Junior Rallying Scheme (UK)

Mixed fortunes for Junior Rallying drivers in final 2008 Latvian outing

Posted: October 17, 2008 3:12 PM

It was mixed fortunes last weekend for the young drivers competing with Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent. Tom Cave, the inspiration for the scheme, got exactly the result he was looking for on Rally Latvia but Tom Clark rolled his car 1Km from the end of the penultimate stage and retired.

Rally Latvia was the final round of the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship and marked the culmination of Junior Rallying’s activity in the Baltic state for this season. The flagship event saw Tom Cave aiming for another finish to allow him to secure his international rally license while Tom Clark was stepping up to a national event for the first time, after a series of exceptional results in the RallySprint championship.

Cave approached the event with a single objective – to get to the finish and gain the final signature required to achieve his international license and with it, the next phase of his rally career. He drove a considered event and reached the finish ramp sixth in class, one place behind the Latvian who competes in the FSTi, the one-make Fiesta championship that supports the FIA World Rally Championship.

This means that the Latvian Automobile Federation will now issue Tom with his International rally license, allowing him to enter and, pending passing his UK driving test, compete on the final round of the 2008 WRC, Wales Rally GB. This clearly demonstrates the validity of the Junior Rallying proposition, in providing young British drivers with two years of crucial rally experience and a significant advantage over their peers by the time they reach their 17th birthday.

If he passes his driving test and competes in Wales, he will become the youngest Latvian license-holder to compete in the WRC, with the Latvian flag next to his name on his car: a fitting tribute to the effort and support given to Junior Rallying by the Latvian Automobile Federation (LAF).

Tom Clark’s event didn’t go so well, however. After a string of exceptional results in this season’s RallySprint championship, Tom was invited to take part on the final round of the National Championship by the LAF. From the word go, he realised that competing on a national event was a much harder proposition than he was used to.

By the end of the recce, he had a better idea of what was involved. He was surprised by the length of the stages on the event and their technicality. In the RallySprint series, he was used to stages ranging from 2Km to 9Km. However, on Rally Latvia, he would have to tackle 28Km stages with combinations of corners on the fast and flowing gravel roads, testing he and co-driver Aggie Foster’s mettle.

His problems began on the first superspecial stage in Jurmala. The rear of his Suzuki Swift Cup car stepped out and he clipped a kerb, bending the rear beam. He limped through the rest of the section and the Junior Rallying technicians carried out running repairs to allow him to continue. He went on to set the fastest class stage time on stage nine of the event, a remarkable feat on his first national rally. However, it was on the penultimate stage of the event, the 28Km Parex Lizings test where the drama would occur.

Tom mis-heard a pace note, warning of a fork right following a crest and left the road and went into the field between the two forked roads. As the car went off the road, the nose dug in and the Suzuki rolled end-over-end, landing on the rear of the roof, collapsing it and the roll cage. Both crew were unhurt in the incident but clearly, their event and the rally career of that particular car were over.

Despite his severe disappointment at the incident, which occurred 1Km from the end of the penultimate stage, Tom was back in a rally car on Monday morning in the UK, testing at the Junior Rallying HQ. He viewed the incident as part of the learning process and was keen to get back into a rally car as soon as possible.

Also in Latvia at the weekend were the Roberts Twins, Charlotte and Jessica, along with British Rally Championship competitor father, Martin. They were visiting the event on a fact-finding mission, since they will be joining the ranks of Junior Rallying drivers in 2009, competing in a two-car sister team in the RallySprint series. The twins are already well versed with rallying, from following Martin’s career but visiting Latvia and seeing the competition first-hand has added a sense of excitement and urgency to their preparations for next year and neither can wait to take the start of their first event.

Commenting on this season’s final outing in Latvia, Junior Rallying Manager Gemma Price said; “This was a difficult weekend for Junior Rallying. While we’re delighted that Tom [Cave] finished the event and gained his international license, we’re also deeply disappointed for Tom Clark, who drove a superb event. To have an incident that close to the end of your first national event is bad enough. For it to cause significant damage to their car is worse. However, both crew were unharmed which is the most important aspect and the fact that Tom was back in a rally car within hours of the roll is testament to how seriously he takes his rally career.

“I’m also delighted that the Twins were able to join us this weekend, to see first-hand what rallying in Latvia is all about. They are very excited about next season now, where they will combine the training phase with the RallySprint series. They were very impressed with the level of competition, the professionalism, the country and the Latvian people. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Charlotte and Jessica next season.

“From Junior Rallying’s point of view, I don’t think this first season could possibly have gone any better. The partnership we forged with the Latvian Automobile Federation has worked perfectly; the support and encouragement both the scheme and the individual drivers have received has been unwavering. We are very pleased that the Latvian flag will be displayed alongside Junior Rallying’s logo on Tom Cave’s car when, I’m sure not if, he competes on Rally GB.

“This season has also demonstrated the effectiveness of the overall Junior Rallying concept. Tom Cave is effectively the first student to follow the complete program and assuming he passes his test, will step up to his first WRC outing immediately following his ‘graduation’ from Junior Rallying. Tom Clark and several other drivers are all planning to contest the national series next year while we have the twins and several new drivers all ready to start their training and RallySprint competition with us.

“It’s been a perfect first year for us and we must now make sure that it works even better for the new intake than it has done for this year’s drivers.

Mission accomplished as Tom Cave secures International rally license

Posted: October 17, 2008 3:07 PM

Tom Cave, the UK’s first minor international rally driver, last weekend accomplished his mission for his 2008 rally campaign, when he completed the final round of the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship sixth in class. Not only was this the 16 year-old’s best result in two years of competition in the Baltic state but it also means that the Latvian Automobile Federation (LAF) will grant him his international rally license, allowing him to compete on the final round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB.

Tom has endured a trying season this year, with circumstances seemingly aiming to deny him his coveted international license. A roll on the Talsi Rally in May led to several recurring technical problems with his Group N Ford Fiesta ST. However, a string of mature and determined drives by the 16 year-old from Aberdovey, combined with the support from father Peter, co-driver Gemma Price and the technicians from Junior Rallying, which ran Tom’s Fiesta this year, all contributed to last weekend’s result and with it, the opportunity for Tom to take the next step in his rally career.

Rally Latvia is the flagship event for the national series and was to be the culmination of two years of competition for Tom in the nation. He began competing there last year and his activity became the inspiration for the Junior Rallying scheme, to develop the next generation of British rallying talent.

Tom’s approach to this event was exactly the same as his last three – get to the finish ramp to ensure he collected the final signature he needed for his license to be upgraded to International specification by the LAF, the Latvian motorsport governing body.

As it transpired, it was a textbook drive from the youngster, adopting a mature and long-sighted approach to the event, taking no risks in the Fiesta that was still using a standard road-car gearbox after problems earlier this season. Tom and Gemma finished the event sixth in class, their best result in Latvia to date. They completed the event one place behind the local Fiesta specialist, who also competes in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International, the one-make series that supports the WRC, an achievement they were understandably proud of.

In doing so, the LAF confirmed it will issue Tom with his Latvian International rally license. If Tom’s plans now come to fruition, he will become the youngest-ever Latvian license-holder to compete on the WRC, when he takes the start of December’s Wales Rally GB.

Commenting on the result, Tom said: “It was a huge relief when we got to the end of the last stage. I’m really pleased, both with the fact that we finished and got the international license but also, with the result itself. I think that, had we not been targeting the finish and if the car was fitted with the dog [gear]box, we could have put the local Fiesta driver under more pressure and had a genuine battle for position with him.

“The last two years competing in Latvia have been amazing. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, ranging from ecstasy to disappointment but that’s the nature of rallying. The standard of the competition, organisation and the welcome we always receive over there have been superb and it has been an incredible benefit for me to be able to start rallying there at such a young age.

“I got to learn so much more of the intricacies of the sport than if I spent two years testing in the UK; reccing, travelling, the need for physical fitness, learning a new culture and meeting lots of new people – I have throughout enjoyed it. I’m glad that we chose this route, since the two years of genuine rally experience is a huge advantage to me, as I approach my 17th birthday and the next phase of my rallying. It has opened so many more doors and I can now begin to plan the future and work out a program for the next few years.”

Tom’s next step will be a big one; he has entered the final round of the 2008 FIA World Rally Championship, his home round, Wales Rally GB. He plans to drive the Fiesta but one more hurdle remains in his path; passing his UK driving test. The event begins 14 days after his 17th birthday and in a bid to ensure he has the best chance of gaining his road license, he has already begun taking lessons on private ground and at a specially designed driving school for under-17s.

“Of course, the driving test prior to Rally GB is now top of the agenda. I already have a test date, several days after my birthday so that gives me some time to get proper road experience. Combined with the off-road work I’m doing, hopefully this will give me the best chance to pass, get my license and become the youngest British driver to compete on the UK round of the WRC. The prospect of driving on the same stages as my heroes is unbelievably exciting.”

Tom Cave looks to step closer to international license

Posted: September 15, 2008 3:31 PM

The UK?s first minor international rally driver, Tom Cave, will be looking to take one more step closer to his all-important international rally license next weekend, as he tackles his penultimate rally in Latvia in 2008, the Aizpute Rally. He needs to finish both next weekend?s event and the final round of the Latvian Rally Championship, Rally Latvia in October to secure his international license, which will then allow him to move on to the next phase of his rally career.

Next weekend?s event will mark the approach of the culmination of two years of competition in Latvia for Tom, who was the first UK minor to compete internationally. Tom began his rally career in Latvia since the nation has a forward-looking approach to the sport, allowing drivers from the age of 14 to compete and this led the then 15 year-old Cave to the Baltic state.

It was Tom?s activity that in turn led to the creation of the Junior Rallying scheme, an exclusive partnership between the UK company and the Latvian Automobile Federation and Tom remains the figurehead for the scheme. So far this year, he has inspired five young British drivers to compete in Latvia and the next few weeks will demonstrate that there is now a viable route into the sport for young drivers and a clear progression path.

The Aizpute Rally is the final round of this year?s RallySprint Championship and as such, follows a familiar format. The 55Km rally begins with a tarmac superspecial stage in the town centre on the evening of Saturday 20 September before the action proper takes to the gravel roads around the town on Sunday.

Since Tom?s goal is the coveted license, his aim for the rally will be the same as for recent events; ensure he gets to the finish and collects another upgrade signature for his license. However, as he didn?t compete on this event last year, he will be starting from scratch when it comes to the roads and his pace notes for the event.

?I don?t know the roads,? he explained, ?but I?m guessing they will be similar in nature to what we?ve seen this year; a combination of fast, flowing roads on gravel that are both challenging but also, rewarding.

