Kind of an update, just not for the actual car build (that's still on hold thanks to a heap of house building/landscaping work)
In readiness for going stage rallying (my ultimate goal) I took advantage of a deal Motorsport UK (what was the MSA) had on their "go rallying" packs and bought myself one earlier in the summer. This is the first port of call for anyone wanting to dip their toes in the water of stage events and gives you all the information required to go and book your BARS (British Association of Rally Schools) test....which I did.
I'm based in right on the edge of the Peak District near Macclesfield so my nearest BARS test centre is Oulton Park. Yes, I could have gone to a proper "rally venue" for a play on some gravel, but this was purely an exercise of passing my test and nothing else. Plus, i've got a fair bit of road rallying under my belt, so i've had more than a couple of skids on gravel before - so the nearest test venue was my plan!
The day itself was very straight forward - sign on for 09:00, quick briefing with the people who were there to do a "Rally Experience day" which entailed questions like, can you put a helmet on (Yes), have you got any family with you (No), have you done stuff like this before (Yeah, just a bit)......and then we were off to the the rally area which is in the infield of the circuit.
My guide for the practical element was Terry Pankhurst who is well known within Rallying circles and actually went to school with my step dad. Recently he's known as the owner of a rather strange rally beast - an Evo that's been mated the Kelvar front and rear of a 205 T16 .....youtube search his name and you'll see what I mean.
After a few laps of the two rally stages in the Toyota GT86 (which are fantastic by the way) Terry signed me off and was more than happy with my efforts. He then took me round for a few fast laps which had me giggling like a school boy and loved every moment of it. Practical side done, it was off to the conference centre for the written test which consisted of 20 questions over two sections testing you on stuff like the signs and flags you may encounter on a stage and what to do in certain situations like if you come across an SOS board. All stuff that is covered in the Blue Book and I got 20 out of 20 so happy days, I'm now BARS'd up and ready to apply for my licence - which won't be until 2020 as we're kind of running out of year now.
Next step - get on with the cars!!!!!!
Edited by rally1380, 08 October 2019 - 03:42 PM.
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(probably couldn't afford it now, but you never know!!
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......which certainly put me off converting my nicely painted clubman. 
