News archive 2007

11 November - Keith Knox Stages Rally Otterburn

Davie Hatrick/Gerry McCafferty... Twelve competitive stages lay ahead for the team who were looking forward to another top performance but unfortunately at the end of stage 5 while sitting 12th overall and leading the class by over a minute we went flat out over the Rydesdale jumps sending us into the scenery sideways at around 110mph. We were very very lucky not to roll the car and it came to a stop around 200mtrs from the point we left the road.

The team are obviously disappointed but what is more of a concern is that the sump took a big hit and dumped the oil, the oil pump, and crank sensor were ripped off which hopefully stopped the engine prior to any terminal damage taking place.

Structurally the car has been badly damaged with the back beam,front struts,rear struts, wheels,front suspension arms and front cross member and chassis legs all bent beyond repair. .

We will be having a closer look over the next few days/weeks to ascertain the exact amount of damage done.

Photos will no doubt follow of our spectacular exit!!!!

John Marshall's Subaru did not make it to rally as the timing jumped the cam belt and the team could not get the engine ready in time for the event.

05 November - Seven Up at Brands...

The team fielded no less than seven cars this weekend at Brands Hatch. Whilst fortunes were mixed there were impressive results from all seven drivers.

Gary Fitzpatrick: Gary had some excellent results all weekend and this culminated in him winning driver of the day for Sunday's racing.

Steve Reynolds: Steve's racing was cut short after a shunt left his chassis damaged but he had impressed with ninth place in Saturday's second heat and fifth place in Sunday's qualifying. Steve also took eleventh place in the first heat on Sunday

Ross Marshall: Ross was top Rookie on both days and won 'Rookie Driver of the Day' for Saturday. His 12th place in the opening race on Sunday was particulary impressive (he had passed half the field from his rookie starting position at the back of the grid).

Tony Caig: Impressive form most of the weekend and more so in the later races as he got to grips with the combination of circuit and car. Tony was 7th in Saturday's final and a very impressive third in Sunday's final.

Darren Gaulton: Racing in the ex John Jon Higgins car for the first time Darren was visibly quicker than before. He posted 12th in first qualifying and bagged 8th place in the first race - his first top ten finish. He added to this with tenth in the next race as well. Darren was back in the top ten in the Sunday final.

Tom Gray: Was well up in the time sheets on Saturday's practice session (16th from 24) in his Legends debut. Tom went on to be first rookie home in the opening heat. He was second rookie in heat two (behind Ross) but crashed out of the final.

Anthony Piggott: Retired early from the meeting after four finishes.

Picture Gallery has a large selection of images from the meeting. The following are courtesy of Eric O'Brien...

05 November - Kingdom Stages Rally, Crail...

Davie Hatrick reports... Burnside’s Davie Hatrick teamed up with Dunblane’s John Marshall as a last minute stand in as John’s usual Navigator Paul Hughes could not make it due to family commitments.

The event was based at the old world war 2 Airfield on the Fife coast and for a change the November event had a capacity entry and the weather was clear, dry and warm

The car was a 2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI built by MSP Motorsport.The rally consisted of 6 stages with three loops of the Airfield and three split junctions just to keep the navigators on their toes.

The first 2 stages saw us set top three times and although off to a conservative start we upped the pace on the rest of the loops. There were very few dramas in the 4wd turbo car as opposed to our usual 2wd Corsa, having said that the speed,handling and acceleration was unbelievable.

Stages 3 & 4 saw the team swap seconds between the MG Metro 6R4 of Tom Morris, the EVO6 of Jim Rintoul, the 2.5 STi Subaru of Bob Grant and the Darrian kit car which at 800kilos and similar power to the Turbo cars was a force to be reckoned with. We did brake very late into a chicane and nudged the straw bale 30ft down the road causing some minor body damage but this was rectified at service.

Stage 4 we lost a fair bit of time having been held up for a full lap and a half by Ricky Wheeler in the 2.1ltr pinto powered Mark 2 Escort, every time we got in a position to overtake Ricky he would cut off the racing line, needless to say the two of us were not too impressed with these antics!!!