?As with the last few rallies, the objective here is to get to the finish to ensure that I get my license. I need to finish this event and Rally Latvia in October with no driver errors and then, the LAF will issue my international license, which means I will be able to move on to the next level of my rallying career. So this weekend, again there is nothing to prove, just get to the finish ramp.

?That may sound easy but it?s actually quite difficult. Finding the right pace and rhythm to make sure I?m pushing hard enough to remain focussed and concentrating enough on the stages but not too hard and risk making a mistake can be tricky sometimes. But I?ll treat this event as a test and concentrate on refining my pace notes and having a clean, tidy run.?

Tom will be hoping for an easier time of it next weekend than his last outing, the Gulbis Rally in August. There, his Fiesta suffered a series of mechanical problems related to the roll he suffered on the Talsi Rally in May and as a result, he and co-driver Gemma Price nursed their car through the event to the finish, with the gearbox held in by a single bolt and a ratchet strap. However, the Junior Rallying team, which runs Tom?s car, is confident that they will have resolved any issues to ensure that the car will be 100% for this event.

The event begins with the tarmac superspecial on Saturday evening in the centre of Aizpute, 185Km west of Riga, before 50Km of gravel stages on Sunday, with a total distance covered of 185Km.

Stunning first season approaches conclusion for Junior Rallying

Posted: September 15, 2008 3:28 PM

The first season of competition in Latvia for Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent, is approaching it?s close. Next weekend sees four young British drivers compete in the last round of the Latvian RallySprint championship, the Aizpute Rally but hopefully, not their last event in Latvia this year.

Three of the four drivers are approaching the end of Phase 2 of the Junior Rallying program, which sees them contest the RallySprint championship. Star of the season so far has to be 15 year-old Tom Clark from Essex, who has started and finished five events, improving his finishing position with each and every rally. For this event, he will again be partnered by co-driver Aggie Foster and driving his Suzuki Swift Cup car, as he looks to maintain his 100% finishing rate.

Two more familiar names from Junior Rallying, Jamie Brown and Conor Flynn will also be competing next weekend. Jamie will again drive his Honda Civic while Conor will switch to a 205 Cup-specification Peugeot 205. Built to the same design as the cars competing in the one-make series in the UK organised by his father Pat, he feels that familiarity and the car?s specification will be better suited to the Latvian stages than the Mk3 Volkswagen Golf he has used so far.

Dom Scott will not be competing this weekend, since a rally car failure on the previous round, compounded by a breakdown of the team?s service vehicle on the return trip means that the necessary infrastructure is not available to allow him to return this weekend. Despite the disappointment, he is keen to continue his competition in Latvia for next season, in the National championship.

Junior Rallying figurehead Tom Cave will also be competing, as he seeks another signature for his license, which will move him one step closer to his international license and the next stage of his rallying career. His success in the two years he has competed in Latvia clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme, giving young British drivers the best possible start in the sport of rallying.

While Tom Cave is well-known to the Latvian Automobile Federation, the motorsport governing body in the Baltic state, the other Junior Rallying drivers have also been getting themselves noticed. With five finishes already this season, Tom Clark has already been invited to take part in the final round of the National Rally Championship, Rally Latvia in October. Tom is understandably excited about going head-to-head with the best drivers in Latvia on the flagship event, a full multi-day rally.

If Jamie and Conor finish next weekend?s event, then they too will be invited to compete in Rally Latvia, since they will have collected the necessary three finishes to upgrade their licenses to allow them to take part. With Tom Cave also competing on the event, this will potentially see the four British Junior Rallying drivers contest the finale, a superb finish to the scheme?s first full season in Latvia.

Junior Rallying Manager, Gemma Price, said; ?This season has been nothing short of sensational, as far as Junior Rallying is concerned. We?ve seen some fantastic talent emerge from the UK, which would otherwise have been stifled for at least two more years. The fact that one of our Phase 2 drivers has already been invited by the Latvian Automobile Federation to contest Rally Latvia and two more will also be invited if they finish next weekend?s event is a clear signal that the scheme is achieving its objectives.

?If Jamie and Conor do compete in Rally Latvia, we will have four British drivers taking part, all of whom are still younger than 17 years and hence, not even eligible to start learning to drive in the UK, which is a fantastic achievement. The LAF is considering creating a Nation?s Cup on the last event and if that happens, we hope that all four will take part and form Team GB on the event.

?That would be a perfect way to round-off Junior Rallying?s first year, with a national team on the flagship rally.?

In addition to the four drivers, the Roberts Twins, Charlotte and Jessica will also be visiting the event, on a fact-finding mission ready for next year. The most recent additions to the Junior Rallying scheme, the daughters of British Rally Championship competitor Martin Roberts have already begun their Phase 1 training in the UK and are looking to start Phase 2, the RallySprint championship, at the beginning of the 2009 season. Alongside them will be a potential three more drivers starting their competition career with Junior Rallying in Latvia.

The Aizpute Rally begins with a short, tarmac superspecial stage in the town centre on the evening of Saturday 20 September before the action resumes on the gravel stages on Sunday, for 50 competitive kilometres before the crews arrive at the finish from 15.30, local time.

Junior Rallying welcomes Millers Oils as partner

Posted: September 1, 2008 2:41 PM

Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British Rallying talent, is delighted to welcome innovative lubricant specialist Millers Oils as a Technical Partner. The relationship will see all the cars run by Junior Rallying in the UK use Millers Oils? proven lubricants exclusively.

Since its launch at the beginning of 2008, Junior Rallying has received critical acclaim for its ground-breaking solution to a long-standing problem for aspiring British youngsters. While there are numerous routes for young drivers to start their careers in circuit racing, potential rally drivers have historically had to wait until they pass their road driving test, at 17 before they can take to the stages. The Junior Rallying scheme allows drivers from the age of 14 to combine formal training in the various skills required in the sport, including pace note systems and physical fitness with two seasons of actual competition in Latvia, prior to their 17th birthday.

So far, five drivers have joined the scheme and are competing in the Baltic state, in a variety of cars, varying from home-built and run examples to brand new offerings from one-make series, all under the umbrella of Junior Rallying. The scheme looks likely to expand for 2009 as well, with a potential nine drivers lined up for the two series.

Irrespective of whether the cars are built at home or managed by Junior Rallying and its Technical Manager Peter Gladstone, rallying places incredible demands on cars designed for the asphalt or gravel stages. Millers Oils understands this implicitly and has amassed 120 years of experience and expertise in the field of lubricants, including the highly-demanding motorsport arena.

The partnership between Junior Rallying and Millers Oils will see all cars run in the UK for the initial training phase of Junior Rallying use the company?s engine and transmission lubricants. Engines will be protected by Millers Oils? CFS range of fully synthetic oils, designed to minimise internal friction while offering the highest levels of protection for components.

Transmissions in the Junior Rallying cars will use Millers Oils? CRX LS range, designed specifically for motorsport applications and containing Millers Oils? ?BM? shock-resistance additive to minimise the effects of shock loadings throughout the drivetrain.

Commenting on the news, Junior Rallying Manager Gemma Price said; ?We are delighted to welcome Millers Oils as partner to Junior Rallying. Millers Oils not only has an outstanding pedigree in terms of developing reliable and high-performing products in the world of motorsport, it is also a forward-looking and innovative company and as such, one that we feel is a perfect fit with Junior Rallying.

?It is also extremely encouraging to see an organisation of Millers Oils? stature recognising the importance of what we are trying to achieve; give the next generation of British rally drivers the best start possible in the sport and equip them with the full range of skills required to progress through the levels of the sport.?

Junior Rallying?s Technical Manager Peter Gladstone is no stranger to Millers Oils products, having used the company?s lubricants for a number of years. ?I am delighted to be using Millers Oils in our cars,? said Gladstone. ?I have used their products in numerous vehicles over the years and they have delivered the results on every occasion. The high temperature, high stress rally environment places incredible importance on lubrication and Millers Oils have stepped up to the mark every time.?

Stephen Parker, Marketing Manager of Millers Oils, comments on the success of the programme: ?Young motorsport talent is rising across the UK and this grassroots programme is essential to the development of the sport. We wish all the drivers the best of luck for next season and are sure that they will continue with their success, with the support of both Millers Oils and Junior Rallying?

Junior Rallying?s most recent event was the Rally Gulbis over the weekend of 9 & 10 August, which saw all five drivers competing on the same event.

Determined performance by Tom Cave nets perfect result

Posted: August 13, 2008 12:55 PM

The UK’s first minor international rally driver, Tom Cave, this weekend put in the performance of his career to date, when he nursed his stricken Ford Fiesta ST through the Gulbis Rally in Latvia, to record another all-important finish. The 16 year-old suffered a near-terminal gearbox failure on the first loop of stages but a combination of the Junior Rallying technician’s skill and Tom’s determination to reach the finish ensured he is another step closer to his coveted International Rally license.

Tom and co-driver Gemma Price started the event in the Fiesta that had been partially repaired locally following the crew’s roll on the Talsi Rally in May. On the first of the event’s six stages, they picked up a small misfire, a legacy of the roll in May and on the second, experienced what was described as a ‘small moment’.

However, it was on the third stage, the last of the first loop, where their problems occurred. The crew was slowing over a crest into a fast right-hand bend with Tom down-shifting from fifth to fourth gear. When he engaged the clutch in fourth, the transmission locked-up completely and the car landed in the grass on the outside of the road. Tom did extremely well to keep the car on the road and managed to limp out of the stage and 20Kms back to the service area in the town of Gulbene.

Tom was running under the Junior Rallying banner on the event and the Junior Rallying technicians immediately set about the car at the mid-day service. They discovered cracks in the gearbox casing and a complete lack of fifth gear. Having weighed up their options, the team carried out running repairs to ensure Tom would be able to get to the finish of the event – a crucial objective.

As Tom and Gemma left service for the second loop of three stages, the gearbox was held into the car by a single bolt and a ratchet strap. Tom was under the strictest instructions to take it easy – no risks and with a team-imposed rev limit to minimise stresses on the now-fragile car.

From there on in, Tom drove a steady event, with one eye and one ear on the car itself. He used the remainder of the mileage to refine his pace notes for that event as well as work on them for future rallies and as it transpired, thoroughly enjoyed the three stages. In fact, he and Price took bets on each of the remaining stages as to how far into the timed test the following car would catch them. Tom finally lost out and ended up buying ice cream for the whole team at the finish.

Tom and Gemma eventually recorded a result of 45th overall but first in class, since they were obliged to run in the 1600+ Open class and were the highest-placed finisher. However, as a result of the problems, they were fourth of the five British Junior Rallying drivers competing on the event but felt that the achievement of getting to the finish overshadowed the actual result.

Commenting on the event, Tom said; “This certainly hasn’t been an easy weekend, that’s for sure but I have really enjoyed it. With the problems with the car, we clearly couldn’t push for the second loop and so without the pressure, we were able to work on the pace notes and a few other areas and not only relax but gain some very useful experience of handling a car with mechanical problems.

