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Reports and Reviews 2006

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BRC Stars Round 6 : Tempest “Stars” Rally : Review November ‘06

A focused Howard takes class win on Tempest

Despite an 11^th hour change of car young Tesco employee Alan Howard once more demonstrated his versatility and adaptability by bringing his hired steed home in a highly creditable 4^th overall and 1^st in class on Saturday’s final round of the 2006 Stars of the Future Championship, the Tempest Rally.

After an engine failure on Thursday night in the Peugeot Alan was scheduled to use a replacement had to be sourced very quickly and Rallyschool.uk stepped in to assist by supplying one of their Ford Focuses.

With no testing whatsoever in the new car Alan and usual co-drive William Kelly set about doing what they do best… driving their hearts out. Unfamiliarity with the car saw Alan begin cautiously, preferring to give time to his competitors rather than crash out. Despite this his times were never far off the competition and as the day progressed the young Tesco/ Geenergy supported driver upped his pace and began pushing harder.

At the half way mark the pair were up to 5^th overall and with his confidence in the car and what it was capable of now greater than at the beginning of the day Alan really upped his pace, but found he was still breaking too early. The brakes are amazing in this car!

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However the afternoon stages went without drama, including the long Ash with its infamous jumps. The car was awesome through there – we really ‘flew’ over those jumps! Enthused the young Manchester based rally driver

Despite not having a lamp pod for the 3 nocturnal stages Alan and William continued to push right to the end and the pair were justly rewarded with a sterling 4^th overall and 1^st in class at the end of the day.

Considering the stressful few days leading up to this event it was just a relief to start the rally, but to achieve this result is fantastic!

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped out throughout the season, from Tesco and Greenergy to William my co-driver and especially my Dad who has always been there for me.

With the championship now over young Alan can reflect on the successful, but at times trying season and focus on 2007.

Rally report and pictures produced by Geoff Mayes Images

Featured on the British Rally Forum and Crash.net

BRC Stars Round 5 : Trackrod “All Stars” Rally : Review October ‘06

Trackrod troubles for Howard

Young Tescos employee Alan Howard experienced one of the worst rallies of his fledgling career as he struggled against all odds in the run up to this weekends Trackrod ‘All Stars’ Rally in North Yorkshire and was cruelly denied a finish when the engine on his rented Peugeot rally car expired half way through the day.

Young Alan, who headed to the Yorkshire forests lying 3^rd in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA ‘Stars of the Future’ championship standings had last minute problems when the engine of his little Tescos/ Geenergy backed Suzuki Swift developed incurable problems.

After frantic phone calls a Peugeot 106 was sourced from JAM Motorsport but such was the late notice that Manchester based Alan did not even have the chance to test the car before the start of the rally.

Despite the lack of seat time in the car (Alan had never even driven a road going 106 before!) he quickly adjusted to the car and was only 5 seconds off the pace after the opening stage.

Stage 2, the 9 mile Cropton was Alan’s first ‘proper’ forest stage in the 106 and by and large the stage was without incident, apart from when the emergency ‘kill switch’ was knocked off when Alan hit a bump a bit hard, costing them some time whilst Alan and co-driver William Kelly tried to diagnose the fault.

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Rally report and pictures produced by Geoff Mayes Images

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Next up was Gale Rigg, and despite a big moment on a downhill hairpin Alan still managed a top 10 stage time.

We had a big moment in there! As we were coming out of the hairpin the car jumped out of gear and we almost went off the side of the mountain! I managed to gather it all together but the front bumper took a bit of abuse!

A clear run through the 8.5 mile Long Moor was reassuring for Alan, but he was disappointed in his overall time for the stage as, hampered by a long ratio gearbox, he had lost time on the high speed straights and had now dropped outside the top 10 overall.

Alan and William headed to Stage 5, Langdale, with the objective of just finishing the rally and trying to salvage as many points as possible in an effort to maintain their championship position but unfortunately the cruel hand of fate was not yet finished torturing the young rally driver. When the car stalled on a hairpin Alan feared the worst.

Sure enough the car refused to start for a number of minutes and when it did eventually fire up he tried to coax the mis firing, smoking Peugeot to the finish of the stage in the gallant hopes of repairing the sick engine at service. However, despite making it to the end of the stage the car died once more and refused to go any further.

I am so disappointed. This whole week has been so stressful. First the Suzuki gave me enough headaches to last a lifetime and then this disaster.

