Rally2Raise team enjoy snowy Saltire

The Rally2Raise team of Rachel Clark and Gary Simpson headed to Perthshire last weekend to take part in the Edradour Saltire Classic rally. The organisers, the Saltire Rally Club, have supported Rally2Raise since 2012 and as part of the support they let the Rally2Raise rally car run as the course car on the event.

The rally started from the Birnam hotel on a cold and clear morning with a wide variety of cars lining up ready to tackle the route and tests which would take them up towards Pitlochry, across to Loch Tummel and then north towards Blair Atholl.

The opening test was in a forest just outside of Dunkeld. The team’s Nissan Micra struggled to get traction on the very slippery and steep track but the test was successfully negotiated.  A further nine tests took place in quick succession including one at the distillery of event sponsor Edradour which involved negotiating a course marked out by whisky barrels.

“The first few tests went well,” said Rachel. “Most were extremely slippery and, even though we’ve only got a 1300cc Micra, it was a struggle to find grip. Fortunately we didn’t suffer a repeat of last year where the exhaust manifold broke early on.”

After a lunch halt on the shore of Loch Tummel the Rally2Raise crew completed another test before the highlight of their event, a 12 mile section through a snowy Errochty forest. From there the rally headed back towards Dunkeld via Blair Atholl and the south side of Loch Tummel, taking in seven more tests before the finish.

“Errochty was fantastic, I’ve driven it on the McRae Stages rally but this was the first time I’ve seen it in the snow. The roads were pretty icy and it would’ve been easy to slide off but we completed the section with no problems. The remaining tests were fine and we made it back to the finish in one piece.”

After the rally a raffle was held in aid of “Funding the fuel for Flynny” which included prizes donated by Penny Street Boutique Lancaster, Motorsport Mugs, Colin Wallace, Martin Steele, Willie Greig, 2013 rally winners Noel Cochrane and Olly McCollum, Life Memories Photography and Songasport. A total of £270 was raised.

“Thanks to everyone who donated a prize and bought a raffle ticket, we were delighted with the amount raised. Thanks also to Colin Wallace and his team at the Saltire Rally Club for letting us run on a brilliant event, we had a great time.”

For more information on Rally2Raise please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise.

Rally2Raise team have successful Merrick Stages rally

The Rally2Raise team of Aberdeen’s Rachel Clark and Brampton’s Caroline Lodge enjoyed another successful event last weekend when they finished second in class on the GWF Energy Merrick Stages rally.

Heavy rain the day before the rally made the 9 miles of the opening Craignell stage extremely slippery with several of the top drivers having spins. There were no problems for Rachel in her E.Watson and Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport and McPherson Document Solutions-supported Nissan Micra 1.3 though and she completed the stage fourth in class.

The Dallash stage was next and Rachel maintained her position with another good performance. Following a service halt the crews headed for a pair of stages in Glentrool forest including one that was 13 miles long. With a lot of long straights these stages didn’t suit the Micra which, with around 60bhp, was the lowest powered car in the event. However, Rachel extracted every bit of performance from the car to move up to second in class.

One more stage stood between Rachel and a great result but at 14 miles stage 5 was the longest of the event and it had already claimed several of the cars that were running ahead of the Micra. The crew and car emerged unscathed though and Rachel and Caroline made it to the event finish in Wigtown.

“The stages were absolutely awesome,” said Rachel. “The tracks were very slippery and the weather went from sun to torrential rain and back so conditions were extremely challenging. The little Micra struggled on the long straights, we definitely needed a lot more power there.”

“I tried as much as possible to keep the momentum up – when you slow down it takes a long time to build up speed again in a 1.3. This led to some interesting moments though including bouncing through a ditch at a hairpin in front of a group of spectators. After our gear linkage issues on the last event it was great to have a troublefree rally this time.”

“Thanks to the Marshall family for putting on a brilliant event, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks also to E.Watson and Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport and McPherson Document Solution for their support and to Clark Motorsport for trailering the car and servicing.”

For more information please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise.

Rally2Raise team to return to Merrick Stages rally

The all-female Rally2Raise team will head to Wigtown next weekend to contest the GWF Energy Merrick Stages rally for a second time.