“When we got to service in Gulbene, I really thought our event was over. But the Junior Rallying technicians did a fantastic job of getting it to hold together and it was only fair to them and ourselves to make sure we got to the finish. Everyone was telling me to take it easy and make sure we got to the end and to be honest, with just a bolt and a strap holding the gearbox in, there was no way I was going for stage wins! In the end, I was incredibly relieved to see the finish ramp in Gulbene - I never thought I would be so happy to finish fourth of the British junior drivers.”

The team now has six weeks in which to repair or replace the gearbox, ready for the next event in September, the Rally B&K which will be Tom’s penultimate event in Latvia this season.

Superb weekend for Junior Rallying drivers in Latvia

Posted: August 13, 2008 11:52 AM

This weekend saw a superb rally for Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rally drivers. No less than five drivers competed under the Junior Rallying banner on the Gulbis Rally, the penultimate round of the Latvian RallySprint championship and all but one achieved excellent finishes on the Latvian stages.

This event marked the largest entry for Junior Rallying since the scheme began in January this year, with five under-17 drivers competing on the six-stage, 180Km event based around the town of Gulbene, 150Km east of Riga.

Top Junior Rallying finisher was Tom Clark, driving his Suzuki Swift Cup car. He finished the event 34th overall and fifth in class, exactly the target he set himself in the run-up to the event. Even more impressive is the fact that this is his fifth finish out of five starts, with his results improving consistently.     

Other than a puncture on the fourth timed test of the event, his and co-driver Aggie Foster’s day was an uneventful one, despite a gearbox change prior to the event, a result of a manufacturer recall on that particular model. Not only did 16 year-old Clark impress the Junior Rallying team again, his performance also caught the eye of the scheme’s partners, the Latvian Automobile Federation, who plan to invite Tom to compete on Rally Latvia, the last round of this year’s Latvian National Championship in October – a fitting end to an excellent debut season.

Second of the five British drivers was Conor Flynn, who was 38th overall and 10th in class. He was particularly pleased with his and co-driver Tim Young’s achievement, since his Mk3 Volkswagen Golf is in a much lower state of development than some of the other machinery used by the Junior Rallying drivers. His right foot, which he damaged playing football before the event, held up to the stresses of the event and clearly had no effect on his performance.

Next was Jamie Brown, driving his Honda Civic and partnered by Craig Burgess, who also continued to improve, finishing 41st overall and seventh in class. This was only his second event and on his first, he finished in the 70s against a comparable entry field, so a 30-odd place improvement is testament to his potential and achievement.

The fourth Junior Rallying driver was Tom Cave, inspiration for the scheme. He led his fellow British drivers over the first loop of three stages but a near-terminal gearbox failure meant that he had to settle for a pace which would ensure he reached the finish of the event once the Junior Rallying technicians had repaired his car. He eventually finished 45th overall and first in the 1600+ Open class, despite his gearbox being held in by a single bolt and a ratchet strap for three stages.

Despite an excellent start, things went awry for Dom Scott and co-driver Mike Scrimgour. After the first three stages, Dom was the third Brit, one second behind Clark who in turn was two seconds behind Cave. Scott set himself the target of becoming the top Brit but on the fourth stage of the event, his gearbox also failed, leaving him with no drive and therefore, a retirement. To add to the blow, he and his team had spent considerable time between his debut outing and Gulbis testing the transmission to prevent a repeat of the problems that slowed him on his first outing.

Commenting on the weekend, Junior Rallying Manager Gemma Price, said: “It’s been an excellent weekend for Junior Rallying. We’re obviously sorry that Dom had the car problems he did and wasn’t able to finish the event after setting a superb pace on the first three stages. It’s also a shame that Tom [Cave] had his problems but this did mean that someone else, in this case Tom Clark, was able to get a shot at being the top British driver.

“All of the Junior Rallying drivers have shown excellent skill and determination this weekend, as well as good grace when things didn’t go according to plan. As we all know, these kinds of problems are part and parcel of rallying and all the drivers actively learn as much when things go wrong as they do when they go right.

“What is most impressive is the maturity they all demonstrated to recognise that this is all valuable experience and will form part of their development as rally drivers.”

The next event for Junior Rallying will be the Rally B&K in September, the final round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship and the last chance many of the drivers will get this year to compete. Therefore, Price predicts an equally high entry field from the UK for the final round.

Full circle for Tom Cave in Latvia

Posted: August 5, 2008 3:29 PM

Young British rally driver Tom Cave heads to Latvia next weekend to resume his 2008 campaign in the Baltic state on the Rally Gulbis, in the same region as his first event in 2007, albeit this time with no snow or ice. The 16 year-old will again pilot his group N Ford Fiesta ST as he targets a solid finish to get his campaign back on track after missing the last round of the Latvian Rally Championship.

The event sees the return to the area for Tom for the first time since his competition debut in Latvia at the beginning of 2007. On that occasion, conditions were very different from what he will face next weekend, with snow and ice covering the gravel roads and putting the then 15 year-old on a near-vertical learning curve.

Next weekend’s Gulbis Rally is the penultimate round of the Latvian RallySprint championship and Cave will be using the event to get more miles under his belt in the Fiesta, after retiring from his last event, the Talsi rally when he rolled and subsequently retired. Having not driven the car since Talsi in May, Cave and co-driver Gemma Price will be keen to return to the Latvian stages to complete the season with a string of strong finishes, after a troubled first half.

Cave now has three events remaining in Latvia in 2008; the Gulbis, the Rally B&K, the final round of the RallySprint championship and then in October, the National Championship finale, the Rally Latvia. He and the rest of the Tom Cave Racing team feel that three strong finishes are what is required to get his development and progression back on track and round out the second of his two seasons in Latvia on a high.

“My objective now is to get back in the car and into the swing of it for the rest of this season,” said Tom. “I want to put the problems we had early on this season behind us and approach the next three rallies with one simple objective; reach the end of each event and demonstrate that we are capable of consistent finishes. If we show that we have the pace and achieve good results, then that is a bonus but the main aim is three finishes.

“I think it will be tricky, since I haven’t been in the car since Talsi in May and we don’t, at the moment, have any testing scheduled. And although I have been working with Gemma and the Junior Rallying scheme over the summer, we haven’t been in a car together, so it may take a little while to get back into the swing of things. Having said that, I’m also sure it will start to come back to us soon enough.

“The most important thing next weekend will be to get a good feeling back in the car and find a pace that is fast enough so that both Gemma and I can find the right rhythm but without taking any risks. If things appear to be going well, then we may move on from there but we will certainly be starting from a conservative speed to begin with.”

In addition to his own rally, Tom will be heading a five-car entry with Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rally talent which his activity inspired and for which he remains the figurehead. As such, he will also be on hand to offer advice and support to the other drivers as they continue their development. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the other Junior Rallying drivers have developed over their events in Latvia. I know that they are generally very quick and are learning a huge amount, as I continue to and of course, if I can help them, I will. I just hope that as we’re concentrating on the finish and not speed, I don’t end up as the last Junior Rallying driver!”

Based in the town of Gulbene, 150Km east of Riga, the one-day event sees the crews tackle six stages, starting at 09.00hrs and with the first car expected to finish at 13.40hrs. The crews will face two loops of three stages, the longest 9.7Km and the shortest, 7.4Km with a total competitive distance of 55Km and 180Km including road sections.

Junior Rallying returns to Latvia in force

Posted: August 5, 2008 3:27 PM

Next weekend sees Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent, return to competition in Latvia in force. The Gulbis Rally will see no less than five crews competing under the Junior Rallying banner, the largest number of cars the scheme has run in Latvia this season. It also clearly demonstrates the growing awareness and understanding of the scheme, designed to allow drivers as young as 14 to begin their full rally career.

The number of drivers competing with Junior Rallying has been steadily increasing this season, culminating with next weekend’s entry on the one-day event of five cars. Based in the town of Gulbene, the event sees the crews tackle six stages over the day, in two pairs of three. The longest stage is 9.1Km in length while the shortest is 7.43Km, brining the event total to 55Km.

Heading the entry list is Junior Rallying figurehead, Tom Cave. Once again driving his Fiesta ST and partnered by Gemma Price, Tom is looking for a solid finish to add to his tally as the 2008 season begins to approach its conclusion. Having missed his last event, he is keen to get back into the Fiesta and ensure that he and Price reach the finish line as he prepares for the final round of the National championship, the flagship event Rally Latvia in October.

Another Tom, this time Tom Clark, is making his fifth trip to Latvia and like the previous two, will be driving his Suzuki Swift Cup car and partnered by Aggie Foster. Tom’s progress over the season has been excellent and he was narrowly denied a fifth place in class on his last outing, by picking up a penalty for clipping a cone. This time, he is targeting a genuine fifth place to add to his already impressive results.

It’s also hoped that Conor Flynn will be making a welcome return to Junior Rallying and Latvia. However, things are not so sure, as he recently tore several ligaments in his foot playing football in the UK. While Conor was not in plaster, his foot is very sore but he is hopeful he will be able to compete without too much pain. He admits that he injured his right foot and that’s his accelerator foot, which he keeps flat to the floor at all times anyway. If he takes part, he will be driving his family-prepared and run Volkswagen Golf.

Dom Scott, who impressed on his first outing using his father’s Vauxhall Nova by finishing ninth in class just behind Clark, will be returning to Latvia this weekend. He will be hoping for a smoother run this time though, as on his first event with the scheme, his Nova lost third gear but the 14 year-old managed to nurse it back to the finish for an excellent first outing. For this event, Dom will again be partnered by co-driver Mike Scrimgour in the Nova.

Rounding out the Junior Rallying entries is Jamie Brown, tackling only his second ever gravel rally. He also impressed on his first outing, by claiming 20th in class and will be looking to once again ensure he reaches the finish to maximise his experience and learning but at the same time, improve on his debut.

For Junior Rallying’s Manager Gemma Price, it will be a busy event, as she will be co-driving for Tom Cave as well as managing the program for the other drivers. However, despite the two very different roles, she is looking forward to Rally Gulbis; “Next weekend is bound to be frantic but with Junior Rallying’s Technical Manager Peter Gladstone on the event, I’m sure we will be able to offer all five competing crews the levels of support they have come to expect of the scheme.

“The support of the Latvian Automobile Federation is also crucial to our activity and they have been superb all season. Their forward-thinking approach has made Junior Rallying possible and given us the chance to offer young British drivers the opportunity to begin their careers in a genuine rally environment.”

The event begins at 09.00hrs and the first cars are expected to arrive at the finish ramp in the centre of Gulbene at 13.40hrs.

