Photo Gallery and Event Reports: 2003 Season
| Rally Number - Name of Event | Date | Car | Driver | Co-driver | Result |
79 - Christmas Stages
| Dec 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GTE | Simon Wallis | Rebecca Atkinson | 29th overall, 3rd in class 4 |
78 - Tempest Stages
| Oct 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Mike Orchard | 31st overall, 3rd in F2000 |
77 - Manx International Rally
| July-Aug 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Stuart Leach | 27th overall, 1st in class A7 |
76 - Rally Barbados
| June 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Stuart Leach | 28th/90 overall, 3rd in class P3 |
75 - Sunbeach Rallysprint, Barbados
| May 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Stuart Leach | 1st in group P3 |
74 - Snetterton Stages
| March 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Stuart Leach | 17th/44 overall, 3rd/12 in class 3 |
73 - Oakington Stages
| February 2003 | Vauxhall Astra GSi | Simon Wallis | Stuart Leach | 22nd overall out of 69 |
Cambridge rally driver Simon Wallis,
co-driven by his cousin Rebecca Atkinson,
competed in an Astra GTE in the Specsavers Christmas Stages,
at Croft racing circuit.
Finishing third in class was a great result on the car's debut.
Photo courtesy of
Ian Hardy.
Cambridge software engineer Simon Wallis has won the A7 2000cc class
on the 40th running of the Manx International Rally.
The three other contenders in the class all retired early on
due to mechanical problems.
This three day event consisted of 210 miles of special stages
on closed public roads around the Isle of Man,
making it the longest and fastest rally in the country.
Wallis and his co-driver Stuart Leach from Guildford
had to contend with rain, muddy roads and the infamous Manx
fog on the first day of the rally.
Having replaced a broken driveshaft on day 2 of the event,
a second driveshaft broke on the very last corner of the event,
but the Vauxhall Astra GSi coasted over the finish line to finish
27th overall, 1 place higher than on the same event last year.
This result puts Wallis 18th overall in Pirelli British Rally
Championship, despite missing the first half of the UK season
competing in the Caribbean.
Wallis's next event is the Ulster Rally, Armagh, 5th-6th September.
TV coverage of the Manx International Rally can be seen on
Channel 4 on Saturday 9th August at 07:00.
Cambridge-based rally driver Simon Wallis took his Vauxhall Astra to compete
in the Rally Barbados
last weekend. This rally was the concluding event in the Barbados Rally
Carnival, a fortnight of
motorsport events which turn into parties, and parties which turn into
larger parties. Even the pre-event
technical inspection was sponsored by a local brewery.
It had been a busy week for his co-driver Stuart Leach, who found time in
between reconnaissance
of the rally route to get married to Carey Elliott in Barbados just five
days before the rally.
"The rally car coped with the hot conditions much better than the crew did"
admitted Wallis. "We were
stuck in our race suits for twelve hours on the first day of the rally. I'm
thinking of fitting air-conditioning
to the rally car before going back next year."
After two days and a hundred stage miles on closed roads around the island,
the
DialPrefix rally team finished a respectable 3rd in class, beaten only by Barbadian
drivers with many years experience
of the local roads. Their overall finish position was 31st out of 90 - the
biggest ever entry on a motorsport
event in the Caribbean.
Competing for the first time with backing from
DialPrefix,
Simon Wallis won his class on his rallysprint debut
at the Sunbeach International Rallysprint
in the baking heat of at Vaucluse Raceway, Barbados.
In the all day qualifying session on Saturday 31st May, Simon and his
Vauxhall
Astra GSi went half a second quicker than the other 3 contenders in the
2000cc production car class.
With the Sunday morning heats out of the way, the class final was against
local Freddy Gale in a Toyota Starlet turbo. This turned out to be the
closest
race of the 70 or so to take place throughout the weekend.
"We came out of the final corner side by side" said Cambridge man Simon.
"But as the surface changed from clay to tarmac, the inside line gave me a little
more traction."
The commentator initially called it as a dead heat, but the clerk of
the course adjudicated in Simon's favour.
The following circuit map was produced using data logged from the in-car GPS receiver:
30th April 2003:
Final preparations are under way in England for the biggest-ever shipment of competition cars to the Caribbean as the final countdown begins for the third Barbados Rally Carnival, which runs from May 27 to June 11.
