 |
 |
 |
       |
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
After a overall win in the final round off the championship Mats Andersson and Mats Jönsjö won the tarmac championship overall with the very reliable Proton kit car. The pressure was on before the last round. We had to win it because of missing two rallies of the 9 in the championship and they all counted. Half way trough the rally the lead was only 1.1 sec to a Grp A Evo and 3.8 sec to a the main rival in the championship in his escort. At the end of the rally the gap was 2.1 seconds to the Evo in second place and 8 seconds to the escort . The results in the series have been 6 overall wins and one 3rd place overall behind Peugeot Sweden's super 2000 car and a BMW M3. We ended with the same total points as the escort (Ulf Olofsson) but we had more wins so we won it. The only setback this year was a gearbox problem during south Swedish rally (retired first day in class lead) . Before that the car had run for 43 rallies without any technical problems . We have been to Denmark twice this year. First it was a rally sprint with a lot off other kit cars and four wheel drive cars. We ended up 4th overall and 3rd in class after two super 1600 cars. Second tour to Denmark was the 3rd round off the Danish championship. After 12 very fast stages and a few moments we where 8th overall and 3rd in class . A result we are very pleased with comparing the proton to the super 1600 cars. Here is a link to in car from one off the more “twisty” stage off the rally . www.amelteknik.com/rally/film/Bornholm1.wmv Press release by Mats Andersson
|
 |
|
|
Weaver and Thornton claim
hat-trick of victories on Quinton Stages Rally |
||
|
|
Neil Weaver and Nick Thornton made it a hat-trick of wins as they claimed victory in the 1400 section of the Quinton Stages Rally on Saturday (7 July).
Neil and Nick finished first in the 1400s, 21st overall and won class B9 in their ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres-sponsored Hockly 1400cc Satria as they ended-up an impressive one minute clear of the Vauxhall Nova of Justin Lawson and Paul Hargreaves to make it three wins in three years on the Quinton.
It was the crew’s fourth outing in the Harry Hockly Motorsport-run car and they made no mistakes as they set the fastest times in the 1400s across six of the seven stages on the Llandovery-based forest gravel event.
By stage four the reigning BTRDA 1400 champions had already carved out a comfortable 44-second lead on the board before they cushioned their advantage by a further 10 seconds on the fifth test despite breaking the power steering belt mid way through the stage.
Although they fixed the problem in service, the belt came off again half a mile into the next stage so they completed the event without power steering but still managed to maintain their pace to the end to notch-up their fourth podium of the season.
“We had a fantastic run and the stages were excellent,” Weaver said. “The event went really, really well and we had no major problems. The power steering belt coming off was a bit frustrating but it didn’t hinder us too much or cost us any time.
“The stages were good on the second run through, they hadn’t cut up too much, you would never have known they had been used twice. It’s a good feeling to have won the Quinton 1400s three times in a row and we’d like to thank all of our sponsors: Telford-based ACCREDIS UK, Hankook Tyres and Harry Hockly Motorsport and everyone else who helped this weekend.”
Weaver and Thornton will next be in action on the Woodpecker Stages Rally on September 1, which is based in Weaver’s hometown of Ludlow. |
|
|
Congratulations to TNT
Tyres |
||
| Congratulations to Shaun Gardener and Ben Innes who won the Mid Wales Stages 2007. Shaun and Ben were competing in their newly designed Evo 6.The pair steered the car to a 16second win over Damien Cole in the Hyundai. The newly designed car comprises of HHMS active centre diff, modified body shell to accept Macpherson struts all round with increased travel, solid mounted rear diff HHMS design and fully adjustable rear arms. The body shell was extensively modified to allow extra suspension travel all round. HHMS have designed to Evo 6's with this setup Shaun's runs on gravel and Chris Woodcocks runs on tarmac. |
|
|
|
|
Rally Barbados got off to a flying start with
its 50 years of the Rally club with a well
turned out shakedown at Valcluse raceway.
Simpson's team
mate Trevor Manning competed in his Shell V
powered Mitsubishi Evo 8 to scored a group win
and competed in the final run of the day. |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
Hockly 1400 makes second return |
||
|
|
Weaver
motorsport press release:- Newtown based rally
car technician Neil Weaver, the reigning BTRDA
1400 rally champion, made a strong impact on a
one off return to the series he dominated in
2006, winning the majority of the stages before
a minor battery battery problem cost him time,
dropping the Harry Hockly Motorsport run Proton
Satria to second overall and 2nd in class. Neil, co-driven as ever by Nick Thornton, was on fine form on Saturdays Whitby based Wold Construction North Humberside Rally, despite minimal testing the bright yellow Proton. Providing he had lost none of his speed or talent Neil opened his account with a time 9 seconds quicker than anyone else in his class! Stage 2, the tight and tricky Dalby forest, was to prove to be very frustrating stage for the Weaver Motorsport duo. A short way into the stage the car began to surge and Neil dropped over a minute nursing the car to the finish and into the emergency service. Here it was discovered that the problem was no more than a faulty battery connection. Once the offending item was replaced the Proton was restored to full health but Neil and Nick had fallen way down the leader board. A fired up Neil set off on a mammoth mission and promptly went 17 seconds faster than anyone else through the famous 11 mile Cropton forest stage. But with only the final run back through Langdale Neil and Nick still had over half a minute to make up in 13 miles. Neil then took his third stage win of the day by going 9 seconds quicker than class leader Malcolm Hague, but with the deficit still over 26 seconds it was not enough and the 2006 champion would have to settle for second in class and 32rd overall. "It was
great fun to be back behind the wheel today and
well done to Malc on the win. We knew he had us
beat when he passed us in the stage in Dalby.