More success for Junior Rallying drivers in Latvia

Posted: July 3, 2008 6:16 PM

There was more success for two drivers competing under the Junior Rallying banner this weekend, as they took part in the Rally Kekava 2008, the fifth round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship. Tom Clark and Junior Rallying newcomer Jamie Brown finished the event 47th overall and sixth in class and 67th overall and 20th in class respectively.

Last weekend?s event was based in the town of Kekava, which saw another event run there earlier this year. However, the stages on last weekend?s rally were very different from those on the first running of the rally. More technical and tighter, they posed a very different challenge to the two Junior Rallying drivers, as they progress through the scheme?s programme, gaining valuable experience along the way.

Clark was competing on his fourth event with Junior Rallying and his second using his Suzuki Swift Cup car. Before the event, his goal was to once again amass as much experience as possible and ensure he reached the finish, to continue to develop his stage rallying skills. However, he also set himself a target of finishing the event in the top five in class.

He and co-driver Aggie Foster were looking well on course for this but during the event, they clipped two cones that were used to mark out chicanes on the event. Each occasion cost the pair five seconds, adding ten seconds in total to their road time.

By the time they reached the finish ramp of the event, they had secured sixth in class, just seven seconds behind their closest rival in fifth. Therefore, without the time penalties for clipping the cones, they would have achieved their objective of a top-five class finish.

?I am really pleased to have finished the weekend; that gives me four out of four finishes, which I am really happy with. We have improved the Suzuki?s set up and it?s a great car but I know I can still get more out of it as I improve my understanding of how it works. My pace note system is starting to work really well and I am getting more comfortable with the recce and note-making from scratch, which is one of the reasons we opted for Latvia with Junior Rallying in the first place. I?m looking forward to the next event in August, when we visit the east side of the country for the first time.?

Junior Rallying newcomer Jamie Brown was competing on his first rally, having already enjoyed success on the racetrack in the UK. He chose rallying as his family has a rally background and it seemed natural for him to try the discipline. His aim at the start of the event was to reach the finish and gain as much knowledge and experience as possible.

?What a weekend! My first-ever event, my first competition abroad and my debut on a gravel surface. The stages were fast and sandy with some challenging ruts but pushing-on added to my experience and we got more confident as the day went on. Many thanks to Gemma [Price, Manager] and Peter [Gladstone, Technical Manager] of Junior Rallying for their help and support. Roll on August and the next event!?

Junior Rallying?s next outing in Latvia will be Rally Gulbis in the Gulbene region of the country, over the weekend of 9 & 10 August.

Junior Rallying back in action with yet another new driver

Posted: June 25, 2008 1:33 PM

Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent by training drivers from 14 years of age, returns to Latvia next weekend, for the next round of the RallySprint championship. Two familiar faces will form part of the three-car line-up, with another new addition to the scheme, Jamie Brown, joining Tom Cave and Tom Clark as they compete on the Kekava 2008 Rally.

Based in the same town as the similarly-named event earlier this year, next weekend’s rally features completely different stages from May. This time, the roads are more technical and while the experience of returning to a familiar host town will be useful to the drivers, the new roads will make the event just as challenging as the first time round.

The rally sees the crews complete the recce on Saturday 28 June with six stages run on Sunday 29, totalling 60 stage kilometres, with a total distance covered of 170Km.

As the drivers are all too young to hold a road license, once each car reaches the end of the stage, driver and co-driver must swap seats, as well as roles. The driver picks up the road book and time cards and is responsible for navigating the co-driver to the next time control on time.

While this is the only way that minors are able to compete in Latvia, according to Junior Rallying Manager and co-driver for Tom Cave Gemma Price, this helps the drivers to build an understanding of the co-driver’s role and importance. “Assuming the role of the co-driver on the road sections is good experience for the drivers. While they may not need that experience in actual competition, it does give them an implicit understanding of the intricacies involved in ensuring that the car is in exactly the right place at the right time. It’s all part of the development model which we have created with Junior Rallying.”

Three Junior Rallying drivers will be competing next weekend. Tom Cave, the inspiration for the scheme itself, is returning to competition after missing the recent Cesis Rally to concentrate on his GCSE exams. He will be keen to maximise his experience and build confidence after his last event, where he rolled his Ford Fiesta ST and subsequently retired. He will use the event as a warm-up for the Rally Kurzene the following weekend, the next round of the National championship.

Tom Clark will make a welcome return to Latvia. The 14 year-old from Essex has put in a string of exceptional results so far this year and will use the event to continue to develop the settings on his new Suzuki Swift Cup car, a process he began on the last round. He and co-driver Aggie Foster have set themselves a goal of achieving a top-five class finish in the car, which should be well within their reach, if their previous performances are anything to go by.

Joining his two experienced colleagues next weekend is Junior Rallying’s latest recruit, 16 year-old Jamie Brown from Norfolk. While this will be Jamie’s first rally, he’s no stranger to motorsport, having been karting for several years and currently competing in the 750 Motor Club SaxMax championship, where he is currently sixth.

While he undoubtedly has skills on the circuit, he and his family are looking at rallying as his father comes from a rally background. For the event, he will be using a two-litre Honda Civic and will be partnered by experienced co-driver Craig Burgess. Jamie underwent a Junior Rallying training course at the Sweet Lamb Rally Complex in the run-up to the event and impressed both Price and the instructors with his approach and potential.

“We concentrated on shaking the car down ready for the trip to Latvia, as well as working on Jamie’s skills,” said Price. “I was very pleased with how he did. He came on leaps and bounds on the day, as we worked on car control skills as well as pace notes and various other aspects of rallying, which will be new to him. Jamie has been brought up on rallying, but until Junior Rallying launched in January, was unaware that he would be able to get started in the sport before he was 17. We welcome him to the team and look forward to a good first event."

Tom Cave swaps revision notes for pace notes for rally return

Posted: June 25, 2008 1:28 PM

British junior rally driver Tom Cave will scrap his revision notes next weekend and pick up his pace notes once again, as he returns to rallying after the end of his GCSE exams. The 16 year-old, who elected to miss one round of the Latvian Rally Championship to concentrate on his studies has now completed his exams and has entered the Rally Kekava 2008 to get his rally program back on track.

Next weekend’s rally is a round of the Latvian RallySprint championship but Tom will be using the event to reacquaint himself with the Latvian stages, after an absence of six weeks. His last event, the Talsi Rally, ended with a low-speed roll on the sixth stage and subsequent retirement, so Cave, from Aberdovey, will be keen to get as many miles under his belt as possible to build confidence ready for the following weekend’s National event.

“It’s great to have finished my exams at last. It feels like it’s been a long time coming, with the exams themselves and the preceding revision but I feel good to have completed them. Now I can focus on my rallying and get back out on the stages.”

The Ford Fiesta ST rally car which Tom uses in the National championship is still being repaired after the roll on the Talsi Rally, so he will revert to the car he used last year in Latvia, an MG ZR, for this event. While quite different from the Fiesta, Tom doesn’t feel that there will be any real difficulties in the switch.

“It’s a little annoying to be doing the event in the ZR as obviously, I’d prefer to be doing it in the Fiesta. However, the goal for this event is to get a decent result and get another finish under our belt, to count towards my international license. So in that sense, the older MG, while not handling as well as the Fiesta, should be fine for the job.”

Tom plans to contest the UK’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB, in December this year, just days after his 17th birthday. As he will potentially only just have passed his test, he will run with a Latvian International license and to gain that, finishing the next few rallies and gaining as much experiences as possible is crucial.

“The objective for this event and the following ones is to get to the finish and maximise experience and mileage. With the retirement on Talsi and then missing the Cesis to concentrate on my exams, we’re already potentially two events down on the experience I need, so finishing is of paramount importance. I also need to rebuild my confidence after the roll on the Talsi Rally and demonstrate that we are capable of finishing events and not more prone to crashing. So the actual result next weekend doesn’t bother me too much, just the finish.”

Tom will be one of three drivers competing under the Junior Rallying banner, the scheme to develop young British rallying talent inspired by Tom’s rallying in Latvia last year. As a result, while he will be concentrating on his own event, Tom will also be on hand to offer advice to the other two Junior Rallying drivers if they need it.

Next weekend’s event is based in the same town as Tom’s first event this year in April; Kekava. However, while it shares the same base and name as the previous event, the challenges are likely to be very different.

“I don’t know the stages on this event although I am told they are more technical than April’s Rally. But until we start the recce on Saturday, we won’t know for sure.”

Once this event is over, there will be an all-too-brief respite for Tom and co-driver Gemma Price. They will contest Rally Kurzeme, the next round of the National championship the following weekend in the Fiesta, assuming the repairs are carried out in time. Staying in Latvia should allow a period of recuperation but also, as Tom admits, time for work as well.

“I’ll be staying in Latvia between the two events, with Gemma and my father. We’ll get a little time off but Gemma and I will work on the pace notes and discuss various other aspects of our rallying while we’re there. We will also start planning for next season. We’re already halfway through this year and it’s time we began sorting-out some of the ideas and opportunities for next year, as the end of this season will come around very quickly.

“We’re not thinking about Wales Rally GB just yet, as we have these two events back-to-back. However, once the Kurzeme event is out of the way and I hopefully have two more signatures on my license, then we can start to think about what will be involved in that event and what we do for next year.”

The Kekava 2008 Rally comprises six stages run entirely on Sunday 29 June, with the pre-event recce and scrutineering taking place on Saturday. Crews face 60 competitive kilometres before returning to Kekava for the finish ceremony on Sunday afternoon. 

For exclusive video of Tom's roll on the Talsi Rally and a photo sequence of the roll, go to the gallery section of Tom's new website, at

Tom Cave Racing

Other News:

Posted: June 25, 2008 1:23 PM

• Excellent weekend for Junior Rallying drivers in Latvia
• Frustrating first event for Tom Cave on Rally Talsi
• Top-ten 2WD finish for Junior Rallying’s Tom Clark in Latvia
• Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave on verge of start of 2008 rally campaign
• Second outing for Junior Rallying in Latvia this weekend
• Junior Rallying first event - Better than hoped
• Perfect start for Tom Cave on Rally Kekava
• It’s go, go go for Welshman Tom Cave in Latvian Rally Championship
• Countdown starts for 2008 Junior Rallying competition
• Twin sisters win the opportunity to join Junior Rallying
• Reception to Junior Rallying launch a success/Registration for Junior Rallying opens at Autosport International/Junior Rallying launches to train the UK’s future rally champions

Posted: June 4, 2008 7:37 PM

The three Junior Rallying drivers taking part in last weekend’s Tukums Rally, the latest round of the 2008 Latvian RallySprint championship, enjoyed an excellent weekend of competition. Tom Clark, Conor Flynn and newcomer Dom Scott all finished the event, gaining invaluable experience on the way and creditable results to boot.

