place that counts. You can’t see it, but you can feel it: inspiration, dedication, realisation.

You could probably add perspiration to that list too.

This unremarkable room, behind an unremarkable door, is where exceptional becomes elite.

MSA Academy manager Greg Symes is pleased with what he’s seeing.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 15:06

becomes elite “We have a scientific approach to development,” says Symes, “so a place like this is invaluable. Yesterday, the guys were in the gym downstairs. That’s the same gym the All Blacks were using during their pool matches in the Rugby World Cup. “We were doing standing jumps onto a block, which was pretty impressive, but when one of the coaches came and told the boys [New Zealand stand-off] Dan Carter put one block on top of another and did a standing jump onto that… Their faces were a picture. But that was the challenge. And that’s what we want, we want to challenge them. We want them to aspire.”

Former McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Matt Parry is inspired and aspires.

“This is an Olympic-level facility we’re using here,” he says, pausing for a good slug of water. “And we’re getting the drip-down from that. It’s really important that motor sport is recognised as a sport and not as a form of entertainment. And that we work ourselves as athletes.”

There are those in the sport who bristle at the use of athletes as a term of reference for drivers. But shorn of

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their Nomex and full-face helmets, they stood tall in their Nikes. They stood as athletes.

“We’re working on everything here,” says Symes. “We’re building the complete package, but as well as that we’re looking at life after they’ve finished competing; we’re working on injury prevention; how to recognise and deal with concussion; we’re now running a workshop on antidoping as well. We’re covering every aspect.”

As well as the inspirational location and the beasting machines, the MSA funds the right folk as well. Tony Turner is a sports physiologist who is helping bring a new perspective to training.

“These guys need to know what’s going to happen to them if they’re not hydrated,” Turner says, “so we work them hard and actually show them how performance will tail off if they let that happen. It’s the same with nutrition.”

The nutrition practical is slightly less strenuous and involves a lunchtime trip to Tesco with a crisp tenner in their pockets. Their purchases – or the packaging at least – are then pored over and discussed.

“I never really put too much thought into what I was

Stretching Team UK to its limits: MSA Academy’s intense physical workout reminds drivers they must be athletes too

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MSA Academy

eating at mid-day service,” says Junior WRC competitor Osian Pryce, soon after seeing off a salad and protein shake. “I’d be focused on getting the car right and just eating whatever was on offer. But now I’ve seen first-hand what a difference it makes to eat and drink the right thing.

It’s not the immediate effect, it’s later in the afternoon when I’m possibly getting tired and maybe not making the best decisions.”

Some drivers have done that exercise before as part of the Academy. This group have been around for a while: they’re the cream of the MSA’s scheme. They’re Team UK. For the first time ever, this four-day training camp will move outside the classroom and gym. And not just for the usual pre-dawn run up Arthur’s Seat, one of Edinburgh’s highest and hardest hills.

No, this week there’s wheel time.

Elite Sports Performance, a company run by 2001 World Rally Champion co-driver Robert Reid and sports marketing and development expert Brian Cameron, delivers this training programme. As well as working with the MSA, ESP was responsible for the FIA Young Driver Excellence Academy, along with Alex Wurz’s family business Test and Training International.

ESP has drafted in its Austrian connection and lined up a fleet of Lexuses in the Knockhill paddock.

Before the drivers get out there and get on with it, there’s a reminder from Cameron about the importance of communication. Every driver has been through Insights Discovery, a psychometric profiling programme which delivers a framework for self-understanding and

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Elite skills: Academy tuition covers the gamut from physio to nutrition to track time under Norbert Filippits

development. Based on the early 20th century work of Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, Insights Discovery groups people in colours for ease of compatibility.

So impressed are most of the drivers, they’ve engaged their key team members in the process.

Parry says: “I did it about a year and a half ago and it’s given me a much better understanding of what I need and what the team needs from me. We all know this is a team sport and Discovery gave me the tool I needed to work better with my engineer. We both did the test, I came out as quite a demanding red and he was blue, very data-driven and analytical – as you would expect for an engineer. An example of how this made me understand him more is when we get to the circuit for a race. He loves a good track walk! I like to walk the circuit, but in nothing like the detail he does.

“Now I understand, he needs that data. Discovery has given me that understanding and ability to interpret. This sort of analysis really helps to defuse potential conflict within the team; basically we understand each other and communicate much better.”

But now, for the first time, the MSA Academy and Team UK is getting practical.

And the man with the keys is Norbert Filippits. Not exactly a household name, but Filippits is right up there with the unsung heroes of driver coaching.

Filippits is good. He’s better than that: he’s an exceptional driver; more important than that, he’s a fantastic communicator. Norbert gains traction on the black art of the friction circle, using flip charts and old

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YouTube clips of Fernando Alonso. But it’s on track that he really delivers. His lack of racing pedigree is surprising, but as Reid sagely points out: “David Leadbetter’s probably the world’s best-known and most decorated golf coach. But he’s not the world’s best golfer…”

Filippits’ energy is huge. It’s the cradle car first. This is a regular road car with the back wheels raised and rested in a cradle, stripping the car of any lateral grip at the rear.

This isn’t about car control, he knows these boys have oodles of that, it’s about the practical demonstration of the friction circle and tyre management.

Racing Steps Foundation driver Ben Barnicoat gets it.

“It was hard to believe how much grip you got accelerating and braking,” he says. “This showed how much more you have to make out of the longitudinal grip when the lateral starts to go as the tyres wear through the race.”

After that, Filippits fires up the fleet of V6s and lays down a line of cones for a simple, straightforward slalom.

As with most of his exercises, it’s not immediately obvious what’s on offer from what appears at first to be a fairly

Team UK – the cream of the MSA Academy at Knockhill

mundane task for drivers at this level.

Give him an hour.

“The weight transfer work we did in the slalom was really, really good,” says Barnicoat. “If I’m going into a corner this year and struggling with the change of direction, I can think back to what Norbert has taught us and adapt the car with my feet as the race progresses.”

