Only 41 days training before competing in World Rally Championship event Top   freelance   motoring   and   travel   journalist,   Franca   Davenport,   has   accepted   the   ultimate challenge  to  compete  in  one  of  the  toughest  forms  of  motorsport,  starting  as  a  trainee  rally navigator  alongside  Sky  Sports  motorsport  man  Tony  Jardine  at  the  Trackrod  Rally  Yorkshire  (6 October). 36  year-old  Davenport  will  have  to  secure  international  co-driver  status,  by  gaining  enough signatures on her licence within five events – all within a short space of time - in order to compete in Rally Ireland, Ireland’s first ever World Rally Championship event, which takes place in just 41 days time.

This tight target has been set by her new Castrol rally team chief, Olly Marshall, from ProSpeed in York. ”That’s plenty of time for us to knock her into shape, but she will have to work hard as it is a gruelling event schedule with one event after another”, said Marshall. Davenport has accepted a brief from The Daily Telegraph Motoring Editor, Peter Hall, to convey her experiences in the motoring pages as she prepares to take the navigators’ hot seat for the first time starting this weekend in the ProSpeed run Castrol team’s Ford Fiesta. Tackling the sweeping forest tracks  of  Yorkshire  in  the  penultimate  round  of  the  British  Rally  Championship,  Trackrod  Rally Yorkshire, will not provide the easiest of debuts for the rookie co-driver, but she thinks she will be able to cope. “I  have  studied  the  maps  and  instructions  but  it  still  looks  a  bit  like  hieroglyphics  to  me.  I  have spoken to some experienced people including my father who used to co-drive in his time. I have navigated in classic cars on the touring/regularity section of the Tour Britannia but this is the real thing - a full-on forest stage rally against the best in Britain and, more importantly, against the clock.

Luckily I haven't had too much time to think about it and I'm just hoping I won't get a bout of last minute nerves," said Davenport. “The programme is very tight”, said media man and motorsport expert Tony Jardine. “We have five events in 41 days then we have to be ready for the big one, Rally Ireland. First we need to get off to the right start and stamina and concentration are a big part of it. If Franca gets through the first big test  in  the  famous  rally  forests  of  Yorkshire  then  we  will  celebrate  by  watching  rally  videos  on Saturday night, especially the in-car footage so she can listen to the top co-drivers in action calling the notes. By the time we finish that the Grand Prix will be screened from China when we hope to see Lewis Hamilton win a different World Championship, the F1 drivers’ title in the early hours of the morning. Full on motorsport training!“ T

he Castrol Daily Telegraph team will provide the very best support for Davenport as she tries to climb  the  sporting  ladder  to  the  very  top.  Kumho  will  be  providing  their  superb  Kevlar  reinforced tyres to soak up all the forest punishment from rocks and boulders whilst the ProSpeed technical preparation  of  the  M  Sport  built  Castrol  Fiesta  will  be  bolstered  by  McLaren  SLR  development engineer Andy Beale from Camberley in Surrey. Andy Beale, who has supported Tony Jardine on previous rally campaigns, said “We are a small but  efficient  team,  we  punch  above  our  weight.  I  always  respond  to  the  challenges  Tony  sets especially when we have a tight time scale to get things right. I’ve been saving holiday just for this programme and now I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.”