Shownotes
It’s me, Mark Stone, and in this episode of the Backseat Driver Podcast, I journey deep into the heart of rallying as we shine a spotlight on local car clubs and their mission to ignite a new passion for motorsport.
This time, we’re talking about the North West Rally Legends 2025, held at Haigh Barn in Wigan, an unforgettable, free day out filled with historic rally cars
I explore how grassroots enthusiasm meets creative outreach: local car clubs grappling with the challenge of engaging younger generations, and deploying inventive strategies to revitalise interest across the Northwest. During our conversation, we highlight the significance of eye-catching gatherings like North West Rally Legends, which not only put legendary rally machines on display but also invite community interaction and serve as an educational hub.
From a nod to rally’s rich heritage through to discussions on modern techniques and approaches, we emphasise the importance of inclusivity and accessibility within motorsport.
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Transcripts
Foreign.
Speaker B:Yes, it's me, Mike Stone, and this is the Backseat Driver podcast.
Speaker B:It's the fastest, it's the friendliest, and it's for all the family.
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Speaker B:From a pot of tea to TT motorbikes, from a classic English breakfast to a full serving of classic cars, Bridge House Tearooms is the northwest premier classic car meeting location for cars, bikes, tractors and owner's clubs.
Speaker B: -: Speaker B:Welcome to Hague Bine, where organizers Rob hall and Chris Cook are hosting their very first rally car display in an attempt to attract new people, young people into motorsport at whatever level, especially rallying.
Speaker B:And to all being well, host a larger event later in the year and next year at nearby Hague hall.
Speaker B:That was once a special stage in the RAC Rally many, many moons ago.
Speaker B:So, without further ado, let's have a chat with Rob and Chris and have a quiet look round and chat with one or two people on the clubs that are here with Rob Jones at Haguebourne for the very first Northwest Rally Legends.
Speaker B:And I mean, we're stood here surrounded by rally cars.
Speaker B:What prompted the event?
Speaker C:The whole idea of the event was all the local motor clubs in the northwest are struggling for new members.
Speaker C:I've been in a Moat Club 38 years, so we can't get any people to come.
Speaker C:So the whole idea was to introduce the sport in the Northwest, have some focal points so they can come and see it and then hopefully we'll get some new members.
Speaker B:I mean, Motorsport UK have tried this with tasty days because a few weeks ago I was down with the Knutsford and they were doing a similar thing where you could have a go and it was auto testing, but they introduced different people.
Speaker B:But I mean, there's a vast selection of rally cars here, including your own.
Speaker B:I mean, what rallying do you do?
Speaker C:We do the Historic Rally championship in a Mark 2 Golf.
Speaker C: y Championship winning car in: Speaker C:We go to the Isle of Man, we do mull all the decent events.
Speaker B:The famous Mull the famous mull.
Speaker C:Yeah, in the dark.
Speaker B:And I mean, how many cars have you got here?
Speaker C:There's approximately 40 rally rock cars, including Group B's, Group A's, new fiestas, brand new WRC Polos, some of the older cars and then some road rally cars.
Speaker B:And I mean, is there anywhere here where they can, for want of a term, have a go or anything like that?
Speaker C:We can't offer a test to drive, but what we have is sim racing.
Speaker C:So we gathered that the younger people, obviously it's a lot of expense to get into motorsport, so they get into sim racing.
Speaker C:So we put some proper sim racing on with it.
Speaker C:Come and sit in the chair, the chair moves and everything.
Speaker C:Fine.
Speaker C:The cars that are actually on the simulators are parked next to the car so they can see the simulator, then sit in the actual car and then maybe come out and help us out at some events or something like that.
Speaker B:I mean, years ago, getting into rallying, anything like that was relatively simple.
Speaker B:I mean, as you said car clubs, there used to be an abundance of car clubs all over and those who wanted to start and get into was, as a rule, as a co driver, a navig.
Speaker B:I mean, is that still the case?
Speaker C:It is, but people just can't afford to buy cars now and can't afford to do rallies.
Speaker C:The amount of expense it costs to do it is so expensive.
