If you need a Hans and don’t want to buy one, or want to try before you buy this may be what you are looking for.

From a Brilliant Belgium to Glorious Goodwood

Dave Weston Junior narrowly missed out on a top 20 finish on the GEKO Ypres Rally this weekend, when his Subaru Impreza N2010 gave in to centre diff problems with only 11km left to go.

Despite not making it to the end of the event, Weston successfully caught the eye of his peers on what was his first rally on foreign soil, and the first of his four planned IRC events this year.

“Obviously it’s gutting to be that close to the finish of what was the biggest rally of my life so far, and not make it to the end,” said Weston.

“But there’s much more to having entered the event than that. It’s actually been a hugely positive event for us, we have only contested one IRC event before, Rally of Scotland last year, and I have never rallied outside Britain and Ireland before.

“So on this first big event we were lying 20th overall after 18 stages, and that was after we lost time with a propshaft problem and two punctures.

If we had not lost that time we think we would have been lying at least 15th. Even though we didn’t finish, that’s a great starting point in terms of our times, and something to aim to build on for our next IRC event. And we will go to that next IRC event with more knowledge of the championship, of rallying outside the UK, of pacenotes, of everything. Although it was horrible to be unable to finish the event so close to the end, at the same time getting that far means we got to experience every single stage and see how good our notes were at the same time.

“We must say a huge thank you to Prodrive for all their help and support with Ypres, we’re just sorry we did not bring home a result for them.

Congratulations also to my fellow Team UK member Martin McCormack on a great finish, it was great to have all the Team UK guys out there with us, all four drivers were there with Mark Higgins and David Brabham.”

Weston’s next IRC round will be Barum Czech Rally Zlin on 27th to 29th August, and the 19-year-old Team UK driver from Aberdeen has a busy schedule before then.

“We are already home from Ypres and looking forward to taking the car out again this coming weekend,” said Weston. “Having won the Richard Burns Trophy on Rallye Sunseeker earlier this year, part of our prize was an entry to the rally stage at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. It will be a fun day out this time with no pressure and we can’t wait to get to such a prestigious event and meet lots of rally fans. Then we’re straight off from Goodwood to the asphalt Isle of Man to prepare for the next round of the BRC, Rally Isle of Man the following weekend.”

Weston and the Ramsport team will then stay on asphalt for International Rally Northern Ireland on August 20th/21st, before they head to the Czech round of the IRC a week later.

“The aim of this year is for me to get more IRC and WRC experience alongside contesting the BRC,” said Weston. “Having such a busy schedule combined with Team UK training sessions, testing and working with the Ramsport team throughout, all really helps build my experience in the sport. We learned at lot in Ypres for our next IRC round, and if you are learning all the time that is the best way forward.”

The Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place on 2nd to 4th July, and will allow Weston to line up alongside rally greats including IRC champ Kris Meeke and WRC and stunt star Ken Block, and racing driving including Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

Dave Weston Junior has paid credit to the Ramsport team for their outstanding efforts on this weekend’s Jim Clark International Rally, changing a gearbox, driveshaft and diff during a short service to ensure he finished the event.

After initial problems with braking during the event, Dave was lying fifth overall with eight stages completed when mechanical gremlins struck.

“You couldn’t make it up,” said Dave. “We had been into service and left really happy that we had cleared up the braking problems I’d been having earlier in the day. Then the rear driveshaft went on the start line of stage nine, and half way through the stage the gearbox went too. We lost about four and a half minutes through the two stages and dropped from having set some second and third fastest stage times, down to 20th and 24th through those two. That also meant we dropped down to 12th overall.”

While Dave and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas headed back through the service area, the Ramsport team were getting prepared for the job ahead while a crowd gathered to watch the team in action.

“When we got back to the Ramsport area the team were lined up ready for action,” said Dave. “We only had a 20 minute service and changing a gearbox can take that long by itself. My engineer Alistair Gibson had instructed each member of the team what to do to ensure everyone moved as quickly as possible when we arrived, and it worked perfectly. They changed the gearbox, driveshaft and diff – and we still had time to spare to get out of service without picking up any time penalties. I can’t thank them all enough.”

With his Subaru Impreza N2010 back in full working order, the Team UK driver was fifth fastest through the next stage and continued to push his way back up the results through the final three stages to finish eighth overall.

“I wouldn’t usually be happy with eighth, but when we were in stage nine with so many problems, I wasn’t sure I’d leave Scotland with many points at all,” said Dave. “Eighth earned us 11 points which moves us up to seventh overall at the half way point of the British Rally Championship.”

Dave is now preparing for his next event, the first of his four planned Intercontinental Rally Challenge outings, the Geko Ypres Rally. The event takes place on 24th to 26th June and will see Dave line up alongside world class drivers including British IRC champion Kris Meeke

Gives

Improved fuel economy

Increased performance

Better tow ability

Please call for details.