Stages 5 & 6 saw the stages change over and run in the opposite direction, and at this time of day we had settled for 5th overall barring any problems with the other cars there was no way we could catch up a spot.

At the end of the day it was another fantastic experience sitting in John’s car and would volunteer for this any time.

Back to reality now and the Corsa will be out on the 11th November at the Otterburn Military ranges in Northumberland.

22 October - Knockhill SMRC Finale...

Burnett Motorsport were represented by Tony Caig out in Oli Poyser's old car, Ross Marshall out for his last SMRC outing before going 'National'. Ross won the driver of day award for his improvemt over the last three rounds. Tony did not have such a great day after an engine change on Saturday night, he broke a cam on the second engine on the last round of the day. After that he chose to call it day.

Ross and Tony will both be racing in the Winter Trophy at Brands Hatch - and we will also have Gary Fitzpatrick, Big Tom, Anthony Piggott, Stevie Reynolds and Darren Gaulton with us. See you all there!

16 October - Tour of Mull Rally 2007...

Friday night start off, the turbo hose came off at the start of the rally, then, just after that the car suffered a puncture. Another puncture followed and that lost John seven minutes so he had to work very hard to pull back from 53rd position to a very good 20th overall on Sunday morning as the rally finshed.

08 October - Preparation for Tour of Mull Rally 2007...

John Marshal's car being prepared for the Tour of Mull. As you can see from the rear screen John is running a tribute to the late, great Colin McRae

01 October - September Knockhill SMRC meeting

The latest race round at Knockhill saw a very busy time for the BurnettMotorsport.com team. Tony Caig making his debut with the team won driver of the day and earned 3rd place overall on Sunday despite starting all the races at the back of the grid.

We were also pleased to welcome Shaun Hynds, one of Pat Hynds sons to the team. We also had Murray Ford who took a fair bit of damage on Saturday after the first race but the team managed to get him out for the Final. Ross Marshall had god day out and managed to get in lots of track time but, Stevie McCall says, "It must have the wettest race meeting I have ever done and to top it all it was double header conpleted in just one day - it kept the team so, so busy!"

01 October - Lee Turns Thirty

Congrats and a belated website happy birthday announcement to Lee Fitzpatrick who turned thirty a couple of weeks back. The cake was Legendary as well as you can see...

21 September - Lindisfarne Rally

Several place changes over the weekend's stages from 4th to 5th to 3rd, but thin, on the last 22 mile stage John's car suffered a punture. He had to drive the five remaining miles on the flat tyre which dropped him to 6th overall. This had a been a hard and demanding rally!

Davie Hatrick's report...

The duo of Davie Hatrick and Gerry Mccafferty triumphantly returned to competitive tarmac rallying last weekend when they clinched the class win after an absence of nearly a year.

The team had taken a forced year out due to continued engine problems and at last were proud to cross the finish line at the infamous Otterburn Military ranges in Northumberland last weekend.

With what is basically a new engine the 1400 16 valve power plant was a welcome return to the ranges and many marshals and officials were happy to see the Corsa and the crew make its return and a warm welcome was given and gratefully received.

The event consisted of 11 stages covering 110 stage miles and 30 road miles linking the stages together. Out of 126 starters we were seeded at 61, not bad for after a year out but we would hopefully just finish the event bringing the car home in one piece

The first two stages were very fast but the crew were not as quick off the mark as the car was, it did take these first few stages to get the rhythm back in the car and the notes working along with Gerry's usual driving style.Stages three and four were a bit more like it and we started to catch a couple of cars on the longer 12 mile stage which is always good to see as it usually means that you are on the pace. We were passed by a couple of 2ltrs Astra's but as they were not in our class we need not worry.

Stage 5 was cancelled due to a serious of accidents, this meant a slow drive through the stage to get to stage six and seven.

These two stages were a repeat of stages three and four so we set a couple of very good times and this meant at the half way mark we were leading the class by around 2 minutes.

