Photos by M&H Photography

After a long drive down to Kent from Liverpool via Aylesbury due to a work commitment I arrived at the very edge of Kent for my first visit to Manston Airfield. I travelled down the night before, and choose the rally driver diet of a double cheeseburger and chips for my dinner followed by a number of Wagon Wheels for dessert – maybe not healthy but it was good

I was set to double drive with David Lobb in his Turbo Charged Vauxhall Adam, we have done a number of events together and work well as a team. I was driving my usual ZR with David navving for me.

David was first to drive as he knew the venue having been there last year, and said how good the event was. For me it was all very new and very busy. The tests were hard work and very busy for both sides of the car.

Getting to the start was a bit of a worry for David when the car wouldn’t start on the trailer, we checked a number of basic things but in the end I found one of the main relays was suspect. After hitting it a few times it fired up into the life, and thankfully didn’t cause us any more issues during the day. Though I did carry a by-pass wire with me all day just incase!

After David’s first set of tests there was no time to rest as I was due back out just minutes later, this was the theme for the day with little rest for us double driving crews.

On to the first test and after a bit of a moment on the grass where I locked up and took out an arrow (luckily not a cone!) the tests all flowed ok. As is the nature of such events you don’t really know how well you are doing but it felt ok and I was generally a little quicker than David which given I had seen the tests was to be expected early in the event.

However in the queue for the second set of tests with David driving I could see I was leading with David second. Clearly things were going well and we needed to keep this going! At this point I thought the second driver advantage would drop off and the relative lack of power in the 1400 ZR (standard engine save for some slightly better cams) would see me drop down the order.

Lunch time (and another burger!) and it was back out for more tests, it really was a long and busy day. The rest of the day continued as per the morning staying clean (apart from one cone all day) and pushing on where we could we were still leading going into the last two tests.

The last two tests were long, as they were joined up versions of the various tests during the day. Going into these although I knew we had a healthy lead, this could all still get away from us. So I threw everything at it, quite literally nothing was left on those last two tests and the poor ZR took one hell of a thrashing…

In the end we kept our lead and won the event overall by 1m 14s on just over 30 competitive miles, so a winning margin of just over 2secs per mile against some much more powerful and arguably faster crews from the main BTRDA national championship it was very pleasing to take the win.

With the weather unseasonably hot it was a return to the evening autotests run by Witney MC.

These are simple and good fun, the grass had been kept short by resident sheep over the winter, this meant the grip was generally higher than the normal first few events, in fact with the recent dry weather and no wind there was a lot of hanging dust!

With the Kent Targa Rally looming and having not used the ZR for a while this was an ideal shakedown before then. So I ran the car in targa mode complete with spares etc…

A big entry meant not all tests were completed but good fun was had by all and at the end I finished up 2nd overall. The ZR behaved it’s self and it was good to get back in the proper rally car after using the Rover 25 for a while.

Its been a busy few months since the last update, so here is a quick overview from motorsport during that time….

First up was the March SOCC 12 Car, this was a fun return to the lanes and we finished up clean and just a few minutes down it was a tight night and this placed us 6th overall and 1st in class. Always good to get a class win.

Then just days later it was out in Red Shed II, this is a Rover 25 bought originally for parts but it ran ok. So it was taken out onto a car trial to see how long it would last….

The day was dry unlike last years mud fest, this made for a lovely day outside but made the hills more challenging. After a few hills I got back into things and we finished up 14th overall and 3rd in class – not too bad for a totally standard car collected just days before the event.

Then just a week later it was a return to Weston Park navigating for Wayne Larbo in his Evo III, this had been through more work and had more power than before. This is event is short and sharp but with more modified 4×4’s banned it allowed us to have a fun and sideways day out at a former RAC Rally stage and finish up 6th overall and 1st in class.

Next up it was back in Red Shed II (Red Shed I was used and then scrapped around 2018) back to Silverstone Rally for another SOCC autotest. After sorting out the handbrake so it was more effective it was back to the fun – although I got a few too many cones we had good fun and finished up 4th overall and 4th in class.

Then after a few weeks away it was back again in Red Shed II but at Banbury Plant hire, this was a hot and dusty day and after a wide range of tests it we ended up equal 2nd overall / in class. Some great fun was had in Red Shed II which is proving to be a useful test bed for the rally car, and may stay longer than originally planned…. Though this may mean the end of the Golf… Decisions to be made.

After just a few hours sleep from getting back from a few days away in Prague it was back to the Banbury Plant Hire depot for another slippery day.

This time the mud seemed deeper and gloppier (if that is a real word)

For the second use of this venue the tests explored more of the venue, giving longer tests which seemed to suit me and the ZR.

Overall it was a fun days sport, though I was nowhere near the winners times this time around. Through consistent times, we ended up 2nd overall and 1st Experts on what was a very muddy and tiring days sport.

Sadly the venue jet wasn’t available, so there is quite some cleaning to do before the cars upcoming MOT. As well as sorting the wipers which failed on the second to last test…..

The last time I was at Bramley for a Targa Rally was back in 2019, and although it was fun I did end up in a ditch after a bit of a ‘moment’.

For this event I linked up back with Lizzie Pope, who has navved me on many events over the years.

A relatively local event, meant not too early a start. Scrutineering was very quick so it was off to get an enjoyable but not healthy breakfast.

The tests at Bramley are short and sharp and very much at the ‘autotest’ end of Targa Rallies, but this doesn’t take away from the challenge though the ZR is a big old car at times…

During the days six tests we soon got into the mix of the tests. Apart from one overshoot (which was soon corrected), we got all the tests correct and setting some good times. Sadly two cones cost us some time, which on an event with realtively less test times meant they were quite costly.

In the end we finished up 8th overall and 2nd in class, which was pleasing after a while away from Bramley and competing with Lizzie. Plus we didn’t end up in a ditch like I did last time I was there!

Sadly those cones did come back to haunt me and without them we would have been 4th overall and 1st in class. But as the saying goes that’s motorsport and we can all say ‘What If’….

After the what if’s it was still a fun days rallying, and lots of laughs were had.