Now I have to focus on the Tempest and hope I can get a good clean run there. I still have a chance to salvage a decent championship result but need a solid points haul on the final rally.

BRC Stars Round 4 : Isle Of Man Stars Rally : Review August ‘06

A class Win For Howard’s Frustrating Weekend

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Young Alan Howard endured a frustrating Rally Isle of Man as his little Tescos/ Greenergy sponsored Suzuki Swift suffered with handling maladies throughout the 2 day event. Even so, showing incredible experience belying his youthful age, young Alan ended the weekend with a highly creditable 5^th overall and 1st in class!

With next to no wet weather experience and a new co-driver for the event Alan knew that a cautious approach would be the sensible way to start off the event. 5^th fastest through the very slippery Union Mills was pleasing to Alan. However Cringle, the final stage on Friday, was possibly the trickiest in the entire championship. With the road as slippery as ice in places this was a stage to respect. Respect it Alan did, but was very unhappy with the handling on his car. Upon returning to service a detailed inspection found the rear left bush was damaged, causing the wheel to move around and make the car unstable. A quick scavenge around and a replacement was sourced, enabling Alan to carry on into day 2. The time loss in the final Friday stage had dropped Alan, and a last time replacement co-driver Neil Foulkes, down to 6^th overall.

Day 2 began with a very slippery run through Rhenab and Alan was only 6^th quickest, re-adjusting to the handling on the Suzuki.

Due to accidents and delays the next 3 stages were all cancelled, which was frustrating for Alan, as he had been hoping to make up time in stages that really suited his driving style.

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A top 6 time through White Strand was then duplicated on the penultimate stage as Alan pushed as hard as he dared in the changeable conditions. After running out of time and being unable to recce the Newtown stage the pair were nearly caught out by a couple of unseen bumps but they arrived at the final stage, the 14 mile ‘Classic’ ready for a big push.

On a stage where bravery and commitment are required in bucket loads Alan came through as the shining star to go 3^rd fastest through the stage. This despite another bush failure on the front of the car, causing the front right wheel to move backwards into the wheel arch under braking!

What a rally! I have heard so much about this place and it still surpassed my expectations. We had some handling issues throughout the rally but a very big thanks must go to my service crew for working late on Friday night to rectify it all. I am fairly pleased with the results but reckon I might have made up a bit more time if those other stages hadn’t been cancelled.

Alan now moves into 3^rd overall in the championship standings with only 2 gravel rallies left.

Next up is the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire on the 7^th of October

Rally report and pictures produced by Geoff Mayes Images

Featured on the British Rally Forum and Crash.net

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BRC Stars Round 3 : Jim Clark Stars : Review July ‘06

Jim Clark nets another Boost for Howard

Young Alan Howard backed up his Pirelli ‘Stars of the Future’ Rally class win with a secondclass win in a row and went one better by finishing 4^th overall on this weekends Jim Clark Rally, round 3 of the 2006 ‘Stars of the Future’ Rally Championship.

Alan, who is more at home on tarmac, had been relishing the opportunity to complete the recce and modify the notes more to his liking. A conservative first stage saw the young lad from Manchester languishing down in 11^th place, obviously caught out by the pace of those ahead of him. He gradually upped his pace throughout the day and admitted to thoroughly enjoying himself.

“We loved this rally. The car performed faultlessly and everything went according to plan. I need to do some work on the suspension but otherwise I’m very happy with the set up.”

By the half way mark Alan had hauled his little Tesco/ Greenergy supported Suzuki Swift up to 7^th overall and by playing the consistency key as others suffered reliability problems, as well as setting some top 4 stage times he was able to move up to 4^th overall by the time the cars arrived back in Kelso at the end of a tough day of rallying.

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With his second class win on the trot Alan is now confident as the series heads to the Isle of Man for round 4.

“2 great results in a row have done my confidence the world of good. Considering my car is virtually standard I am very pleased with how the event went. Now we must prepare for the Isle of Man, which will be another new event for me.”

Amendment – Post Event

After the awards presentation at Kelso Barrett's Nissan Micra was taken to post event scrutineering, which it went through with flying colours, but the crew then failed to return to the final Time Control and their victory was lost. Therefore David Meredith was handed 1^st place, Mark Gamble 2^nd and Alan Howard & William Kelly took 3^rd overall.