The second half of the rally consisted of an amalgamation of the stages ran in the morning linked up to give complete 22 mile stages, we were really looking forward to them as it meant we could see how the car performed on the longer stages when the temperatures increased.

The first run over the 22 miler was relatively trouble free with the exception of catching and passing a 2ltr Subaru Impreza WRX!!! Not bad for a Corsa.

The second time over this stage we started to lose the effectiveness of the newly fitted Mintex brake pads and decided to push a bit faster, this we did and on a down hill section we took it flat at over 110mph over a cattle grid to a long uphill section. As we hit the grid the car bottomed out and that was a sign that it was not flat after all. The damage sustained to car as a result of our heroics over the grid were a flattened sump guard, broken brackets holding the sump guard, two burst rear dampers and a punctured fuel tank.

All this was semi rectified at service and the last stage was taken relatively easy with us nearing the finish and not wanting to risk any silly mistakes we finished the event 1st in class and a very respectable 42nd overall out of 126 starters.

The work will begin early this week stripping down the car and giving it a thorough going over and repairing all the broken parts in readiness for the next event on the 11th of November 2007 and a welcome return to the ranges again on the Cheviot rally.

We are out with the Legends Cars at Knockhill this coming weekend with Ross Marshall and Tony Caig

05 September - Knockhill Touring Car Meeting

John Jon took second overall in the racing this weekend. Guest drivers included top TV commentator Ben Edwards, Aly Dow, Tony Knight and Steve Reynolds.

Steve McCall reports it was a great day out for all. John had the hardest race in the rain with Carol Brown who he could not shake off throughout the 8 laps - it gave him the wake up call he was needing at 9 in morning! At the presentations John gave Carol the 2nd place trophy for such a great drive.

Ali Dow

Tony Knight

Ben Edwards

Full set of pics in the Gallery.

No rest for the wicked... The team are off Rallying once again this coming weekend.

01 September - Brands Pictures and Rally Update...

Steve McCall tells us last weekend was a busy and hard one. In addition to the Legends the team was also supporting John Marshall in the Pendragon Rally in Carlisle. John Did well with 4th overall.

The following pictures are taken from the Legends racing at Brands Hatch.

28 August - Higgins 2nd in Championship, Win for Lee Fitzpatrick...

The Brands Hatch Legends finale saw John 'Jon' Higgins take the win in both finals including the race of the season (Sunday's) which saw no less than six cars trading the lead throughout the ten laps. JJ had a bad start to the weekend on Saturday with a gearbox failure but he rallied in the other races taking fourth and then a win in the final. JJ was 9th in the opening race on Sunday and then took second in the next race as Lee Fitzpatrick came through for his first win with Burnett Motorsport.

Lee was second overall on Saturday in his best meeting of the year. He took second in the opening race and was 7th in the other two races. In Sunday's races he was 8th and 7th in addition to the win. Lee's results mean that Burnett Motorsport Car #2 is confirmed as Team Champion in Legends Cars this season.

Darren Gaulton acheived a milestone with a first ever 'lap led' in Sunday's final - surely something for him to build on for next season. Burnett also had several other cars in action as Gary Fitzpatrick returned to the fold (21st, 19th, 16th, 17th, 19th & 16th) all from the back of the grid. Tony Piggott enjoyed his third outing in the Legends with us whilst Inner Circle Ltd's competition winners Julian Kerby and Paul Mackie had their motorsport debuts and enjoyed themselves tremendously.

A big surprise for Legends fans was the appearance of JJ's spare car with the number 32 on the side... Reigning World Masters Champion Peter Morton had a big problem in practice when his engine caught fire. The team loaned Peter the spare car for round 15 and he took 3rd and 9th in his two races which was enough for him to secure fourth in the championship.

05 August - News from Oulton Park...

How quickly fortunes turn... John Jon lost the lead of the championship on Saturday to Chris Grieve after suffering two race retirements. In the second race JJ's propshaft failed and then in the third race the leading drivers were caught out by a line of oil which resulted in a six car pile up. The door on JJ's car was pushed in virtually to the steering wheel but John was OK and attended the presentations after the meeting.