Driver Rachel Clark, from Aberdeen, competed on the event last year and successfully finished after over 40 miles of tough forest stages. This year she will be partnered by Brampton’s Caroline Lodge in the navigator’s seat. The pairing have already completed two events this season with great results on the Scottish rally in Dumfries and the Speyside Stages in Elgin. They will use their usual Nissan Micra 1300 which is supported by E.Watson and Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport and McPherson Document Solutions.

The team was formed in late 2011 with the aim of using rallying to raise funds and awareness for charities through motorsport. To date they have raised over £3,500 and this year their supported charity is the Nystagmus Network. Nystagmus is a presently incurable eye condition from which Rachel’s son suffers so it is a cause that is very close to her heart. The team are also raising awareness of the Bottle Stop campaign, a project which is seeking to ban glass bottles from town centre pubs following the tragic death of the project founder’s husband in an unprovoked attack with a broken bottle.

“The Rally2Raise project has gone really well,” said Rachel. “I think we’ve done a good job raising awareness of our causes, especially those which are not so well known such as the Nystagmus Network. The rallying community has been incredibly generous in supporting us, I did not expect that we would raise so much in less than two years.”

“I’m really looking forward to the Merrick Stages, I enjoyed it last year and hopefully we will get another good result. The event uses some classic Scottish rallying stages which are a pleasure to compete on. The rally organisers have given us a discounted entry fee which we're extremely grateful for, it's fantastic that they are supporting Rally2Raise again.”

“We’ll have the lowest powered car in the event but that won’t stop us from pushing as hard as we can and trying to beat the crews in more powerful cars.”

As well as competing on the Merrick the team are busy organising a virtual rally to raise funds for the Nystagmus Network. The event will take place on 27th October and entries, costing £5, are available now. All levels of experience are catered for including total beginners and you don’t even have to leave your home to take part! Please visit www.songasport.co.uk/wobblyregs.pdf for more information.

Gearbox woes cannot deny Speyside finish for Rally2Raise

Severe gearbox problems and an off could not prevent the Rally2Raise team of Rachel Clark and Caroline Lodge from finishing the Speyside Stages rally last weekend.

The drama started almost immediately for the team in stage 1, Teindland. Their E.Watson and Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport and McPherson Document Solutions-supported Nissan Micra 1300 hit a rut which bent the sumpguard and forced it into the gear linkage resulting in the loss of fifth and reverse gears and a third gear which was extremely difficult to engage.

The car was nursed through the next two stages before a service halt at Huntly where the Clark Motorsport crew of Barry and Archie set about repairing it sufficiently for it to continue in the rally.

“The rally did not get off to a good start for us,” said Rachel. “We hit the rut with a fair bit of force. With the gear linkage damaged I didn’t think we’d make it through the next two stages before service but we did and the service crew did a great job to allow us to continue.”

The crew completed stage 4, Gartly, with no further problems and headed to stages 5 and 6, two stages which shared the same start line but which split after a few miles. The girls’ rally almost came to an end in stage 6 as the Micra slid off the road into a ditch. Fortunately some spectators were on hand to push the car back onto the road.

After another service halt the rally was completed with three more stages. These were successfully negotiated and the team headed to the event finish in Elgin city centre.

“The Gartly stage was absolutely fantastic, it’s my new favourite stage. Stage 5 was ok but we were very lucky that there were some spectators nearby in stage 6 otherwise we would not have got out of the ditch, huge thanks to them for helping us.”

“I was very happy to get to the finish. It was a tough event for us, the dust and heat made the inside of the car like the Sahara at some points. It’s disappointing that the gearbox problems meant we couldn’t go as quickly as we’d have liked but we made it to the end when many crews didn’t and we were 65th which isn’t too bad from a start position of 97. Thanks to Caroline for a superb job on the notes, thanks to Barry and Archie for servicing, thanks to the 63 Car Club for a brilliant event and thanks to all our sponsors for their support. ”

The team are hoping to contest the Merrick Stages in September as their next event. Please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise for more information about the Rally2Raise project which is supporting the Nystagmus Network and Bottle Stop in 2013.

