A great action shot from the 1988 'British Midland' Ulster International Rally and C234 HVW in full flight with Gwyndaf Evans at the wheel, on their way to a Production class win and 9th overall.
Showing posts with label rally ramblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rally ramblings. Show all posts
Action from the 1988 'British Midland' Ulster International Rally...
A great action shot from the 1988 'British Midland' Ulster International Rally and C234 HVW in full flight with Gwyndaf Evans at the wheel, on their way to a Production class win and 9th overall.
Gwyndaf Evans winning Group N on the 1988 Ulster International Rally
Found this great shot of Gwyndaf Evans and Howard Davis winning Group N on the 1988 Ulster International (and 9th Overall), the year they took the BRC Group N championship title in C234 HVW. Check out those authentic 80's barnets and 'Farah's' ;-)
Many thanks to Fergus at RallyRetro for the image!
Rally Images Archive website
I've found a really useful website this week, essentially a rally images archive from the last 20 or so years of Irish and UK rallying. I was looking for some shots of the Sierra with Gwyndaf Evans driving - specifically from the 1988 BRC winning season, and the sites simple Driver/Event search function made the task very easy!
Tracked down around 15 photographs from 1987 onwards, showing C234 HVW in scrutineering, on stage and the winners rostrum - particualry useful was the '88 Ulster International win, complete with eigthies babes with 'big hair', champagne and cheesy grins ;-)
If you looking for period rallying action photo's, alongside Kleins directory, this is also worth a look - http://www.rallyretro.com
Tracked down around 15 photographs from 1987 onwards, showing C234 HVW in scrutineering, on stage and the winners rostrum - particualry useful was the '88 Ulster International win, complete with eigthies babes with 'big hair', champagne and cheesy grins ;-)
If you looking for period rallying action photo's, alongside Kleins directory, this is also worth a look - http://www.rallyretro.com
Rally Incar Footage Videos added
I've added some of the old rally incar footage videos to the Blog, to liven the place up a little. Brought back some good memories and a few giggles digging these out too, especially this one - I have not forgotten about the sick bags and the look on the lady marshalls faces at the passage control near Dalby Penny ;-)
Buying my first rally car, Jan 1999
With the Super 106 Cup a distant memory (and a stupid idea!) I happened to be driving home one January evening, through the chalk-cutting on the A5 near Dunstable, when I glimpsed a rally car sat in a garage showroom?!?!?
I u-turned at bit further down the road, and wnet for a ganders. Turned out to be a clubmen Group A Peugeot 106 Rallye Series 1, 1294cc. Mmmm, interesting. Turned out the car was there as a favour for the guy who looked after it, for the man who owned it.
Dazed and confused, I left with a phone number for Simon Galliford of GalRal to ring for more details. A brief test later that week on Visions stage at Westcott, and the deal was done with Phil Morgan (the owner) for £7K and it's all yours...
Not knowing what to do with it, I thought the best thing was to go to Vision's stage again, and have a practice - much to Dave Nutts annoyance, as he kept telling me to 'just go and do a rally!" 10 minutes later we are heading towards a concrete fence post at 60mph, when Dave pulls the handbrake so we go in backwards ripping off the rear bumper - good start!
So its a quick repair before our first event (eh???) which we decided to do at Snetterton circuit in February. Well after smacking it on the gravel airfield, maybe I will be safer on tarmac for a while???
I u-turned at bit further down the road, and wnet for a ganders. Turned out to be a clubmen Group A Peugeot 106 Rallye Series 1, 1294cc. Mmmm, interesting. Turned out the car was there as a favour for the guy who looked after it, for the man who owned it.
Dazed and confused, I left with a phone number for Simon Galliford of GalRal to ring for more details. A brief test later that week on Visions stage at Westcott, and the deal was done with Phil Morgan (the owner) for £7K and it's all yours...
Not knowing what to do with it, I thought the best thing was to go to Vision's stage again, and have a practice - much to Dave Nutts annoyance, as he kept telling me to 'just go and do a rally!" 10 minutes later we are heading towards a concrete fence post at 60mph, when Dave pulls the handbrake so we go in backwards ripping off the rear bumper - good start!
So its a quick repair before our first event (eh???) which we decided to do at Snetterton circuit in February. Well after smacking it on the gravel airfield, maybe I will be safer on tarmac for a while???
The Peugeot Super 106 Cup for 1999?
In 1998, as work life settled down a bit I had more time to plan our rallying debut!
The wife (although stil girlfriend at the time) was up for a challenge too, but was more keen on buying a Ducati 948 whatever blah, blah than rallying, but some gentle persuasion soon rectified that.
What really pushed things on was another lunchtime at work, trying to decifer the techo-jargon in Motorsport News (im not from a 'car family'!) I spotted the launch of the Peugeot 'Super 106 Cup' for the forthcoming 1999 season - with some interesting comments about a level playing field, low-budget and ideal for newcomers to the sport.
This sounded perfect! A month later, my £1000 deposit was with Peugeot Sport UK in Coventry. Mmm, who will build the car? How do you drive a rally car? What else is involved? Sort that later, i'm sure it's simple enough...
I tucked a few pennies away, and upgraded to a newer Mk2 'Rallye', which the one-make championship would be based on (in 16v guise) to get some useful knowledge of the car.
The cup car came as a std road car with a parts package to convert it to a rally car - so I need a mechanic, and quick! I popped along to see a chap i had met about 5 years before Des Griffiths, a superb mechanic and straight down the middle, no bulls*it. We talked about building the rally car, but on inspection of the info from Peugeot, this was to be no simple task. Not exactly servicing a cavalier...mmm?
Hey, guess what - a few months later it started to dawn on me this rallying lark is a bit complicated!