Speaker C:That's why we're hoping to entice people to come and help us out on the day, which is a no cost thing and they'll just turn up on the day, help us out and then hopefully they might get an interest in it.
Speaker B:I mean, being involved in motorsport does not always involve owning a car and being behind a wheel, does it?
Speaker B:There's all sorts of things you can do in rallying beside drive a car.
Speaker C:Yes, we do struggle for marshals, we struggle for people to help out on the day organising people, people who just.
Speaker C:We just need people on the day.
Speaker C:You know, the motor clubs have come out in, in force today to help us out here, but we always need new members, always need new members.
Speaker B:And the problem is, as time goes by, there's more and more restrictions on rallying.
Speaker B:I mean, one of the greatest series there ever was was the famous motoring news night Rallying, which was Tarmac.
Speaker B:I mean, what sort of rallying?
Speaker C:Well, we actually started off in the motoring news doing the road rallies, I'm that old.
Speaker C:We started doing that and we progress now to stage rallying, but as I said, the cost is a bit prohibitive.
Speaker C:For the equipment.
Speaker C:But you could set off and you could.
Speaker C: There's formula: Speaker C:Whether you use low entry cars, cheap cars, stuff like that, just to get people to have a go or they can always come across core drive.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean back in the day, as the saying goes, I mean a rally car was.
Speaker B:You put a pair of spotlights on, took your hubcaps off and that was it.
Speaker B:I mean it's changed a bit, hasn't it?
Speaker C:Quite a lot.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:We'd done our first stage road rally cars in a Mark 1 Fiesta and we had to take the seats out because we used the car for work during the week, the weekend we changed the seats.
Speaker C:You'd never be able to do that though.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I mean what is the cheapest entry level of rallying?
Speaker C:You're probably looking at the auto solo tests or road rallies.
Speaker C:There are still road rallies, scatters where you can turn up in your own car.
Speaker C:You know, your little Nova or your little Escort or whatever.
Speaker B:Novas, you don't see them anymore.
Speaker B:It'll be a Corsa today, wouldn't it?
Speaker C:I'm sure my age have I. Yeah, it'll be a Corsa or even the little Suzuki's.
Speaker C:There's a little Suzuki here today which they go out and they do scatter rallies and they do stuff like that.
Speaker C:They tend to be low speed events because obviously the road shift has changed a lot in the thing and we can't be seen to be racing on the public highway.
Speaker C:But years ago on the motoring news all that went out the window.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean a lot of the events I now do because age and everything else and people find this amusing are navigation runs where speed is not involved it.
Speaker B:But you are following a very detailed tulip book or map references or things like that.
Speaker B:And much to everybody's amusement, I use a Panda four wheel drive and at times on some of the roads in the north of England these days, a Panda four wheel drive is better than.
Speaker C:A lot of other cars, especially with the potholes.
Speaker C:I would imagine it's spot on.
Speaker B:I mean is this likely to become an annual event or is it a one off?
Speaker C:I'm hoping so.
Speaker C:We're not too far.
Speaker C:The venue is not too far from Hay hall which was an official RAC Lombard stage in the 80s.
Speaker C:It ran on 83, 84 and 86.
Speaker C:So next year is the 40th anniversary, so we're hoping.
Speaker C:We've approached Wigan Council to see if we can run a demo stage through the hall.
Speaker C:For next year.
Speaker C:So moving forward, depending on how the show goes today, we could have a demo stage for next year.
Speaker B:Rob, thanks very much for joining me on the backseat driver.
Speaker C:Yeah, you're very welcome.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker B:Here with Chris Cook, one of the core organizers.
Speaker B:From what I can gather, it's taken a bit of achieving us today's event hunted.
Speaker D:Yeah, you could say that from 6am and yeah, we've got there in the end.
Speaker D:People are turning up, that's the main thing.
Speaker B:And I will say, looking round, I spoke to you a few weeks ago, you said might be about 16 cars here.
Speaker B:I think you've exceeded that, haven't you?
Speaker D:Yeah, we've had cars turn up this morning that we weren't aware that we're coming, which is always a bonus because it means that the social media advertising is being done.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:But yeah, I think we've got probably at 30 odd at the minute now, so it's a good start.
