End of the road for Colin Britton and Kenny Hull

Posted: July 21, 2004 5:42 PM

Mechanical problems resulted in another disastrous day at last weekend's Swansea Bay Rally, round five of the Super Cup, and retirement beckoned once again. Midway through the opening stage, Colin's H.M.C. Communications and A.B. Contracts Peugeot became 'uncontrollable' and the Strabane driver was forced to slow down.

Colin said: 'The car seemed to pull to the right all the time and by first service we were well off the pace. But we couldn't find anything wrong so over the next three stages the problem continued. I couldn't believe it. We spent a day testing in Sweet Lamb two days before the event and the car was fine.'

When the crew returned to service for the second time, their mechanics discovered that both front shock absorbers were broken. With only 20 minutes of servicing time available, Colin and Kenny were forced to tackle Rheola, a fifteen mile stage, with the broken shocks. They reached the end of the test safely but on returning to final service the crew decided to pull out of the event.

Kenny said: 'Time was too tight to get the shocks changed and we had lost too much time to make any impression on the leaders. Unfortunately it signals the end of our 206 Cup campaign and we don't have any future rallying plans at present. We simply can't afford to continue.'

After a promising start at February's Sunseeker Rally where they were trading times with the leading crews, Colin and Kenny are bitterly disappointed to be forced out midway through the season.

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17/05/04
Colin Britton and Kenny Hull's hopes of securing success on the Isle of Man were left in tatters after an incident during the opening leg of last weekend's Roush Manx National Rally.

Two miles into the third stage, the crew ran wide at a corner and despite frantic efforts to regain control of the car, they rolled. Luckily, the car came to rest on its wheels so the HMC Communications and AB Contracts sponsored crew collected themselves together and battled on. However, more dramas were just around the corner as the car mysteriously cut out.

Colin said: The battery had come loose and disconnected itself so we reconnected it and off we went again. We reached the end of the stage and completed the following two stages in darkness. We had no lamp pod, no windows, and no windscreen! Bits of glass were being blown back at us and we lost a lot of time but we made it back to service.'

The team's service crew straightened the car up as best they could but they were unable to find a Peugeot 206 front windscreen on the island. It was the end of the road for the team as the organisers refused to let them start the rally the following morning due to safety reasons.

Kenny said: 'It was a bitter blow for all of us. Everyone had put in a lot of hard work and preparation for the event. We're going to miss round four and review our situation as funding is very low. Without further backing our season may be over.'

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03/04/04
Steep learning curve for Colin Britton and Kenny Hull at the Sunseeker

Last weekend's Rallye Sunseeker, the opening round of the Peugeot 206 Super Cup, proved to be a steep learning curve for Colin Britton and Kenny Hull. The A.B. Contracts and H.M.C. Communications sponsored crew were greeted by a winter wonderland when they arrived in England on the eve of the rally. The event, which marked their first rally outside Northern Ireland and their first rally with the 206 Cup Car, was also going to be their first attempt at tackling snow and ice swept stages!

The rally kicked off with two night stages around the aptly named Bournemouth Winter Gardens and promenade during Friday evening, and as Kenny explains, there the problems began:
'We had a problem with the lamp pods in scrutiny so we had to run without them. It was next to impossible to see the chicanes coming so we decided to take it steady. There was no point in taking big risks during the first two stages. Then we had a problem after service - the car refused to start. We eventually found the problem around midnight - it turned out a wee wire was off! Full credit to our service crew, David Baird and Darren Britton, as well as Martin Brady who gave us a hand. Without a doubt, we wouldn't have stayed in the event without their help.'

It wasn't an ideal start but Colin and Kenny battled on. After some much needed sleep, they were ready to tackle Saturday's stages and they quickly moved from an overnight position of 17th place to seventh in the Super Cup. They held the position for much of the day despite losing time with a broken rear shock absorber but their rally came to an abrupt end on stage 14.

Colin said: 'We went into a corner which was very rutted and broke a wishbone but we didn't realise it was broken until we were approaching the next junction. It was at the end of a long straight and the car's steering wasn't responding at all. I tried to turn in but she just went straight on. No major damage was done, we were just stuck with the front two wheels over a ditch. It could have been a lot worse ' she stopped about two feet away from a tree!'

It was the end of the road for Colin and Kenny but they were nonetheless pleased with their progress which included second fastest time on one of the stages. 'It was good to know that we have the pace on our first event in a new car to mix it at the top,' Colin said. 'The car is a lot different to the Micra. At one point I looked at the speedo and it read 105mph ' I'll have to cover that up for the next event as it's not the sort of thing you want to see!'

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22/02/04
Colin Britton and Kenny Hull ready to tackle the Peugeot 206 Super Cup
COLIN BRITTON and Kenny Hull are moving to new pastures in 2004. The class three Northern Ireland Rally Champions have purchased a Peugeot 206 Cup Car and will contest the UK's premier one-make series ' the Peugeot 206 Super Cup.

In preparation for the first round of the Championship, Bournemouth's Rallye Sunseeker, Colin and Kenny brought their new mount to the Superdrive Motorsports Centre in Craigavon for an intensive test session last week. Colin was duly impressed with the capabilities of his new car and is now looking forward to attacking the stages in just over one week's time.

During the test session, Colin received guidance from Superdrive Managing Director and current Mitsubishi UK works driver, Brendan Crealey. Brendan was impressed with Colin's speed, commenting: 'Colin looks to be committed and able to drive the car well. He should at least be in the top six of the 206 Cup at Bournemouth.'

Colin and Kenny would like to thank HMC Communications and AB Contracts who have pledged their continued support throughout the 2004 campaign.