Molly's Blog - Pirelli Rally

Hello!!

It’s been very hectic here, and it seems like ages since I last wrote a blog.  Now I’m wondering how to condense everything so that I don’t ramble on for ten pages!  I’ve been in the UK for two months and I’ve competed in the first two rounds of the British Rally Championship.  I’m living in a small apartment (which is actually a converted barn), on a farm about 30km outside Milton Keynes. There’s not much here, other than a few houses and a pub.

My season has got off to a really great start, with two wins from two starts.

The first round, the Bulldog Rally, was wet and quite tricky, although I really liked the roads. It was my first visit to Wales and the scenery was beautiful. Our accommodation was right on a river with an old steam train line running alongside.

I was told that it is always wet in Wales which I can believe. On the first liaison we were driving through horizontal sleet and there was even some snow on the side of the road, and it was March!! It rained on and off during the event, but the car setup felt really good and Jemma and I found a good rhythm from the beginning which meant we could push on.

We were second in the first stage to Richard Sykes by half a second. We then won the next stage, giving us an eight second margin over Richard going into the third stage. I backed off a bit for the next one which was the wrong thing to do.  I thought I could relax and look after the car, but in this series you cannot afford to do that.  Luke (Pinder) was on a charge and by the fourth stage our lead had dropped to only 1.9 seconds.  Luke was setting some quick times. Going into the fifth stage I was quite nervous.  We had entered this rally aiming for a podium, however the earlier lead had changed my goal to an outright win, so we took a ‘now or never’ approach and threw maximum concentration and effort into the stage. We won the stage by 25 seconds and I was absolutely stoked. This rally was really rough, and the next stage was the roughest stage I have ever driven on.  Our lead allowed us to look after the car, so drove the stage with a little bit of caution and took the win.

To finish on top was such a fantastic feeling. We were really elated and the fact that we’d had a really close battle with the other guys made it more rewarding. There was a really friendly atmosphere at the event, particularly between the Suzuki Swift Cup competitors’.  We had a lot of fun. I called home at about 4.30am Australian time, expecting to wake Mum and Dad – but they had already been up all night watching the stage times!!

Based in Carlisle (just south of the Scottish border) was round two, the Pirelli International. The rally is known for its fast and unforgiving stages in the famous Kielder Forest. The roads are very fast, narrow and cambered, with massive ditches either side of the road. The surface is also very loose and it dug up becoming very rough particularly on the second pass of the stages, given there were almost 200 competitors in the event.  The attrition rate is historically high so this was an event to respect.

We didn’t get off to the greatest start on the Friday night. I went off to bed in third place, with a lot to think about. On Saturday morning things were looking up.  We won the first stage and it felt like we were back on form. However, Luke and Richard were both very quick and Luke proving to be the man to beat. Unfortunately Luke went off on stage six – they were ok and said the damage wasn’t too bad considering it rolled four times!! This left the battle down to Richard and I. We were trading stage times and wins.  It was really exciting, but then he fell to mechanical dramas on the second last stage. It was a real shame as it was a great experience to be battling with someone so closely. But in the end we took the win in what was a very difficult and testing event. Even got to spray some champagne!! The only down side was the smell of my driving suit when I unpacked the next morning….

The next three events are tarmac, The Jim Clark in Scotland, The Manx Rally on the Isle of Man and The Ulster Rally in Ireland.  I am a bit nervous but also excited for the new challenge. The tarmac roads over here are something else, they are quite different to the Australian tarmac roads; they are narrow and very bumpy so I am hoping I can get a good feeling on them. We have a tarmac test planned for the beginning of May, which will be a good chance to try the car out on the black stuff and hopefully also gain some experience (and confidence) on roads that are comparable to the roads we can expect in the events.

UK life is going well although I am missing home a bit and finding food expensive! I’m keeping busy doing the prep on my rally car. The weather has actually been quite good, and the past couple of days have been hot and sunny so it feels a bit like home!! I have some work with a company called Pro Drivers, who do a lot of manufacturer training and car launches etc. I also have had some work with PalmerSport who run corporate motorsport events and experiences – it’s absolutely awesome! And all helping to pay the rent.. I do miss Australia though and admit to watching Neighbours and Home and Away just to hear the accents!!.

Hope you are all well!!

Molly