Land Rover Defender Challenge by Bowler 2014 : The Best Bits

 The Land Rover Defender Challenge by Bowler Motorsport has completed it's inaugural season which saw Edd Cobley take home the honour of being the first champion ahead of Race 2 Recovery's Ben Gott and Damien Taft. Here are some of our highlights in a handy little montage.

Disappointment for Wright on Dukeries Rally

David Wright pushing hard on the Dukeries Rally. Photo courtesy of Songasport

Bentham’s David Wright was robbed of the chance to push for a victory on last weekend’s Dukeries rally when a driveshaft snapped dropping him down the leaderboard.

Wright got off to a great start in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-supported Mitsubishi Evo 9 and, after setting the fastest time in stage 5 he was up to second overall, just 11 seconds off the leader. With another five stages still to go Wright was confident of making up the time to take the win but disaster struck on the start line of stage 8 when the driveshaft broke.

With no service halt after stage 8 Wright was forced to do two stages with the damaged shaft which dropped him to 13^th on the leaderboard. The problem was fixed for the last stage and Wright made it to 12^th place and 4^th in class.

“The first few stages went really well,” said Wright. “I was very happy to be beating all but one of the World Rally class cars, the Dukeries stages have a lot of long straights which are a major disadvantage for our car.”

“I think we had a great chance of winning the event but the snapped shaft put paid to that. It was a very disappointing way to end what could’ve been a fantastic rally for us.”

Wright’s next event will be the Nicky Grist Stages in July although he will also be appearing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed as part of the International Rally Drivers Club display.

4X4 Rally raises over £500,000 for Help for Heroes

Some of the younger rally participants lay wreathes in Ypres

Thanks to a donation of £1,000 by John Christiansen, Head of Credit and Risk at Capital on Tap, the award winning HELP for HEROES 4x4 European Rally has reached the incredible milestone of £1/2m raised for the Help for Heroes charity since the inaugural rally of 2010. It has also become the largest independently organised event supporting the Help for Heroes cause

The story is all the more amazing in that the organisers had planned a one off rally in 2010 where they had hoped to raise £20,000; it went on to raise £121,000! The rally was so successful this is now an annual event. The 2011 and 2012 events each raised even more. With the 2013 rally having already raised over £27,500, the event passes the £500,000 figure for the overall amount raised since 2010.

Don't get too many Willys Jeeps on Overdrive, Here is one with 2 Land Rovers at the Pegasus Bridge, Normandy.

Tim Price-Bowen, one of the organisers, said ‘I have nothing but praise for the efforts of the rally crews that have taken part in the rallies and for the Great British public’s generosity in supporting the Help for Heroes charity. £1/2m is a truly awesome sum. We are very proud of what has been achieved and are also truly grateful to our Corporate Partners for their involvement and support’.

Application can now be made to take part in the 2013 event which will take place from 15^{th –} 27th June. The rally will follow the path and tell the story of the 1944/5 Allied Invasion through Europe. The Allied Forces landed in France early on D-Day morning – 6th June 1944. The Help for Heroes 4x4 European Rally 2013 retraces much of that route.

Starting from Littlecote House Hotel, Wiltshire, it will be a 2000+ mile adventure through Europe over 12 days. This non-speed touring assembly of 4x4s will be crewed by serving and ex-military personnel, as well as civilians and families with children. It is part military history tour (including museums, Commonwealth War graves etc) plus some fun activities, part off-road driving and part club-type social, and open to road-legal 4x4 vehicles.

2 Land Rover Discoveries on the startline of the fundraising event

The route includes: Salisbury Plain, two MOD installations, Portsmouth, visits to WWII historical areas in Normandy, the WWI battlefields of the Somme and Ypres., Arnhem in Holland ‘Operation Market Garden’, Bastogne in Belgium ‘Battle of the Bulge’, Alsace region of France for the Maginot Line of WW1, into Germany and Dachau - with its horrors of war. The event will conclude after visiting Hitler's "impenetrable" Eagles’ Nest high in the Alps at Berchtesgaden, Bavaria 12 days later.

We formally acknowledge the support of; The AA, Brittany Ferries, Cambrian Fuel Card Services, Challenger 4x4, Cobham Technical Services Ltd, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Domino’s Pizza, The GGR Group, Harpenden Vans, Jaguar Land Rover, Marshal Military Sales, o2Telefonica, Overfinch, P&O Ferries, Skytag GPS Tracking, Terberg DTS UK Ltd, Warner Leisure Hotels, and seek convey our thanks to numerous others without whom the rally could not have taken place.