Team UK is about equipping the drivers with the capacity for making those decisions mid-stage or in the heat of a three-way fight for a corner. As far as Reid and Cameron are concerned, control of lactic acid in the fight against fatigue is as important as rotating the car before a corner’s apex to help get it turned in.

These are all component parts in building the real deal in terms of a driver.

“This programme makes the guys question everything,” says Reid. “And when they come up with the answers, they’re better prepared.”

After seeing Knockhill from all angles, they’re better prepared than ever. n

Taking it to the next stage It’s more than a decade since the MSA began its Rally Elite programme – with the Racing version following a couple of years later. Since then, young driver development and training in British motor sport has flourished to the multi-level system we have today.

Rallying and racing subsequently came together as one, with the MSA Academy a product of that merger. Beneath that umbrella, the MSA provides access to coaching at the highest level possible for drivers ageing from 14 and upwards.

Within rallying, there’s now bespoke tutoring for co-drivers, run by Nicky Grist, who spent much of his competitive career alongside the likes of world champions Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae. Performance master classes provide workshops to introduce young drivers to the concepts of sports science and human performance.

The MSA selects a squad of between 25 and 30 drivers and those demonstrating potential excellence are fast-tracked to Team UK, where they work with performance managers James Wozencroft,

42 MSA Academy GC DS.indd 4

Andy Meyrick and Tom Onslow-Cole.

Team UK comes from the squad and begins the process of building towards that elite level, with drivers moving into world-level competition. This is where the coaching ramps up, with bespoke programmes tailored to the drivers and their specific needs.

Beyond the class and gym-based work, developmental activities are arranged to demonstrate sport at its highest possible level. Team UK drivers have spent a day training at Chelsea FC’s state-of-the-art facility in Cobham and learning plenty about themselves and their team-mates at a four-day performance workshop in Chamonix.

MSA Academy also runs a three-year AASE through Loughborough College. Successful drivers are not only schooled in sports science and human performance, but they also emerge with qualifications equivalent to three ‘A’ levels – and the chance to be selected as the RSF MSA Young Driver of the Year, which brings a trophy collected at the prestigious Night of Champions and a cheque for £1000.

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 15:08

The rise, fall... and rise of

Ben Hanley

44 Ben Hanley GC DS.indd 1

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KARTPIX.NET

Formula 1 appeared to beckon for this prodigy who went wheel to wheel with Hamilton and Vettel. But when it all went wrong, Ben Hanley returned to his roots – and career-reviving success.

Chris McCarthy profiles a unique motor racing story

T

hrough 2015 Ben Hanley kept Britain firmly in the international karting limelight by winning the CIK European KF Championship, which had previously been won by fellow Brit Tom Joyner. But Hanley is unique in that he’s 31 and has already enjoyed significant success in single-seater racing – so what was he doing back in karts?

Where it all began

Hanley started racing in 1993 when he was eight years old, at Three Sisters in Wigan doing club races. His talent was obvious and he quickly found himself racing in national championships against the likes of Lewis Hamilton in the Champions of the Future series. Hanley quickly moved through the junior ranks, winning the Super One JICA title in 2000 before becoming vice-European champion in the Formula A class in 2001. In 2002 he signed as a factory driver for Maranello, travelling around the world with team boss Armando Fillini. His success continued as he added the South Garda Winter Cup and Andrea Margutti Trophy to his cabinet.

Back to basics: Ben Hanley’s return to karts reaped a European title. Now he’s set for a campaign in sports car racing

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KARTPIX.NET

The graduation

In 2005 Hanley was presented with an opportunity to step up to an even bigger challenge: The Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Series with Cram Competition. “I knew I was fully prepared for cars,” he says. “I was in the right place at the right time and was given a great opportunity and I knew I had to do well.”

Hanley, aged 20 at the time, did just that, finishing second overall with six wins and nine podiums. His rivals at the time were the familiar names of future Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi and highly-rated German Michael Ammermüller.

His inaugural season put him in the spotlight and he was picked up the Renault Driver Development Programme. It promised to fund Hanley’s career, pitching him against world-class talent in the World Series by Renault 3.5 series. Hanley finished eighth in 2006 before going on to finish runner-up in 2007 to Portuguese Alvaro Parente – with a certain Sebastian Vettel back in fifth.

It was clear Hanley had the talent to go all the way. ❱❱

45 03/03/2016 17:04

Ben Hanley

Back to karting

GLENN DUNBAR/GP2

So many drivers who lose career traction at this stage end up turning to endurance racing. But Hanley took an unusual decision: he returned to what he knew best.

Once again he teamed up with Armando Fillini on the Maranello chassis and jumped straight back into worldlevel karting. Going from GP2 to karts in one year is almost unheard of, but Hanley wasted no time in coming to terms with his fate, and without a budget was determined to continue racing through 2009. His options were limited.

He did manage a few appearances in the now-defunct football themed Superleague Formula, but it didn’t lead anywhere. Instead, a non-racing opportunity arose. He became the official GP2 and GP3 Pirelli tyre development driver, which allowed him to pursue his reignited love affair with racing karts.

The peak… and the fall

GP2 was the next step. Hanley was entered into the 2008 GP2 Asia series, placing a promising third on his debut.

However, through the season Hanley was plagued with bad luck and technical issues: electrical faults in Barcelona, gearbox issues in Istanbul and two disastrous races in Monaco. His highlight of the four rounds completed was a drive from the back to sixth in Istanbul, but despite flashes of brilliance RDD pulled Hanley’s funding. “They decided they couldn’t invest anymore, so that was that,” he says.

Hanley’s seemingly unstoppable rise to the top ground to a halt overnight. He was without a drive, leaving RDD to focus on favoured sons Romain Grosjean and Lucas di Grassi. It was clear that Hanley was completely reliant on RDD. Despite showing form, no teams offered him a lifeline to realise his GP2 potential.

GP2 proved to be Hanley’s singleseater high, but it ended when Renault pulled its support

The European crown

Hanley has continued racing for Armando Fillini, moving with him from Maranello to ART and to his latest project, Mad Croc. In 2015 he finally found himself winning a major karting series – for the first time in 15 years! Ben’s novel career journey from karting prodigy to promising F1 ‘wannabe’ and back to where it all started was complete.