Rally2Raise team target podium on Speyside Stages rally

The Rally2Raise team of Rachel Clark from Aberdeen and Caroline Lodge from Brampton are targeting a class podium when they contest the Speyside Stages rally next weekend.

The pair contested their first event together on the Scottish rally in June and they finished an excellent second in class in their E.Watson & Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport and McPherson Document Solutions-supported Nissan Micra 1300.

The team are contesting selected Scottish Rally Championship events this year as part of their project to raise funds and awareness for charities. The supported causes this year are the Nystagmus Network and the Bottle Stop campaign. So far they have raised £800 in 2013 to add to the £2,500 they raised last year.

“The project has gone well again this year,” said Rachel. “I’m pleased with how much we have raised so far and we’ve got plans for more fundraisers later in the year.”

“I’m looking forward to the Speyside, we ran as course car on three stages last year which was very enjoyable so we’ve stepped up to the full event this year. It’s a relatively local event for me and it’s run by my own 63 Car Club so it’s good that we can support the rally.”

“We managed to get second in class on the Scottish which I was very happy with so if we can get a similar result next weekend that’d be great, the first priority is to finish though.”

Ahead of the rally Rachel attended a fundraising barbecue with the rally car at the local Woodend nursery. The car proved to be very popular and several of the nursery kids wrote their names on the car wings so they’ll be on display at the rally.

The Speyside Stages is based in Elgin with the crews scheduled to contest 9 stages in the surrounding forests. For more information on Rally2Raise please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise.

Rachel's story of the Scottish rally

It’s been a wee while since my last update so I thought I would let you all know how things are going in the Rally2Raise camp after two more rounds of the Scottish Rally Championship.

Firstly, I best start with the sad news that Katherine has had to retire indefinitely as co-driver due to a dicky ticker. The past few months have been quite a challenge with Katherine getting poorly followed by myself catching glandular fever, from which I’m STILL feeling the fatigue.  Thankfully it only took two days to get over the Speyside Stages as opposed to a full week after the Scottish Rally. 

With Katherine and I falling ill at roughly the same time we had to decide whether or not to pull the entry for the Scottish, it was touch and go right up until the week before when I decided I was going to go for it due to a lady who had just passed away.  I had already drafted in Caroline Lodge to co-drive, always a risk when you’re frends with someone and get into a car together but it paid off!

Just before the Scottish we lost a very dear friend and one of the most selfless women I have ever met, Cath Simpson.  I had been chatting to her the week before and she knew it was coming but her attitude to it was something I had never seen before, good humoured and looking on the bright side.  Right till the last.  There was no question that Barry and I would attend her funeral, it just so happened it fell the day before the rally.  Our brief was to wear rally gear so we did.  The ceremony itself was one that suited her down to the ground.  I was doing well until her coffin appeared with her marshals tabard draped over it.  Motorsport in her veins that one!

It was because of  Cath that I wanted to get out and do the event and make sure she was represented in some way so, taking inspiration from her family, we acquired two marshals tabards and hung them up in the rear of the rally car, along with a sticker on the rear window.

With us at the funeral we were extremely grateful  to Colin and Craig Wallace who trailered the car down to Dumfries for us. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to attend the funeral or have had the energy to get down the road and back.  So thank you both!

We completed our pre-event formalities with no problems other than accidentally gatecrashing a photoshoot for the Armed Forces rally team! We then retired to our accommodation.  As everything was last minute Caroline stayed at her house which wasn’t too far away from Dumfries.  I stayed in a posh hotel with a jacuzzi! I’ve never had a jacuzzi in my room before so I made the most of it after completing the finishing touches on the car.  I could get used to that! 

The day of the rally dawned and I set off to meet Caroline at the Heathhall service area. Hampered by a faulty traffic light I found my way unaided! Feeling the usual nerves we left for the pre-start holding area and had the craic with the lads there waiting. 

We loved the start in the centre of Dumfries, it was very well attended and a great advert for the sport! We set off from the control and headed up to Ae for the first of two stages in the forests there. I realized quickly during the first stage that I would have to take it very easy.  I was pretty shattered but we were getting on very well in the car and enjoying it.  