Toughest LeJog ever

A BMW 2002 makes it's way through a winter wonderland

More than 60 classic cars battled their way between Land’s End and John O’Groats on this year LeJog endurance rally, which is being described as the toughest ever.

Tomas de Vargas Machuca, joint Managing Director of the Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation (H.E.R.O.), said: “This year’s LeJog was probably the toughest we have ever had, with new routes and fewer but longer special tests.”

“The weather gave enough challenges to the competitors but without being too appalling – it was slippery but road conditions were good enough to allow us to carry on with the tests and trials without having to cancel any section”.

Drivers set off from Land’s End on Saturday 1^st December on an epic 1,400 mile route across Britain, travelling through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wales, Shropshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Northumbria, Northumberland, East Lothian, West Lothian, North Lanarkshire, and across Scotland to arrive in John O’Groats after a four day period of tough rallying.

Porsche 911races towards the sunrise

Tomas added: “As expected, crews were very competitive and top positions kept changing during the first days of competition. There were a few retirees due to mechanical problems but overall we had a very successful event.”

The winners of the elusive gold medal of this year’s LeJog were Andy Lane from Saddleworth and FIA Champion Navigator Iain Tullie from Cumbria, who came first in their 1973 BMW 2002 Tii.

Andy Lane said: “It was a very hard event this year. We were only able to come first because car eleven, who was leading, got hit by another vehicle on the road se we were able to take over the first place and win.”

The “Team Triumph”, formed by driver Tony Sheach from Fleet, Hampshire, and navigator Richard Lambley from Slough, Berkshire, finished in second place in their 1964 Triumph TR4. Tony Sheach also won the Test Pilot Award as he had the best overall performance on the tests.

Roger Bricknell from Bodmin, Cornwall, and Ryan Pickering, from Totton, Southampton, finished third in their 1966 Triumph TR4A

LeJog served as the fourth and final qualifying round of the much coveted HERO Cup, which went to father and son team from Bolton, Michael Baker and Simon Baker. During the year, the Bakers were the crew with the overall highest score, having driven their 1978 Porsche 911 SC to 3rd place in the Scottish Malts and 2nd in the Summer Trial.

Peter Nedin, Hero’s Event Director and Clerk of the Course for LeJog, said: “LeJog is one of the toughest events of its kind in Europe, possibly the world, and we constantly strive to maintain this enviable reputation. As expected, we had freezing temperatures, rain, snow, black ice, but that certainly didn’t stop the drivers who wanted to finish the course no matter what the conditions were.”

A variety, built before 1984, took part including a 1957 MGA coupe driven by Curt Wagner and Horst Pokroppa, a 1965 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL driven by Jochen Gabriel and Onder Turker and a 1974 Datzun 240 Z driven by Riccardo Moraldi and Pietro Turrinelli, amongst others including BMWs, Alfa Romeos, Triumphs and Porsches.

Patrick Burke, joint Managing Director of the Historic Endurance Rallying Organisation (HERO), said: "LeJog is one of the most testing events that we have ever run. It continues to attract crews from all over Europe which is a testament to the event and all those who worked so hard to make it happen.”

He added: “We were delighted with the welcome LeJog received around the country with people being more than willing to allow use of their land and to let controls be sited in appropriate places. For many people, LeJog is the only competitive motor sport event that comes past their door and they were keen to turn out and see the cars go through their area.”

Come rain, wind and weatther, Le Jog continues south

HERO supported the Whyte Sisters, Seren (23) and Elise (21), who tackled LeJog to raise funds for the Pink Ribbon Foundation in a 1964 Mini Cooper S provided by HERO Arrive & Drive. The Sisters were also the youngest female crew to compete ever.

LeJog was supported by AVIS, exclusive support vehicle partners of HERO Events and Orianda (www.orianda1937.com), who sponsor the first prize of the HERO Cup by offering a week sailing in the Mediterranean on board this splendid yacht.

Every competitor dreamed of collecting one of the elusive gold medals, but crossing the finishing line was the main aim of many, particularly novices. The sense of achievement is immense and most crews passed under the finish banner with huge smiles on their faces. 

