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IT TAKES A SPECIAL KIND OF PERSON TO BECOME A TOP CO-DRIVER. SOME USE MILITARY STYLE PLANNING, OTHERS ARE UNFLAPPABLE, OR AS WILL BURTT DISCOVERS, SOME ARE JUST BARKING MAD.
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hey say the relationship between driver and codrivers is like a marriage. If this is the case, at the tender age of just twenty-two-years-old, Stevie Brown is onto his tenth. But as Stevie is quick to defend, many of his previous co-drivers have only ever intended to been there for a one off event. Asked if he thinks he’s an easy driver to navigate for he replies with a wide smile, “I think you’re really asking the wrong person!” Looking through the list of names that have ventured into the hot seat over the years, it reads from the cool calm and collected, to the ultra organized and the plain eccentric. Enter Ian Robertson, his six foot frame clad in a Banana yellow race suit. This is the man that once wore a cosmic pink bikini under his race suit to entertain marshals. Robertson partnered Stevie during the two week period in which he destroyed the same car twice. The second of which on the Tour of Mull, Stevie still rates as one of his biggest yet, a crash which
We should have crashed on the next stage
has been relived over five thousand times courtesy of You Tube. “We should have crashed on the next stage” justifies Robertson. “We were really travelling through that stage; the section past the phone box was phenomenal.” He continues, “By the end of the fortnight I was really good a hanging upside down!” laughs Ian. Ask him about the moments in between the upside down bits and he says you were never sure what would happen next. “We got to the point we were driving the car flat out, and that presented plenty of bum clenching seat of the pants moments I can tell you!” Ian recalls on the final stage of the Granite City Rally they attempted to take a left hand corner flat, “there was no way we were going to make it round this corner we were just way way to fast. We bounced off the road and somehow managed to avoid the tree stumps, trees and rocks. It was very rare for us to do a stage without any moments like that.” Surely life would have been easier if Stevie had slowed down a bit? “I know a lot of people
// Robertson partnering Stevie on the twisty lanes of Mull. The pair would later roll the Nova into a pick-up Nova!
Who’s who?
The definitive guide to the co-drivers NICOLA MACNAB Nicola was the first person to venture in to the co-drivers seat. She co-drove on a number of events in the Vauxhall Nova before going on to become a driver herself. GARRY MUIR Making his co-driving debut on the Tour of Mull, Garry was thrown into the deep end. He competed with Stevie for two years. Since then he has won the Scottish Tarmac Rally Championship IAN ROBERTSON Ian was originally only going to do one event, but stayed for 2 years. His experience ensured a string of strong results in the Scottish Rally Championship in the 1600 Vauxhall Nova. IAN MORRISON It was with Morrison that everything clicked for Stevie, with highlights including winning the Malcolm Wilson Rally and finishing top 2-wheel-drive on the Merrick. ANDREW ROUGHEAD Having met in the MSA British Rally Academy, the pair have experienced a number of successes but are still chasing the elusive win. The partnership promises great success for the future.
said at the time he needed to take it back a notch to make sure we made it to the finish of events. But from inside the car I always felt safe - it never felt like an accident waiting to happen. There are plenty of drivers who can drive round to the finish – but it was clear that we weren’t there just to make up the numbers.” Sitting with Stevie so early in his career presented new challenges for Robertson, and says it was testing at times keeping a reign on the young charger. “You could tell when we were on it, and you could tell when were going too quick! The first few miles on the McRae Stages in the Nova were wild; up to the point we punctured a rear tyre. That possibly slowed us enough to stop us having a mega off – well for a few stages anyway!” Having manhandled the car back to the road on the McRae Stages in 2007 after a spectacular roll, they re-started the stage behind Alick Kerr in his Ford Fiesta ST. “The tail gait was smashed to bits, the car was crabbing like hell and we didn’t have fifth gear, and there we were chasing down this Fiesta.” Having reached the end of the stage with the cabin filled with a suffocating cocktail of dust and exhaust fumes coming from the large open hole that once framed the tailgate, Robertson’s main concern was negotiating the heavily policed road section in a car that little resembled its original shape. “I was worried the police would pull us over and not let us continue.” Moments later as Stevie and Ian pulled up to join the A9 a senior police officer stood at the junction. “He had a good look at the car and just when I thought he was going to open what was left of the door and tell us to park up he laughed then waved us out.” It’s been nearly two years since Robertson last sat with Stevie, but the split Stevie says wasn’t anything to do with accidents. “Ian is very busy with work and can’t commit to a full season. My inclusion in the MSA British Rally Academy allowed me to work with Andrew (Roughead), we did the Tour of Mull worked well together and things have gone from there” explained Stevie. So, is Stevie easy to co-drive for? “Yeah he is, he listens to the notes and is able to read the road conditions very well allowing him to adapt his driving style to the conditions” said Robertson. He continues, “He’s especially good on Mull where he is able to read me the notes from memory whilst driving!” And would he consider making a comeback with the young charger? “Navigate again? Yes, but it would need to be discussed over a huge amount of beer!”