Two stages down we headed for service, luckily there was nothing required on the car except a spanner check. Then we headed out to the last three stages.  I really enjoyed the spectator stage with the watersplash which was stage three,  loads of folk watching and taking photos showing the E.Watson and Son/BSW Ltd and Pirelli stickers on the front of the car!

By that point we had gained a crew to help.  I won’t embarrass them but they were two drivers in one car as opposed to the two co-drivers in our car.  So we thought it only fair to give them a hand on the road section by helping them with times and making sure they didn’t go wrong.  It was gutting to see them off in the penultimate stage. 

We made our way through the final two stages incident free, I think the only moment we had was a slight slide.  I was very glad to cross the flying finish, I have never felt that tired after an event.  I only had one wobble during the day that had me questioning whether I could continue and I soon got rid of that! Once again our Pirelli tyres were brilliant, thanks to AW Motorsport for their help supplying them.

We got to the finish in the centre of Dumfries and there were even more people stood watching including Steven McPherson from our sponsor McPherson Document Solutions. We had avoided results all day and hadn’t looked at our phones.  Sat in the queue waiting to go into the control we snuck a peek only to discover we’d won second in class and first female driver! There were more than two finishers in the class and more than one female driver started the event so it wasn’t a given.  Unfortunately, as we approached the finish line I was made to get out the car and face a bank of photographers!!! I can’t say I was looking my best and was holding the trophy which can only be described as slightly phallic!!  Ha ha ha!!  All joking aside it was an absolute honour to receive it, past recipients such as Louise Aitken-Walker have stood there so it only seemed right to dedicate it to Cath. And yes, she would have found the phallic element to it absolutely hilarious.



As the Scottish was also a round of the British Rally Championship I didn’t let the awareness raising side of Rally2Raise slip.  I made sure that we weren’t overlooked by the press or the increased number of spectators and higher ups.    We were spoken to by a number of journalists and lots of people asked about Rally2Raise and our two supported causes, the Nystagmus Network and Bottle Stop.

All in all the Scottish Rally wasn’t what we expected when we first made our 2013 plans but we adapted and now have a team with a new member which plays to everyone’s strengths... except mine.... I am not the best driver ha ha ha!!

So the Scotttish was done and we were ready to put the entry in for the Speyside Stages in Elgin. And our adventures there will be the next report!

Rach

Successful Scottish rally for Rally2Raise team

The Rally2Raise team of Aberdeen’s Rachel Clark and Brampton’s Caroline Lodge enjoyed a successful Scottish rally last weekend when they finished second in class with driver Rachel also picking up the trophy for the best lady driver.

After a disappointing Granite City rally in April the team’s aim for the Scottish was to get to the finish in their E.Watson & Son, Pirelli, AW Motorsport, McPherson Document Solutions, Charles Derby Ecosse and San Juan Services-supported Nissan Micra 1300.

The event started with a pair of stages near the village of Ae. Both of these went well although with Rachel recovering from glandular fever she was suffering at the end of the 14 mile-long second stage.

“I was pleased with the first two stages, it was the first time Caroline and I have competed together but we quickly gelled and had a troublefree run,” said Rachel. “The second stage left me worn out, the glandular fever totally zapped my energy and I’m not back to full health yet so doing a 14 mile stage in a very hot rally car wasn’t ideal but we made it through and it was great to find we were third in class going into service.”

After the service halt the team faced three more stages. The first was a short blast through Heathhall where the Micra entertained the huge crowd of spectators watching at the watersplash. The event ended with two stages near Gatehouse of Fleet which the team completed with no problems and they headed back to the finish in Dumfries town centre in second in class.

“I’m delighted with the result and winning a trophy that has previously been won by the likes of Louise Aitken-Walker just topped off what was a fantastic weekend. I’d like to dedicate the trophy to Cath Simpson who we lost recently, a true rally enthusiast that will be greatly missed by many including me and the team.”

“Thanks to Caroline for a spot-on job with the notes and keeping me alive with drinks and sweets all day, Colin and Craig Wallace for transporting the car to and from the event, Clark Motorsport for servicing, Paul at Motorsport Mugs for sorting our last minute graphics request and all our sponsors for their support.”

The Rally2Raise team will be back in action on the Speyside Stages in early August. Please visit www.rally2raise.co.uk or www.facebook.com/rally2raise for more information.