Speaker B:I know you were a rally driver yourself.
Speaker D:I used to co drive for Rob many, many years ago, before having a child and such like.
Speaker D:So, yes, I've been in motorsport for a few years.
Speaker B:So what's your involvement in it now?
Speaker E:None.
Speaker D:Nothing Frontline, just this show mainly and trying to get back into it, but with other business, other business ventures, we've not got much time.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker B:So, I mean, what rallying were you into and what rallying would you like to get back into?
Speaker D:Stage, rally.
Speaker D:Stage iron.
Speaker D:That's.
Speaker D:That's what I want to get back into.
Speaker D:That's what we were doing in the.
Speaker B:Co driver's seat of the driver's seat.
Speaker D:I'd like to do the driver's seat but it's a bit expensive so we'll have to wait and see on that one.
Speaker B:I was talking to the WIC core driver a few weeks ago and I said, have you any intentions to move to the steering wheel?
Speaker B:He said, no.
Speaker B:A box of pencils is immeasurably cheaper than a rally car.
Speaker D:Yes, it certainly is.
Speaker D:And I like.
Speaker D:But I mean, it's one of them.
Speaker D:If you want to do it, you've got to have the money to do it.
Speaker D:So not everybody is lucky enough to have major sponsors.
Speaker D:Well, we do what we can, you know.
Speaker B:I mean, that's the problem.
Speaker B:I mean it's.
Speaker B:It's always been the same.
Speaker B:It's money, isn't it?
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker D:It's money into.
Speaker D:Even in the top level there, you haven't got money.
Speaker D:You're not going to drive, have you?
Speaker D:So it's one of them.
Speaker B:And I mean, have you any suggestions for people to try and raise money, apart from doing a lot of overtime?
Speaker D:No hard work.
Speaker D:Blood, sweat and tears is what you've got to do.
Speaker D:I think that's so.
Speaker B:I mean, do you think you'll be able to attract new people into today with today's show?
Speaker B:I mean, are they all familiar faces or are there any new ones?
Speaker D:I'd like to say we would do.
Speaker D:I think a lot of people from the local area are coming that wouldn't necessarily be involved in the sport.
Speaker D:So it's just about getting people to come down, sit in the cars, have a look at them, touch and feel them, rather than just looking at them on your phones or whatever.
Speaker D:So it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, for a lot of people, the world exists on a tiny little screen, doesn't it?
Speaker D:Yeah, it does.
Speaker D:And that's not the real world at all, is it?
Speaker D:You need to come and experience it for yourself.
Speaker D:So you need to get down to your local rallies and support your events.
Speaker D:I think, really.
Speaker B:I mean, I once said to a friend of mine who was desperate to go racing, I said, you stood at the public side of the barrier on many occasions, and she managed to get out as a passenger in a racing saloon car.
Speaker B:And I said to her, I said, I can assure you, when you leave that pit lane, it's a whole different world.
Speaker D:Yeah, well, you've got the hybrid version of rallying now, aren't you, with the Circuit Rally Championship, which me and Rob.
Speaker D:That's what me and Rob used to do.
Speaker D:And that's a good little, you know, because people can go and watch it and see the cars all the way around so they can see what's going on.
Speaker D:Yeah, I think that's, you know, and it's a whole different world when you get in the car to actually watching from the outside, believe me, it's not.
Speaker B:You know, your senses tend to heighten a little bit, don't they?
Speaker D:Just a touch.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's quite.
Speaker D:It can be a bit frightening at times, but shut your eyes and you'll be all right at the end.
Speaker B:Chris Cook, thanks very much for joining me on the backseat driver.
Speaker D:No problem.
Speaker D:Thanks for coming.
Speaker B:Gareth shepherd from Clithero Motor Club, a club that I'm a member of.
Speaker B:Now you're here at today's event to promote motorsport and as they were saying earlier on, to bring local car clubs back to the fore.
Speaker B:I mean, how do you go on bringing it back to the.