The groundwork for his title was laid by three wins and a second in the first two rounds. His success has put the Mad Croc chassis firmly on the radar of every UK karter and Hanley once again is the talk of the paddock as he also became Karting magazine’s ‘Driver of the Year’.

Enter the Dragon…

And now it’s time for the payback. Incredibly, after more than five years since his last race in cars, he has landed an opportunity in sports cars after all. This year Hanley will drive US team DragonSpeed’s ORECA-Nissan LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series, sharing with former Toyota LMP1 ace Nicolas Lapierre and Henrik Hedman.

Talent isn’t always enough, as Hanley can attest. But this time, against the odds, it just might be. n

Hanley on...

THE CURRENT STATE OF UK KARTING “The costs have escalated massively since I was away racing in cars, which has diluted the grids.

There are still tons of good drivers around; it’s just a shame the numbers are down. Hopefully the new OK category will bring some Europeanbased drivers back and also bring more Brits into European racing.

The Rotax engine got far too complicated and expensive with all the different bits you could spend money on, which is why X30 became so popular which has been great! I’m hoping the OK engine has the same effect when it comes in.”

HIS TOUGHEST OPPONENTS “Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Jarvis and Mike Conway were always three drivers that stuck out to me in karting. They

46 Ben Hanley GC DS.indd 3

were all fantastic and you needed to be 100 per cent on your game to have any chance of beating them.”

YOUNG BRITS WITH THE MOST F1 POTENTIAL “I think Lando Norris has the potential to go all the way. He’s had fantastic results in karting and in cars too. He’s definitely the main one to look out for.”

HIS FAVOURITE KARTING MEMORY “Just winning! But I’d say if there was one title that felt better than others it would be winning the British JICA Championship in 2000. Having a British championship next to your name is a special thing as the UK is known around the world to be one of the strongest countries for karting, so to win that was great for me.”

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 15:17

A NT I – D O P I N G

DRIVE OUT DOPING!

X

You have the right to compete in a clean, fair and safe sport – that’s why the MSA works with UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) to maintain your sport’s integrity.

Banned Substances can be found in:

All competitors, coaches and athlete support personnel must abide by anti-doping rules. These are consistent with the World Anti-Doping Code, which governs anti-doping internationally.

Prescribed medication.

If you hold an MSA Competition Licence then you are bound by anti-doping rules, regardless of the level at which you compete.

KNOW THE RULES Visit msauk.org/antidoping today.

Over the counter medication.

Performance enhancing drugs.

Recreational drugs.

Alastair Moffatt’s Autotest Mini

A specialised device for a fiercely competitive and highly skilled arena of the sport.

By Paul Lawrence

W

ith a fourth MSA British Autotest Championship recently added to his tally, Alastair Moffatt is a leading exponent of this often under-rated branch of the sport. The 37-year-old from Newent in Gloucestershire has competed around the pylons for two decades and says autotesting is a highly rewarding branch of competition.

Alastair raced karts as a youngster but saw an autotest in the 1990s and decided he had to try it. “It is one of the most visually attractive forms of motor sport,” he says. “The car flows in a permanent state of control, but out of control.

I always wanted to go rallying, but autotesting is the best place to start for that. It teaches you car control. You want the car in a position where it is in a provoked spin most of the time. It sits on a knife-edge and you drive it accordingly.”

He points to Colin McRae who cut his competition teeth in autotesting. “There is footage of Colin McRae in a Metro 6R4 when he lost control and went backwards down an escape road. He was looking backwards and steering it as it went down the escape road; that’s a proper autotester!”

In 2015 Moffatt switched to a fresh Mini Special after the first two events and dominated the season. For a change of scene, he competes on sporting trials in the winter and runs a driving experience company.

“We teach people how to do stunts; high-precision, highskill stuff including driving on two wheels,” he says. Stunt drivers from the film and TV industry are regular customers.

48 Weekend Warrior GC DS .indd 1

TECH SPEC Engine: 1380cc ‘A’ series Power: 110bhp Weight: 450kg Gears: two forward, one reverse Top speed: 35mph

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Weekend Warrior

THE CAR

It is a Mini Special, cut down from an original Mini, with every last surplus kilo removed to boost the power to weight ratio. Nothing remains that doesn’t need to be there and it would be tough to get it much lighter.

THE GEARBOX

It only has first, second and reverse gears; third and fourth are taken out of the gearbox. The selectors are modified so it is easier to select first and reverse while on the move. It has a limited-slip diff and all the gear synchros are reinforced.

THE BRAKES

Autotesting does not create massive brake temperatures so a good standard system is used. It runs 10in discs with four-pot pistons on the front so that when Alastair hits the brakes it ties the transmission up solid and the next gear can be selected. The brakes on the back are virtually redundant as the back of the car is so light they just lock up.

THE HANDBRAKE

The handbrake is still cable-operated, as this gives the driver a good feel for the brakes. The system is basically standard, with a few modifications to help with leverage.

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Weekend Warrior GC DS .indd 2

49 03/03/2016 15:20

#ElfynNeedsYou

msauk.org/rallyfuture

Place Notes

PFI’s excellent facilities include bar, restaurant and panoramic viewing

PF International Kart Circuit One man’s vision has brought Europe to Lincolnshire

“I

just wanted to build a good track in a good place with good facilities.” Those were Paul Fletcher’s aspirations for his circuit when it was first built in 1994. Fast forward 22 years and it is now established as one of the best in Europe, or in the world as Paul will confidently tell you.

Located in Grantham, Lincs, the PFI circuit is 1382 metres long, making it comfortably the largest in the UK. So what inspired this karting icon to build his own track?

Fletcher’s journey with the sport started more than 50 years ago. “I first saw a go-kart in 1959 and brought one straight away. From there I went on to race for 25 years.”

Paul, now retired from racing, used the money from his successful bakery business to help the next generation of racers once he’d stopped. “I funded the likes of Gary Catt, Jamie Green and more recently Mark Litchfield.”