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t doesn’t matter what way you look at it, the jump up from clubman events to full-on International rallies is a leap of epic proportions. On the surface Stevie Brown and Andrew Roughead’s debut season at the highest level of rallying in Britain appears to be anything but spectacular, but look a little deeper and it tells a very different story. From the outset there was controversy over the eligibility of cars in the R3 class, with the Ford Fiesta ST’s
grouped in with the awesomely quick Renault Clio R3, a car boasting performance figures of 230BHP and a sixspeed sequential gearbox. The Renault was expected to dominate the class driven by the experienced Tom Walster, and while the French manufacturer did go on to clinch the R3 class championship, it failed to provided the overall results promised at the season start. Wales would play host to the opening round of the championship, the Bulldog Rally set against the
the teams return to the British Rally Championship. Heavy rain storms caused flash floods, and made the road verges very soft and muddy. “In Ireland the cars tend to take big cuts across the inside of corners, when they do this they drag mud onto the road and make the corner very slippery” explained Stevie. He continues, “We arrived at a third gear corner on the first stage that earlier cars had cut and we were caught out on the mud and slid wide and nudged a bank. It was the slowest accident I’ve ever had, but it was enough to bend the bottom arm and meant we couldn’t change the puncture, meaning we had to retire.” Re-starting the event under super rally regulations Brown and Roughead went on to dominate, winning the sub event by over eight minutes. “It was a stupid mistake, but we’ve been able to develop the asphalt settings for future events and continue to develop our pacenotes” said Stevie. The Trackrod Rally would mark the curtain closer for the 2009 British Rally Championship, a rally Stevie says he had to think very hard about contesting. “We didn’t really have the budget to do the Trackrod, and didn’t really have anything to gain from doing the event and would be using it as a test session. We eventually decided that we would miss the final round” explained Brown. Having contested four of the six round championship you may be forgiven for writing Stevie and Andrew off in what has been one of the most closely fought championships in recent years. However despite the budget restraints the team went on to finish second Fiesta ST behind Fiesta Champion Craig Breen. “It’s been nowhere near a perfect season for us, but I’m happy enough to finish second Fiesta, when you consider the guy with the biggest budget won and we’re not that far behind him on a shoe string budget its not so bad” said Stevie. Team Stevie Browns debut season in the British Rally Championship has been a baptism of fire, but as the season draws to a close Stevie says this year has helped him develop as a driver. “We’ve had our fair share of bad luck this season but that’s just made us work even harder to fight back from it. We’ve shown we have the raw speed, now we just need to get the consistency and accuracy in our pacenotes.”
an awesome comeback drive that would see Brown and Roughead climb to second breathtaking backdrop of the Welsh moors. Stevie and Andrew arrived at the season opener with one aim, to win. Despite a hard charging Brown it wasn’t to be. “The Bulldog rally was the first time we made our own pacenotes for a gravel rally, and they just weren’t up to scratch. We were arriving at corners way too quickly and were losing time” explained Stevie. Before the rally had even started and unknown to Stevie and Andrew, as the service crew were taking the car to scrutineering they discovered a fault with the gearbox. Thanks to a quick re-build and a temporary repair to get through the event, the car was ready to go again. “It was only when the event was finished the team told me what had happened. It’s a real testament to their ability to get the box rebuilt so quickly and to the quality of product Millers Oils have produced that meant we made it to the finish” said Stevie. With the unexpected cost of a full gearbox re-build before the next round there was a real doubt the team would make it to the Pirelli Rally. “The box had been re-built over the winter, but one of the parts had been faulty so we hadn’t planned for another re-build so soon and as a result it took a great chunk out of our budget to contest the Pirelli Rally” explained Stevie. A last minute deal would however see the twenty-one-year-old driver secure the budget to contest the British Rally Championship Challenge event. “It wasn’t ideal for sure, but it meant we could still score points in the Fiesta Championship and gain more experience in the car” said Brown. With the Challenge rally conforming to national B regulations Brown and Roughead would have to tackle the event without the benefit of a recce or the opportunity to write their own notes. Gearbox woes would strike again, this time the Ford Fiesta crew would get stuck in third gear for the entire opening leg, Stevie explains. “We drove off the start line and were going up through the gears, when I went for fourth there was nothing, so I went back to third, and that’s when the linkage fell off. There is a section in the linkage that has a plastic joining piece, we have two zip-ties on it to prevent it from falling off, but it was just a freak event that
