december 2006

wales rally gb

The only Ludlow Castle Motor Club member to compete on the recent Wales Rally GB based in South Wales was James Wozencroft.
For every round of the Junior World Championship the host country is allowed to enter a driver for the championship to score points for that round, this is referred to as the “wild card”. For Wales GB James had the privilege of receiving that “wild card”.
After two days of recceing the rally began on Thursday morning with the shakedown stage at Swansea, this was the last chance to set the car up ready for the rally ahead which would be on similar stages. The Dealer Team Suzuki Ignis completed two passes of the stage before returning back to service to prep the car for the start of the event.
The ceremonial start of the rally commenced on the Thursday evening in the centre of Cardiff city directly outside the Millennium Stadium. Thousands of fans lined the streets of Cardiff to watch the World’s top rally drivers parade over the start ramp. After driving over the start ramp, James took part in an autograph signing session with fellow Junior World Championship competitors.

Friday morning was the start of Wales rally GB, leg 1 would see the crews complete 6 special stages. Heavy rain and fog met the drivers at the start of stage 1, but a clean drive from James would see him lying in 7th position in the JWRC at the end of stage 2. Stage 3 Rheola was the longest test of the rally with a distance of 30 km and 9 km into the stage James clipped a rock on the inside of a 6th gear bend resulting in a puncture that had to be changed mid-stage. Unfortunately another two punctures after service dropped the Suzuki down to 10th in the JWRC at the end of leg 1.

The crews drove north to Mid-Wales and the notorious Epynt stages for leg 2.
No team orders were given which meant James was able to push as hard as he could. A string of fast times with no problems would see the Suzuki rocket up the leader board to 6th overall in the JWRC, this position would also see James leading the British Super 1600 Rally Championship. The final stage of leg 2 was a blast around the Millennium Stadium in front of a crowd of 30 thousand people. James said after the stage “the atmosphere inside the stadium was amazing; to get out of the car at the end of the stage and have 30 thousand people cheer was a real special moment for me”.

The final day of the rally was 2 runs over the famous Brechfa and Trawscoed forest stages. James pushed hard on the treacherous stages and by service had managed to climb from 6th to 3rd inthe Junior World Rally Championship. There was only 2 more stages of the rally left between James and a podium finish on his first ever World Championship rally, however a last stage puncture meant the crew finished 6th overall but this was still just enough to secure the Ludlow driver his second British championship crown in as many years.

Monday morning after the rally James made the trip from Cardiff to Edinburgh to endure 2 days of vigorous mental and physical tests as part of the British Rally Elite Scheme. This programme set up by 2001 World Rally Champion Robert Reid is designed to develop Britain’s top 4 young talented drivers. Throughout the scheme specific areas that are required by a driver are covered and developed in order to produce drivers ready for the World Rally Championship. These 2 specific days in Edinburgh focused mainly on fitness and de-briefing Wales Rally GB with the help of Subaru’s Current number 1 co-driver Phil Mills.

James has now finally got his feet on the ground again and is back instructing at the Phil Price Rally School until the season begins again next year.

LCMC CLUB MEMBERS SCOOP TOP AWARDS

Ludlow Castle Motor Club members took the top honours at the recent annual BTRDA awards presentation held at Moor Hall Hotel in Sutton Coldfield.

Shaun Gardener and Ben Innes had claimed the 2006 Silverstone Tyres Gold Star Champion Driver / Co-Driver titles after the Plains Rally, the penultimate Round of the Championship, in their TNT Tyres Mitsubishi EV0 V.

Shaun is currently preparing an EV0 V1 in order that he and Ben can defend their titles in 2007.

Neil Weaver took two titles in his Vauxhall Corsa , becoming the Champion Driver in the Xpsec 1400 Championship after the first seven Rounds. He also became the MSA English Rally Championship Driver.

Details of all LCMC members’ awards can be found below.

REPORT by KEITH GLUYAS
PHOTOS by KEITH GLUYAS

Standing, l to r; Gordon Davies, Chris Ridge, Roger Chilman, Andrew Bowen, Andrew Sankey, Mick Robbins.

Seated, l to r; Ben Innes, Shaun Gardener, Neil Weaver.

More photos of the evening can be found on our Gallery page.

BTRDA 2006 CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS

SILVERSTONE TYRES GOLD STAR CHAMPIONSHIP

Champion Driver Shaun Gardener
Champion Co-Driver Ben Innes

3rd O/A Co-Driver Andrew Sankey

1st B13 Driver Roger Chilman

1st B12 Driver Gordon Davies
2nd B12 Driver Andrew Bowen

2nd B11 Driver Henri Grehan
2nd B11 Co-Driver Chris Ridge

3rd B11 Driver Dave Brick

XSPEC 1400 CHAMPIONSHIP

Champion Driver Neil Weaver

MSA ENGLISH RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

Champion Driver Neil Weaver

2nd E5 Driver Alex Allingham

2nd E6 Driver Roger Chilman
2nd E6 Co-Driver Andrew Sankey

BTRDA MARSHAL OF THE YEAR

3rd O/A Mick Robbins