MML Sports powers Gustavo Saba to second FIA CODASUR South American Rally Championship title

MML Sports powers Gustavo Saba to second FIA CODASUR South American Rally Championship title

MML Sports, the company created from the former works Mitsubishi World Rally Team, has proved invaluable in securing a second FIA CODASUR South American Rally Championship title for Gustavo Saba from Paraguay. Driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX using the official Mitsubishi R4 conversion, developed jointly by MML Sports, Saba dominated the five-round series to claim his second title in two years.

The South American Rally Championship comprised five rounds in 2012, in Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay. Saba's season began auspiciously, when he retired from the first round, his home event the Rally Trans Itapua, with a rare mechanical component failure.

However, he soon put the record straight, with a convincing win on the Rally Erechim in Brazil in May and followed that up with another win in July, on the Rally Santa Cruz in Bolivia. He took second on the penultimate round, the Rally de Apostoles in Argentina before rounding off the season with another win on the final round, Rally del Atlantico in November.

He and co-driver Victor Aguilera, who won the co-driver category, notched up 166.5 points over the course of the season, compared to their closest rival, Sebastien Abramian who claimed 108.

What makes the win even more impressive is that during the season, Saba and Aguilera faced a brace of lighter Super2000 rally cars, including the Toyota S2000 and the Ford Fiesta S2000, triumphing in their clearly more competitive Mitsubishi.

Commenting, MML Sports Managing Director John Easton said; "I am delighted to offer our congratulations to Gustavo and Victor on their second consecutive win in the highly-competitive FIA CODASUR South American Rally Championship.

"Other than the first event, where they retired with a rare clutch failure, they were completely dominant in the series. The combination of their outright speed and the strength and reliability of the MML Sports R4-specification Lancer EvolutionX proved the class of the field, with a winning points margin of more than 50% over their nearest rival.

"I am also very pleased that they were able to demonstrate that the Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX, using the MML Sports R4 conversion kit, is definitely competitive against the lighter Super 2000 cars.

"Not only did we supply Gustavo with the R4 kit for his car but also, were able to help him with set-up advice. Initially, he was a little sceptical, as the settings we suggested, developed by Jari Ketomma on our own R4 car, were very different to what he had been using. However, he tried these settings and was immediately impressed by the car's improved stability, particularly in high-speed sections that form many of the series' stages.

"We look forward to supporting Gustavo next year, when he looks for his third CODASUR title."

David Wright returns hungry for success

David Wright returns from Injury to take on the Grizedale Stages Rally.

Bentham’s David Wright will end his 2012 rally season on Saturday when he contests the Coniston-based Grizedale Stages. After winning the rally in 2011 he is aiming for another victory on the challenging Cumbrian event this year.

Wright has been out of action since October following a serious hand injury suffered at work which meant he was unable to drive but, although he has not fully recovered, he should be fit enough to return to competition at the weekend in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery, Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

“I’ve not done a rally since the Merrick Stages so it will be good to be back out in the car again,” said Wright.

“My hand is still painful but I’ve got most of the movement back into it now so I think I’ll be ok to drive competitively. I’m really looking forward to our final event of the year, Grizedale is always a cracking rally and the stages used are some of my favourites.”

“It is always a very tough event and the forest tracks are very challenging, especially after all the recent wet weather. They are sure to be extremely slippery. It would be great to win the event again but there are some very quick crews entered so it will be difficult. It could all come down to the very long 18 mile stage that ends the rally. Thank you to all my sponsors for their valued support, I hope we can get a good result to round off the year.”

The rally starts from Coniston on Saturday morning with most of the action taking place in Grizedale forest. 

Mull Rally : Leg 1 Report

THE TUNNOCK'S MULL RALLY got underway in some of the wettest, soggiest, slippery conditions in its 43-year history. How bad were conditions? Well when Dervaig's Calum Duffy opted to start the rally on four wet tyres for the first time ever, you realise conditions must have been pretty treacherous (see photos from the Tunnock's Mull Rally).

But even before the rally started, there were disappointed faces in the field.

Car 70, the Vauxhall Nova of John Paterson (Salen) and Lee Paterson Proud (Dervaig) suffered a broken camshaft on the way to scrutineering and failed to start.

Then Car 42, the Ford FiestaST of Luke Pinder (Shipley) and Martin Taylor, burst its power steering on way to the start. At one stage it looked as though they might be able to carry out repairs and take their place on the start, but they couldn't get the parts.

Duffy though, co-driven by Iain Duffy, threw down the gauntlet right from the start, opening up a 12-second lead on the BMW Mini of Daniel Harper (Nelson) and the Ford Fiesta ST of Iain MacKenzie (Dervaig).