both of them did fall off!” Saturday morning would mark the beginning of leg two and the start of an awesome comeback drive that would see Brown and Roughead climb to second overall, and as the crew started the final test they were just over eight seconds adrift of Richard Archer in the exKris Meeke Super 1600 Opel Corsa. A final push would see Brown and Roughead complete the stage seven seconds faster than Archer, missing out on the event win by a mere 1.3 seconds. “I would be lying if I said we’re not disappointed to have missed out on the win by such a small margin, but considering where we were after the opening leg the result isn’t so bad” explained Stevie. The Scottish border town of Duns would play host to the Jim Clark Rally, forming round three of the British Rally Championship and the first of three all tarmac rallies. Back in the international event and writing their own pacenotes Stevie and Andrew began the opening leg on Friday evening with the goal of a top three finish. The learning curve continued as the pair struggled to get consistency in their pacenotes. “On some sections of the notes they work very well, then on the next they don’t work at all. We can’t go any faster until we can write better notes – it’s very frustrating” explained Stevie. Leg two would see the Fiesta crew settle into a good pace, and reported the notes were working better, and as they negotiated the final stage around Duns town centre the pair would finish first Fiesta ST. With the fourth round of the championship taking place on the Isle of Man Stevie relished the opportunity to tackle some of the best stages in the world. The team would however receive yet another crushing blow. “When we were looking to book the ferries it was going to cost nearly £2,000 to get everything over. We spoke to some motorsport logistics planners to see if they could get a better deal but even they were coming back with about £1,800. That’s more than the rally entry fee! We just didn’t have the budget for it and I was really disappointed to miss out on it.” The final asphalt rally of the championship, Rally Ulster would mark
TOGRAPHY words MARK BELL picture AML PHO
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he small Scottish border town of Duns is an unremarkable sleepy village, put only on the map for being the home town of motor racing legend Jim Clark. The Jim Clark Room – yes a whole room, is the only remaining sign that it was these very streets that witnessed the making of one of the worlds greatest drivers. For one weekend of the year in May however, the sleepy town of Duns is transformed into a motorsport carnival, as the British Rally Championship arrives in town for the Jim Clark International Memorial Rally. Thousands of fans lined the lanes surrounding the town centre, the Victorian grey buildings amidst a sea of fans clad in brightly coloured gear from their favourite team. Fire breathing rally cars thunder around the super special stage, in an explosion of noise, colour and speed, the only thing louder than the cars is the cheers of the crowds.
Yet the world of rallying isn’t quite what it seems on the surface. For behind the aroma of burning rubber, the screams of supporting fans and excitement of the rally stages, there’s a whole other world of aspirations and most incredibly, hidden dreams. The army of 40,000 fans, who attend each of the six counting rounds of the British Rally Championship, generate a staggering 3 million pounds to the local economy during the weekend of an event.
Brands that become synonymous with the sport often rely on the aspirational nature of the sport to increase awareness of their product. Marketing expert Nancy Koehn, associate professor at Harvard Business School and author of numerous books explains the theory.
“The basic concept of ‘aspirational marketing’ is reaching consumers and helping them deal with, ameliorate and understand issues of social place and personal identity. For example, the wife of King George III, Queen Charlotte, endorsed one of Josiah Wedgwood's One of the unique selling points of ral- most popular lines of china. People lying is it’s one of the few sports in could, by buying Wedgwood china, which fans can still get up close to the have a sense that they could aspire to teams and action. As fathers and sons, living a lifestyle enjoying the fruits of a friends and family set camp on the class ahead of them.” road side, just meters from the action, they become part of the magic, playing To put it in context, rally fans may witan intrinsic part of what makes the atness World Rally Champion Sebastian mosphere of the rally so electric. Loeb flash by in his Redbull liveried
Citroen C4. That spectator may be influenced by this and buy a Redbull drink to get a little bit of Seb’s lifestyle, after all if its good enough for a world champion, it must be good enough for you or I.
firmed that live gaming is the one of the next major steps in the development of the series. He said: “Unlike any other major sport, rallying is absolutely built for live gaming. That’s the ability for you or I to sit at home on our sofas and drive in a rally in real time on a com-
velopments allied to ISC’s own groundbreaking on-stage mapping technology, the dreams of rally fans across the world will soon be realised.
When the streets of Dun’s emptied, and the local residents returned to their But while fans may want to everyday lives, much like the buy a little bit of their favourlate Jim Clark, little sign that the ite driver’s lifestyle, many town played host to the pinnacle harvest the hidden dream of of UK rallying remained. But one day joining their hero on that’s what makes rallying so the stage. The radical adgreat. Set against a series of the vancements in technology most breathtaking backdrops has revolutionised the way around the UK, you’re guaranin which fans follow their teed an event will arrive at your favourite teams, making it a door step, and unlike any other more involving experience, and the fu- puter.” sport, rallying has the ability to reach ture holds even bigger and better out and touch the lives of the local things. ISC is exploring the technology to allow community, making them an essential on-line gamers to start the same rally at part of the events DNA. It’s this ability Chairman of International Sportsworld the same time as the actual competithat makes rallying the ultimate roadCommunicators - the global promoter tors in the World Rally Championship. show. of the WRC - Neil Duncanson has con- Through ongoing virtual computer de-
a world of aspirations and most incredibly, hidden dreams.