I'm sure without that battery problem it would
have been a different story but that's rallying
for you! I'd like to say a huge thank you to
Harry Hockly Motorsport for letting me use the
Proton today and to the organisers and marshals
for all their time and effort". |
|
|
Two Class Wins In Two Rallies |
||
| East Yorkshire
based Chris Peart & Gordon Blyth came away with
a second class win of the season on the Wold
Construction North Humberside Forest Rally. The Whitby based BTRDA event saw the Howden Proton Centre backed 'Peart Auto's U Bend em' team leading class B10 throughout the day. The Proton Satria 1600 won the class by a comfortable margin of over two minutes and 24th overall. Chris commented " With the reverse use of Lang Dale, it was a new challenge, but the stages were very rough in places. The car ran well all day and we are very please to get another class win. It has bee a good solid start to the season after winning Humberside Motor Club's Championship last year. Thanks also to Rob, Linda & Ben for a sterling service back up as ever on this event." |
|
|
|
Swift Sean |
||
|
|
The Suzuki Swift
of Simpson Motors, Barbados please the crowds
yet again with a faultless performance. Driven
by Sean Gill & Michael Cummings, the pair
collected third overall, two seconds off the
poll position. The Suzuki swift, is still in its
early stages of production, yet finishing
rallies with no faults. Look out for the pair
competing on the Rally Barbados 2007. Photos courtesy of Justbajan.com |
|
|
Swedish win!!!!! |
||
| Mats Andersson
and Roger Nilsson competed in their ex-works
Proton Satria 1600 Kit car at the weekend on the
1st round of the Swedish Regional Tarmac
Championship. Mats & Roger battled with the
likes of Puma kits cars, Astra's, Corsa's,
Escort's, Volvo's & Renaults. After 7 stages and a well fought battle the pair walked away with 1st overall and a 13.4 second lead. |
|
|
|
Barbados Duo |
||
|
The 11th March saw
the first round of the BRC March Gravel Stages,
part of the Texaco BRC Rally Championship. The Simpson Motors backed EVO 8 of Trevor Manning battled with the Subaru of Paul Bourne. Trevor and Paul shared fastest stage times. Unfortunately after a off on the stage caused the Shell V Power Mitsubishi EVO 8 to drop time. Trevor finally finished 2nd overall. Neil Barnard also competed in the same event in his Suzuki Ignis sport, Neil drove the car to 7th Overall. Congratulations to you both! Photos courtesy of Justbajan.com |
|
|
|
1st Class 1600 Satria |
||
| Ex-works Proton of Carl Tuer stormed his class to take his 1600 Satria to a class win and 13th overall position on the Border Counties Rally. After a close fought battle with George MacDonald in a Corsa C Kit Car, George hit a bale which cost him 10 second penalty. |
|
|
|
Proton Team Get Trophy Plunder On
The Robin Hood Rally |
||
|
|
In the first event
of the season the Alternative Signs Robin Hood
Rally on the 11th March Chris Peart & Gordon
Blyth had a fruitful trip to Mansfield,
Nottingham. The East Yorkshire pairing dealt with a strong challenge form another Satria of Roger Preistnall & Jamie Forrest, unfortunately Roger retired with driveshaft problems. Chris & Gordon drove there Proton Satria 1600 home with 1st in Class by over 2 minutes and 12th overall. The pair missed out on the trophy of first 2 wheel drive car home by only 3 seconds. "It was a really tight battle, consisting of short stages. Some of the corners were cutting up badly. But overall it was was good to get the season off to a good start, we came through and are pleased with the result". |
|
|
Wet Weekend |
||
|
|
2007 John Price
Rallying National Tour of Epynt The first weekend in March staged the opening round of the 2007 Legend Fires MSA National Asphalt Championship, which was held on the military army ranges of Epynt, Wales. The Proton Satria 1600 crew of Roger Priestnall & Jamie Forrest were making their only second ever visit together on the infamous ranges, and with the horrendous weather condition's, a tough and challenging day was ahead of them both. The morning loop of six stages were completed in constant pouring rain, and without any major drama's saw the crew 42nd overall and leading class A6 by a mere 5 seconds. "My grandma could have driven quicker!!" said Roger, but haven driven to the conditions the crew decided to up the tempo for the remaining afternoon stages. With the weather deteriating throughout the afternoon, the organisers decided to cancel the last stage (SS14) due to several crew's having accidents on aquaplaning water.
Roger and Jamie
finished the day with class A6 honours by 19
seconds, and a excellent 24th overall, with the
Satria running faultlessly throughout the day.
|
|