"Very slippery out there: probably some of the worst conditions I've rallied in," Duffy said at first service. "Glad we softened up the suspension before we started. Our front tyres had a bit of grip, but the rears we just couldn't get enough heat into them. We obviously need to soften the rear suspension, so we'll be faster next stage.

"It's very easy to go off tonight: stages are very slippery. We'll get through the next few shortish stages, then make another big push over the closing two long stages tonight."

But while all went according to plan for pre-event favourite and six-time winner Duffy, it was a nightmare opening 100-metres for rival James MacGillivary.

The Mull driver, seeded No2, ground to a halt in his MkII at Post 1 on the opening stage with fuel and electrical problems: and with it evaporated any chance of winning the rally.

MacGillivary eventually managed to identify the problem and restart, but by that time he'd dropped just under six minutes. Ironically, the car then proceeded to run faultlessly for the rest of the night. Typical Mull!

Duffy continued to set the pace through the next stage, the 14-and-a-half miler at Hill Road, though by now Tony Bardy had found his feet in his Nissan Sunny GTi-R. The Richmond driver was just 2.0secs off the pace and eased himself into second overall.

Bardy then took 8secs out of Duffy on the two circuits of Bunessan, and the gap at the top was down to 12s. It had closed to 7s by the time they exited the to blasts round the 2.62-miles at Ardtun.

At this stage the two drivers were so well matched that they set identical times of 4mins 13secs on SS6, the 4.63-miles at Loch Scridian. Duffy though was about to light the blue touchpaper.

Fastest again through the eight-miler at Gribun Rocks, where Lewis Gallagher was second-fastest in his Subaru and Bardy dropped 10s, it was the night's final test at Calgary Bay where Duffy stamped his authority.

The Ford driver finished 38s ahead of the field, with Mull's WRC Academy contender John MacCrone finishing second in his Ford Fiesta. Significantly, Bardy dropped 1min 34secs, though he was perfectly content with his night's work: "We're taking no risks and just not overdriving the car," he said.

That left the Duffy leading Bardy by 1:51s overnight. All the more impressive given he'd run through Gribun on dipped lights. The headlights hadn't been charging properly due to the alternator hanging off because a bracket had broken. How did the crew fix the problem?

"The Boys fixed it with a tree-felling wedge to tension the alternator pulley, tied in with a bit of fence wire and held in place with tie-wraps,” Duffy explained.

Tunnock's Mull Rally — End of Leg 1 of 3 (Overall Top 10 after SS9 of 17):

1. Calum Duffy 59.37;

2. Tony Bardy +1min 51secs;

3. John MacCrone +2.01s;

4. Daniel Harper +2.10s;

5. Jonathan Mounsey +2.34s;

6. Lewis Gallagher +3.01s;

7. Eddie O'Donnell jnr +3.49s;

8. John Cope +3.57s;

9. Tristan Pye +4.10s

10. Billy Bird +4.55s.

MacCrone starts today just 10s behind Bardy, and 9s ahead of fourth-placed Harper. Jonathan Mounsey (Settle) was fifth in his Mitsubishi Evo XI, 24s behind Harper, with Lewis Gallagher's Subaru sixth. The Tobermory driver starts today just 27s adrift of Mounsey.

Top 10 was rounded out by seventh-placed Eddie O'Donnell's Ford Escort RS, 8s ahead of the Subarus of John Cope (Walshaw) and Tristan Pye (Bishop Auckland) Billy Bird's Vauxhall Chevette holds 10th.

In the Classes, MacCrone holds healthy lead of almost 3mins in Class B ahead of the Honda Civic of Ian Chadwick. Class C though is shaping up to be a tight battle, with the Opel Manta of Graham Wilcock 15s ahead of the Peugeot of Huddersfield's Matt Tarbutt. He in turn holds a 37s advantage over the Ford Escort MkII of Ellon's Doug Weir. Kircudbright's Stephen Thompson leads Class A behind the wheel of his Vauxhall Nova.

In the Historics, Northallerton's Andrew Smith leads H5 in his Ford Escort MkII, with John Marshall (Dunblane) ahead in H4 piloting his Escort. The lead in H3 is held by Jim McDowall's Hillman Avenger.

ON THE ROCKS

The Peugeot 205GTi (Car 69) of Nantwich duo, Andrew Woodward and Tom Bowen, ended up stranded on rocks after it went off on SS8 at Gribun. The medics and midpoint rescue crew attended the incident and both competitors were taken out of the stage uninjured.

