It was a bit touch and go as to whether myself and my co-driver Craig Burgess, would actually make this round of the 205 Scholarship, after having no funds left (nothing new there!). The rally is a loose gravel forest event based in the South Wales valleys and running on the legendary rally stages used on the British Round of the World Rally Championship. We were therefore desperate to get out there and were handed a last minute lifesaver in the form of Olly Marshall of ProSpeed Motorsport, who gave us a helping hand with the entry fee allowing us to compete and go for the championship points. Our spirits were high until an upset due to a badly seeded position in the starting order. This put us in a really poor position down among the slower cars, where we would inevitably catch them and their dust through the stages. The organisers refused to alter their position, which left us with not only a massive obstacle to get over, but also a potentially dangerous position with the dust ball we would be in and the lack of visibility of where the road actually was going.

SS1 Rhondda – We were pushing hard knowing we had to maximise whilst we could still see the road, then only 4 miles into the stage we began to catch the dust of the car in front. I knew I could not back off with the championship at stake and had to push on though despite not seeing the road. I was just driving to the notes and praying they were right! If Craig said 100 6 Right, I drove 100 metres and turned the wheel, a true test of your confidence in each other when you are put in that position, that’s for sure. Sure enough we caught and passed the fellow Peugeot 205 Scholarship team in front, but had spent some 5 miles behind them on the stage dropping bags of time. Within the next 2 miles we started to catch the BMW in front of us and once again another dust ball. We had some massive moments in there, I was full opposite lock with the car pointing completely sideways over a crest at about 70 MPH, but managed to save it all just in time. Phew!

SS2 Tyle was nice as it was only 5 miles long, so we were not hindered by fellow competitors’ dust, though we did have another little problem. The power steering failed halfway through the stage leaving me wrestling with the rally diff on the gearbox, which is a real struggle without the power steering.

SS3 Walters Arena – The magnificent Walters Arena and that’s exactly what it was for us, despite no power steering and a half spin on the stage. We were absolutely flying and not only did we manage to beat every single Peugeot Scholarship car through the stage, but actually beat every single car in the rally through the 3.5-mile spectator stage! Fantastic!

SS4 Rheola and SS5 Resolven - We were pushing hard again through the stages and catching the car in front once again and once again choking on and being blinded by the dust. We held it together and kept pushing on and set 2^nd fastest times on both stages amongst the Peugeots. We had a “life flashing before our eyes” moment however, when a mile from the end of the final stage, a dirt bike went straight across the track in front of us. Fortunately I reacted very quickly just preventing a massive accident. It was real scary, the biker obviously expected a gap between us and the car in front, but we were right behind him, doesn’t bear thinking about really!

We finished 2^nd amongst the Peugeots, which was an incredible result under the circumstances and the points gave us the boost to the front of the championship for the first time in our rally career. It’s starting to come together finally but the truth is it may not even matter. We nearly didn’t make this rally because of lack of money and we really just don’t have anything left for the next round.

The Trackrod Rally is another loose gravel forest event, this time based in Pickering, North Yorkshire and was a round of the British Rally Championship as well as our 205 Scholarship, and we managed to get the funds together to have a chance to pick up some more all important points.

We got off to a flying start through the technical spectator stage, pleasing the spectators around the man made jumps and chicanes. Then we were off into the fastest forest in the country with a strong determination to remain on top of the championship. We pushed on through the first stage, the 9 mile High Moor stage. We set a good time although I knew I had lost a bit of time judging the braking points. It’s not often you come up to a corner at 120mph and have to brake as late as possible, let alone on gravel surrounded by trees. We were lying in 4^th place, with not much of a gap from 1^st place. Determined to push harder we were really flying through Stage 3, the Langdale Stage, when the accelerator cable simply snapped. I rushed out of the car and had to temporarily fix the throttle half open using co-driver Craig’s boot lace, and we then managed to clear the stage.

We got the car back to service, but had lost 5 minutes to our rivals and effectively were now out of contention. We decided to carry on with the rally and get the experience on the stages. We set off into Stage 4 and set the second quickest time of all the Scholarship cars. Carrying this pace throughout the day, with some demanding driving saw us finishing in 7^th place, though it was not enough to keep our championship lead and put the odds highly against us now winning the Scholarship.

We are however determined to find the support to go to Holland and battle, just in case the scenarios on this international tarmac round play into our hands, but it was a bitter pill to swallow as the cruel world of rallying strikes again.