Generosity seems to be in Paul’s DNA as in 1990 he saw an opportunity to build a track in a genuine attempt to put something back into karting. But finding the land proved to be a difficult task. “Everywhere I tried to build my track I encountered the same problem: noise. I tried a noisy place, right next to Donington in fact, but was told it was too noisy already. I then tried a quiet place, but again it was a no.”

But when Paul discovered a farmer had been granted planning permission next to Fulbeck village he decided to buy it from him. “It took around nine months to build the

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Place Notes GC DS.indd 1

CIRCUIT

INFO

Stragglethorpe Lane, Brandon, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG32 2AY Opened: 1994 Course length: 1382m Course record: 55.38sec, Tom Joyner, KF2 class.

circuit and then we set about getting karts on track straight away.”

Time to introduce Trent Valley Kart Club. “TVKC was formed immediately after the build. It was a way of getting karts racing on track promptly.”

Paul then set about providing fantastic facilities. This included two asphalt paddocks, a modern building complex housing a bar, restaurant, toilets, showers and garage facilities, as well as a panorama viewing room, a double-covered dummy grid area and an onsite Retail Shop (JM).

With PFI up and running the idea of international competition was beginning to be mentioned and in 2010 that’s exactly what happened. “Our first European event was a CIK-FIA sanctioned European Qualifier.” The next year Paul made an extension to the circuit which included a ‘flyover’ – spending £1.3 million in the process.

That enabled PFI to host CIK European and World Championship Events, the Rotax Max Euro Challenge and this year the IAME European Open.

PFI has become a popular host on the world stage and that was recognised when it won the award for the CIK-FIA ‘Best event’ in both 2012 and 2015. Now it has been Paul’s turn. He was awarded the Sir Malcolm Campbell Memorial Trophy in recognition of his services to karting, which was presented to him at the MSA Night of Champions in January.

“It always comes as a surprise when you win an award and I was really delighted,” he says. “I feel we have finally got somewhere and [MSA chief executive] Rob Jones has been really helpful in giving me a hand with a lot of problems that we’ve had.”

So what’s next for the circuit?

Longer meetings in the winter is one thing on Paul’s agenda. “We keep putting LED lights around the circuit in place of the other lights and it’s brightening everything up more and more. We’re hoping that by next winter we’ll be able to run until 6pm.

Until then I think we just have to concentrate on producing very good quality race meetings and I hope what we’ve done gets passed on to other clubs.” Chris McCarthy n

51 03/03/2016 15:22

Toolkit The latest products and advice for competitors

Something to get on your chest Steve Tillett trained to be a vintage car upholsterer by trade, but his love of karting would take his career into a wholly different dimension – and one that would inadvertently play a part in the rise of world champion talents such as Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

An avid kart racer since 1978, Tillett was among many to suffer bruised ribs from badly fitting seats with the advent of super-sticky tyres in the sport. It was a natural progression from his training to begin specialising in covered seats in a bid to offer the protection kart racers required. And when the legendary Terry Fullerton returned from Japan with a bumper order, Tillett Racing Seats was founded.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel get the Tillett treatment.

Right: Jordan Lennox-Lamb sports the P1

Toolkit1 DS.indd 1

Beyond seats, rib protectors have become core to Tillett’s business, with Button and Anthony Davidson playing the role of early test pilots for his products. Fullerton’s protégé Davidson suffered considerably with rib discomfort, and Tillett’s solution was a chest wrapping in double-skinned foam. Button’s contribution was the addition of elastic to an early prototype after reporting that he needed to breath more easily.

The Ribtec was the result – but still Davidson struggled, eventually breaking his ribs at the Winter Cup in 1996. The accident inspired Tillett to create the personalised composite rib protector – or the ‘Robocop’ as Davidson nicknamed it.

Tillett’s rib protectors are now essential kit for kart stars around the world, and the new P1 is the culmination of 20 years’ work. This new offthe-shelf product comes in three different colours and a variety of sizes. A specially developed version for women is also available. www.tillett.co.uk

Setting a new benchmark Surf & Turf is best known in racing paddocks and rally service parks for its instant shelters, mini marquees, pop-up gazebos and awnings. But the launch of its GP work bench and folding paddock bench casts light on another avenue for this diverse Warrington-based company.

The work bench (above) is available in two sizes and is designed to be folded flat for easy storage and transportation. Made of high-quality steel, it features a middle galvanized shelf and a rack suitable for kart tyres.

The folding paddock bench measures 80cm in height, 93cm in width and 44cm in depth and is perfect for storing tool boxes in pit garages and race trucks, or even in your garage or workshop at home. www.surfturf.co.uk

04/03/2016 15:15

Toolkit

Where it can all begin Need some inspiration to help yourself or someone you know take their first steps in motor sport? Look no further

AASE

It may seem remarkable to racing drivers of previous generations, but for young people today competing in the sport can be a legitimate career choice. This qualification, run by the MSA Academy in conjunction with Loughborough College and supported by the Racing Steps Foundation, offers a sports science course that covers all aspects of human performance. Launched in 2009 as part of the MSA Academy, the scheme that offers a pathway for promising drivers in the UK, AASE is a three-year course at a college rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and requires athletes to attend twice a month for three days at a time. Applicants must be current racing licence holders aged 16–18 with proven records, whether in karting, racing, rallying or rallycross.

Course criteria also include target GCSE grades. Each year, one member of the programme wins the RSF MSA Young Driver of the Year trophy and a cheque for £1000. www.msauk.org/aase

M

otor sport has never been more accessible to young people looking to forge a profession within its ranks. That’s not to say it’s easy to establish a career, of course – quite the opposite. Competition is fierce for opportunities in a specialist industry that in the context of the wider world must still be described as niche. But at least now there are obvious entry points beyond the ‘right place, right time’ game of chance that typified how so many became involved in the past. Aspiring mechanics, engineers, technicians, designers – and yes, even racing drivers – all have solid choices to consider these days, within the formal education system.

The MSA has approved and recognised a number of courses and initiatives, which have proven records for nurturing talent. Here, we highlight a selection that offer young people their first taste of what it takes to become a professional in the cut and thrust world of motor sport.