This year's event has attracted a record-breaking entry of overseas competitors; the 30 crews on the European entry list include drivers from Austria, England, Finland, Holland, Ireland and Scotland - they will join around 50 crews from Barbados and perhaps as many as 10 from around the region, the largest Caribbean contingent for many years.
Rally cars have been arriving at Portsmouth in southern England for the past few days in readiness to be shipped across the Atlantic by the Geest Line; they will be collected on the quay next Monday morning and loaded aboard the MV Santa Catharina, which will set sail on Wednesday, April 30. The ship, and its 36 tonnes of rally cars and equipment, is scheduled to arrive in Barbados on Monday, May 12.
Barbados Rally Carnival 2003, which comprises two internationals on consecutive weekends, will be the biggest motor sport event ever staged in thhe region. The Vaucluse Raceway Motor Sport Club will organise the Sunbeach International RallySprint on May 31/June 1 - practice and qualifying on Saturday will be followed by racing on Sunday - while Rally Barbados, organised by the Barbados Rally Club (BRC), will follow a week later (June 7/8).
More than 300 airline seats and 150 hotel rooms have already been booked in what will be the biggest-ever airlift from Europe of motor sport competitors to Barbados. The majority of competitors, their support crews and families, will arrive on Virgin Atlantic 747-400 aircraft on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27/28; most of the overseas visitors are staying at the Casuarina Beach Club in Dover, Christ Church, for the two-week duration of Rally Carnival, although some are extending their stays in Barbados for up to one month.
In addition to the two motor sport events themselves, and briefing meetings and scrutineering, an extensive range of social activities has been organised for the visitors; these will include an official welcome at The Ship Inn, pirate cruise on the Jolly Roger and a buffet lunch and party at the Carib Beach Bar. Island Safari is also arranging special tours to follow Rally Barbados.
Rally Carnival founder Greg Cozier said: "We're all beginning to get very excited, now that the cars are about to leave Europe. Barbados Rally Carnival is just a month away, and we're confident that it will be the best yet. Thanks to the co-operation we've had from the Barbados Tourism Authority, Geest Line, Virgin Atlantic and the Casuarina Beach Club, we have been able to arrange the best possible two weeks for our overseas visitors. Our aim has always been to introduce rally enthusiasts to the delights of Barbados as a tourist destination, while they enjoy their favourite sport, and I'm hoping that we have achieved that this year." In an earlier statement, the Barbados Tourism Authority had congratulated the organisers of the Barbados Rally Carnival for what BTA senior vice-president Stetson Babb described as "a perfect fit with the BTA's strategy to continuously expand the range of sports tourism events and activities".
He said: "The BTA congratulates the organizers and participants of the 2003 Barbados Rally Carnival for making possible what is probably the most spectacular event of its type to ever take place in Barbados or indeed the Caribbean. The event provides a perfect fit with the BTA's strategy to continuously expand the range of sports tourism events and activities, as it seeks to position Barbados as the centre for sports, entertainment and recreation in the Eastern Caribbean. The BTA's support for this event also recognizes that motor sport is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. The BTA is committed to working with its partners to develop the sport locally and to fully exploit the sports tourism opportunities that it provides."
Key dates for 2003
The key dates in this year's Barbados Rally Carnival are:
Saturday, May 24 - scrutineering for local entries, McEnearney Quality,
Wildey
Friday, May 30 - scrutineering for overseas entries, McEnearney Quality
Saturday, May 31 - RallySprint qualifying, Vaucluse Raceway, St Thomas
Sunday, June 1 - Sunbeach International RallySprint, Vaucluse Raceway
Saturday, June 7 - Rally Barbados, day 1, islandwide
Sunday, June 8 - Rally Barbados, day 2, islandwide
A trouble-free and rare sunny day in Norfolk gave Simon his career-best 17th overall.
The only hitch to the day was when an electrical short-circuit
caused the air-horns to come on - and continue sounding for ten minutes until
the fault could be rectified!
For the second event in a row, a crash on the final corner of the opening stage
caused cosmetic damage to the front bumper. Later in the day, running over a
truck tyre caused more damage to the bumper, but despite these minor indiscretions,
a generally tidy drive on the drying surface was rewarded with 22nd overall.
Photo by
Simon Clarke.