Posted by Today, we have a guest post by Robert Fagg. Robert is a rally racer co-driver or navigator and has emerged as a fierce competitor as he’s raced across Great Britain and as far afield as China. You can learn more about Robert on his website or subscribe to the blog for further guest posts.
In my last event I competed in a type of car I never thought I’d get the chance to take to the stages in. Long gone are the Formula 2 Kit Car days of the mid-to-late 90′s, but following a late call-up, a boyhood dream was realised.
Driving with Andy
I accepted an invite from Andy Fenwick, a local to the UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages and last year’s winner of the event. I spent a day competing in an ex-factory prepared and run SEAT Ibiza F2 Kit Car. This car is the same one that was contested at World Championship level and also driven to victory by Toni Gardimiester. Not too shabby.
Since Andy and I haven’t yet competed together, the pre-event recce gave us an opportunity to get to know each other inside the car. This took place the day before and in wet conditions we knew that the event would not be easy in our powerful front wheel drive car.
The main event
Our goal at the start of the event was to match the times of another local, Michael Glendenning, which we did by passing him with two miles left to go. Andy’s confidence grew with each stage, both in his new car and co-driver, resulting in us climbing to third place! During the middle of the rally we enjoyed a close battle with seconds being exchanged in every stage, but even though we held a 17 second lead at the time, a third place finish still wasn’t a lock.
The final 4
At the start of the event Andy and I would have been happy with a top 10 finish, however, our final result was more than stellar! The final 4 stages were exciting and when it came to the finish we were ecstatic to learn we had done enough to take third!
Back to the Isle of Man
I plan on riding the positive momentum from the UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages into the final event of my local series on the Isle of Man. The Blackhorse Finance Asphalt Stages takes place November 6th and 7th where I return to the car of my early success, a Ford Escort MkII.
My driver this go around will be Connor Corkill, a young Manxman who has been contesting the British Historic series in 2009. Last weekend we enjoyed a successful reconnaissance for the event and have a good set of pace notes I feel we can do well on.
Night vision
This will be a challenging one as 9 of the 22 stages take place under the cover of night. Connor and I will need the utmost trust in each other from the word go to ensure that we fulfill the potential in this event.
Fingers crossed for a good result.
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