54 Toolkit2 GC DS.indd 1

CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

This post-graduate institution offers a range of courses that are recognised and respected throughout the motor sport world. Full and part-time options begin with a shortcourse introduction to motor sport engineering and it is open to anyone who has achieved A-level passes in maths and physics. The Advanced Motorsport Engineering MSc has been developed with leading companies and is long established, since 2000, as a direct route into the business.

The likes of Pat Symonds and Adrian Reynard have contributed to the course in the past. www.cranfield.ac.uk

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

03/03/2016 15:28

Buyer’s guide

Stay safe and smart Each season brings advances in racewear safety but that doesn’t mean sacrificing style

FORMULA STUDENT

Europe’s most established educational motor sport competition has long been championed by high-profile figures, including patron Ross Brawn. The initiative, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, aims to inspire and develop enterprising and innovative young engineers.

Universities from around the world are challenged to design and build single-seater racing cars to compete in static and dynamic events. The Formula Student scheme usually forms part of a degree-level project and is valued in the industry for helping students make the transition from university to the workplace. Along with Brawn, ambassadors include David Brabham, Mercedes F1 technical director Paddy Lowe, Ferrari F1 technical chief James Allison and Le Mans-winning Audi engineer Leena Gade. www.formulastudent.imeche.org

MSC BUSINESS OF MOTORSPORT

This new course was launched at Autosport International with support from the MSA and offers a Masters degree that should enhance the career prospects of those aspiring to work in motor sport. Modules will cover commerce, sponsorship and brands, plus event, venue and safety management. The one-year post-graduate programme is offered by UCFB and will be delivered from its illustrious campus inside Wembley Stadium. Applications are open for the first course, which is due to start in October 2016. www.ucfb.com or email mastersenquiries@ucfb.com

www.msauk.org / Spring 2016

Toolkit2 GC DS.indd 2

ALPINESTARS GP PRO RACE SUIT

This version of the GP Pro suit features boot-cut legs with an internal elasticated cuff and a lightweight three-layer Nomex construction with pre-shaped arms and legs for optimum fit in the driving position – form-fitting design with torso shaping for an athletic fit. Stretch panels in the lower back, sides and crotch areas provide excellent flexibility both in and out of the car.

ADIDAS ADISTAR RACE GLOVES

The Adistar glove has been re-designed to provide the best grip, comfort and protection possible combined with a stylish look. Two-layer construction on the back gives high levels of protection while a single-layer palm features an ergonomic print offering maximum grip and feel. Precurved fingers with external seams reduce pressure points and increase comfort. For closecockpit race cars, a knuckle pad avoids scrapes and knocks.

OMP ONE EVO R RACE BOOTS

Made from ultra-light kangaroo leather with breathable inserts and micro-adjustment lacing mechanism allowing a precise fit. One of the lightest race boots available while still being extremely comfortable and breathable. One Evo R race boots also features an all-new sole and foot support which reduces stress through the legs and delivers unmatched pedal grip and sensitivity.

55 03/03/2016 15:29

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National Court news RALLYCROSS

WORLD Motor Sports Council RALLYCROSS NationalTO Court COMES BRITAIN

Kent’s Lydden Hill Race Circuit, the one-mile ‘Home of Rallycross’, is gearing up to host round two of thedisgruntled inaugural of a somewhat SITTING MONDAY 19TH FIA World Rallycross on 25-26 May. picked up the offending OCTOBER 2015 Championshipcompetitor, The world’s top (Chairman), rallycross driversclutch will be in action, drum and indicated to the Tony Scott Andrews competitor in the absence of the Peter Riches, Ian Watson including Britain’s Liam Doran, reigning European champion Chief Scrutineer‘Topi’ that he could CASE NoTimerzyanov, J2015/28 Llandow Kart Timur Global Rallycross Champion find no Petter fault with it. He also made Club Inquiry Tanner Foust and the popular Heikkinen, Solberg. as to “With Lydden Hill as the home ofcomments Rallycross, wethe arelimitations upon FIA the Chief This is an Inquiry instigated by the delighted to host the second round placed of the new WorldScrutineer by virtue of herWillie licenceWoods. grade.

MSA into an Championship,” event held at Llandow Rallycross said venue manager Such comments were made in the Kart Circuit on 21st June 2015 “Already we have begun an extensive programme of circuit hearing of a number of competitors organised by the Llandow Kart Club. upgrades, some of which will be ready for the event, but as some of whom subsequently The Court has today heard part of a longer term commitment to the circuit which we have caused quite unnecessary and evidence from the Chief Scrutineer, been working on for some time.” unfounded problems for the Chief the Clerk of the Course, the MSA The event has evenofenticed Touring Scrutineer duringCar the scrutineering Steward, the Chairman the ClubMSA British Champion Andrew Jordan back to the discipline in which he process. and the Championship Eligibility cut his teeth. “Obviously I know Lydden asdrum it’s the home Thewell clutch was, however, Scrutineer. of Many British rallycross,” said. “I didduly my bagged second-ever race ready for despatch. facts have been he brought there a Mini and I remember [Lydden All other karts Hill wereowner] released to the in Court’s attention today but beating Pat Doran in what was my race, so I the have lots of from parc ferme, competitors those considered relevant are fi asnal supercar good memories. The sport now, though, isknowledge very different having of thewith fact follows. that oneexcited clutch was suspect.

At the conclusion of one race I’m very, world championship status. very about it!” In

that the suspect clutch had been returned to the competitor. After consulting with a senior official of the Club it was decided that the only way to resolve the problem was to nullify/void the results. It would seem that notification of this decision was given only by means of the internet with no direct communication being given to the affected competitors. It was not known to the competitor who had won the race (and whose clutch had been sealed) until some time later.

The findings of this Court are that: 1. Although the Championship Eligibility Scrutineer had recently resigned from his position as the Club’s Chief Scrutineer, he remained in the regulations as being the appointed Eligibility Scrutineer for the Championship.