Speaker B:I mean, Clitheroe is A very active club.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:We've just run a hill climb at Scammerdon a couple of weeks ago, which is our second year running that.
Speaker F:We've got the Clironian Rally coming up in a couple of weeks and then hopefully the Primrose will be back next year.
Speaker F:So we keep it at three events a year, which is more than enough at the moment.
Speaker F:A lot of people involved, a lot of interest.
Speaker F:I'm just hoping to build on that, build a bit more on that.
Speaker B:I mean, besides myself and you.
Speaker B:How many members has clear.
Speaker F:They're all got about 150.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, is that about an average club membership these days?
Speaker F:Yeah, we.
Speaker F:We did average about 180 at one point, but it's dropped a bit because there's been less events.
Speaker F:But we are building back up to about 180, hopefully at some point.
Speaker B:I mean, how do you.
Speaker B:How do you promote the club?
Speaker F:Facebook's our main way of promoting the club.
Speaker F:A lot of clubs don't use Facebook.
Speaker F:I don't know why, because it's the.
Speaker B:Best way, to be quite honest.
Speaker B:I found out about this event through Facebook.
Speaker F:Yeah, it was all over Facebook, so it's the only way to do it, really.
Speaker B:So, I mean, have you brought any cars today, just like your good self?
Speaker F:Just ourselves.
Speaker F:There's a couple of members got cars on the car park with none on display at the moment.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, if somebody wants to get in touch with Clither, I mean, you meet in the pretty little village of Waddington, it's every Tuesday night, isn't it?
Speaker F:That's right, every Tuesday.
Speaker F:We have a committee meeting once a month, but everyone's still welcome to that.
Speaker F:And then we have three nights, club nights as well.
Speaker B:And you have guests and all sorts of things.
Speaker F:Yeah, we've got a guest speaker coming up in September and then a couple more in October, in November.
Speaker B:I mean, how do you keep the momentum and enthusiasm going?
Speaker F:Just from good members, really.
Speaker F:And everyone's so keen.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, your average club night, how many members do you get?
Speaker F:Between 15 and 30.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:Is that about an average one?
Speaker G:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker F:And then if there's a guest speaker on up to about 50.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So you do.
Speaker B:You do pull them in.
Speaker F:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:But the activities have to keep going to keep the membership.
Speaker F:Yeah.
Speaker F:We'll be running a scatter championship as well, which starts in September, runs through till December and it starts again in January.
Speaker B:Gareth shepherd to the Remote Club.
Speaker B:Thanks very much for joining me on the Backseat Driver.
Speaker F:You're welcome.
Speaker F:Thank you very much.
Speaker B:Here with James Swallow, chairman of the Bolton Le Moois Car Club.
Speaker B:What are you doing here today?
Speaker E:We're here to promote motorsport, promote our club.
Speaker E:We're approached by one of the lads from our club who said that Wigan wanted to put something on ready for next year.
Speaker E:They're wanting to.
Speaker E:They're hoping to run like a demo event through Hay Hall.
Speaker E:Next year is the 40 year anniversary for the RAC company.
Speaker B:I was going to say it was a stage on the RAC at one point, wasn't it?
Speaker E:It was, yeah.
Speaker E:It was about say 40 years ago next year.
Speaker E:So Rob Jones from Wiggins had the idea of next year having a demonstration event running through.
Speaker E:So this year's a sort of a precursor to that, warm people up to it.
Speaker E:Let us know what you know, let people know what motorsport's all about.
Speaker B:Now they're also saying that Borable Rob is saying that it's also to promote car clubs.
Speaker B:Now years ago local car clubs were plentiful and numerous and the easiest way going to get into rallying, it's tending to change.
Speaker B:I mean there's nowhere near as many.
Speaker B:I mean how does Bolton attract members?
Speaker E:We've had a bit of a change of tack really because so, well, look back about sort of six years ago or something like that.
Speaker E:Just sort of around the COVID time and just after the club got a bit of a reputation of been purely into stage rallying and it was all about our event, the Neil Howard at Alton park and it was a case of that was it.
Speaker E:That seemed to be all we were known for and outside that there was nothing else.