The Tukums Rally was the third for Essex-based Tom Clark but the first he and co-driver Aggie Clark used their new car, a Suzuki Swift. This is built to the same specification as the cars competing in the one-make series which forms part of the British Rally Championship, the Suzuki Swift Cup.

Conor Flynn was competing his second event under the Junior Rallying banner and again, used his family-prepared Mk3 Volkswagen Golf. Junior Rallying debutant Dom Scott was at the wheel of his father’s Vauxhall Nova as he tackled stage rallying and the Latvian roads for the first time.

The event comprised two stages on Saturday afternoon and evening, followed by the five remaining stages on Sunday. While the crews would not be faced with night stages, they did have to cope with an overnight halt for the first time, adding to their experience as part of the Junior Rallying driver development program.

Clark, aged 14, went on to finish the event in 52nd place overall and 8th in class, an excellent achievement considering he hadn’t even seen the car before he arrived in Tukums. He drove the Swift for the first time on stage one of the event, as the brand new Swift was delivered direct to Tukums by Suzuki and had not turned a wheel prior to the start of the event.

Tom spent the rally fine-tuning the Swift’s factory settings to suit his driving style and the Latvian gravel stages and by the end of the event, had not only amassed a considerable amount of experience of rallying but also had developed a set-up which he felt would work well for the rest of the season. Once the initial teething troubles were rectified, he set a series of top-ten class stage times, including a fifth-fastest in class on Sunday’s opening test.

Speaking after the event, Clark said; “I love the new car. We had a few handling problems to begin with but the Junior Rallying mechanics worked hard and we managed to sort these out by the end of the event. You can see this in the results, where we went from 81st overall at the end of the first day to 52nd by the end of the event. The roads on this event were fantastic and I can’t wait for the next rally, at the end of June.”

Conor Flynn enjoyed a good start to the event but was soon hampered by road penalties picked up at the beginning of the rally, which affected his road position on the second day. These penalties were eventually cancelled-out and while they no longer affected the overall result, still took their toll on the conditions he faced, with dust from previous cars hanging in the air and impairing his vision. Despite this, Flynn went on to finish the event in 57th place overall and 14th in class.

“I’m very pleased that I was leading the Junior Rallying drivers at the overnight halt, especially as my car is more standard than the others. We had an excellent recce and I learned a lot, as the stages on this event were very different in nature from the first rally I did with Junior Rallying. They are much faster and more flowing and I’m pleased that my pace notes worked well on them. We had a small misfire that developed over the course of the event so we will need to attend to that before the next rally but generally, I’m very happy to have finished my second ever rally inside the top 60.”

Dom Scott, 14 years old from Herefordshire and son of BTRDA regular Gary, was competing on his first-ever event and enjoyed a trouble-free run until the last stage. The gearbox on his father’s Vauxhall Nova lost fourth gear but Dom and co-driver Mike Scrimgour simply relied on third gear to get through the final stage of the event and return to the finish ramp in the centre of Tukums in an excellent 53rd overall and 9th in class, just 1.2 seconds behind Tom Clark.

Speaking at the end of his first event, Dom said; “It was a brilliant weekend; the car was good, the notes were excellent and Mike and I got on really well in the car. We lost fourth gear in the last stage so I had to drive round that problem and get on with it – all part of rallying! It was a once in a lifetime chance to be the youngest British rally driver to compete internationally and I am delighted to finish my first rally and have so much fun and learn so much.”

Junior Rallying Manager, Gemma Price was impressed with the drivers’ approach to the event. “All three drivers did a fantastic job this weekend. Tom went about eliminating the teething troubles with his new car in a very logical and professional way and once he had it working properly for the gravel stages, put in some remarkable times.

“I was also very impressed with Dom; to be driving a near-200bhp car for his first ever rally and to deal with the gearbox problem was a feat in itself. However, what most impressed me was his speed and commitment in the stages. He was the last car on the road and was regularly catching the car in front within a few kilometres of the start of each stage. He certainly seems to have potential and I’m looking forward to him developing and realising that potential with Junior Rallying’s help.

“Conor had an excellent start to the event and put in some very good times. However, the road penalties they picked up affected him on Sunday but he was able to put those behind him and concentrate on the job in hand and bring home another good result and a considerable amount of experience.”

The next event for Junior Rallying will be the Kekava RallySprint over the weekend of 28 & 29 June.

Posted: May 19, 2008 6:21 PM

Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave endured a frustrating event on this weekend’s Talsi Rally, the second round of the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship. Tom and co-driver Gemma Price were settling well into what the locals regard as the toughest event in the calendar when they slid wide on one corner and tipped their car into a slow roll. When the engine failed to restart and with broken front and rear windscreens, they were forced to retire from the event.

Tom’s first rally in 2008 in the National Championship started well. The event saw a pair of gravel stages on Saturday afternoon, followed by two back-to-back runs through the centre of Talsi town. By the end of the first leg on Saturday evening, Tom and Gemma were 7th in class, less than 10 seconds behind their closest competitor in a Honda Civic Type R.

However, rain during Saturday night changed the nature of the event significantly and the stages on Sunday morning became extremely slippery and rutted, with rocks being dragged out of the surface into the road.

It was on the day’s sixth stage that the problem began. Tom slid wide on a medium speed corner 4Km from the start of the stage and into soft mud at the edge of the road. The day before, this would have been dry gravel and the chances are the car would simply have carried on. However, the overnight rain had turned this to mud and it dragged the car further off the road and into a small ditch by the side of the road.

This caused the car to pitch up into a slow roll and come to rest on its roof. Both Tom and Gemma were unhurt in the incident and the passionate Latvian rally fans soon had the Fiesta ST back on its wheels, with Tom quickly trying to re-start the engine so they could continue.

However, because the car had been inverted, the engine oil had run into the top of the engine and fouled the spark plugs and it refused to restart. Despite their attempts, Tom and Gemma were forced to retire on the spot, a frustrating end to the first event of their 2008 campaign proper.

“I think we were very unlucky,” said Tom after the event. “The car got into the mud on the outside of the corner and was dragged into a small ditch. The sill dug in and pitched us onto the roof. Some spectators got us back onto our wheels, for which I’m very grateful, but the plugs were fouled and we decided not to risk the engine any further and retire.

“Up until that point, things had been going well. The two town stages were really good fun and we had a very good rhythm and feeling with the car. But after the rain on Sunday night, the stages were very tricky. They were quite rutted by the bigger cars in front of us and there were lots of rocks in the road. But we were settling well into the event and driving with a finish in mind.

“I feel we were reasonably competitive without pushing too hard, since experience and a good result were the targets. But this was one of those situations that could have gone either way; unfortunately for us this weekend, it went the wrong way. But the car isn’t too badly damaged and should be fine for the next event in three week’s time.”

The car itself suffered broken front and rear windscreens and minor panel damage but nothing that should prevent it being ready for the next round of the National Championship, the Cesis Rally on the weekend of 7-8 June.

Posted: May 13, 2008 2:21 PM

Junior Rallying’s Tom Clark finished an excellent 36th overall and 10th in the two wheel-drive category of this weekend’s Kalnanuiza Rally, only his second event in Latvia driving to his own pace notes. The rally was won outright by 17 year-old local Janis Karlins, who has progressed through the same route as British Junior Rallying drivers competing in Latvia, demonstrating the importance of the scheme.

14 year-old Clark and co-driver Aggie Foster enjoyed what Junior Rallying Manager, Gemma Price, described as “an excellent run”. Despite the beginnings of a cold, Clark adopted a mature approach to the technical event and arrived at the finish as the tenth-placed two-wheel drive car.

The second round of the RallySprint championship was also Clark and Foster’s second in Latvia. However, while their first, last month’s Kekava Rally was a relatively easy introduction, the Kalnanuiza event posed much more of a challenge, particularly for the pace notes.

The event featured far more technical stages, including blind corners on or following crests and gave a more representative taste of the nature of the Latvian stages. As a result, Clark’s pace notes for this event were more complex than his first event but as Price explains, this forms one of the cornerstones of the Junior Rallying proposition.

“Developing a pace note system to suit a variety of stage conditions is crucial to progressing as a driver. It’s all part of the learning process and exactly what we went through with Tom Cave in Latvia last year.”

In addition to being on hand to offer guidance and support, Price and the Junior Rallying team carefully monitored Tom’s physical performance, including his fluid intake, as the temperatures were in the mid 20°Cs. The event also saw a 13.5Km stage, relatively long for the RallySprint championship and making up almost ¼ of the total competitive distance for the event.

“We had no problems with the car this weekend,” said Clark. “We had a few moments, particularly on some of the corners over crests, but we managed to hold it together. The long stage was pretty challenging but also, extremely satisfying to complete a big test like that.”

The event was eventually won by 17 year-old Janis Karlins, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EvoIX. The youngster had progressed through the same route that Junior Rallying has identified to develop British drivers’ skills and experience, by beginning with the Latvian RallySprint Championship and progressing to the National Rally Championship. This clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the Junior Rallying programme, made possible by the exclusive partnership with the Latvian Automobile Federation.

One member of the Junior Rallying team unable to make the trip to Latvia this weekend though was Technical Manager, Peter Gladstone. He was hospitalised briefly on Thursday, when an errant driver reversed at high speed from a parking space and knocked him over as he unloaded luggage from the team transport at Bristol airport. He was initially diagnosed with suspected broken ribs and a punctured lung at the scene but on arriving at hospital, was found to have bruising but no breaks or punctures. However, he did require a considerable amount of broken glass to be removed from his body and was recovering at home as the team competed in Latvia with a replacement mechanic standing-in.

Posted: May 9, 2008 4:32 PM

Next weekend will see Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave begin his 2008 rally campaign in earnest, as he tackles the second round of the 2008 Latvian National Rally Championship, the Talsi Rally. While the 16 year-old from Aberdovey has already contested the event once before in 2007 and is looking forward to this year’s edition, he predicts a tough and challenging rally, which takes place after he begins to take his GCSEs.

The UK’s first minor to compete in international rallying has already completed the pre-event recce, thanks to a special dispensation form the Latvian Automobile Federation. This is because the recce for other competitors takes place on the Thursday and Friday preceding the weekend event and Tom is unable to take time off from his studies, at the most crucial time in his education so far.

The Talsi Rally is the second round of the 2008 Latvian national series and Cave missed the opening round due to a sports injury. However, he competed on the recent Rally Kekava, a round of the Latvian RallySprint series, as a final preparation for his national campaign. He finished that event second in class and 19th overall, fulfilling his objective of learning his new-for-2008 Group N Ford Fiesta ST and establishing a base set-up for Talsi.

He is already familiar with this weekend’s event, having contested it in 2007. However, he will be hoping for more success this year. On his first excursion, he went off the road and got his MG ZR beached on a tree stump and despite the efforts of determined Latvian rally spectators, was unable to get back on the road before running out of time.