2. Notwithstanding his said position he had no entitlement to enter parc ferme and certainly no right to discuss with a competitor a component which he would view of the interference by the the Scrutineer elected to inspect have known was the subject Championship Eligibility Scrutineer clutches and considered one of of an investigation. To publicly in the process relating to the clutch them to be ineligible as its surface question the competence of the and the complaints made by the was contaminated. Whilst the appointed Chief Scrutineer in competitor to whom it belonged, Scrutineer went to fetch a bag in such circumstances was equally was sought from the MSA which the clutch drum could be unacceptable, especially when 3-4 May Montalegre,advice Portugal as to inspection of the clutch and sealed and sent for examination the contents of prior e-mails 24-25 May Lydden Hill, GB although that advice was to follow by an appropriate official (the relating to his proposed attendance 14-15 Jun Hell-Lanke, Norway the normal procedure, the clutch Scrutineer confirms that she would at the event are brought into 28-29 Jun Kouvola, Finland was returned to the competitor. have sent it to the Championship consideration. For these actions 5-6 Jul Scrutineer) the said Höljes, Sweden The Clerk of the Course, who Eligibility which interfered with the running 12-13 Jul Mettet, Belgium had been dealing with Kent’s other Lydden Hillof the event, the said Eligibility Eligibility Scrutineer, although not Race Circuit the 7-8 Aug Trois-Rivières, Canada matters, was advised ofhome the of British Scrutineer, Mr John Taylor, will having signed on in any capacity for 6-7 Sep and present effectively Lohéac, France rallycross problem which had occurred and - is set receive a Reprimand. the meeting to hostother round two 3. The Chief Scrutineer, when 20-21 Germany of the dissatisfaction among only as aSep spectator, chose toBuxtehude, enter of the FIA World 27-28 Sep Franciacorta, Italy competitors once it was realised Parc Ferme and, at the request sealing the clutch drum into the bag Rallycross Championship 11-12 Oct Istanbul Park, Turkey

2014 FIA WORLD RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP

22-23 Nov

was intending to complete a NonCompliance Report. This course of action would have been entirely inappropriate as it would effectively have pre-judged the outcome of any subsequent inspection. The proper document would have been a sealing certificate.

4. Whilst accepting that it may well have been thought that there was no point in submitting the clutch to the Eligibility Scrutineer as he had already expressed his opinion, the Scrutineer should, in the prevailing circumstances, have given some regard to the advice received from the MSA and despatched the clutch direct to the MSA for an independent inspection.

5. Although it may well not have been known to the Clerk of the Course at the time, the Chief Scrutineer has today told the Court that all the scrutineering checks on all the karts had been completed such that it was appropriate for them to have left parc ferme.

6. As no Non-Compliance report had ever been completed and in the absence of any further or other judicial matters, the results would have become Official (or Final), and the competitor had already received the relevant award for winning the race.

7. In all the circumstances it follows that the decision to nullify or void the results was incorrect.

Once results have been declared Official only this Court can alter them.

8. Although in the way of things the paperwork handed to the Steward late that night would doubtless have referred to the attempt to nullify the results, the

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matter, unfortunately, was not subsequently raised.

9. As the purported nullification of the results was invalid the results as they previously stood must remain. The Club must ensure that notification of that fact is given to all relevant parties.

10. As it is the Club who appointed the Scrutineer and the Clerk, was agreeable to the decision to nullify the results and had not yet taken such steps as they may have considered necessary subsequent upon a resignation to alter in their regulations a particular appointment (which would possibly have avoided certain problems), the Club is ordered to pay a contribution toward costs in the sum of £250.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS, CHAIRMAN

SITTING TUESDAY 6TH OCTOBER 2015 Tony Scott Andrews (Chairman), Mike Harris, Ron McCabe CASE No J2015/29 Trent Valley Kart Club Inquiry This Inquiry comes before the National Court at the instigation of the MSA’s Disciplinary Officer.

It relates to a Mini Max kart race organised by the Trent Valley Kart Club and held at PFI on 3rd May this year. Because of deteriorating weather conditions it was decided to bring the 12-lap race to a close after just nine laps. This was achieved by displaying both a Red flag and a Chequered flag.

The results were calculated as though the race had ended in the normal way by the showing of the Chequered flag, that is to say the results were based upon the order in which competitors crossed the line at the end of the ninth lap, 75% of the race having been completed.

One competitor, however, maintained that the results should be calculated as at the end of the previous lap, the race having ended not by the display of the Chequered flag but by the showing of the Red flag.

It is understood by this Court that the simultaneous display of both Red and Chequered flags to signify the end of a race is now becoming comparatively common practice.

It is, however, a practice of which

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this Court would not approve and considers should cease.

When a decision is made to show a Red flag, the intention is that drivers should immediately cease racing. For that reason the flag is shown not only at the line but around the circuit at each and every flag post. The signal to cease racing will be seen by every driver on the track, they will, or should, slow down and overtaking is forbidden.

The Chequered flag has a quite separate and distinct meaning. It is shown first only at the line such that competitors will obviously not be aware of it until such time as they cross the line and, unlike the display of a Red flag, competitors are entitled to continue racing until such time as they pass the flag on the line.

To display both together is not only inconsistent in procedural terms but, in practice, confusing for competitors. In cases such as this, if a competitor sees a Red flag, curtails what would otherwise have been a successful overtaking manoeuvre, follows that other competitor to the line only to find a chequered flag with results being taken as at the crossing of the line, it is the view of this Court that he would be entitled to feel disadvantaged.

The entry in the index to the 2015 MSA Yearbook for “Flag signals, Karting” refers the reader to Regulation K6. It is believed this should, in fact, be to U6 which deals with flag signals in Karting. This section does not seem to contain any reference to a Red flag but fortunately U.7.9 shows that a kart race can be stopped by the display “of red flags”. This regulation continues at U.7.9.3 in terms that “If 75% or more of the race distance has been completed by the leader the race will be deemed to have ended.

The race results shall be declared as the lap completed by him and before the race was stopped.”