Speaker E:Even though we did auto solos, we do all kinds of other grassroots motorsport, that's all we were known for.
Speaker E:But a few things changed and we just decided, right, we want to make it into a car club again.
Speaker E:It doesn't necessarily be that you don't have to compete on motorsport to be part of a car club.
Speaker E:It's just for people who love anything with four wheels.
Speaker B:I mean, I'll be quite honest, a few months ago I did your Bolton Midday, which is a recreation of the famous Bolton Midnight, which was a full blown rally, which is memory series.
Speaker B:I think it was part of the Motoring News championships.
Speaker E:It was, it was, yeah.
Speaker E:The Midday was actually an idea of mine that I came up with off the back of wanting to change the direction of the club and try and get more members in again because they had, as you know yourself, if you did the event.
Speaker E:The other beauty of a touring assembly is it doesn't matter.
Speaker E:You can turn up in the car you go to work in, or you can turn up in a road rally car or a classic, anything you like.
Speaker E:And you can have a good day out for not much money on some beautiful roads.
Speaker B:I think the other thing about the navigation rallies are a lot of them use the old motoring use roads and old rally roads that we used many years ago, full blown rallies.
Speaker B:And from a navigator's point of view, especially somebody who's wanting to get into it, though, there's no speed involved, which means you don't have to get from A to B to C in X amount of time.
Speaker B:It's still a hell of a way of learning navigation.
Speaker E:Yeah, it is, because I've been told nude on the midday.
Speaker E:It was just on tulip diagrams, which is like some of the most basic forms that you can use.
Speaker B:Well, that's how rallying used to be.
Speaker E:It did, yeah.
Speaker E:It all used to be on tulips.
Speaker E:Using the OS maps is a bit of a dark art, but it's what I think if you can read a map, you can teach it to people.
Speaker E:I do not navigate myself on road rallies, stage rallies and I'm trying to encourage people to say, don't be afraid of it.
Speaker E:If you can read a map, you know, you can teach the rest.
Speaker E:It's not as hard as you think.
Speaker B:I mean, a lot of car clubs will actually have evenings where they will teach people the dark art of navigation and what a Roma is and maybe what a potty is.
Speaker E:Yeah, again, something we were hoping to do, but there's another club beat us to that.
Speaker E:Regardless, Motor club have been hosting a couple of those recently.
Speaker E:I'm glad to hear they've been well received.
Speaker E:So it's fantastic that there's other clubs starting to promote it.
Speaker E:We do it ourselves a little bit.
Speaker E:We hold some navigational scatters through the year and a few of the more experienced navigators in the club are on hand to offer advice to the ones who are coming in and trying it for the first time.
Speaker E:And if we get enough people running, what we try to do is team up somebody like myself who's a bit more experienced, we try and team them up with somebody who's a novice and we kind of swap seats over and get an idea of how it works and teach them how to do it and, you know, give them tips and tricks and things like that.
Speaker B:One of the most basic, you might say, is the scatter rally where you get X number of points.
Speaker B:You must get to and you don't really have a route to get to them.
Speaker B:You have to pick the shortest route and invariably they all go the same way.
Speaker B:Because there's only one short route.
Speaker E:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker E:I mean the beauty of a good scatter is there's 101, all different routes you can do.
Speaker E:But yeah, the idea of the scatters, it's great.
Speaker E:It's good for plotting time.
Speaker E:It's, it's time critical to a degree because you tend to only get two, two and a half hours to get out, plot your route, get everything down, do the route and then get back again.
Speaker E:So it is a good way to get into navigating and I say it's time critical to a degree, but it's not as pressured as a full on road rally in the middle of the night.
Speaker B:Yeah, you're not flat out, it's just.
Speaker B:Well, with 20 minutes to get to next place, which is about 10 miles.
Speaker B:But I mean they are popular and you can use a normal car, can't you, if you go to work in it, you can go and do a scatter rally.
Speaker E:Yeah, you can do it.
Speaker E:Yep.
Speaker E:You can do it in any car that you like.
Speaker E:In fact, sometimes it is encouraged to not use a road rally car because at the end of the day it runs under sort of a general permit.