He also admits that he was unprepared for the challenges that the event would pose. High temperatures, long stages with changing nature and a full two days of competition took their toll on the-then 15 year-old. However, Tom has developed a physical fitness regime with the objective of becoming stronger and building his endurance, both physically and mentally, to cope with exactly these kind of conditions.

Tom explains; “Last year, our first in the National championship, was a big step forward for me and Gemma [Price, co-driver]. I wasn’t fully prepared for the event and in that situation, it bit back at me. It was hot and very tricky and we went off the road on the seventh stage. I feel we were unlucky to get stuck on a stump, as several other cars had gone off at the same spot but managed to get back on again.

“But there were times on the event where I felt very tired, physically and mentally and like I wasn’t able to continue. I simply wasn’t ready for the conditions but I learned an awful lot, which has meant that this year, I will be much better prepared.”

Tom’s fitness programme over the winter has concentrated on building stamina and upper-body strength, to cope with the demands of competing on the Talsi event and the others in the championship. He mixes rowing and running to build overall endurance and combines that with resistance training to increase strength, particularly in the arms and upper body. However, Tom admits that this weekend’s rally is the toughest challenge he is likely to face this season.

“The Talsi rally has a huge variety of conditions. Most of the stages are very fast and open, on loose gravel with many of the locals comparing the stages to those in Finland for the World Rally Championship round. However, there are also stages on the event that are very tight, twisty and technical and to succeed, you have to be completely reliant on the pace notes to understand how to deal with the blind crests and the fast, open corners.

“The stages are also quite soft, so they tend to cut-up quite badly and a lot of rocks get pulled out into the road, which we need to be very wary of. This will make things tricky for us, with two wheel-drive but at least, it will be the same for our competitors.”

Having completed the recce two weeks prior to the start of the event, Tom has a much clearer idea of the challenges ahead.

“The recce was a very long weekend – we didn’t get home until 4am on Monday morning! But it was very good. We are allowed three passes over the stages for the Latvian National championship events and they will definitely be needed. It’s quite a tricky event and will be a huge challenge but one I’m definitely looking forward to.

“I think the crucial stage will be SS9 – Sarcene. It’s over 34Km in length and combines tight and twisty sections with very fast, flowing open sections. The mid-part is fast with a little technical part at the beginning but much more at the end. It’s going to be hard work, arriving there already having done 30Km and having to work very hard to the end of the stage. Also, everything will be extremely hot by that point – Me, Gemma, the tyres, dampers and brakes and that will make things even tougher.

“I think the key will be to find the right pace for me and for the car and then maintain that over the duration of the whole event, not just a single stage. I need to be able to get to the end of every stage with a little in reserve, rather than hanging on by my fingernails. The objective this weekend has to be to finish the event and then, we will see how competitive we are at the end.”

The event itself begins on the afternoon of Saturday 17 May with a pair of traditional gravel stages. The first day ends with a double run of the asphalt Talsi town centre stage, which last year brought rally fans and residents alike out in droves.

The action resumes on the morning of Sunday 18 May with six more stages, including the penultimate, the 34Km Sarcene test, before a run around a superspecial stage close to the rally base in Talsi itself. The competitors reach the final podium at 18.00Hrs local-time.

Posted: May 9, 2008 3:47 PM

This weekend sees the second outing in Latvia for Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent. Only one of Junior Rallying’s drivers will be taking part in this weekend’s Rally Kalnanuiza, the next round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship, with Tom Clark and Aggie Foster contesting the event in an m3motorsport-prepared and run MG ZR.

Fellow Junior Rallying driver Conor Flynn will not take part, as his UK Rallycross commitments prevent him from travelling to Latvia this weekend. Junior Rallying figurehead Tom Cave, who competed alongside Clark two weeks ago on the Kekava Rally, is also not taking part, as he will be contesting next week’s Talsi Rally.

So the Junior Rallying flag will be flown this weekend by Clark and Foster alone. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing for the 14 year-old driver from Essex. This will be only his second event competing in Latvia and driving to pace notes and while this weekend will be just as challenging, he is far more relaxed at the prospect, having already completed one event and gaining an excellent first result, of 11th in class.

Speaking before the event, Junior Rallying Manager Gemma Price said; “Tom is definitely looking forward to this weekend’s rally. I think the first-event nerves have passed now, after the Kekava Rally and the build-up to this weekend has been far more relaxed. He learned an awful lot on the Kekava and we hope he will be able to put that to good use on Saturday.”

However, the weather conditions this weekend are likely to make the event tougher than Clark’s first outing. The temperature is forecast to be past 20°C, meaning it will be more challenging that the previous round.

Clark and Foster will again be competing in the ex-Tom Cave Racing MG ZR that they used on last month’s Kekava Rally. However, Clark hopes that the next event will see the debut of their new car, an R2-specification Suzuki Swift.

The Kalnanuiza Rally is based near the town of Skrunda, around 100Km from Latvia’s capitol, Riga. It features seven stages on Saturday 10 May, with a total competitive distance of 60Km. The crews are expected to reach the finish ramp from 4pm on Saturday afternoon.

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More Details:

Junior Rallying Scheme

Posted: April 21, 2008 11:57 AM

The first international event for Junior Rallying in the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship went “Better than we could have hoped,” according to Manager Gemma Price. Junior Rallying had three drivers competing on this weekend’s Kekava Rally, the second round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship and all acquitted themselves admirably on the scheme’s debut for multiple drivers in Latvia.

Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave was using the event as a shakedown for the start of his Latvian National Rally Championship campaign in May and achieved what he described as a “dream result”, by finishing the event 19th overall and second in class. However, the result belies the achievement of the 16 year-old, partnered by Price, as the crew picked up ten seconds of penalties for clipping cones on two stages. Without the penalties, Cave and Price would have completed the event 15th overall and the leading 2WD car, an excellent performance.

Cave was understandably delighted with the result. Speaking from the finish ramp in Kekava just outside Riga, he said; “This is a brilliant result; for me, for Gemma and of course, for the team. The objective for this weekend was to gain as much experience as possible and get the car ready for the Talsi Rally next month. We achieved that without question and to get this result on top of that is fantastic.”

Tom Clark, from the Midlands, is another driver pleased with his performance over the weekend. He completed the event 47th overall and 11th in class, amid a series of firsts for the 14 year-old. This was the first time he had driven to pace notes, the first time driving the MG ZR rally car, the first time with co-driver Aggie Foster and his first time on Latvian soil. His was an extremely steep learning curve but according to Price, he performed remarkably well.

Price said; “I’m very pleased that Tom completed the event and made it to the finish. To do that and come 11th out of 30 starters in the class is a huge bonus. The Latvian Automobile Federation (LAF) was impressed with his performance and his driving, which is excellent and a fitting recognition of the importance of the Junior Rallying scheme to develop British talent and also, the relationship between us and the LAF.”

Clark was understandably pleased with his weekend’s efforts; “It’s been a great first event for me and while I’m very happy to finish 11th out of 30 starters, the main aim was to get to the finish of the event and gain as much experience as possible. I haven’t used my own pace note system before this weekend, so was a little nervous about that. But in practice, it seemed to work well. We only had one of the chicanes wrong in the notes but as it transpired, it didn’t cause us any major problems.”

Things didn’t go quite as smoothly for Junior Rallying’s third driver, 15 year-old Conor Flyn. The engine on his family-prepared and run Volkswagen Golf failed before the start of the event on Saturday and he was unable to compete on the first two stages of the event. However, the team and the Junior Rallying technicians worked overnight to repair the engine and he was able to run on Sunday to gain experience, albeit without being classified.

Flyn and co-driver Tim Young put in creditable times on the six stages which made up Sunday’s section and despite not being classified, gained valuable experience of the nature of Latvian stages and driving to pace notes.

“It wasn’t the best start for us with the engine problem and missing the first two stages. But once we got going on Sunday, it was much better. This is also my first time on pace notes and this worked well. Like Tom [Clark], the hardest part was taking in what the co-driver, Tim was telling me. A few of the notes weren’t quite right so we didn’t feel we could commit fully but I am pleased with the stage times. It has been an amazing experience and I can’t wait for the next event.”

Summing up the first weekend of competition in Latvia for Junior Rallying, Manager Price said; “We could not have hoped for the first event to go as well as it did. All the drivers performed extremely well and each gained a huge amount of experience, which will prove invaluable for the rest of their season’s rallying. With the exception of Conor’s engine problem, we had no mechanical issues over the weekend, thanks to the m3motorsport team’s efforts and the support and hospitality we received from the LAF and the Latvian people was fantastic. We now look forward to the next events in the RallySprint and National championships with excitement.”

The next event for Clark and Flyn will be the Rally B&K, the third round of the RallySprint championship, over the weekend of 10/11 May. However, for Tom Cave, his will be the second round of the National Rally Championship, the Talsi Rally, the following weekend, the 17/18 May.

Posted: April 21, 2008 11:51 AM

Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave’s 2008 rally campaign got off to a perfect start this weekend in Latvia, as the 16 year-old, driving a Group N Ford Fiesta on the Rally Kekava finished the event 19th overall and second in class, by a margin of just 1.5 seconds. Even more impressive is the fact that without ten seconds of penalties picked up for clipping marking cones en route, Cave would have won the 2WD class and finished 15th overall, from a field of 131 starters.

Tom was using the event, the second round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship, as a shakedown for the start of his actual 2008 campaign, the Latvian National Rally Championship. The objective of this weekend’s 50Km event was to establish a base set-up for the Fiesta and get to know the car under competition conditions.

The event started on Saturday evening with a pair of Tarmac stages, while the remainder of the event, six stages on Sunday, were on gravel. The Tom Cave Racing team opted to run the car in gravel trim throughout the event but use tarmac tyres for the two short stages on Saturday.

Both Cave and co-driver Gemma Price were surprised to find themselves 11th overall after the first two tests of the rally, despite picking a five-second penalty on the first stage when they clipped a chicane with the rear wheel of the m3motorsport-run Fiesta.

The gravel stages on Sunday transpired to be much drier than the crews had found on the pre-event recce, since the sandy roads had drained well once the recent wet weather had abated. Again, Cave and Price fell into an excellent rhythm on the Latvian stages and consistently set top-four class stage times throughout the day.

They picked up another five-second penalty on the event’s fourth stage and at the time, did not realise the implication of a relatively small error in judgement. However, by the end of the event, they completed the 50Km rally 19th overall and second in class, a tantalising 1.5 seconds behind class winner Kaspars Brencis in a Honda Civic Type R.

