BKR : BLOG

12.07.10 Hey there! Well I'm back home from Quinton and I'm still buzzing! The rally was based down in Llandovery in Wales so it was a bit of a trek from Hull for the Rally4Real.com team! We did get there eventually though and passed through scrutineering without any issues! I had Sherryn back in the co-driver's seat this time so it was good to see her
and Owain again!

As I was running the Rally first class I was lucky enough to be invited to a talk in the evening with the famous codriver, Nicky Grist who of course use to sit in with the legendary Colin McRae. Unfortunately he wasn't able to make it though so instead he sent along Phil Pugh - a fellow WRC codriver. Phil had been out on the stages that day so was able to give us some tips on the condition of the stages and some pointers for our notes. It was interesting listening to his advice however it was also a great opportunity to socialise with my fellow Rally First crews - there was a big entry in Rally First for this rally with some really quick crews on the list so I knew I would have my work cut out for me!

The first stage of the day was called Dixies and it was an amazing 11 miles long - way longer than most rally stages in the BTRDA championship and one of the stages used in the UK round of the World Rally Championship! I wasn't sure what to think about this - I was a bit apprehensive and knew I couldn't afford to lose time with the subsequent stages being much shorter so more difficult to make up time! The stage was fantastic though! Some lovely flowing and sweeping bends that once you get into a rhythm, you could carry some good speed through. We got a really good time through that stage which started our rally off on a high!

All the stages were in great condition so even on the stages we ran through a second time, they were hardly cut up at all and the small ruts that had been made I managed to use to my advantage to hook a wheel in to tug me round the corners seeing as I don't have the luxury of a limited slip diff in the little micra which would usually help on the corners!

The rest of the day went without any dramas - we had a few "moments" but nothing the little micra couldn't get us out of and it ran faultlessly all through the day :o) We had a good battle with a few of our fellow competitors, finishing in 7th place in our class - I wanted 6th really but I was just pipped to the post by the Turner brothers by a few seconds in the final stage!

Our result meant that I am now up to 3rd in the RF1.4 Championship and I have extended my lead in the ladies championship which I'm really chuffed about! We now have a bit of a break until the next round - Woodpecker on the 4th September so watch out for further Bex Blog updates!

See you soon!
Bex

20.05.10 Hi! I can't believe that it's almost a week since Plains already - where has the time gone?! Apologies that my blog is a little late in the day but here is my post Plains report! The Plains rally was set in the heart of Wales using some of the classic Welsh forests including some that have been used in the world rally championship so it was exciting to be on the same gravel as used by some of the world class rally drivers!

The team met up at scrutineering in Welshpool on Friday afternoon and scrutineering went without a hitch. Once we had signed on, gone through all the checks and had a good chat with some of our fellow competitors, we made our way over to our B&B which was in a small village a few miles out of Welshpool. The day was obviously going far too smoothly because when we arrived at our B&B (which admittedly did look rather dodgy!) we found they had double booked us and another rally team was in our rooms! The landlord was far from helpful so Tim went to the pub next-door to see if they could help instead. It's not easy finding accommodation for 8 people the night before a rally!! Luckily though we found a very cheery landlord there who although didn't have any rooms to spare, he did then make lots of calls for us and found us a B&B down the road in the next village! Phew!

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny which was perfect - there had been a bit of rain in the few days preceding so the ground was damp enough to keep the dust down which was a problem for many in Somerset. Stage 1 was a 7 miler so it should have been ideal to get into a rhythm and settle into the rally. However...within the first two miles of the stage there was a long straight at an incline (known as the ski slope) with a crest at the top followed by a right-hander back down the hill on the other side. We had it marked in the notes to take it flat up the straight, flat over the crest, then to brake afterwards at the treetops. However on the day we were carrying somewhat more speed than I thought we would have been in the little Micra and only just made it round the right hander which unsettled me. This knocked my confidence and combined with the many big drops at the edges of the tracks, we were consequently off the pace for the rest of the stage and stage 2 also. Stage 3 was better although we messed up a hairpin halfway through the stage and mounted the bank on the inside, almost mowing down a photographer!

At service halt we were pleased to report no problems with the car - only suffering from mud building up in the back wheels from all the sliding but that was no issue for the boys to sort. After a pep talk from team manager Tim, I bucked my ideas up for the afternoon stages although by this time I had lost too much time to make back any places. Stage 5 was a re-run of stage 1 so I made a mental adjustment to my notes for that long straight, braked earlier over the crest and got round the following right-hander without any dramas! Sherryn and I really enjoyed the stages through the afternoon and finished on a high - literally - as the flying finish at the Woodyard (the final stage) was over a big jump and we flew through the finish boards, landed it ok....just....and arrived at the stage stop control in fits of giggles!