Lee Fitzpatrick had another good day's racing and took fifth place on the day including third place in the final. Lee has therefore maintained the lead in the team car championship. Darren Gaulton took 18th and 17th in the two heats (out of a strong 28 car entry) but also retired from the final.

Pat and Frank Hynds were also in action. Pat had an ingition failure in the first race but was 19th and 11th in the other races. Frank was 11th and 7th in the heats (like Pat running from the back. Frank retired in the final with an engine failure.

23 July - Pics from Albamarle Rally 21/22 July...

John Marshall continued to show pace and potential on this rally as he led the field until forced into retirement. His main problems were two punctures followed by gearbox problems.

23 July - Win for Higgins at Silverstone...

JJ continued his winning form at Silverstone and maintains his championship lead from Chris Greive. Two race wins and a seventh place were enough to seal overall victory on Saturday. Sunday's racing saw JJ fourth overall despite a retirement. He won the final however and took third place in race two.

Lee took sixth in the final on Sunday adding to 5th and 4th places in Saturday's races. Chris Thomas and Anthony Pigoott completed the team for the weekend. Chris was fastest in Sunday's practice session - his first meeting since the opening round of the year at Mallory Park. Chris was fourth overall on Saturday with 4th, 8th and 5th.

10 July - Pics from George McNeill...

Thanks to George McNeill for these phots from Anglesey. Some of them are obvious. The group shot is the line up of champions on racing duty that weekend - the strongest ever Legends entry including Oli Poyser, Chris Grieve, Jamie Clarke, Derek Pierce, John Jon Higgins and Peter Morton.

02 July - JJ Continues Winning Form at Anglesey...

John Jon took two more race wins and overall victories on both days of the race meeting on the excellent new Anglesey circuit. John was denied a chance at equalling the record for consecutive wins when he drew back of the grid for the first race. He put on a spectacular charge nonetheless and came through for fourth place. Starting at the front in the second race JJ was soon in front and pulling away to take another win. Overtaking was more difficult in the final but 7th place was enough to take the overall day's silverware again. Sunday's action was on the longer International circuit which afforded more overtaking opportunities. JJ passed Chris Grieve late in the race to take the lead but an error at the hairpin saw Chris back through to take the win. JJ made no mistake by taking the second heat and then charged through the pack to take an impressive third in the final to again take the day's overall honours.

Lee Fitzpatrick always enjoyed the old Anglesey having had a race win their and his results continued to impress on the new circuit. He took 6th, 13th and 4th in Saturday's three races. On Sunday he took two sixth positions but non-finished in the final with near side front suspension damage.

Gary Fitzpatrick was again racing the #3 Team Car and he has never raced in the wet before. He did well taking six finishes in the top 20 which was all the more remarkable as he elected to start from the back of the grid.

It was good to have Darren Gaulton back with us having recovered from Chicken Pox. Darren also posted five finishes well inside the top 20 plus one retirement.

2004 Champion Oli Poyser was with us as well. Oli had a frustrating Saturday but after we re-wired the car he was back to his old self and finished 5th overall on Sunday in his first Legends race meeting for two years,

25 Jun - Six for John Jon...

John Jon Higgins re-wrote the Legends Cars record book at Rockingham this weekend by taking all six race wins! This is the first time anyone has acheived that and JJ was particularly pleased to have done it this season given the level of competition. Lee Fitzpatrick also had a good weekend taking fourth overall and driver of the day on Saturday.

JJ and Stevie (right)

Picture Gallery

18 Jun - Crail Rally...

John Marshall - Saturday turned out to be a very wet day. We had an electrical problem that in the first stage that haunted John most of the day as it gave us 10 second lag on our time and therefore John had to work so hard all weekend to pull it back. John then lost 6th gear at end of Saturday so he had to drive all day Sun with no 6th gear.

