KING OF THE ROAD

Any discussion about the Golden Age of Road Rallying and the Motoring News Championship will inevitably include talk of three times champion Mick Briant. Now the Derbyshire man has chronicled the story of that era. The limited edition first volume, Do You Have To Drive Like That? has almost sold out and it will be followed later this year by volume two, If The Lanes Could Talk. Recently Mick and his long time navigator and fellow three times MN Champion, Dave Kirkham paid a visit to Heads of the Valleys AC for a forum chaired by Welsh road rally stalwart Peter Watts and while they were there Mick took some time to talk to Motorsport Wales. He began by explaining how he got into road rallying almost by mistake: I was going to go racing. I met a chap who was racing, he had a Lotus Cortina. Suddenly he actually tried a rally himself and he said to me Christ, you ought to t ry this. This is good fun. It was all about having fun on public roads. I tried my first rally and I think like any driver I ever spoke to you end up saying this is good fun, I want some of this. But I never started off with any pretentions of thinking I might get somewhere. From that modest start, however, Micks road rallying career quickly progressed. My early rallies were in bog standard cars, hire cars, you name it, anything that would get me out on a Saturday night and just have some fun. When I started to realise I could actually drive the pressure was on then to find a car that was capable of winning although I made the fatal mistake of thinking that power was the answer to winning. It wasnt, especially when you get down to Wales. When you get down to Wales its driving skill and navigating that wins rallies and not power. Not surprisingly, Mick has a clear view on what wins rallies, not just in Wales but anywhere, There were always some drivers who were smooth. They didnt hang the arse end out so they didnt hit things and the smooth style was also kind to the car. It didnt break things. These were the drivers that always did well. For example, when youre changing gear you dont slam it through like a lot of people think you do. I think Bill Gwynne once said to me you should change gear and not even think of it. Speed, funnily enough, comes from being smooth. The driver whos got the arse hanging out is slower than the one who drives through the corner. There were several very good drivers I know who won perhaps the odd MN rally who could never figure out why the other drivers were always quicker than them and

In this issue: We talk to one of road rallyings biggest names Whats involved in being an MSA Steward? All the latest WAMC Championship news Upcoming Events: Ty Croes Sprint May 4th/5th Plains Rally May 18th

Lawrence Landfill Dales Stages Welsh Festival of Motorsport Eagle Rally May 25th/26th June 1st/2nd May 19th

that was the reason. Road rallying, of course is also very much a team sport, You have to have a good relationship with your navigator. You really have got to get on in the car. Youve got to like each other, youve got to respect each other and you build up this sort of sixth sense. If Dave (Kirkham) said something to me in the car in a certain way I knew what he meant, he didnt have to tell me what he meant. When you go with a really good navigator you dont need pace notes, they were reading a map exactly as if it was pace notes. Daves a real gentlemen he didnt push me like John McKerrell did. He let me drive at the speed I was comfortable with. The Motoring News Championship ran for 27 years, from 1961 to 1987 while Mick began his rallying in 1969. So what, for him, were the best years? The Golden Era would have been between 1970 and 1975 when the rallies were probably the longest and the toughest. I dont mean in terms of the competition because the competition was always good but those early rallies in fairly primitive cars always seemed to be so much tougher. The timing was so much tighter. There was no time to breathe in those early rallies especially the ones that had a hundred miles of stages on them as well. There was one, the Seven Dales, which started up in Yorkshire somewhere, had a hundred miles of forestry stages, 250 miles of night rally all contained in one Motoring News rally and you got to the end of that and you knew youd done something. Mick says he doesnt know too much about the current road rallying scene but that may be about to change, Someone has offered me the chance to do the Cilwendeg this year and theyd give me a car to do it in and Im thinking thats probably something I cant turn down and a navigator offered to sit with me and thats even better someone I won a Motoring News round with so Im thinking I might just be taking them up on that. And he has some advice to offer newcomers to the sport, Its good, cheap fun. The only way to find out is to go and do it. If you are any good youll only get better. Its not going to break the bank unlike stage events and navigators, even navigators like Nicky Grist, they learned their trade in the lanes. If you want to be as good as Nicky, thats a good place to start. And if you compete on the Cilwendeg this year you might have quite a benchmark to measure yourself against.

