Armed forces in hot pursuit
28th September 2007On the charge and not far behind contestants for Yorkshire’s fifth round of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship on October 6 will be the might of the British Armed Forces.
And while they pose no threat, in any sense of the word, to the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire competitors, six spectacular Landrover Wolf XDs will be thundering down the tree-lined hillsides in Dalby and nearby forests… with their sights set on one man.
Fencing contractor Andrew Glover, from Sandbach in Cheshire, is the only civilian driver in the seven-vehicle Trackrod Landrover Challenge and, while he admits his V-8 petrol powered 3.9-litre Discovery holds a considerable advantage over his rivals, he warns: “The Army, Navy and Air Force boys are closing in!”
“They are all in 2.5-litre diesel Wolf XD, developed largely for the Armed Forces and their needs and, as such, are also limited in what modifications they can make within their remit.
“But some of them are very quick and, despite giving away maybe 100bhp, Alan Paramore/Duncan Lilwall in particular always puts us under pressure.”
Naturally the two types of vehicles run in different classes but that doesn’t remove the challenge of gaining overall victory ahead of Glover who, along with his co-driver – Leeds student Catriona Ratter, was brought up in the rough and tumble world of hill-rallying.
Glover and Ratter took a comfortable victory over the Armed Forces Rally Team’s Steve Partridge and James Eaton 12 months ago, while Paramore and Partridge claimed a one and a half minute success over Catriona’s father Chris Ratter and Tim Curran in 2005.
The two-tonne Landrovers are certainly eye-catching and storm through the 11 timed to a fraction of a second stages (some 100 miles of rallying) between the International Rally Yorkshire, featuring the popular and lucrative Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge, and the slightly shorter (8-stage/75-mile) Trackrod National Rally.
Preceding everything with be the Trackrod Historic Cup – the penultimate round of the MSA British Historic Rally Championship, for cars that largely became famous in the sixties and seventies – and the Silverstone Tyres 1400cc Stars Rally, while closing the day’s action is the Trackrod Clubman’s Trophy, contested by many of the enthusiastic clubmen from the north-east and beyond and forming a round of no fewer than four regional championships.
The first car departs from Pickering Showground around 7.30am with the last vehicle (a Landrover) due back around 7pm – truly a full day’s fiesta of top quality and diverse off-road motorsport, all carefully planned and orchestrated by Trackrod Motor Club of Leeds with help from a co-operative of virtually every motor club in the region.