Ross Marshall - We spent the last 2 weeks putting the steering wheel on the right hand side as he was not too happy in the Jim Clark event a couple of weeks back. After the start of rally when we had slight problem with the engine - we borrowed a set of spark plugs from a spectator to get ross under way but after the 5th stage he had to retire with engine not running on all four cylinders. After checking we found it had no compression on number 3 cylinder so we'll now get the car ready for next rally.

Mini gallery on FlickR

10 Jun - Higgins Wins at Mondello...

John 'Jon' Higgins bagged another two race wins and outright victory at this weekend's visit to Mondello Park in Ireland. JJ has now moved into second place in the championship standings behind Chris Grieve.

Lee Fitzpatrick will be a little frustrated with a couple of his races including two retirements but there was an impressive 4th in Sunday's final and he also posted the fastest lap in Saturday's qualifying. Lee still leads the Team Car championship.

We were pleased to welcome Gary Fitzpatrick back into the race seat as he gave the #3 team car its season debut. Gary started all his races from the back of the 26 car grid and had some very impressive results taking a best of 15th. His lowest placing was 18th which means he overtook almost half the field in his races.

Good to welcome Frank and Pat Hynds to the Burnett awning. Frank had an excellent result in Saturday's final taking 5th place.

In order to make updates to the image galleries a little quicker we are trying out the FlickR facility. Let us know what you think. FlickR Slideshow from Mondello.

06 Jun - Higgins Leads Scottish Championship...

After taking two wins in the Scottish Championship meeting at Knockhill a couple of weeks back John Jon Higgins has taken the lead of the SMRC Championship. Well done JJ. Steve Reynolds also had a good meeting taking second and fourth places in the two heats. The fact that Steve beat JJ in the first heat shows how well he was going and of course there are no team orders in our racing...

This weekend sees the guys having a very busy weekend with the Legends off to Mondello Park near Dublin in Ireland. JJ is a previous race winner there and is looking forward to it. Lee Fitzpatrick will have some unusual competion this weekend - he dad, Gary, makes a very welcome return to the grid in the third Burnett National Championship car #3.

29 May - Jim Clark Rally report from Vicky...

Well, what a hard weekends rallying. We completed both the National Rally and the Reivers Rally and brought the car home completely in one piece. The rally started on the Friday night with two short bursts round a 2 mile spectator stage, the aim of the game was just to get the car back for the next days rallying.

We had a poor run on the Saturday, driver, co-driver and car all not working very well together, the late night after the spectator stages, then the early start on the Saturday morning didn’t help the cause very much either. It resulted in two not very happy bunnies in the car for the 10 gruelling stages we had to face. The stages in the afternoon were very slippy as the had been a little rain, thus making the road very greasy – not great fun when you are running on slicks causing a few heart stopping moments. We finished 42nd overall, and after the terrible day we had it wasn’t a bad result for our first national status rally.

The Sunday however in comparison to the Saturday was a wee bitty better, I think the semi long lie helped in the morning helped, but the weather didn’t. A rather ragged and untidy run but our times were getting better as the day went on, it was a good opportunity to get some miles in the new car on a proper event but this threw up problems in itself, narrow roads lined with trees made trying to position the car on the road a bit more difficult for Ross with the car being a left hooker - it is certainly a whole different ball game from the wide roads of the likes of Crail airfield. The result in the end was 36th overall and 4th in class, again not bad at all considering the rally start with 110 entrants.

Also a great result for John Marshall finishing 2nd overall in the Reivers rally, but not without a few heart stopping moments either I don’t think. I would just like to thank Trix’s (maw) catering for the weekend, she did a sterling job, not forgetting the new recruit Lesley who was helping out too and had her first taste of rallying – sorry we didn’t book the better weather.

Next event is Weeton Camp Stages at Blackpool on the 10th June.

25 May - Jim Clark Rally This Weekend...

John and Ross will be back in action this weekend in the Jim Clark Rally

The event, now Scotland’s only international rally, will once again be a counting round of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship, as well as a round of the Scottish, Irish Tarmac and other national and local series.