Subsequently Car 68 — the Citroen C2 R2 of Yorkshire crew Richard Sykes and Simon Taylor — was reported 'missing'. As a result of the rescue crew from the start of the stage being sent in to 'find them', a decision was taken to run the remaining 25 cars through 'uncompetitively'.

"We had huge numbers of spectators standing waiting to see the action at Smithy Corner and Dervaig," Clerk of the Course Iain Campbell explained, "and as it was looking like the gap would be up to around 35 mints, we didn't want to leave them standing in the pouring rain with no action to watch."

STAR ATTRACTION

There's at least one 'celebrity' on Mull this weekend. Roy Pilkington was marshalling on Bunessan last night, and will be on the Long One this evening. He has though been getting chased by autograph hunters. Why? Because he's one of the guys filmed in Eddie Stobart Truck & Trailers. Aye, the stars are all here!

Stirling Moss back on the starting grid. In London to Brighton

                                      Racing driver Sir Stirling Moss to take part in London to
                                                 Brighton Veteran Car Run Legendary

British racing driver Sir Stirling Moss OBE FIE and Lady Moss will take part in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, on Sunday 4 November, as passengers alongside Mr and Mrs Chris Jaques, Forest Row, East Sussex.
The 83-year-old Sir Stirling is widely recognised as the greatest all-round racing driver in the history of motor sport. He continues to travel the world fulfilling appearance and promotional engagements as well as demonstrating historic racingcars. The annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run is hosted by the Royal Automobile Club and is the world's oldest motoring event.
Speaking about the forthcoming ride, Sir Stirling said: "Everybody leads such a hectic life these days that it's nice to relax the pace every so often. My wife and I are very much looking forward to a gentle trip down to Brighton at no more than 20 miles an hour! However, even at that moderate pace it still takes a lot of skill and concentration to steer one of these old cars to the finish. At least there will be little chance of my being stopped by a police officer and asked: 'Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?'"
Chris Jaques will be driving a 1903 Panhard Levassor which he acquired in 1973 from the son of the original owner, the Compte de Blanchard of Rambures, near Abbeville in France. It had been laid up since 1926 but Chris had it running  again within 24 hours. The Jaques have completed around 35 London to Brighton Veteran Car Runs and only broken down once. A few years ago, the car won the prestigious Regent Street concours event which always precedes the run to Brighton.Chris Jaques says:

"Nowadays the interest in these early cars is much higher than it was when we first took part,
although there were quite large crowds even then. Although the start is early on the Sunday morning there is a wonderful atmosphere in Hyde Park with all the old engines firing up and creating a haze of exhaust smoke."
One hundred and sixteen years since it was first run, this year's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run will feature a maximum entry of 500 pre-1905 vehicles making their way from Hyde Park in London to Madeira Drive, Brighton. The event is part of a weekend Celebration of Motoring that includes the RAC Future Car Challenge (for low energy use vehicles) and the Regent Street Motor Show (celebrating the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries of motoring).

Champion Sykes takes on Mull Rally challenge

                                            Champion Sykes takes on Mull Rally challenge


2012 BRC Challenge champion Richard Sykes will finish his rally season next weekend with the notoriously tough Mull Rally in Scotland.

Sykes completed his BRC Challenge season at the end of last month on the Trackrod Challenge rally. Despite a traumatic first stage in the dark of Dalby forest which saw him lose over 12 minutes to the leaders after first hitting a log and then getting stuck in a ditch Sykes battled back with quick times on the rest of the stages to finish second in class in his Bathams Brewery, G I Sykes Ltd, Boroughbridge Marina and Silverstone Tyres-supported Citroën C2 R2 Max.

“The first stage on the Trackrod was a disaster,” said Sykes. “We were first car on the road and we hit a log that was propping up a direction arrow. The log got wedged under the car and we dragged it down the stage for around four miles. It only got dislodged when we threw the car sideways on a corner.”

“Further on in the stage we went off the road and into a ditch. Fortunately a group of spectators were on hand to extract the car but we lost a lot a time and were right at the back of the leaderboard.”
“I drove as hard as I could for the rest of the event although the exhaust cat had got flattened by the log so the engine was at least 30bhp down on power. I was pleased to still finish runner-up in the class despite our problems although I would’ve liked to end our championship winning season with a another victory.”
After the forests of Yorkshire it is back to tarmac for the Mull Rally, the event being held on the closed public roads of the Isle of Mull. Sykes contested the event in 2010 and did well to finish after an opening stage off. He is hoping for a good result this year.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the 2010 event, the Mull Rally is a huge challenge as most of the competitive mileage is at night. The roads are very narrow and twisty with a lot of jumps to catch out crews. It’s a real achievement to get a finish there and hopefully we will achieve that.”
The Mull Rally starts on Friday night from Tobermory with the crew competing right through to the early hours of Sunday morning.