Speaker E:It's not a competitive event in terms of like a road rally or a 12 car is.
Speaker E:So yeah, it is encouraged to use your everyday car because it's quieter, it's better for pr.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm going to say that's the problem now is you don't want the public getting upset about rally cars screaming here and there, do you?
Speaker E:No, no, definitely not.
Speaker E:You tend to find.
Speaker E:Yeah, these days I think there is a big blend of.
Speaker E:You either get people who are, they hate it and it's absolutely not.
Speaker E:And yet I've done road rallies and you see people stood out in the dressing gowns at three in the morning telling you to keep your foot, keep your foot in.
Speaker E:Yeah.
Speaker B:James, thanks very much for joining me from Bolton Moore's car club and I hope you have a successful rest of day.
Speaker C:No problem.
Speaker E:Thanks very.
Speaker A:Much.
Speaker B:Alan Brown Quest me.
Speaker B:Alan, welcome to the Backseat Driver.
Speaker A:Hi, how you doing?
Speaker A:That was quick.
Speaker B:I mean your involvement in rallying is legendary and lifelong, isn't it?
Speaker A:It's gone on for a long time now.
Speaker A:I'm 68, so you're not much older than me.
Speaker A:No, but yeah, we've been doing it 38 years, I think.
Speaker A:38 years on the.
Speaker B:And You're a bit of a devotee of the Ford Escort, aren't you?
Speaker A:Ah yeah.
Speaker A:Well the Ford badge in particular.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean when did you start rallying?
Speaker A:I didn't start rallying until my father died which would be.
Speaker A:How old would I be?
Speaker A:I would be 30.
Speaker A:30.
Speaker A:Did some, some road rallying in the early days and then I got a company car and I couldn't afford both and I couldn't do it in the company car so I didn't do it.
Speaker A:And the guy that's brought my Escort today, I used to navigate for him back in the day in a group ain't Nova.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker A:And then an Escort about six Escort like window for yourself.
Speaker A:And then I just got busy and didn't have time to do it.
Speaker B:Now Quest me what exactly is Questme?
Speaker A:It was the most nondescript name that I could buy to start a business and it was in the middle of the phone book and that's in the days when telesales used to get the yellow pages and some would start at A and some would start at Z.
Speaker A:So I picked one in the middle.
Speaker B:So hopefully they both had to meet at the same place.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But they never got that far.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:I, I believe I'm the only business to ever set up with an X directory phone number because I had all the customers I wanted to do at that point I was working for all the major brake manufacturers recycling, reclaiming brake shoes for taxis and mainly working for.
Speaker A:For Mintex.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker A:And Don brake linings when I started.
Speaker A:But at the end of it I was doing everything.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker A:Even doing railway brake shoes.
Speaker B:I mean did you also do competition.
Speaker A:Breaks we when I started?
Speaker A:No, no, absolutely not.
Speaker A:I had a commercial vehicle multifactors that I set up after I started the brake shoe reclaiming and I knew the sales director from Intex and my dad was a big cheese there and they asked me would I do motorsport.
Speaker A:And at the time I didn't really know brake shoes from whatever and just went into the deep end really.
Speaker A:I always worked in brake shoes but not competition.
Speaker A:So that was sort of self taught very quickly.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:My first event I did was Abedine.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And we got to ash.
Speaker B:I mean your love of.
Speaker A:For why the love of Ford fix or repair daily.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, it's something I always.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm desperately looking for a Mark 4 2L Escortina at the minute.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:Yeah, that was my dad's car and we've had XR4s and Sierra Cosmos and just always been afford on It.
Speaker A:But I bought my wife a Skoda, so it can't be that bad.
Speaker A:Can't be that bad.
Speaker A:It can't be that bad at all.
Speaker A:That Escort there, that's the most mileage you have done in it today?
Speaker A:Yeah, that's 27.
Speaker A:I drove it to the other.
Speaker A:What place I saw you at.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker A:And that was about six miles.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I've taken up and down the road for shakedown.
Speaker A:But the actual mileage today, that's the most miles it's done since it was built.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Will you rally it?
