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Bulldog "starts" from Welshpool tonight
publication date: Apr 1, 2011
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author/source: Gary Jones
On
the eve of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, competitors on the
Bulldog International Rally of North Wales will be heading for the centre of
Welshpool tonight before the action begins in earnest on Saturday.
Welshpool
Town Council has arranged a market, fairground and live band for the new ceremonial
start which will take place in the centre of the town from 6pm, meaning
both rally fans and local residents can get up close and personal with the
crews.
Organisers
are hoping residents of Welshpool and the surrounding areas will take the
opportunity of seeing the rally without necessarily having to trek into the
forests the following day.
Amongst
the competitors who will be appearing are series leading Scottish pair David
Bogie and co driver Kevin Rae who took the win on round one whereby they'll be
hoping to get the better once again of fellow Mitsubishi pairing of Welshmen
Tom Cave and his co driver Craig Parry on their local event.
Another
Welsh pairing in the shape of
|  | Rally legend Francois Delecour will contest the
opening round of the inaugural Tuthill Porsche Challenge, the Bulldog Historic
Rally.
The 48-year-old Frenchman (above) will drive one of Tuthill
Porsche's 10 identical historic-specification 911s on the gravel event, which
takes place on forest stages in North Wales.
Tuthill Porsche, the United Kingdom's foremost
preparation firm of historic Porsche rally cars, is running the one-make rally
series within the Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship,
managed by the Historic Rally Car Register, this season.
"I've always been a big Porsche fan and I'm
particularly excited about driving on the Welsh stages, some of which I know
from doing Rally GB in the past, and which I consider to be among the best in
the world," said Delecour, a winner of four world championship rallies.
"I know Tuthill Porsche by reputation and driving one
of their cars will give me a great chance to have a lot of fun. I'm not
completely sure who I will be competing against but rallies like this tend to
get a lot of very good local experts so I know it won't be easy."
Event regulations don't permit a pre-rally
reconnaissance so Delecour and French co-driver James Bocagnano will spend today adapting to their 911 for the first time during a test at Sweet
Lamb. | Elfyn Evans and Andrew Edwards brought their
Subaru home in third place on the opening round, just ahead of team-mates Adam
Gould and Seb Marshall so they too will be looking to score maximum points on
home soil.
With
a quality entry assembled for the 51st running of the Wolverhampton & South
Staffordshire Car Club Ltd-organised event which is sponsored by Bulldog
Security Products Ltd of Much Wenlock for the 15th consecutive year, as well as
the main BRC field, there are plenty of additional classes and championships
being contested.
A
shakedown is scheduled today at Corwen, west of Llangollen on the A5. and cars in Church Street car park. | | | Autograss racing returns this Sunday weather permitting to
Pendine when the South Wales Autograss League kick into gear for the 2011
season at the Castle Lloyd Farm track.
With last years track having been moved slightly there will
now be a downhill start with the infamous monks bend facing competitors at the
bottom of the long straight off the start line, many competitors modified their
cars there a few years ago when the track ran the same way as this coming
meeting on Sunday.
The league also have the honor of holding the prestigious
Men's nationals on the first weekend in August where the best drivers from all
over Britain and Ireland will attend to become champions of their relavant
classes as well as overall NASA men's champion.
Many members have already raced for the past two weekends in
Hereford and last Sunday at the new West Wales League PAC track down in Lamphey
where they will hold the opening round of the British Autograss Series on the
30th April and 1st of May.
There promises to be a few grids of class seven machines in
this Sunday's meeting at Pendine with the class probably being one of the
strongest classes the SWL have as well as the class one Mini cars, spectators
look to be in for a cracking day's racing a small admission charge will apply
to enter the field with the pits open to view the cars closer at the racing
interval. |
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