Rally report and pictures produced by Geoff Mayes Images

Featured on the British Rally Forum and Crash.net

BRC Stars Round 2 : Pirelli Stars : May ‘06

Howard Happy to survive Kielder

Tescos employee Alan Howard survived his first encounter with ‘Killer Kielder’ and finished round 2 of the Stars of the Future championship with 5^th overall and a class win!

Kielder forest comprises of some of the most infamous rally stages in Europe, with even former champions talking of their respect for the tricky nature of the roads, so for a youngster the prospect of tackling Kielder for the first time must be very intimidating. And yet young Alan handled the experience with a maturity that will see him go far.

The rally began with a minor hiccup when the crew struggled to adapt to the organisers notes, resulting in Alan having to drive by sight for a portion of the first stage. Despite this their times were still well within the top 10.

A clean run on the second stage saw them post the 7^th fastest time which helped put the crew at ease. An early retirement on the previous round, the Astra Stages, meant the pairing were still very inexperienced at this type of event and every little success was a confidence boost.

Stage 3, the 12 mile long Chirdonhead, is renowned for being quite tricky and yet Alan was 6^th quickest, a mere 8 seconds slower than Mark Gamble, a pre event favourite. With the car running like clockwork the pair headed back to Carlisle for the first of the P zero spectator stages, and were going well until the electrics suffered in the watersplash costing them time as the car almost drowned. A precautionary check of everything at first service showed that the car was still in fine order and the crew returned to the forests for the afternoon stages sitting comfortably in 6^th place.

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Stage 5 then saw the pair struggle a bit over the very fast but bumpy roads of Shepherdshield and admit to having had one or two minor moments on their way to another 6^th fastest time.

However Stage 6, a re-run of Stage 1 through Bower was now very cut up and all of the little 1400s’ really struggled. Unfortunately for Alan a puncture 2 miles from the end cost him a lot of time, but the rate of attrition in the class meant he was still well within the top 6.

3 top 5 times then followed as Alan found a comfortable rhythm, with the little Suzuki running faultlessly. A slight ‘moment’ on the long run through Kershope was the only real bit of excitement and as Alan had built a buffer between himself and the car behind the pair were happy to ease off slightly and preserve the car to the finish. A controlled run through the final P zero stage and a successful fording of the pesky watersplash saw Alan and William round up the rally with a 4^th fastest time.

Mark Gamble had expired just after the finish of the stage and Alan graciously towed the stricken car back to finish, conscious of the fact that he was helping Mark take the final podium position.

So, after 2 rounds Alan now lies 9^th in the championship, but more importantly he is only 10 points adrift of the leader. He is confident that he will be quicker when the series heads to Scotland in July for the all tarmac round of the Jim Clark Rally.

Rally report and pictures produced by Geoff Mayes Images

Featured on the British Rally Forum and Crash.net

BRC Stars Round 1: Denbighshire Astra Stages : April ‘06

It was a beautiful start to the Astra Stars Stages 2006. Starting in Llangollen, North Wales the rally consisted of – Alwen South & North, Clocaenog main & East, Penllyn and finally Langower and then repeating Clocaenog Main in the afternoon.

We arrived in the car park assembly in the town centre waiting for our start time and making final checks on the car. After talking to Bob Malloy at the start we headed to Alwen South 26 miles from Llangollen.

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After a cautious start on Alwen South gradually getting use to each other after such a long break (4 months), we finished 10^th on the stage with a time of 4:53. Moving straight onto Alwen North now starting to speed up we caught up to the car in front just before the end of the stage, this time 9^th on the stage with a time of 7:33. After a quick re-fuel with Tesco 99 Octane we drove to Clocaenog main. On the way I could hear a banging noise coming from the co-drivers side. Thinking that something had come loose I got out to check the engine bay but saw nothing unusual. We agreed to carry on.

About 6 miles into the stage we turned into a tight hairpin left uphill, as I exited the turn I heard a bang in the engine bay and the gear lever was moving violently I tried to shift into 2^nd gear but it wouldn’t let me, we pulled over to see the problem. Unfortunately the engine mount had broken causing the engine to fall, thus snapping the gear linkage leaving me in 1^st gear. We eventually crawled our way off the stage and had to retire from the rally.

The stages that I competed on were fantastic, it was a shame that we couldn’t finish them to gain more gravel experience. Looking forward to round 2 – Pirelli Stars

Here is Motorsport News Report on the Astra Stars featured in the 6^th April issue. News Articles

BRC Live! 2006