Stella Boyles was very helpful with advice and guidance, and put me in touch with a couple of guys who were also planning to do the championship and ran a local rally school - Dave Nutt and Pat Jackson of Vision Motorsport, then based at Westcott near Aylesbury.
A few chats with Dave and Pat, and the penny started to drop...maybe the 106 Cup was a bit too much to chew off for a first go! After a days 1-2-1 tution with Dave at Westcott, and a subsequent day with the Higgins at Carno (Forest Rally Experience) in the woods, I toyed with dropping the whole idea!!!
Thankfully, Stella and Peugeot were fine with us pulling out of the Cup (even though our car had arrived from France and was awaiting delivery) which by now had taken a few steps away from its original 'budget' premise, as Michelin tyres were now compulsory as announced at the Autosport Show.
So it's early 1999 and no car, what do we do now?
The wife (although stil girlfriend at the time) was up for a challenge too, but was more keen on buying a Ducati 948 whatever blah, blah than rallying, but some gentle persuasion soon rectified that.
What really pushed things on was another lunchtime at work, trying to decifer the techo-jargon in Motorsport News (im not from a 'car family'!) I spotted the launch of the Peugeot 'Super 106 Cup' for the forthcoming 1999 season - with some interesting comments about a level playing field, low-budget and ideal for newcomers to the sport.
This sounded perfect! A month later, my £1000 deposit was with Peugeot Sport UK in Coventry. Mmm, who will build the car? How do you drive a rally car? What else is involved? Sort that later, i'm sure it's simple enough...
I tucked a few pennies away, and upgraded to a newer Mk2 'Rallye', which the one-make championship would be based on (in 16v guise) to get some useful knowledge of the car.
The cup car came as a std road car with a parts package to convert it to a rally car - so I need a mechanic, and quick! I popped along to see a chap i had met about 5 years before Des Griffiths, a superb mechanic and straight down the middle, no bulls*it. We talked about building the rally car, but on inspection of the info from Peugeot, this was to be no simple task. Not exactly servicing a cavalier...mmm?
Hey, guess what - a few months later it started to dawn on me this rallying lark is a bit complicated!
Stella Boyles was very helpful with advice and guidance, and put me in touch with a couple of guys who were also planning to do the championship and ran a local rally school - Dave Nutt and Pat Jackson of Vision Motorsport, then based at Westcott near Aylesbury.
A few chats with Dave and Pat, and the penny started to drop...maybe the 106 Cup was a bit too much to chew off for a first go! After a days 1-2-1 tution with Dave at Westcott, and a subsequent day with the Higgins at Carno (Forest Rally Experience) in the woods, I toyed with dropping the whole idea!!!
Thankfully, Stella and Peugeot were fine with us pulling out of the Cup (even though our car had arrived from France and was awaiting delivery) which by now had taken a few steps away from its original 'budget' premise, as Michelin tyres were now compulsory as announced at the Autosport Show.
So it's early 1999 and no car, what do we do now?
Me and the 1995 World Champion Colin Mcrae
I guess I should really start from the beginning...
After only really following rallying from a distance for years, 1995 changed all that when the late, great Colin Mcrae won the World Championship - all of a sudden the press wanted to shout about it.
I've always liked cars and driving, but only once I had actually passed my test and got my first car, did I really 'get into' cars. I'm not from a 'car mad' family at all, in fact probably the opposite.
Colin winning made a big impression, and set me off on the road to rallying. The man truely was a genius behind the wheel, and no doubt inspired many more people like me to have a go at the time.
In 1996 I bought a Peugeot 106 'rallye', the little 1294cc homologation special which was the quickest car I had driven by that point. It got a little more interested in the rally world in its own way, as I found out about the Peugeot 106 Challenge run by the Peugeot Sport UK by Mick Linford/Stella Boyles from Ryton, Coventry.
Bombing round my local lanes, I could see why the little Peugeot with just 1300cc was such a good class car - but rallying one seemed a bit of a big jump at the time.
I had been into tuned minis for a few years, after my old mate Sid Lavers got me into them not long after I started driving. I was 23 years old, and looking for more excitement than just driving on the road (which I knew by then, was too dangerous to do flat out - even on a quiet country lane after dark)
In 1997 I got sidetracked by a career move, leaving my staff job to 'go it alone' contracting in London so there was no time for anything else but work until 1998 came along...
After only really following rallying from a distance for years, 1995 changed all that when the late, great Colin Mcrae won the World Championship - all of a sudden the press wanted to shout about it.
I've always liked cars and driving, but only once I had actually passed my test and got my first car, did I really 'get into' cars. I'm not from a 'car mad' family at all, in fact probably the opposite.
Colin winning made a big impression, and set me off on the road to rallying. The man truely was a genius behind the wheel, and no doubt inspired many more people like me to have a go at the time.
In 1996 I bought a Peugeot 106 'rallye', the little 1294cc homologation special which was the quickest car I had driven by that point. It got a little more interested in the rally world in its own way, as I found out about the Peugeot 106 Challenge run by the Peugeot Sport UK by Mick Linford/Stella Boyles from Ryton, Coventry.
Bombing round my local lanes, I could see why the little Peugeot with just 1300cc was such a good class car - but rallying one seemed a bit of a big jump at the time.
I had been into tuned minis for a few years, after my old mate Sid Lavers got me into them not long after I started driving. I was 23 years old, and looking for more excitement than just driving on the road (which I knew by then, was too dangerous to do flat out - even on a quiet country lane after dark)
In 1997 I got sidetracked by a career move, leaving my staff job to 'go it alone' contracting in London so there was no time for anything else but work until 1998 came along...
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