We finished 5th in class which I was a little disappointed at but I know where I lost all the time so I'm hoping to be back on the pace for Dukeries on the 12th June! Unfortunately Sherryn is not available to sit in with me on Dukeries so I will have Rob Walters co-driving for me instead.

See you all soon!

Bex


26.04.10 Hey there! I’m back from Somerset and what a fab weekend it was! We made the long trek down from Hull on Friday and arrived in Minehead in good time for scrutineering and signing on. Rally HQ was based at Butlins which had a ‘Stag & Hen’ special weekend so we saw some sights there I can tell you! Once we were all sorted we drove across to Porlock to our Bed and Breakfast and we had a very nice evening there with the Rally4Real team. Sherryn and I took another quick look at the notes, then it was early to bed!

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, our start time was 08:43 so luckily we didn’t have too much time to hang around and build up more nerves! Stage 1 was Timberscombe 1, a short drive out of Minehead and only 1.35 miles long so there wasn’t exactly time to get warmed up! The stage passed without a hitch which was a great start to the day! The next stage (Croydon 1) was over 9 miles long so it gave Sherryn and I more of a chance to get into a flow with the notes, the car and the rally! I didn’t enjoy stage 3 so much (Chargot 1) as it was full of enormous bales on the inside of the tracks which can do a lot of damage to the car if you hit them so I was a bit cautious around them. Stage 4 however was pretty much bale-free so we were back on the pace!

We arrived at the first service halt feeling pleased with our performance during the morning and our service crew were pleased to see the car had no problems and had no bent panels!! The guys swapped our wheels over for the tarmac stages coming up and we were soon back on the road. Stages 5 & 6 involved a sprint up Porlock Hill – stages I was a bit concerned about as I thought the little underpowered Micra might struggle to get up there! The stage was twisty with several big hairpins, we were never going to be the fastest up the hill but the little Micra did well and handled really nicely round the corners. From there it was back to service to get our wheels swapped back over before returning to the forests for the final 5 stages.

It felt good to be back on the gravel and as my confidence grew, I decided to push a bit harder. Some of these stages were re-runs of the morning stages so there were some good ruts I was able to hook my wheels into to give us a helping hand round some of the tighter corners – in Rally First we run without a diff so anything to help counter the understeer is a bonus!

We thoroughly enjoyed the final stages and were really chuffed to have climbed to 4th in class by the finish. The Rally4Real Micra was faultless all day long and a really fun drive! Sherryn and I are both absolutely buzzing now and can’t wait for the Plains rally in 3 weeks time! :o)

Bex

15.04.10 Hiya! Time has flown by since my last blog and it's now only a week to go until Somerset Stages! Tomorrow we're off to Bradford for a couple of hours of testing which I'm really excited about. It will be my first chance to get behind the wheel of the Rally4Real.com Micra that I'll be using on the event next week so it'll give me the chance to get more familiar with the car and reacquaint myself with a right hand drive rally car (as Paddy is LHD!). This will be the first time I've had the opportunity to go testing before an event so I plan to take full advantage and use it as a warm up for next week.

Unfortunately Sherryn is not able to join us tomorrow as it's a bit of a trek up from Port Talbot for just a couple of hours so we'll see her on Friday next week in Somerset at scrutineering to complete the final bits of the pre-event preparations.

Very exciting!!

Bex

31.03.10 Hey there! Sorry I've been a bit quiet since my last blog - I was lucky enough to go away to visit my sister in Australia which was absolutely amazing but I'm back now and the rally season is looming!

Last weekend I took a trip down to South Wales to meet my new co-driver for the year - Sherryn Roberts. It was a great to meet her and it gave us the chance to get to know each other before our first outing as a crew on the Somerset Stages. Sherryn is lovely so I'm sure we're going to have a fab time out on the stages together! I also met her husband Owain who will be coming down to Somerset with us to join the service crew which is great news.

I can hardly believe it's only 24 days till the rally...Tim is just putting the finishing touches to the Rally4Real Nissan Micra that we'll be using so I'm looking forwards to jumping in and seeing how it differs to my Polo.

Right....I'm off to fill in the entry form so I'll catch you later!

Bex


18.01.10 Hello! Bex here and this is the first of what will be regular blogs through 2010. I hope you all like the new look of my website, we decided it needed a bit of sprucing up!

So, the exciting news for me is that I will hopefully be out competing again this year! I am aiming to put an entry in for the Somerset Stages in April. I'll be entering the Rally First class, probably in a Rally4Real Nissan Micra as it is likely that Paddy the Polo will be hired out for the season.

If there's anyone out there who would like to get involved with my rally team please contact me, we're a very professional outfit and we can get you exposure at a national level with our rally exploits.

Ah, it's great to be back!!!!

Bex