West Midlands Junior Team - Swansea Bay Rally

Members of the West Midlands Motorsport Junior Rally Team tasted success for the second time in succession at the recent Swansea Bay Clubman’s Rally. Tom Curtis and co-driver David Roberts used their local knowledge of the south Wales forests to maximum effect by winning the fifth round of the Quaife Peugeot 205 1.9 Scholarship. They led from the first of the day's five stages, pulling away to head the field by nearly two minutes at the finish.

Curtis and Roberts have been on a 'high' since winning the previous Peugeot Scholarship round in June at the Mid-Wales Stages Rally, and this confidence showed straightaway in their driving. They took a 16-second lead through the 14-mile Rhondda, stage, increasing the margin to nearly 30 seconds after stage two, Tyle, by way of a second fastest time overall in the rally.

After a service halt and a short 'spectator special' stage in Walters Arena, the Welsh duo pressed on to the penultimate stage, Rheola. Here, they suffered their only setback of the day, when a double rear puncture slowed their progress and they lost around 45 seconds to their rivals. Fortunately, the West Midlands Motorsport tecnicians changed the tyres at emergency service and the Welsh pairing set fourth overall fastest time on the last stage, 11 miles through Resolven, to take the win by 1 minute 56 seconds ahead of championship rivals Stefan Davis / Craig Burgess. At the finish, Curtis seemed relatively unfazed by the punctures "It was worrying at first, because we were, literally, dragging the rear end of the car through the stage. But we knew if we could get to emergency service, the West Midlands tecnicans would fix the problem."

West Midlands Junior Team mentor Matt Barker was one of Curtis's main challengers. The Birmingham driver has had an up-and-down season, but with his car set up properly, and co-driver Richard Walker reading the route notes, Barker lay second of the Peugeot Scholarship runners for much of the day, before his car succumbed to suspension failure in Rheola. "It's a shame, because we were going really well. Tom (Curtis) is probably the fastest driver in the Peugeot Scholarship, but we were within one second per mile of his pace through Tyle. I need to win both the remaining rounds to stand any chance of the championship, but we'll certainly be having a real go."

'Unlucky Crew of the Day' award must surely go to Junior Team members Alex Evans and co-driver Janice Hooley. Fighting hard for podium places with Davis / Burgess, the pairing's day came comprehensively unstuck on a tight left hander in Resolven. A too-fast approach to the corner saw them crash heavily into a log pile, putting them out of the rally instantly "We were doing around 80 mph when we hit the logs. At one point, we were five feet in the air and a log flew past the window. The car's protective bulkhead has the imprint of an engine on it now" said a shaken but undeterred Evans.

West Midlands Motorsport also ran two customer cars on the Swansea Bay Rally. Jody Bowcott has been the model of consistency this season, always finishing well up the order. Unfortunately, the youngster's luck deserted him for once, and he and co-driver Mike Hart slid off backwards in a wooded section of the first stage and retired on the spot.

Austin McKinlay / Dominic Brown overcame a variety of problems including a high-speed spin and an oil fire on stage one to come home sixth in the Peugeot 205 Scholarship and overall 26^th in the rally, picking up valuable championship points.

The West Midlands Motorsport Junior Rally Team's next event is at the Trackrod National Rally in Yorkshire in October.