Teenage rally driver Tom Cave will tackle the last rally of his 2010 campaign next weekend, when he competes on the finale of the FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB. The 18 year-old will again be at the wheel of his works-specification Proton Satria Neo S2000 as he tackles the event for the third time.
But before getting down to business, Tom was invited to take part in RallyFest, the event put on by the organisers of the event over the Halloween weekend, to promote the rally. As the Proton was being reassembled after its last outing on Rally of Scotland, Tom rented a Group N Honda Civic Type R for the day and gave passenger rides to VIPs attending the event.
"RallyFest was a great day," Tom said. "I was invited to take part by the media team of Rally GB and had a really good time. I even ended up in the commentary box on the microphone, which was interesting! There was a lot of interest for the rally and I think it's a great idea to build the excitement with events like this."
While RallyFest was all about fun and excitement, Tom and the rest of the team will be getting down to business next week, as they prepare for the rally itself. Tom is planning a short test to shake the Proton down after its rebuild but knows this may have little bearing on the event itself.
He and co-driver Craig Parry are currently seeded as the 49th car on the road, meaning that by the time they tackle the stages, particularly on the first day, they could well be in very rough conditions, after the passing of 48 cars ahead of them.
Because of this, and the nature of the stages on Friday, the first full day of the event, the approach will be a tactical one. Tom explains: "I'm not nervous as such but a little apprehensive of what the conditions will be like on the stages by the time we get there. We're 49th on the road, the stages on Friday tend to cut up and there's only a remote service halfway through the day. So the plan has to be take it steady, make sure we get back to Cardiff on Friday evening with no problems and see where we are."
Tom hopes that he might be in a better road position in Saturday if he can get through Friday's action with no problems. In addition, he knows the south Wales stages reasonably well and feels that the roads on Saturday and Sunday will give him the best opportunity to push for a solid result.
"The stages on Saturday, like Crychan and Halfway, are really nice - flowing and good to push on. So hopefully, if things are going well, we'll push a bit harder and see what we can do.
"The Davies Motorsport team has been working really hard since Scotland to get the car sorted and I really want a clean run and a solid finish. I'm definitely looking forward to getting out in the car again and really want to end this season with a good result. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster this year but I think that Wales Rally GB should give us a good chance to show what we can do."
The event begins with a superspecial stage in the area around the rally base at Cardiff Bay on the evening of Thursday 11 November, before three days of action in the Welsh countryside. Friday takes the crews to mid-Wales, north of the remote service at Built Wells for two loops of three stages.
Saturday sees nine stages, two loops of four and another run of the superspecial in Cardiff Bay while Sunday comprises two loops of two stages, run close to Cardiff. The first crews are expected to cross the finish ramp at 15.30.
