The switch to Historics begins!
David Higgins says one of his biggest challenges switching to the Dunlop Gambia British Historic Rally Championship this year will be to restrain himself from having too much fun.
As the 2004 British rally champion prepares to switch from a Subaru Impreza N14 to a Ford Escort Mk1 next week, the temptation to enjoy rear wheel drive action could prove too much.
“It would be easy to go sideways and really enjoy the car rather than thinking about the championship, in such a fun car,” said David. “If you go sideways you lose too much time, I need to remember that in the Mk1. The other main differences will be that I'll have to try to find more traction, the gear changes will be slower, and I won't have any power steering. I can't wait.”
David will test the Mark Solloway Historic Rally Sport Escort on Monday, less than a week before the championship starts on the Bulldog Historic. “I'll take one of our Forest Experience Rally School Escorts out for a blast around before the rally,” said David. “Then it will be straight into the rally, my co-driver Ieuan Thomas and I won't even get to do a recce because the Historics do not have a recce on gravel events. That could be a big problem for us as we are used to going over the stages and writing our own notes. Organisers notes are quite different to ours so we'll have to go through them thoroughly while we watch the DVD of the stages to make sure we get it exactly right.”
After a year running his own team in the British championship, David is looking forward to concentrating on the driving alone this year. “It was pretty hard to drive properly while running a team last year,” said David. “On the stages I would have been thinking about what the team needed to do in service, how long any damage was going to take to repair after the rally, that type of thing, but now I can concentrate solely on driving again.”
This will be David's Historic Rally Championship debut, and as always he is planning to give the regulars a run for their money on the stages. He said, “Any rally I enter, I aim to win, but I'm not thinking this is going to be any easier than the BRC. The pace I've built up in the BRC has got to help, but people like Gwyndaf [Evans] who is in the same boat as me switching from the BRC, and regulars will certainly be piling on the pressure. The entry is huge, and we can't wait to get started.”
The Bulldog Historic rally takes place in Llangollen in Wales on Saturday 28 March.
As the 2004 British rally champion prepares to switch from a Subaru Impreza N14 to a Ford Escort Mk1 next week, the temptation to enjoy rear wheel drive action could prove too much.
“It would be easy to go sideways and really enjoy the car rather than thinking about the championship, in such a fun car,” said David. “If you go sideways you lose too much time, I need to remember that in the Mk1. The other main differences will be that I'll have to try to find more traction, the gear changes will be slower, and I won't have any power steering. I can't wait.”
David will test the Mark Solloway Historic Rally Sport Escort on Monday, less than a week before the championship starts on the Bulldog Historic. “I'll take one of our Forest Experience Rally School Escorts out for a blast around before the rally,” said David. “Then it will be straight into the rally, my co-driver Ieuan Thomas and I won't even get to do a recce because the Historics do not have a recce on gravel events. That could be a big problem for us as we are used to going over the stages and writing our own notes. Organisers notes are quite different to ours so we'll have to go through them thoroughly while we watch the DVD of the stages to make sure we get it exactly right.”
After a year running his own team in the British championship, David is looking forward to concentrating on the driving alone this year. “It was pretty hard to drive properly while running a team last year,” said David. “On the stages I would have been thinking about what the team needed to do in service, how long any damage was going to take to repair after the rally, that type of thing, but now I can concentrate solely on driving again.”
This will be David's Historic Rally Championship debut, and as always he is planning to give the regulars a run for their money on the stages. He said, “Any rally I enter, I aim to win, but I'm not thinking this is going to be any easier than the BRC. The pace I've built up in the BRC has got to help, but people like Gwyndaf [Evans] who is in the same boat as me switching from the BRC, and regulars will certainly be piling on the pressure. The entry is huge, and we can't wait to get started.”
The Bulldog Historic rally takes place in Llangollen in Wales on Saturday 28 March.
posted by David at
16:10
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