Mid Summer Caerwent

It was back to Caerwent for round 5 of the Welsh Tarmac Championship. We had been seeded at car 9 and the weather was on our side being dry.

Stage 1 was a good stage coming away with a fastest stage time but we lost the breaks towards the end of the stage. The service crew cleaned the discs and pads before stage 2 and we changed onto a harder rear tyre it was a good stage going 15 seconds quicker. Stage 3 we bent the suspension bracket. after hitting a curb 1/2 way around and dropped around 10 seconds but we were still in 2 place overall. Stage 4 we collected a puncher around 3/4 of the way around the stage and buckled the wheel and that was the rally over for us

I would like to thank Barrie Jenkins, Karl Davies, Neil (Central) Jones and John Curzon for the help and support. Also a big thank you to Kath Curzon for an excellent job done in the co-drivers seat.

Big thank you to Forresters Motor Club for a well run event!

On a positive note we still hold a 5 point lead on the Welsh Tarmac Championship!

Dale Stages Rally 2013 In Car

Mini Epynt Stages

We decided to compete in the Mini Epynt stages although it is not a round of the Welsh Tarmac Championship. We were seeded car 1 which brought extra pressure but weather was on our side.

We were happy to be in second place after the first loop of stages 1 and 2. We also had a fastest time on stage 4 we pushed into the lead of the event. Going into the last loop of two stages we were 7 seconds down on Bryan Davies and Alun Lewis. We had two good stages which saw us come away with the overall win being our best result today after a very enjoyable day.

I would like to thank Barrie Jenkins, Neil Jones, Richard Roberts and a massive thank you to Kath Curzon.
Also thank you to Herefordshire Motor Club for a very well run event and JMS Photography and Wayne Turner for the pictures.

Dale Stages

Dale stages was the 5th event of the 2013 Welsh Tarmac Championship. As we had never been to this venue before we did not know what to expect. We were seeded car 5 and on the day it was warm and dry.

The first stage went well resulting in an early lead. We also picked up fastest stage time on stage 2. Stage 3 saw a change in the route which caught us out which dropped us to second behind Bob Fowden/Paul Wakely.

We dropped another couple of seconds to Bob on stage 4 holding us at second. Everything went well up to stage 6 where we decided to push for the win but we spun then came across a chicane that was blocked after the tyres has been hit dropping us down to 3rd place. Stage 7 was a better stage followed by a fastest stage time on stage 8 resulting in us getting up to second overall and first in class.

A big thank you to Barrie Jenkins, Karl Davies, Neil Jones and John Curzon. Another top job done by Kath Curzon. 

Also thank you to JMS photography and Red Dragon Images for the photos.

Bob Shaw Memorial Stages - Talbenny

Talbenny was our 4th event of the season in the Welsh Tarmac Championship and we were happy to be seeded Car 3. Kath Curzon was back in the co-driver seat after missing the last event. On the day we were very nervous as the weather was atrocious with a lot of standing water on the stages.

Stage 1 was a cautious start as I have never been on the Michelin full wet tyres before and a 720 degree spin on the long and fast straight dropped us down to 11th place after this stage. Stage 2 was a lot better as the confidence grew in the tyres, we collected a puncture 100 meters from the finish but still took the fastest stage time which moved us up to third overall. Stage 3 was another good stage where we set the fastest stage time again moving us up to 1st over all. Stage 4 was another fastest stage time extending our lead. We started stage 5 after a midday break we were undecided on what tyres to use as the rain has stopped and the roads were starting to clean but still held a lot of water in places. We went back out on the wets and struggled with under steer on the softer tyres resulting in a overshoot and therefore a drop in time. Stage 6 we made the mistake of staying on the same tyres ending up with two overshoots and more dropped time resulting in our lead being shortened to 17 seconds. Stage 7 we changed to Dunlop intermediates and put in a fastest stage time. On stage 8 we set another fastest stage time resulting in the win by 29 seconds overall. We also collected top Welsh Championship points extending the lead.

We were very happy with the result in the wet conditions.

A big thank you to Barrie Jenkins, Karl Davies, Chris Davies and John Curzon. Another top job done by Kath. We would also like to thank JMS Photography and John Curzon for the photographs.
I would also like to thank Pembrokeshire Motor Club for an excellent event despite the conditions.

Tour of Caerwent 2013

The first Caerwent rally of 2013 with new standing co driver Tom Wood due to Kath being away. The weather seemed to be on side for the event dry but still bitterly cold. We had been seeded car 7 for the event and both agreed from the off that a finish would be an achievement in its own and any result after that would be a plus.

Stage 1 was damp in places with standing water. At the end of this stage we were lying 4th Overall 2 seconds off 3rd place and 3 seconds off joint 1st place. I was happy with all the calls and comfortable being pushed on in certain points and being given more confidence to brake later. On Stage 2 we had no problems reported just extremely slippy in places with lots of water and pot holes to catch us out. Stage 3 we jumped up to 3rd Place behind O’Leary despite earlier worries in the earlier parts of the stage that the rear tyres were going off. On stage 4 we took time out of O’Leary closing in to just 10 seconds behind him and currently holding 3rd place overall. Stage 5 saw a new set of rear tyres and adding confidence as well as grip . We set the fastest overall stage time and taking 5 seconds out of O’Leary. The final stage of the day saw a tough decision for the crew to either push for 2nd and collecting all important full welsh championship points or settle for 3rd and not risk breaking the car or pushing too hard.On stage 6 we decided to push on which resulted in fastest overall stage time by us and due to gearbox problems for O’Leary we took 2nd place overall and the Class win.

I would like to thank Barrie Jenkins, Karl Davies, Chris Davies and Ben Merriman for the help and support. Also a big thank you to Tom Wood for an excellent job done in the co-drivers seat and settling in to the team so well.
Big thank you to Forresters Motor Club for a well run event!

Tour of Epynt 2013

Tour of Epynt was our first venture to Epynt in the 2013 season. It was a very cold and damp throughout the day.

On the first stage we found it very slippery and struggled to get heat into the tyres. On the second stage we had slightly more success with it being a longer stage generating more heat. At service we changed over to intermediate tyres hoping this would cure our problem. On stage 3 we decided to push quite hard off the start ending with a big moment in front of Neil Central Jones. We stiffened the car up for stage 5 and found it to be a lot better. Stage 6 was our final stage after changing back to slick tyres and pushing quite hard only for the diff to let go after the jump on the entrance to Bamfords causing the retirement of the rally.

A massive thank you to Barrie Jenkins, Karl Davies, Chris Davies and John Curzon for sticking out in the cold conditions. Also another top job done by Kath, sorry about the result!
Thank you to JMS Photography and Geoff Bengough for the images.