It is considered by the Court that the effect of this is as that set out rather more clearly at Q.5.4.3 which says “The result will be based on the order of crossing the finish line at one lap less than at the time of the first showing of the Red flag.”

In the instant case, the subject of this Inquiry, the results should be recalculated to show the order of crossing the line one lap before

that on which the red flag was displayed and those results should be published accordingly.

One further point arises which is that whereas U.7.9.3 clearly states “the race will be deemed to have ended”, Q.5.4.3 gives the Clerk of the Course the right to elect to continue a circuit race even though stopped after 75% of race distance has been completed. Subject to the exercise of that right, it would seem to the Court that there can be no objection once cars have stopped, whether on the grid or in the pit lane, to then displaying a Chequered flag to indicate that the race will not be resumed and has ended.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS, CHAIRMAN

SITTING TUESDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2015 Tony Scott Andrews (Chairman), Chris Mount, Ian Watson CASE No J2015/30 Ross Traders Historic Rally & Ross Traders Targa Rally Saturday 18th July 2015 This matter comes before the Court at the instigation of the MSA as an Investigatory Hearing in accordance with MSA General Regulation C.9. It relates to the Ross Traders Historic and Ross Traders Targa Rallies which were held on 18th July last year.

The results which have been issued for that event have subsequently been found to be incorrect and both the MSA and the organisers seek permission from this Court to amend the results.

Upon Inquiry it appears that although Route Check Penalties had been applied to the penalties sheet and shown on the Penalty Screen, a new member of the team responsible for collating the results had input the penalties for the missed Route Checks into the wrong screen/window.

This effectively overwrote the formula which automatically added the penalty to the competitors total.

The organiser, the Ross & District Motor Sports Ltd. accept and regret that the error was made and, quite properly, wish the results to be formally amended.

The Court accedes to that request.

The specific details of the necessary amendments are too numerous to be incorporated within this decision but the amendments to be made

shall accord with those set out on pages 21 to 34 of the bundle of papers presented to this Court.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS, CHAIRMAN

SITTING TUESDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2015 Tony Scott Andrews (Chairman) , Mike Harris, Ron McCabe CASE No J2015/31 Braydon Fletcher & 32 Liam Sullivan Eligibility Appeals The Court has before it two Eligibility Appeals, one brought

by Braydon Fletcher, the other by Liam Sullivan. It is said on behalf of the Appellants that the facts are common to each Appeal such that the Court is content to accede to a request that they be heard together.

Each Appellant had competed in rounds of the Mighty Mini Championship held at Castle Combe on the 19th July 2015. At the conclusion of the Qualifying Session, plastic Rotoseals were affixed to the differential casing on the cars of each Appellant.

The intention was that the units would be examined some time after the event, at a time and place to be advised.

It was subsequently alleged by those charged with examining the gearbox differentials that although the actual seal on each unit remained attached to the sealing wire, the wires had been broken.

Because of this the examination of the two units was immediately discontinued and Non-Compliance forms were submitted to the Clerk of the Course. This resulted in a hearing on 15th August when the Clerk of the Course found no exceptional reasons sufficient to justify a decision not to exclude and accordingly excluded each competitor from the races at Castle Combe. It is against those decisions that these two Appeals Iie. The facts before this Court are that: • To enable the seals to be put in place the competitor positioned each car such that it was “propped up on a toolbox and a spare wheel” in what is referred to as a precarious position.

• Two bolts were removed from “the very bottom of the engine transmission joint” and replaced with two drilled bolts through

59 03/03/2016 15:36

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National Court

which sealing wire was passed and the seals attached.

• The seals were actually put in place not by a Scrutineer but at his request by the Appellants’ mechanic.

• The Appellants say that unless one lay under the car it was not possible to see how the seals were attached and that the Scrutineer checked the seals simply by reaching under each car and touching the seals without the benefit of a visual check. The Scrutineer maintains he undertook both visual and physical inspections.

In each case the Scrutineer expressed satisfaction with the way in which the seals had been attached and sealing certificates were completed and signed.

Each car then took part in two races in the course of which it is said that each had to take avoiding action necessitating leaving the track and crossing kerbs and both grass and gravel areas. On one such excursion it is said that the exhaust on Fletcher’s car was ripped off. The Appellants say that the seals “were essentially left dangling under the engine/transmission unit on each car and thereby exposed at the lowest point of the unit.”

The Appellants say that at the conclusion of the day’s racing neither car was inspected by any Scrutineer to see if the seals remained in situ. The Eligibility Scrutineer states in both his first and second submission that at the conclusion of the racing the seals were re­checked by the Chief Scrutineer.

There is, however, no confirmation of this from the Chief Scrutineer himself nor any indication as to the basis of this assertion by the Eligibility Scrutineer.

In order that the gearbox differentials could be examined subsequent to the event, the engine/transmission units were removed from their respective cars, apparently loaded with a crane onto the tailgate of a 4x4 truck, lifted into position alongside one another and strapped down. It is said on behalf of the Appellants that at that time “from a glance the seals on both diff housings appeared to be intact but no close inspection of the seal was carried out.” The units were then taken to the premises of

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the engine specialist nominated in the championship Regulations.

On arrival, the first engine unit was unstrapped, brought to the edge of the tailgate and placed on a trolley. Whilst wheeling the trolley into the workshop it was noted by one of the Appellants’ mechanics that the wire part of the seal was broken. The Eligibility Scrutineer was informed that it had been caught getting it out of the truck.

The Scrutineer then removed the tag which, it is said by the Appellant “was still passing through both holes in the bolts.”

Work then commenced on stripping down this first unit. The Eligibility Scrutineer, who had gone outside to the truck, then found that the seal on the second engine was also broken.

In view of this the disassembly of the first unit ceased and no work was undertaken on the second unit. Both engine/transmission units were then returned to the Appellants and in neither case had the eligibility or otherwise of the gearbox differential itself been established by examination. What had been established, however, was that the seal attached to each unit had been broken at some point prior to inspection.