Speaker B:I mean it's a stunning example of what it is.
Speaker A:I'm too old.
Speaker A:My son can.
Speaker A:Yeah, we're going to do the Manx.
Speaker A:We're doing the Manx next and then a couple of rallies in Belgium and I've told him he can do the Ford special in it and whatever because there's no class for it over there anyway.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:There's no class for that car.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker A:Or he's got a Nissan Micro kit car, hell of a thing.
Speaker A:Only revs to 11,000.
Speaker A: But in Belgium he's in the: Speaker A:He still gets class positions but he's always underpowered.
Speaker A:He's always like.
Speaker A:And we love Belgium.
Speaker A:Rallying in Belgium is fantastic.
Speaker B:You'll say rallying in Europe's just great.
Speaker B:Full stop into it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:He's done Spain, he's done Portugal.
Speaker A:I think he's going back.
Speaker A:We have good customers in Europe and I, you know, we'll get a garage for you and we'll do this.
Speaker A:So we go over and rally in Portugal.
Speaker A:There's a think is his next one after he's done these in Belgium.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you're here today to support the event and see if you can get more people involved in Rome generally.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:I mean if we can help.
Speaker A:I make a living out of this but Rob's put a lot of effort into this and I'm here for Rob.
Speaker A:Cuz coming home from the Woodpecker Rally yesterday in the rain and aching, I'm like, no, I'm not going.
Speaker A:But I was always going to come know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Nice supporting Rob, but obviously supporting what motorsport is.
Speaker A:That's how I make a living.
Speaker B:Great.
Speaker B:Alan, thanks very much for joining me on the back seat.
Speaker A:Driver, thank you for getting me.
Speaker H:Here.
Speaker B:With David Jones and his Citroen WIC car.
Speaker B:Tell us about the car.
Speaker H:I can't take the credit for it.
Speaker H:The guy that built it is from Canuck, does it as a hobby alongside his full time body shop.
Speaker H: The car was: Speaker H:It was due for the scrapyard and he saved it.
Speaker H:Full strip down.
Speaker B:Was it a rally car?
Speaker H:No, it was a road going car.
Speaker H:Total stripped down, full body kit, everything was changed including the engine.
Speaker H:So yeah, a total overhaul.
Speaker B:Do you rally it?
Speaker H:No, it's been around Alton Park a few times but nothing in anger.
Speaker B:So you just let you not be funny, you just like being with it and having it and everything else.
Speaker H:Purely shoe show car.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:Has it rallied?
Speaker H:No.
Speaker B:Right, so it just looks the part.
Speaker H:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean how near to spec is it?
Speaker H:The nearest back is not.
Speaker H:Not turboed, whereas the original car was turboed and the drivetrain and four wheel drive, that's all things that are missing.
Speaker H:Yeah, pretty much so.
Speaker B:I mean, but what does it go like?
Speaker H:It goes all right.
Speaker H:Yeah, it goes all right.
Speaker H:It doesn't.
Speaker H:Doesn't get thrashed at the end of the day it's a 20 year old car underneath.
Speaker H:Yeah, it's fairly solid but yeah, it's, it's, it goes, yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, don't mind me asking, I mean, do you rally or have you rallied?
Speaker H:No, no, I'd love to.
Speaker H:This was the compromise.
Speaker B:Is it something you use a lot?
Speaker H:Yeah, mostly show stuff.
Speaker H:We go down to North Wales quite a bit but other than that, Sundays and taking the daughter to the ice.
Speaker B:Cream farm and looking good.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker H:Everyone complaining, saying, daddy, everyone's looking at us.
Speaker B:Do you ever get mistake for a Monsieur Loeb?
Speaker B:Once.
Speaker H:Once.
Speaker H:Once.
Speaker H:But I'm quite a bit taller than him and I can't speak French.
Speaker B:But you just.
Speaker B:It's just the sheer pleasure and joy of Owngate.
Speaker H:Just purely sheer pleasure and joy of owning it and been a rally fan since I was four year old.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:So instead of a shelf full of model cars, you have a full size one?
Speaker H:Got both.