Pirelli MSA Welsh Stage Rally Championship After the first two rounds applications for the championship continue to be received and stand at their highest level for several years. The two new classes N3 and WRC1 introduced for 2013 have proved to be popular with new contenders. The championship is still open for registrations with five rounds remaining following the unfortunate cancellation of the Morris Lubricants Rally North Wales. The series will now consist of seven rounds with five to score. Current overall leader is Luke Francis, Rhuddlan, who also leads the Group N and Under 25 category in his Mitsubishi Evo 9. Will Onions (Shrewsbury) just has the edge in a very close battle of Escort Mark 2s. The next round is the Plains Rally based in Welshpool on May 18th and will use stages in the excellent Hafren and Dyfi forestry complexes. In Car Services Welsh Clubmans 2wd Forest Rally Championship With the new look Championship open only to two wheel drive cars this year, it was Dylan Davies who claimed maximum points in his Ford Escort on the opening round, the Mid Wales Stages. Motorsport stalwart Terry Brown, running his Escort in the Historic Category lies in second place with Jimmy Nicholas lying third in his Vauxhall Corsa. The next round of the Championship is the Plains Rally on May 18th. Brian Dennis Motorsport Welsh Historic Rally Championship After two rounds, the Wyedean and the Mid Wales Stages, Rikki Profitt holds the overall lead from David Lloyd Roberts with Ken Davies in third place. Rikki Profitt leads Class B3 ahead of Ken Davies while Class C3 honours are currently held by Jason Gardner David Stokes and Roger Matthews are tied for the lead of Class C4 having taken a class win apiece

Busy Doing Nothing

In the first of a series of articles looking at the roles of various officials in our sport, Neil Fuller describes what is involved in being an MSA Steward. As an MSA Steward, my ideal day is one where I have nothing to do. Thats not because I dont want to do anything but because it means that the event has run smoothly. An MSA steward is just there in case things go wrong or a competitor feels aggrieved about something that has happened on the event. If I can turn up and check the paperwork, satisfy myself that the officials are competent to run the event and

safety precautions are in place, then sit back and let the organisers get on with it that is a perfect day. Most competitors will never meet an MSA Steward on a formal basis and this is just how it should be. One of the main problems we get is that some people are not familiar with the procedures available to them if they have a grievance, whether its completing a query form, speaking to the Clerk of the Course or whatever. The MSA Steward should only become involved as a last resort. Where organisers are concerned we sometimes find that they dont draw on the network of knowledge and experience that is available to them and that is when problems can occur. Motorsport is a very small circle and we all have each others phone numbers. I am an organiser as well as a Steward and every now and then Ill get stuck and Ill pick up the phone and ask someone for their advice and any organiser can do the same with me. I enjoy being an MSA Steward because I feel that its a way of putting something back into the sport that I love. I think the key requirement for the role is that you are a people person. If you cant handle dealing with people its not the job for you. The first step for anyone who thinks they might be interested in training to be a steward is to get in touch with one and ask if you can go along with them for a day to see what they do. Any steward will be happy for you to join them. If you decide after that that you want to start training you will need to be nominated either by your motor club or through the association. You then go for an interview with the MSA where they will check your knowledge and your background. In my case they said I just needed to do more race meetings, sprints and hill climbs. From there you are given a training programme. You will be supported by mentors and you get allocated one or two stewards that you work with. Then you start working your way through the training programme. It could take one, two or three years. It depends how much time you want to put in to it. Then you go in front of a panel and if they agree that you have completed the programme successfully you are accepted as a steward. The job may not be for everyone but I think it is a fulfilling way to be involved in the sport.

David Stokes and Roger Matthews are tied for the lead of Class C4 having taken a class win apiece while two class wins out of two give David Lloyd Roberts a comfortable lead in Class D2. Theo Bengry and Gareth James are tied for the lead of Class D3 just ahead of Terry Brown. The next round is the Lawrence Landfill Dale Stages on May 19th. Steve Harkness Competition Tyres Welsh Tarmacadam Rally Championship A rain soaked Talbenny saw Richard Merriman and Stephen Davis continue to battle for Class 3 honours with Merriman taking his Darrian to outright victory on the Bob Shaw Memorial stages, round 4 of the Championship, and move into the Championship lead. The under 25 category is led by Dale Clatworthy with Kath Curzon topping the ladies championship. Road Rally Championship Supported By The Basic Roamer Company Four rounds of the WAMC Road Rally Championship have now run with Round 5, the Eagle, due to run on Saturday June 1st. Interesting to see that the Championship leaders so far are driving a varied selection of cars, with an Escort, two VW Golfs, a Peugeot 205 and a Vauxhall Corsa occupying the top positions. The Bro Caron Rally gained praise from the RLO and also the MSA for the event organisation which is something that the organisers can justly be proud of.

Other News
The second Welsh Festival of Motorsport will take place at Pembrey on May th th 25 /26 . The aim of the event is to give the public a taste of the full range of motorsport taking place in Wales. Clubs are welcome to put on their own display of cars etc. at the event and, hopefully recruit a few new members. Interested clubs should contact the circuit office on 01554 891042 or e-mail Pembrey@barc.net. If you have any club news that you would like included in future editions of Motorsport Wales please e-mail it to phmr@btinternet.com.

Trident Engineering Welsh Sprint and Hill Climb Championship Swansea Motor Clubs Huw Turner currently leads the Championship from Elen Worthington of BARC Wales. With the Aintree Sprint withdrawn from the Championship, the next round is the Ty Croes Sprint at Anglesey on May 4th/5th.

Whether you are competing, marshalling or spectating, enjoy your sport and watch out for the next edition of Motorsport Wales.