The necessity to consider whether the seals were or were not damaged during the two races fortunately does not arise as the Appellants say that “as far as the mechanics are aware the Rotoseals on each unit were intact when the units were removed ...”. Although it is said also that the mechanics did not check the seals in detail nor were they trained in the application of seals, the Court is satisfied that they would have been perfectly able to ascertain when removing the engines from the cars whether or not the sealing wire itself had been broken and there is no statement from them suggesting that it was.

If that is correct, it is quite possible that the seals may have been broken subsequent to removal whilst at the Appellants premises, whilst being loaded onto the truck, whilst in transit to the place where they were to be examined or whilst being removed from the truck.

It is unfortunate that the Scrutineer removed one seal (which he said was already broken) in the

absence of any third party. There is no suggestion before the Court that the Scrutineer took any part in the removal from the truck of the first engine which was found to have a damaged seal and the Court therefore has no reason to doubt his statement as to the fact that the second engine also had a damaged seal.

The whole process of eligibility checking is based upon the premise that when components are checked they are in exactly the same condition as at the time of the competition. The validity of the seals is therefore of paramount importance and it is incumbent upon the competitor to ensure that the seals are not damaged, especially when, as here, the Appellants maintain that the seals were loosely fitted and could be easily damaged by contact, however inadvertent. The Court is mindful of the provisions of MSA General Regulation J.3.1.6 requiring seals not to be broken.

It is not for the Court to speculate when or where seals are broken. It is for the competitor to ensure that any seal remains intact up to the point of examination.

The Appellant is critical of the fact that examination of the components was not carried out. It is the view of the Court that to have ceased examination on establishing that the seals were broken was entirely appropriate.

In all the circumstances the Court considers that it has no alternative but to dismiss these Appeals. The Appeal fees will therefore be forfeit and each Appellant shall pay the sum of £500 as a contribution toward the costs of this Court.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS, CHAIRMAN

SITTING MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER 2015 Tony Scott Andrews (Chairman), Peter Riches, Ian Watson CASE No J2015/34 Track Torque Eligibility Appeal This Eligibility Appeal is brought before the National Court by Track Torque Racing, their car having been excluded from the results of a Fun Cup race held at Donington on 22nd August 2015.

The car was excluded because the rear wing was lower than the

height stipulated in the Fun Cup Regulations. Both the Scrutineer’s Non-Compliance Report and the resultant Clerk’s Decision to exclude refer to the relevant measurement being 1,376.5mm as opposed to the required 1,380mm.

That is the figure which this Court will accept notwithstanding the scrutineer’s subsequent and somewhat inexplicable submission that the deficiency in height was actually 15mm and not 3.5mm.

The Appellant’s submissions to this Court are that they accept the rear wing was low but that it was low because of damage caused to the adjacent bodywork to which the wing was attached.

The Appellant goes on, however, to explain that the damage to which they refer was not as a result of any collision occurring during the race from which it had been excluded but was caused by the necessity to push start the car on at least four occasions during pit stops because the starter motor had failed. Photographs have been produced showing that the car was started by pushing on the rear wing.

It is this that the Appellant states caused damage to the support area beneath the wing.

Clearly there is a requirement for the car to comply with the regulations at all times and clearly accident damage caused during a race can sometimes be considered but, in this instance, it is the team itself that inflicted the damage which, however inadvertently, caused the car to fail the post-race scrutineering checks.

The decision of this Court must therefore be that: 1. the Appeal be dismissed.

2. it is considered that although note is taken of the Appellant’s comments as to the validity of the penalty imposed, the penalties set out at Fun Cup Championship Regulation 3 would seem not to be mandatory such that the penalty imposed cannot be considered as in breach and, further, as the Championship has now concluded, the penalty already imposed would seem entirely appropriate.

3. the Appeal fee is forfeit, 4. the Appellant do pay a contribution toward the costs of this Court in the sum of £500.

TONY SCOTT ANDREWS, CHAIRMAN

61 03/03/2016 15:36

Club Focus

Loughborough Car Club East Midlands organisation supporting disabled motor sport

M

otor sport may well be unique in offering almost everybody the chance to compete together on a level playing field, regardless of age, gender or disability. One club that knows this more than most is Loughborough Car Club, which runs an annual Disabled Driver Scholarship.

Formed in 1959 by a group of car enthusiasts working in the motor trade in and around Loughborough, the club was created to run navigation rallies, autotests and autocross events. Nowadays the club runs around 20 events a year in an even wider variety of disciplines, including sporting trials and road rallies. This year also features various 12-car events, as well as the club’s popular summer evening grass autotest series.

With a membership set over a 50-mile radius, the club has members competing at both national and grassroots levels. The longest-standing member joined six months after the formation of the club and still sits on the committee and occasionally marshals.

The club has a strong active membership of around 205 and finds that recruiting purely social members is actually the trickier prospect. Richard Egger, competition secretary and club member for more than 40 years, explains: “We have plenty of members actively competing and marshalling but struggle to find members to attend our social events. As a result of this we are currently building a social calendar in an attempt to encourage more members

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CLUB INFO Founded: 1959 Membership: 205 www.loughborou ghcarclub.co.uk

to join us down the pub!”

Predominantly a grassroots club, Loughborough CC is well known for its Disabled Driver Scholarship, supported by the MSA and its insurance broker, JLT. Conceived in 2008, the scholarship was created to demonstrate that many disabilities are not a barrier to competing in club motor sport. To prove the point, it currently offers two people a free season of club motor sport.

“The club was approached to help set up a dedicated motor club for disabled people,” says Richard. “This failed when it emerged that there was no need for a separate division within motor sport. Disabled club members and competitors did not want to be part of a separate disabled motor club. It became clear that more awareness of disabled motor sport was needed to increase competitor numbers.”

One of last year’s scholarship winners was British Paralympic athlete Mel Nicholls, who has been using club motor sport as part of her training regime for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. “I believe an important element of all racing is in the mind,” says Mel. “Tactics, quick thinking, mental toughness and focus are all key in being the best. This is why I love motor sport and my days in the car with Loughborough Motor Club.”

For more information on the Disabled Driver Scholarship visit www.loughboroughcarclub.co.uk. The closing date for applications is April 2. n

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