Speaker H:Got both.
Speaker B:But no, nice to see.
Speaker B:Thanks very much for joining me on the backseat driver.
Speaker H:You're welcome.
Speaker B:I'm here with Carl Muramar selling model rally cars.
Speaker B:I mean for a lot of people this is their way into rallying.
Speaker B:I mean I have shelves full of model cars, probably more than I should have.
Speaker B:I mean it's got to be biggest business for the rally fan.
Speaker B:Has model rally cars.
Speaker I:Yeah, rally cars for the model fan.
Speaker I:Depending on scales.
Speaker I:There's lots available, lots of choice and lots of drivers for people to collect.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean how do you predict to work out what models you need to stock?
Speaker B:I conclude you watch WRC and work out.
Speaker B:He's suddenly doing well.
Speaker B:We'd better get Some of them in?
Speaker I:No, for me it's just a case of I buy what I like.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:What tend to be the most popular?
Speaker I:I'd say Subaru.
Speaker B:Still.
Speaker I:Yes, still Subaru for me.
Speaker B:The McRae era ones.
Speaker B:Of course.
Speaker I:Yes, McRae and Burns.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:Modern rally cars, what do they tend to favor?
Speaker I:I'm not so sure on the modern myself.
Speaker I:Now I'm probably more the older ones.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:And the old rally cars like my era, like 60s and 70s.
Speaker B:I mean do they still sell?
Speaker I:No, the age group is now starting to dwindle.
Speaker B:You mean we're all D off?
Speaker I:I never said that.
Speaker B:And size wise, I mean we've got them here quite large, down to very tiny.
Speaker B:I mean what do they go for?
Speaker B:Is it the.
Speaker B:Is it the old guys like me who buy the big uns and the kids that buy the little un's?
Speaker I:No, I say it's a case of the children.
Speaker I:They like the small scale.
Speaker I:Elder people like the small scale.
Speaker I:So they can have more.
Speaker I:More of them.
Speaker B:More on the shelf.
Speaker I:Yes.
Speaker B:So I mean like today here, I mean you seem to be attracting a lot of attention.
Speaker B:What are they going for today?
Speaker I:Today it's the rally.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:Cuz I notice you have a display of Le Mans cars.
Speaker B:Are they still popular?
Speaker I:Yeah, Le Mans winners are always popular.
Speaker I:We have collectors who will have every model from every year.
Speaker G:Yeah.
Speaker B:And once again you just.
Speaker B:Do you buy them because you like them or do you just think, well this year it was the yellow Ferrari of Kubica.
Speaker B:That one.
Speaker B:I have to go and get some of them.
Speaker I:Definitely got some of those.
Speaker B:And whereabouts are you based?
Speaker I:In Bolton.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:So besides this, do you have a shop?
Speaker I:Yeah, shop in Nortex Mill in Bolton.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But no, I mean it's fascinating.
Speaker B:I'm trying to keep my hands in my pocket otherwise if I buy another I'll get.
Speaker B:I'll get strung up.
Speaker B:But thanks very much, Johnny Von the backseat driver.
Speaker I:You're welcome.
Speaker B:Well, I think it's safe to say Hague Hall's very first rally car exhibition.
Speaker B:Of course it isn't large enough to have them driving around or putting on a show, but it's safe to say that the number of coys that have attended have way exceeded Robin's and Chris's expectations.
Speaker B:The number of people who've attended once again as way exceeded the organisers expectations.
Speaker B:It's been a great day.
Speaker B:The two main clubs, Bolton, Le Boers and Clitheroe have had their little stands busy all day.
Speaker B:Well known people and members all going for a chat and the other interesting thing is the simulators, which now attract young people, have been busy all day.
Speaker B:So with any luck, some of the youngsters may transfer their abilities from behind the wheel of a simulator to behind the wheel of a rally car or become involved somewhere along the lines.
Speaker B:And I think it's also safe to say that it's given Rob and Chris more impetus to try and make sure that next year's Hague Hall Special Stage Demonstration Day goes ahead.
Speaker B:Until then, watch this space.
Speaker B:More information will become available as and when.