The rally remains the only such event run over closed public roads on mainland Britain. The opening day of the main international event will be reduced to a double run of the ever-popular Langton spectator stage near Duns. However the international event will now continue with a full itinerary on the Saturday through to the Sunday.

Based as before at Kelso Racecourse, and centrally serviced from Charterhall Airfield, the rally will for the first time see the clubman’s event - the Jim Clark Reivers rally - staged in conjunction with, and run over the same stages as the second leg of the international rally on the Sunday.

20 May - Win for John Jon, Lee Leads Team Cup...

A good weekend for the Legends team at Croft as John Jon became the first driver to bag a second race win this season. He went on to win another race on Saturday and is now the only driver to have won two races at a round this year. This also meant that he took overall victory at Croft on Saturday. He has now moved into third place in the championship behind Chris Grieve and Peter Morton.

Lee Fitzpatrick bounced back from a retirement in the first race to get a useful points haul on Saturday. This meant that he is now in the lead of the Team Car championship. He also earned 'Driver of the Day' on Saturday.

19 May - Report from Vicky...

After a clean run at the Howford Hydraulics Stages at Ingleston Showground all day we finished 18th overall and 1st in class – by one second! Its was a very close battle all day and going into the last stage, the top 3 in class were separated by only 3 seconds. Once across the finish line, unaware of how the other 2 cars times compared to ours, we waited nervously for the other two to return to the service area, one of which didn’t after hitting a wall mid stage, the other returned and we had matched his time but as we went into the stages 1sec up we took class honours. It was a great battle through the day, thanks go to all the team, marshal, organisers and also the other 2 in the class that gave us a good run for our money all day. Our next event is the Jim Clark Rally based in Kelso next weekend, we will be competing on the National Rally on the Friday and Saturday, and then on the Sunday we will be contesting the Reivers Rally.

02 May - Legends Round Two

John Jon Higgins picked up his first race win of the season in the second heat last weekend at Donington Park. JJ was eighth in the first race but retired from the final. Despite the retirement JJ still lies fifth in the table.

Lee Fitzpatrick had his first outing of the year and was unlucky not to take a podium at the end of the day (he was fourth overall) taking two fifths and an eighth place finish.

Darren Gaulton retired from the first race but finished 19th and 20th out of 31 starters in the other two races.

Pictures below are courtesy of George McNeill (top row).

15th April - Howford Hydraulic Stages - Ingliston

John and Ross Marshall were in action again over the weekend. John finished 4th overall in his new car. The team worked hard after getting the car on Friday morning, working until the early hours of Saturday morning and then setting off to the rally at 6am! Great news from Ross as well as he won his class co-driven by Vicky Grant.

15th April - National Legends Round 1

The Burnett National team were in action with the two 'Team Cars' scoring points well in round one. John Jon Higgins day opened well with second in the opening race and he backed that up with 11th in heat two and 4th in the final. In the days overall points standings he was fourth.

The team welcomed JJ's old mate Chris Thomas on board. Chris was racing the number 2 car which will normally be used by Lee Fitzptrick. Chris had a solid day as well and was 8th overall after finishing 9th in all three races. Consistent or what?

Darren Gaulton was also running under the Burnett awning and he ranked 18th from 29 starters with a highest finish of 15th in the final which showed he was progressing well as the meeting went on.

10th April - Scottish Legends Round 1

A good day for Burnett Motorsport.com with John Jon Higgins, Stevie Reynolds and Ross Marshall all competing at Knockhill in a very healthy and competitive 20 car field. JJ took second in the first race, 4th in heat two and then third in the final.

Stevie Reynolds also had one of his best rounds in recent times with 7th in heat one and then two 5th place finishes in both heat two and the final.

Ross Marshall's first proper Legends meeting saw him bag 15th and 17th in the heats followed by a retirement in the final.

In the championship table JJ is second behind fellow SMRC returnee Robin Drysdale whilst Stevie is 5th.