Dave Weston Junior has entered this weekend’s Manx Telecom Rally as an asphalt test.

The event comes three weeks before the Jim Clark International Rally, the first asphalt round of the 2010 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship.

“We’re purely entering the rally to get some asphalt mileage under our belts,” said Weston Jr. “We won’t be gunning for glory on the stages, it’s simply a test to look at set up and get rid of any asphalt gremlins before the competition starts again on the Jim Clark in Scotland.”

Also using the event as a test are British champion Keith Cronin and fellow BRC competitor Euan Thorburn.

“With Keith and Euan there from the BRC it could be hard to remember this is only meant to be a test and not get caught up in competition,” Weston Jr. continued.

“But we need to keep our eye on the main goal, plenty of miles of great asphalt testing on the famous Manx roads, which will assist us on the Jim Clark later this month. It’s not where we finish we need to think about, it’s ensuring we leave the island happy with our set up.”

The Manx Telecom Rally starts on Friday night with the traditional stages through Port Erin, before a day’s rallying on Saturday. Junior and Ieuan Thomas are seeded at number nine in the Ramsport Subaru Impreza N14.

Dave Weston Junior has taken second place points on the opening round of the 2010 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, the Bulldog International Rally North Wales.

The only problem Junior and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas reported throughout the entire 100 mile event was a puncture during the second run through Myherin. However, despite the puncture they were still second fastest through the stage.

“This is a great result for us and Ramsport, and a great follow up to the win we took on the Border Counties a week earlier,” said Junior. “The car went like a dream and we were second fastest on three stages. This was only our third competitive outing in the car as well, so to finish second behind Keith Cronin who is the reigning British champion is a fantastic start to our BRC year.

“It was a shame the Super 2000 car did not finish as it would have been interesting to see how their times compared to everyone elses and it would have been good to have had Gwyndaf Evans there until the end to see his times too, but having seen what everyone is capable of on the Bulldog I think this will definitely be a very exciting year in the championship.”

Junior and Thomas were joined on the podium by event winners Keith Cronin and Barry McNulty, and third placed Adam Gould and Craig Drew, who finished 26 seconds behind. And it was only after the finish ramp celebrations and media interviews that Junior revealed he had been feeling extremely ill throughout the event.

“That made finishing second even better,” said Junior. “I’d felt ill all day, but didn’t want to say anything as I didn’t want anyone to worry, and I knew I was okay to keep driving.

“Now we’re already thinking about the next round, but I may do another event before that as a warm up as my local rally, the Granite City, is just before the Pirelli International. It would be nice to support the local event, but the BRC is my priority for the year, so we’ll make a decision on whether we can do both events nearer the time.”

Junior’s team-mates Darren Gass and Neil Shanks meanwhile brought their Subaru home sixth in the points, leaving Team Ramsport second overall in the teams’ championship, just three points behind leaders TEG Sport with five rounds to go.

The next round of the BRC takes the team on to Carlisle as they line up to contest the Pirelli International Rally on 23/24 April.

Weston Jr wins Richard Burns Trophy

Dave Weston Jr has been describing the moment when he realised he had won the Richard Burns Trophy, for winning the Production Cup on his competitive debut in his new Subaru Impreza N2010 on Rallye Sunseeker.

Having spent less than one day testing the new car before the event, the 19-year-old had a relatively trouble free day to win by 29.4 seconds ahead of fellow BRC competitor Jonny Greer.

“We had overshoots in the first two stages while I got the feel of the new car, and from there it was problem free,” said Junior. “The car is fantastic and we had a great battle with Jonny throughout the day. It was good to be able to compare times with him as we’re both doing BRC this year, so you hope it will give you an idea of how close we will be when we get to the first round on the Bulldog.”

It was only after he had gone over the finish ramp having won the Production Cup that Junior and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas realised they had also won the Richard Burns Trophy. The prize, which was presented to Junior by Richard’s co-driver Robert Reid, was presented in memory of Richard’s stunning performance in the 1992 Mintex championship when he drove his Group N Subaru Legacy to second overall against Group A and B competition.

Junior won £1,000 and an invitation to take part in the rally staged at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year.

“I couldn’t believe we had won the Trophy,” said Junior when the news sank in. “It’s fantastic to win something in Richard’s name because he is one of my idols. I remember watching him on television and hoping I could drive a rally car myself one day, it’s a real honour to have won the trophy set up in remembrance of his performances on the stages. It took a while to sink in.

“The prize is amazing too. Everyone knows about the Goodwood Festival of Speed and how prestigious it is on the sporting calendar. The rally stage which they build for the event is supposed to be fantastic, so to be given the opportunity to take part in that, running alongside some of the best rally drivers in the world who usually flock to attend Goodwood, is amazing for me. I can’t thank everyone at the Richard Burns Foundation and Rallye Sunseeker enough.

Please look in the Mitsubishi section of the webshop for more details.