Best rally in the world

            'BEST RALLY IN THE WORLD', THE TUNNOCK'S MULL RALLY, PREVIEW

Often labelled the "Best Rally in the World", the Tunnock's Mull Rally — the most intense, fastest and demanding Tarmac event in the country — roars into action for the 43rd time this evening (Fri).
As the late autumn darkness closes in on the island, the 120 crews head out into the first of 17 stages and 153 miles of high speed, all-out action over three days and nights.
Winner 12 months ago, Paul MacKinnon is sitting this year's event out, so local drivers Calum and Iain Duffy will once again, be the guys to beat.

But while the six-time winning Dervaig duo will again pilot their 2.5-litre Ford Escort MkII, they face stiff competition from another MkII Escort in the hands of previous winner, James MacGillivray
Both Mull drivers will be put under pressure by the Subaru Impreza WRC of John Cope. But such is the challenge Cope faces, that the Yorkshire driver will be bidding to become the first non-islander to win the Tunnock's Mull Rally since 2002.
And 2002 winner, Daniel Harper, piloting his Mini Cooper, will throw everything he can at the event in an effort to win 10 years after his last victory on the unforgiving Mull roads.
Such is the strength in depth of the Scots competition though, that Harper and Cope might do well to even finish on the podium.

While islander Lewis Gallagher from Tobermory, who finished seventh last year, will be on the pace again in his Subaru Impreza, Biggar's Alan Gardiner, co-driven by Robin Nicolson (Largs) will mount a challenge in their Ford Escort MkI. And there's no denying many of the eyes will be on the Rally Team Scotland Ford Fiesta of John MacCrone.

The 22-year-old Mull ace, backed by Palletforce and Tunnock's, and co-driven by Glasgow's Stuart Loudon, have dashed back from the latest round of the WRC Academy in France to contest the rally.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," MacCrone, who finished on the podium in France, his second successive WRC Academy top-three result, said. "It's the event which fuelled my desire to become a rally driver.
"People keep asking me how good the Tunnock's Mull Rally actually is? I believe the stages are good enough, tough enough and fast enough to be an IRC, even a WRC event. That's how good it is."
This year's event, which largely follows the figure of eight route which formed the basis of Brian Molyneux’s brainchild back in 1969, includes a number of lengthy stages. In fact, almost a third of the stages are over 14-miles long.

With the official start in Tobermory this evening (Fri), the Tunnock's Mull Rally finishes — at the end of the traditional final stage, the Long One — with a new floodlit Stop Line in the middle of Dervaig, around 1.30am on Sunday.

Rally2Raise team driver Rachel Medich is go

Rally2Raise team driver Rachel Medich is all set to complete her first season in the driving seat of her DMACK and Clark Motorsport-supported Nissan Micra 1300 at next weekend’s Colin McRae Forest Stages rally.

Rachel, from Aberdeen, and co-driver Katherine Begg are looking to build on their excellent finish in the Merrick Stages rally in early September with another good performance on the Aberfeldy-based event which is the final round of the Scottish Rally Championship.

To support the Rally2Raise project the event organisers, Coltness Car Club, have given the crew an entry to the rally which will help the team raise awareness of their supported charitable causes.

“It is extremely generous of the club to donate an entry to us,” said Rachel. “It’s a rally I have rescued on many times and it is amazing that I will be competing this year.”

“We’ll be aiming to get to the finish as we did on the Merrick, I’m still learning about driving and Katherine has only done one full event on the notes so we’re still beginners. It looks like the route will be very challenging so we’ll be delighted to arrive at the finish in Aberfeldy.”

The rally starts on Saturday morning with the crews facing 45 miles of competition in the forests of Perthshire.

As well as competing the team will be at rally headquarters on Friday (5th October) selling the popular “McRae: Rallying’s Most Spectacular Icon” bookazine as well as tickets to for the Rally2Raise raffle which includes items signed by WRC drivers, a subscription to Motorsport News, DVDs, mugs, a motorsport caricature figurine and framed photographs amongst its prizes.