Congratulations to our Brand Ambassadors Matthew Jackson and Matt Edwards who each started their rally season with a win.
Rally North Wales saw a return to the competitive rally scene for both drivers. The first round of the Motorsport UK Pirelli Ravenol Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship based in Dolgellau was extremely hot and dusty, with unusually high temperatures for March in the UK.
Having been out of active competition on a full time basis since 2016, the rally was a successful affair for Matthew Jackson & Sasha Heriot picking up 1st in class and a very creditable 16th overall in the interclub event.
Photo credit: Paul Mitchell
The pair set very reasonable expectations for the first event of the year: "Our main aim for the event was to complete the full rally distance, learn the new car and get those all-important miles under our belts so early on in the year. The class was very competitive which provided a great benchmark for our pace", said Matthew.
The team now faces a battle against time (and budget!) ahead of the next round of the championship, the Rallynuts Stages based in Builth Wells on 9th April. A new clutch and flywheel will be sourced for the car as well as the general repreparation after a gruelling event.
The conditions on Rally North Wales certainly proved to be very tough on both cars and crews. Matt Edwards and Hamish Campbell managed to press on to take the overall British Historic Championship win, over what were very rough stages in places, in the debut rally for the Fiat 131.
Matt found the steering very hard work after bending the guard, subframe, rack, and chassis leg by hitting a massive boulder which was on the line in SS5: "I don't think I have ever done such a challenging 40 miles in the woods, but we got the Fiat round...somehow, to win its first British Historic Round!
"It was epic to take this victory and myself and Hamish really enjoyed the majority of the mileage despite our challenges. A huge thanks must go out to the marshals, the RNW organising team, and to the father/son team of Kevin and Keith at RSDa who really have put their heart and soul into that car over a lengthly period of time, remaking most of the parts from scratch to bring a classic rally car back to life. It's not been easy, and there's more to do, but this is a great reward for their efforts."
We have offset 125% of the fuel usage for both crews, using our UK based tree planting and rewilding scheme at Loch Ness, making them carbon positive.
It only costs a little to make a big difference for the sport, so whether you're a competitor or spectator, why not join with us to help make motorsport sustainable.
For more information, or to become Carbon Positive yourself, visit carbonpositivemotorsport.com
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