Cave was understandably delighted with the result. Speaking from the finish ramp in Kekava just outside Riga, he said; “This is a brilliant result; for me, for Gemma and of course, for the TCR team. The objective for this weekend was to gain as much experience as possible and get the car ready for the Talsi Rally next month. We achieved that without question and to get this result on top of that is fantastic.

“I settled into the car from the first stage and by the time we got to the first gravel stage, I was really starting to feel at home with it. I was pleased with the set-up we started the event with and we only made some very small changes along the way. We had no trouble whatsoever with the car – it ran faultlessly throughout the event.

“It was quite frustrating to pick up the penalties for clipping the cones on the two stages. We briefly considered appealing the decision but it’s a very clear regulation and therefore, we had to accept our mistakes. When I did it a second time, I never thought that five seconds would make such a difference to the potential results and I was gutted to have lost the class win by just 1.5 seconds.

“However, that doesn’t detract at all from what we achieved this weekend. We set out to complete the event and learn as much as we could and we did just that. To finish second in class is a great result for all involved and I am thrilled.”

Co-driver Gemma Price, who competed in the FIA World Rally Championship prior to teaming-up with Cave, was impressed with the 16 year-old’s performance over the weekend. “Tom drove extremely well this weekend, especially considering we were in the Fiesta for the first time in competition. He was accurate, stable and overall, put in a very mature drive.”

Cave’s next outing will be the second round of the Latvian National Championship, the Talsi Rally, over the weekend of 17/18 May. This will be Cave’s first, as he missed the season opener due to an injured elbow.

Posted: April 13, 2008 10:10 PM

Next weekend sees the start of Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave’s 2008 international rally campaign, as he takes part in the Kekava Rally, as a final shakedown test for the start of his 2008 Latvian Rally Championship campaign. Cave, the UK’s first minor international rally driver, missed the first round due to a sports injury but feels he has never been more ready to start a sporting programme than he is now.

The 16 year-old Cave, from Aberdovey in Mid-Wales, will be competing in Latvia for the second year, having used 2007 as an information-gathering exercise. Running as part of the Junior Rallying scheme, Cave will be competing alongside two other young Brits on this event that forms part of the Latvian Rallysprint Championship.

However, while his Junior Rallying team-mates are competing in that championship, Cave will be using the event as a final opportunity to establish a base set-up in his Fiesta for next month’s Talsi Rally, the second round of the National Championship.

Cave has already spent a considerable amount of time testing the Group N Fiesta in the UK but feels that competing on the Kekava Rally will not only provide the perfect opportunity to finalise the car’s settings under actual competition conditions, it will also make sure that he is match-fit for the start of the National championship one month later.

“I haven’t competed in a rally since last October,” said Cave “and so I’m very excited about getting back into a rally car. I’ve done quite a lot of testing with the Fiesta but no actual competition, so I am also very excited to see what it, and I am capable of.

“We’ll be using this event to establish a base setting for the car ready for our first event in the National championship and to get to know it under actual competition conditions. As we know, testing is very useful but there is no substitute for actual competition mileage and getting the maximum experience possible this weekend is the objective.”

The event takes place outside the Latvian capital of Riga and sees 50 competitive kilometres run over two stages on the evening of Saturday 19 April followed by the remainder of the timed tests on Sunday 20 April. While he has not competed on this event before, Cave did drive on a rally relatively close to this one in 2007 and hopes that the conditions will be similar.

“I did the Rally Cesis last year. The conditions there were quite soft and sandy, so I hope that may give me some idea of the likely conditions on the Kekava. But of course, the weather is a big factor. It is wet at the moment and if it stays like that, it could be very tricky and messy. However, if it dries out, then hopefully the ground should drain well and it won’t be quite as difficult.”

Posted: April 13, 2008 10:03 PM

This month sees the competition phases of Junior Rallying ’08 line up on the start line, as three of the scheme’s drivers begin their actual rally competition in Latvia. Tom Cave, Conor Flyn and Tom Clark will all take part in their first events in April, as the scheme, designed to develop and promote the next generation of British rally drivers, shifts up a gear.

The first event will be the Rally Kekava, based in the town of the same name, just outside the capital of Riga. The event forms part of the Latvian RallySprint championship and was originally scheduled to run in February as a snow rally. However, the weather was unseasonably fine and the required low temperatures and snow cover were not present, so the event was postponed.

Featuring seven gravel stages and covering a total competitive distance of 50Km, the event will be the first chance for two of the three British drivers to test their mettle on the Latvian stages. For Conor and Tom Clark, their first taste of Latvian stages will be when they tackle the event recce, to make their pace notes. However, Tom Cave, who is competing on the Latvian National Rally Championship this season, will be using the event as a shakedown in preparation for his first national event, having missed the season opener due to a sporting injury.

The event will see the three British crews compete on two stages during the evening of Saturday 19 April before the remainder of the event, starting at 10.30 on Sunday 20 April. Each will use their own pace note system, with support and guidance from the Junior Rallying team in attendance, including Cave’s co-driver and Junior Rallying Manager, former WRC co-driver Gemma Price.

The three cars will be run under the watchful eye of Junior Rallying’s Technical Manager Peter Gladstone, who like Cave and Price, already has considerable experience of running rally cars on the Latvian stages.

Conor Flyn, aged 15 years, will be using a home-prepared Volkswagen Mk2 Golf GTi on his first event and will be co-driven by Tim Young. Flyn already has considerable experience at the wheel of a competition car, having competed in the British RallyCross championship last year. However, this will be his first genuine rally outing and he is understandably excited by the prospect.

“Starting to compete in Latvia will be one of my dreams coming true,” said Flyn. “I just can’t wait to be driving flat out through the forests. I’m really excited and a little bit nervous, but only about driving to the notes. I have been doing lots of work on my fitness and as I have been competing in RallyCross already this year, I already have quite a bit of seat time and I’m ready to go.”

Tom Clark, aged 14, will compete on Rally Kekava in the MG ZR that Tom Cave used in last year’s Latvian series and will be partnered by Aggie Foster. Tom impressed the Junior Rallying team at the initial trial day as well as at a private test undertaken at the Sweet lamb Rally Complex in March and is looking forward to putting his already-impressive skills to the test under actual competition conditions.

“I’m really excited about going to Latvia; it will be the first time I get to do loads of things. I have never flown, been to a foreign country, driven on a rally, used pace notes or navigated on road sections before so I am going to learn a huge amount this weekend! It’s a dream come true really. I am doing lots of work with my co-driver Aggie Foster before the event on notes and navigation to make sure we are in the best shape possible on the day, but the plan is to get a feeling for the event and build on that.”

Tom Cave is competing in the Latvian National Rally Championship this season but will be contesting the Rally Kekava as a preparation exercise ahead of his first event, the Talsi Rally in May. Having missed the opening round due to his injured left elbow sustained while playing football at school, Tom is keen to start his 2008 program. He will again be partnered by Price and will be driving his new car for the 2008 season, a Group N Ford Fiesta ST, built to the same specification as the cars used in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International, which runs alongside the FIA World Rally Championship.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the Kekava Rally,” said Cave. “I haven’t competed since last October, as I missed the opening round of the championship with the injured elbow, so I’m dying to get into the Fiesta and try it in actual competition. I’ll be using the Kekava Rally as a final shakedown for myself and the car, to get a base set-up ready for the start of the Talsi Rally, the next round of the National championship, in May.

“I’ll also of course be there to help and offer encouragement to Tom and Conor, as I already have one year of competition in Latvia so may be able to offer some advice on that basis. I think this will be a great weekend for Junior Rallying and to see the season get underway, for us all.”

UK TV viewers will be able to follow Tom Cave’s progress through the course of the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship on Motors TV. The high-speed channel will be covering the full National championship with a 30-minute program on each event.

Posted: April 7, 2008 10:03 PM

Twin sisters Charlotte and Jessica Roberts, daughters of British Rally Championship competitor Martin, are the latest youngsters to become involved with Junior Rallying, the scheme to develop the next generation of British rallying talent. The 14 year-old identical twins won a recent competition run by Junior Rallying in conjunction with the Trefeddian Hotel, for not only a luxury weekend break at the stunning hotel but also, a rally day with Junior Rallying to assess their skills and potential.

Neither Charlotte nor Jessica are strangers to rallying; they have been supporting their father Martin on every event as he competed in a Citroen C2R2 in the 2007 BRC, coming second in the category. He entered the competition on the Junior Rallying stand at the recent Race Retro show and was delighted when Charlotte was picked as the winner.

However, as Charlotte and Jessica are identical twins, giving only one of the 14 years-olds a chance to take part in a Junior Rallying day simply wasn’t on. Martin and Junior Rallying Manager Gemma Price discussed the best way to proceed and it was decided that both girls would take part in the trial day.

Martin has always harboured a hope that the twins would become involved in the sport. However, until he entered the competition on the Junior Rallying stand and became aware of the opportunities available through the scheme including competing in Latvia, he assumed that they would not be able to get onto the rally ladder until much later.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got the call telling me that Charlotte had won the competition,” said Roberts. “Charlotte was the actual winner but I always hoped that she and Jessica would be able to compete together, so it made sense to make sure that they both went through the Junior Rallying induction day together.

“It has been a long-held dream of mine to give the girls the opportunity to develop as a competitive crew but assumed that it would have to wait for several years. However, Junior Rallying means that they will be able to not only gain competition experience well before they would be able to in the UK, they will also receive expert tuition in the key skills required.

“It will be interesting to see how the girls’ skills emerge. Both are used to being in rally cars, as they have always sat in with me on tests. However, Charlotte tends to be the more confident when it come to driving and Jessica has already said she wants to be the co-driver, so this could be the start of something interesting.”

Not only do Charlotte and Jessica have experience of the co-driver’s seat, they also have considerable experience at the controls. Both have driven karts and the family has an off-road buggy that the girls use to develop their car-control skills, setting them up for a competitive future.

Charlotte said; “I think this is excellent and like Jessica, I’m very excited. It will be fantastic to get the opportunity to begin rallying at this age and to do it somewhere like Latvia would be even more exciting.”

Jessica is also understandably excited by the prospect; “Charlotte and I get on very well and it will be interesting to see how we work together in the car. The Junior Rallying test day will be the first time we’ve been together in a rally car at the same time, so we’re both very excited.”

Commenting on the news, Junior Rallying manager and former WRC co-driver Gemma Price said; “I’m delighted that we have two female potential candidates involved. It demonstrates that rallying is not an exclusively male sport. As we’ve seen in the past, a sibling pairing can be a very effective combination and we hope that Charlotte and Jessica will progress through the Junior Rallying programme and begin their competition career with us.”

The date and location for the girls’ trial are to be decided but it will take place in the UK, under the guidance of Junior Rallying’s instructors and Price.

