Next weekend will see the second outing in 2011 for teenage rally driver Tom Cave, as he takes part in the Wyedean Forest Rally, based in Chepstow. The 19 year-old will be driving a rented Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX Group N car as he aims for points on the first round of the BTRDA championship.
Tom has taken the decision to rent the latest-specification car, prepared and run by JRM, on the Wyedean and most likely, the Sunseeker Rally later this month, the latter the opening round of the 2011 British Rally Championship. He feels that this latest specification of Group N car, essentially the same as the car he drove last year in Latvia and demonstrated exceptional pace, will give him the best chance of success in the BRC and now, the BTRDA series, where he has registered to score points.
And while he will be buoyed by his pace on the Red Kite Stages rally two weeks ago, he is also keenly aware that next weekend will be a far tougher prospect. Not only will local knowledge play into others' hands, there is also a brace of World Rally Cars on the early entry list, as well as cars which fall into the B13 class, essentially somewhere between Group N and Group A.
So for this reason, there's only one course of action - maximum attack from the start of the first stage to the flying finish of the last.
"I'm looking forward to the event," said Tom, "even though pretty much everything is new. The only constant is Craig [Parry, co-driver]. We're in a new car, with a new team, on a new event with route notes, which are also new to us. No pressure then...
"Having said that, at least I have driven a GroupN EvoX on gravel, when I did Rally Latvia last year in the MML Sports car.
"I think with the level of competition and other drivers with experience and local knowledge, the only way is flat out from the start. I think a top five finish and possibly a class win would be an excellent result and that's what I'll be aiming for. Ambitious maybe but you have to have something to aim at...
"We'll be running on the Pirelli tyres that we will use in the BRC, so I'm hoping that we won't have the same puncture problems we had on our last two outings - Scotland last year and the Red Kite last month. It will also give us an idea of how the tyres work and what to expect on the Sunseeker."
Tom will be carrying out a short test in the car prior to the one-day event, which runs from the racecourse in Chepstow on Saturday 12 February.