3rd April - Charterhall Stages Rally

Unfortunately not so good. John Marshall had the use of a Subaru from MSP as our car is not finished. At second stage the timing belt broke which put him out the rally. Ross also had problems, with steering which put him out on the third stage. Therefore it's back to the workshop to prepare for the next event. Ross will be out at Ingliston on 21st of April (Howford Hydraulic Tarmac Stages)

This coming weekend we will be at Knockhill with Ross Marshall, John Higgins, and Steve Reynolds for first round of the Scottish Legends Cars championship.

28th February - Vicky's Verbals - the new season beckons

Well, new season, nice shiny new car and the first time back in a car together since the Mull incident in October last year... yes - it really has been that long. The season kicks off at Crail Airfield this Saturday for the DCC Stages which the team will use to shake down the new Citroen C2R2 (pics below), as this will be Ross' first time out in the car it will be a learining curve as it is both left hand drive and has a sequential gear box. This year the crew will be competing in the North of England Championship, the Scottish Tarmac Championship and the Border Ecosse Championship in association with Beatsons Building Supplies, so a busy year ahead with a few forest events possibly thrown in for good measure. Another update to follow after this weekends rally. Vicky

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21st February - Pics from Colin Smart

No news to impart on the upcoming season at the moment so we thought we'd thank Colin Smart for sending through these shots from last year...

Brands 06 from Colin Smart

06 from Colin Smart

06 from Colin Smart

06 from Colin Smart

18th January - Update / News from Vicky

Galloway Hills Rally - 3rd December (Philip Walker & Vicky Grant) - Well, this was my first time back in the forest for over a year, and also first time back in a car since the wee misdemeanours on Mull and at Crail, I can honestly say I wasn't even nervous, not in the morning not even on the start line, not till the first corner into the stage and I was certainly a tad uncomfortable being back in a car. It wasn't till the afternoon stages I started to get back into the swing on things and by the last stage I had figured out why I enjoy being in a rally car. Phil was back in the car after a good result on the Grizdale Rally, he set good times all day no thanks to me and we brought the car home in 10th overall and an impressive 1st in class. A huge thanks to Uncle Phil and the service crew who battled the elements through out the day.

Christmas Stages - Croft Race Circuit - 30th December (Bob Grant & Vicky Grant) - The weather forecast was predicted as wet and that it defiantly was, so the Grant Rally Team headed south...minus the service crew for the Christmas Stages at Croft, I've never been to Croft before and dad hadn't been the in over 30 years, infact the last time he was there he wrote off a single seater racing car and put himself in hospital, it was going to be an interesting day. Scrutineered on the Friday night and an up early in the morning to get camp set up. The rain didn't look like It was going to lift and we went into the first stage, only to have an early spin and end up on the grass. Stage 2 went better, stage 3 we had another big spin and lost a lot of time stuck on the grass, thanks to the marshals who gave us a shove back onto the black stuff. The rest of the day went without any dramas, and although we dropped over a minute and a half with various spins, we finished 17th overall. Thanks to Ian, the lone member of the service crew for the day and the camp cook.

Jack Frost Stages - Croft Race Circuit - 14th January (Bob Grant & Vicky Grant) - Well after some of the Grant Rally team had a wee trip to the International Autosport Show, we all met up at Darlington for another attck at Croft Race circuit. Starting at number 9, the field ahead of us was very competitive but non the less with both of us strapped into the car we were ready to go, and I'm so glad to say there were absolutely no dramas to report, the times were quick thanks to the dry (and very windy) conditions. We started the day steadily and our times got consistenly quicker. I say we had no dramas, there may have been a minor bit on confrontation with a rather large hay bale on stage 5, needless to say we lost the argument but hey, the car came back into service a little bit lighter than it was when it went out, no time dropped in the proceedings. We finished the day with a top 10 result and we received the honours of first mixed crew aswell. Again thanks to the service crew, also to the rally organisers and the marshals.

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www.ecossepix.co.uk

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