Posted: February 5, 2008 8:16 PM

A brand-new scheme aimed at developing British rallying talent, Junior Rallying, will be launched at next year’s Autosport International show at the NEC, 10-13 January 2008. The scheme is the brainchild of FIA World Rally Championship co-driver Gemma Price and has attracted former British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans as its patron and chief instructor.

• Reception to Junior Rallying launch a success
• Registration for Junior Rallying opens at Autosport International
• Junior Rallying launches to train the UK’s future rally champions

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05/02/08
Reception to Junior Rallying launch a success
The reception to the launch of Junior Rallying, the scheme to aid the development of the next generation of British rally drivers, has been exceptional, according to the organisers. Debuting for the first time at the recent Autosport international show at the Birmingham NEC, the scheme drew critical acclaim from all the right places, including the media, members of the rally community but more importantly, prospective rally drivers.

The Junior Rallying stand was located close to the exit of the famous Live Action arena and therefore, foot traffic past the area was enormous. Scheme manager Gemma Price estimates something in the region of 10,000 people would have passed the stand over the course of the four days of the show.

“We’re very pleased with the response to the scheme so far,” said Gemma. “The industry has been very supportive, from the top level of the sport down to grass roots, understanding completely what the objectives are and how we plan to go about it.

“What’s even more encouraging is the response from the potential participants. Just a few days after the show itself and we are already half-full, in terms of the intake for the first test day, which is fantastic.”

In addition to the publicised phase one of the scheme, where drivers with no experience begin to learn car control as well as other crucial aspects of rallying, there has also been high interest from those who already have some car control skills and who could potentially leapfrog elements of the first phase and proceed direct to competition.

Price explains; “We have had a lot of interest from people who already have some car control experience, from driving on private land so we are now putting together an assessment day to gauge their skills and abilities. We will be able to see whether there is the possibility for them to effectively bypass some of the fundamental coaching we are providing during Phase 1 and fast-track into competition in Latvia itself.”

Also in attendance at the recent show was a delegation from the Latvian Automobile Federation, which is supporting Junior Rallying by actively encouraging British youngsters to compete in the nation. The delegation included the President of the LAF and the Chairman of the Rallies Commission, himself an accomplished competitor in the national series.

Both the President and the Chairman were impressed by not only the response to the Junior Rallying presence but also, the steps the organisers are taking to promote the sport of rallying and encourage drivers to begin their careers from 15 years of age.

The nation of Latvia has a long and rich heritage of rallying – this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the national championship. The importance of Latvia in rallying has been recognised by the media and the full 2008 season will be shown exclusively in Motors TV in the UK. A review of the 2007 series has already begun screening and there will be reviews of each of the rounds in 2008 shown on Motors TV, which can be found on Sky channel 413.

Junior Rallying Scheme

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29/12/08
Registration for Junior Rallying opens at Autosport International
Registration for the recently-announced Junior Rallying scheme, aimed at developing the next generation of British rally talent by training drivers from 14 years of age, will begin at the 2008 Autosport International Show in January. The scheme, which will also officially launch at the show, will hold a series of ‘First Rally Days’ in early 2008 to select the candidates who will then undergo the first of the three phases in the UK, equipping them with the skills to begin actual competition in Phase 2.

A series of first rally days has been arranged by the organisers to begin selecting the intake for the first phase of the scheme, to run in 2008. These days will be carried out at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon and not only will the candidates receive driving tuition to gauge their potential, they will also take part in a range of activities, including karting, 4x4 off-roading and a safety demonstration. They and their accompanying adult will also receive a full tour of the Gaydon museum, itself a monument to motoring.

The cost of the initial first rally days has been set at £125 excluding VAT, which the organisers feel offers exceptional value, even if the candidates progress no further within the scheme. Registration will take place on the Junior Rallying stand at the 2008 Autosport International show, located at stand 8100 in Hall 8.

Also on the stand during the show will be Junior Rallying patron and chief instructor Gwyndaf Evans, as well as organisers Gemma Price and Pete Gladstone of m3motorsport. Two more attendees over the first two of the four-day show will be the inaugural students to take part in Phases 2 and 3 during 2008; Conor Flynn and Tom Cave.

14 year-old Conor is the son of Yokohama 205 Challenge organiser Pat Flynn and has grown up with motorsport in his blood. He took part in the Junior class of the 2007 British Rallycross championship and took an event win in the process. For 2008, he has decided to follow his father and co-driving sister Ella into rallying and will be competing in the Latvian RallySprint Championship, Phase 2 of the Junior Rallying programme.

Another young face on the Junior Rallying stand at the show will be Tom Cave, the inspiration for the scheme. Tom has already competed in Latvia, aged 15 and in 2008, will be undertaking a full campaign in the Latvian Rally Championship with experienced co-driver Price alongside, as Phase 3.

Gwyndaf, Conor and Tom will be on-hand on Thursday and Friday to discuss all aspects of the Junior Rallying program and rallying in Latvia.

Another important group visiting the Junior Rallying stand will be a delegation from the Latvian Automobile Federation, the national sporting body working with Junior Rallying to ensure that candidates get the best chance to develop their skills in actual competition. The President and the General Secretary of the LAF and the Chairman of the Rallies Committee will spend two days – Thursday and Friday – at the show, meeting with members of the organising team as well as potential candidates and members of the press, to reinforce the nation’s commitment to the project.

Organiser Gemma Price said; “The Autosport International show is without doubt the best place to launch the scheme officially and also, the best place for us to communicate what Junior Rallying is about to its target audience. We are delighted that the delegation from the Latvian Automobile Federation will be joining us for two days, as it clearly demonstrates their support of the scheme.

“We’re also very pleased to be able to welcome Conor to Phase 2 of Junior Rallying for 2008. He has already demonstrated incredible skill as a driver and we look forward to helping him further develop his skills to allow him to take that ability and apply it to rallying.

“We are also confident that Tom will develop even further as a driver as he takes part in Phase 3, the full Latvian Rally Championship. We know he has the ability to succeed and now, as with any form of motorsport, it’s all about maximising his experience and knowledge so that when he is in a position to continue his career as he graduates from Junior Rallying, he has the key three year’s-worth of head-start.”

The Autosport International show takes place at the Birmingham NEC from Thursday 10 January – Sunday 13 January 2008. The Junior Rallying stand is located on number 8100 in Hall 8, directly adjacent to the exit from the famous Live Action Arena.

More Details:

Junior Rallying Scheme

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Junior Rallying launches to train the UK’s future rally champions
A brand-new scheme aimed at developing British rallying talent, Junior Rallying, will be launched at next year’s Autosport International show at the NEC, 10-13 January 2008. The scheme is the brainchild of FIA World Rally Championship co-driver Gemma Price and has attracted former British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans as its patron and chief instructor.

The guiding principles of Junior Rallying are to give 14 year-old British teenagers interested in a career in rallying a head-start in the sport. At the centre of Junior Rallying lies a three-year program for participants, which sees formal coaching of theoretical and practical skills backed-up with actual competition in Latvia, where drivers can compete from 15 years of age.

The concept for the scheme was born when Price began co-driving for young British star Tom Cave in the Latvian Rally Championship, at the wheel of an M3Motorsport-prepared MG ZR. Cave, aged 15 at the time, proved exceptionally skilled and competitive and Latvia was the only option for him to develop his skills through actual competition.

The Junior Rallying program comprises three distinct phases, run concurrently in any calendar year but treated as separate activities and the full program will see participants progress through all three phases over a three-year period, one phase in each calendar year.

Phase 1 is based in the UK and sees candidates undergo a series of formal training programs, carried out during school holidays so as not to interfere with their education. Overseen by Price and Evans, the 14 year-old trainees will begin to learn car control skills at the Sweet Lamb Motorsport Complex, driving vehicles including the range of Kia cars.

They will also undergo physical and mental training to begin to prepare them for the demands of a career in professional motorsport, while fitness and diet will also be covered to build an awareness of well-being, not simply for motorsport but for their general health.

Phase 2, which takes place in the calendar year following Phase 1, will see the graduates take part in the Latvian RallySprint championship. This series is made up of seven, one-day events with a recce in the morning and approximately 50 stage kilometres of actual competition in the afternoon. This will not only be their first taste of driving under competitive conditions but also, making their own pace notes, under the guidance of experienced co-driver Price.

The third phase of the programme will see the drivers compete in the Latvian Rally Championship. Again, a seven-event series, this features genuine multi-venue rallies with a recce and two days of competition on the three surfaces which make up the WRC: Snow and ice, gravel and asphalt.

By the time they graduate from Junior Rallying at 16 or 17, the drivers will have three years of invaluable experience, gained progressively and first-hand, from a range of professional motorsport experts. At this stage, they will be ready to continue their rally career but with three-year head-start on their competition. Alternatively, they will be in a perfect position to potentially join one of the existing schemes in the UK to further their experience.

Patron of the scheme and Chief Instructor, Gwyndaf Evans, said: “I am delighted to have been asked to join Junior Rallying. This scheme is a fantastic idea, to begin developing the next generation of British rallying talent through a formalised approach, combining theory and practical learning with actual competition itself.

“As I have found with my son Elfyn, there is no better way of developing the skills required to succeed than actual competition and at present, that’s simply not possible anywhere other than in Latvia. With the support of the Latvian Automobile Federation and Gemma and M3Motorsport’s experiences with Tom over the last season, I am confident that the scheme will be a great success. I’m also sure that some of the names we see joining us next year will eventually become far more familiar, in either the British or ideally, the World Rally Championship.”

Price is also confident that Junior Rallying will provide a much-needed route into the sport for the next generation; “I have been particularly impressed with Tom’s approach to rallying, as well as his ability and ultimately, his competitiveness. The fact that we can compete with a 15 year-old driver and gain the kind of experience that isn’t possible until at least 17 in the UK means that young drivers have a unique opportunity with Junior Rallying. The Latvian Automobile Federation is behind the scheme completely and has pledged its support to us to ensure that the UK’s up-and-coming drivers can compete their with their full blessing, through Junior Rallying.”

Junior Rallying has secured the support of a range of world-class blue-chip organizations, all of whom see the potential for the scheme for developing future champions. Principal partner to the project is the innovative IT company, Red Vista. Director Russell Bartley said: “When Gemma came to us with the idea, I immediately thought this could give us the opportunity to find a new world rally champion. I couldn’t resist that thought and that is the reason that Red Vista is backing Junior Rallying.” In addition, the UK distributor for Korean automotive manufacturer Kia Motors is behind the scheme, providing cars for training purposes for the phase 1 intake. The scheme has also secured automotive lighting specialists PIAA and safety experts Lifeline as key partners, with more partners expected to be announced soon.

The scheme will launch officially at next month’s Autosport International show, where potential candidates for the first round of qualifying test days will be able to register at the Junior Rallying stand, number 8100 in hall 8.

More Details:

Junior Rallying Scheme