Months of planning and preparation by the SIMS Rally Team, and Tony Simpson and Jonathan Jackson in particular commenced, when the amiable pair began the near on thousand miles over four days of Wales Rally GB, the Britishround of the FIA World Rally Championship on Thursday.
Gracing the same stages as current World Champion Sébastien Ogier, and theManufacturer teams such as Citroen and Ford they headed into the Welshdarkness to visit classic tests such as Gwydyr, Penmachno and Clocaenog. Thepair enjoyed the first stage, Gwydyr and headed into the second, but weretoo cautious and dropped time. The final trip was to the near 8km demands ofClocaenog, where they were happy to get through and return to DeesideService and prepare for Friday, which would be a long day and very minimalservice. Tony was however happy at this stage and said “Its been an up anddown evening for Jonathan and I, but we have enjoyed the stages tonight. Ilove rallying in the dark but confidence has to be very high and we arebuilding that stage by stage, but it’s been fun and a great way to startsuch a classic event.”
The winds of Thursday gave way to better weather for all the crews onFriday, and ahead lay typical demanding Welsh stages. First up was the 32kmof Hafren where the pair were cautious, ever aware of the long nature of therally. Sweet Lamb was up next and one that both Tony and Jonathan thoroughlyenjoyed. Packed solid with thousands of spectators, the stage really madean impact on Tony when he said “We loved Sweet Lamb, it has that naturalamphitheatre, and there were so many people there, we gave the jumps inthere a really good go..”
The mystique of Myherin was next, and both Tony and Jonathan gelled over the32km of this classic, where they pushed very hard in the early part of thestage and running in the top 50 of the event. Unfortunately about 6km fromthe end, just as the crew approached a corner, the car lost all brakes, andthey did very well to complete the stage. With remote service in Newtownnext, and the rules of World Championship rallying dictating that only partscarried in the car can be used for repair, the SIMS Rally Team mechanics dida super job in keeping the car running, so that Tony and Jonathan couldcontinue and get back to Deeside later in the day for proper repairs. Tonyexplained “Super Rally was not an option for us today, we have to get to theend, and the guys have been able to get us sorted for now, so its back outto those three again and we will hope for the best, but we will be back inDeeside tonight that’s for sure.”
With new brake parts having arrived from M-Sport the SIMS rally team Fiestawas refettled and ready for Saturday and the 100km of stages on offer to allthe crews. First stage of the day was the run over the 14km of Gartheiniog1, where the pair were back on a cautious approach and happy to set a goodtime and reach the end. Sadly on the next stage, which was the first runover the Dyfi stage the brakes failed again, leading to Tony taking thedecision there and then on safety grounds to withdraw and Super Rally. Tonyexplained later in service, “There are times when you can confidently pushyour luck, and it will work and yesterday that was what we did and itworked. Don’t get me wrong, we do not want to Super Rally, but in this casefrom a safety point of view for both Jonathan and I it is now the rightthing to do, but is does not make it any less painful.”
Once again the SIMS Rally team prepared the car for the final day of WalesRally GB. The trip out on the first stage of the day for Tony and Jonathanwas Dyfnant followed by the 14km of Penllyn, a stage the pair loved with itsfast sections and sweeping bends where speed can be maintained and time madeup. Next up was the second run over Clocaenog, but this time in daylight,and where Tony was amazed at the speed they had reached in the dark versionpreviously. He said “Clocaenog was amazing on both runs, we did it in thedark on Thursday night and today in day light and there was fans everywhereon almost every corner, you do feel like you’re doing something special whenthe stages are like this..”
The drama was not over yet though for Tony and Jonathan and the rest of theSIMS Rally Team, when on the final stage of Wales Rally GB, transmissionfailure blighted the last run for them on Great Orme. Tony said “Just afterthe start we had a huge failure in the transmission, which meant a carefulrun through to get to the finish, but get through we did.”
The pair returned to the finish at Deeside as winners of Class 8, and arapturous reception from the SIMS Rally Team in the Service Area. At thefinish Jonathan said “What an even, I am so pleased that we finished. Tonyand I really enjoyed it all, but it would have been nice to run withoutSuper Rally. The boys and girls in the team worked so hard, so to finish andwin the class is great for them too.
For Tony though, there was delight in a class win on the World Championshipand a result to all his and the teams hard work. He said “The team haveworked so hard not just this weekend, but in the lead up to the event. Weare delighted to finish, and have proved that a Clubman can do a WorldChampionship event. It was a roller coaster of an event loosing brakes,getting them back losing them again and then the transmission failure on thefinal stage so many frustrations but also satisfaction to get our very nearstandard showroom specification car around a World Championship event.Jonathan was superb all week, great on the notes, and so very organised, itwas great to have him on board.”
Rounding up the event for the SIMS Rally Team Tony did add “There are somany people I have to thank, the Jackson Family, Heather Gibbons, MartinDavies, Steph Rowson from R3 Motorsport, John Goff from Rallyschool.co.uk,Pirelli Tyres, Flying Dog, Seacon/DOT, Rydal Gym and of course Home 2 OfficeWater Coolers. Without all of them, neither Jonathan nor I would be here.Thanks guys.”
