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Latest News...08/10/2011 -
Wilkes reigns tarmac 1400's for over a decade!
Julian Wilkes and Will Rutherford are heading across the water to the Channel Islands to contest in the Jersey Rally with one goal in mind - to continue to dominate the ‘Little’ Car class, the 1400cc category. Having started out in Rallying back in October 2000 in a 1.4 8v Nova, Julian has been hugely successful in winning his class on ALL occasions finished, No mean feat considering the Nova driver has contested more than 70 tarmac rallies.
In recent years ‘Wilkes Motorsport’ have improved and developed the blue nova to contest Forest rallying and arguably boasts one of the best 1400 cars currently competing in the UK. The Nova can be adapted quickly and successfully from tarmac to gravel with a simple change of springs, ride height, damper settings and tyres.
However Wilkes has always enjoyed a return to the odd tarmac event on what he classes as his preferred surface.
The 2005 National Asphalt Class/FWD and ‘Star Driver’ winner and co-driver Will Rutherford are looking ahead to the Jersey rally following an outstanding year with category wins and high overall standings on every event they have started in 2011. Competing on famous and highly regarded rallies such as Epynt, Jim Clark Rally, Bovington as well as the forest rallies of The Somerset Stages, and The Wyedean rally. The 2005 Motorsport News rated ‘Number 1 tarmac driver’ has enjoyed success every step of the way and the crew want to continue this rewarding year in Jersey in October. These results have followed on from previous BTRDA, BRC Challenge and MSA Tarmac Championship year successes.
"We have had a really fun year
competing on amazing events, One day we would like to win an event
outright, as we have been fairly close – 4th overall with many 5th’s,
etc, but in this day and age with all the more modern machinery a win from a
1400cc is highly unlikely, let alone from a 20 year old chassis, but who
knows....................we will keep trying..........” says Wilkes.
The Jersey rally marks his and Wills 5th year of rallying together coupled with over 10 years of tarmac class success they are looking forward to a rally neither have contested before, even more poignant is the fact that Will now resides on Jersey’s sister island of Guernsey.
"We're going to Jersey to be as fast as we can in the tight and twisty lanes but we both know this rally will be tough with local knowledge being hugely advantageous and some very fast regulars to the island competing alongside us. One thing’s for sure the rally is going to be a hugely social occasion too! The guys and girls in the team put in so much time and effort for us to enjoy and be successful at our rallying, so we're looking forward to rewarding them with a few days relaxing on jersey either side of the event itself! The whole team will be celebrating 10 years at the top!"Wilkes Motorsport is planning to provide a regular blog service on their website (wilkes-motorsport.com) during the 2 day Jersey Rally where they will report on all aspects of the event. More information on this will be released soon….
Julian Wilkes and Will Rutherford displayed an almost perfect drive on this weekends Jim Clark National Rally to finish 12th overall and win the 1400 class by 20 minutes. The crew also achieved their main goal of being the fastest front-wheel-drive crew by over 3 and a half minutes.
The event marked the return to the MSA National Asphalt Championship for Wilkes after a 6 year break and he certainly didn't disappoint. At the post event podium ceremony in the centre of Duns he was awarded the John Horton Motorsport Management 'Star Drive' trophy for his heroic drive.
The event wasn't without its troubles for the Vauxhall Nova VXR190 pairing however as the crew struggled with a fuel problem on the 3 Friday stages which caused major concern at the beginning of the event. The car was running extremely rough on the road sections and the team were concerned that the engine was about to suffer a major failure. As the crew set off into the evening stages it was evident that the car was running perfectly at high rev's and the crew made it back to the final control of the Friday evening in a very positive 18th overall.
"We were really worried on Friday night! I thought the engine was going to go bang in the market square in Duns on stage 1 so I was really glad to reach the end of the 1 mile stage with the car running well!" says Wilkes. "We spent the whole night trying to think through the problem and we managed to cure it the following morning when a fellow crew member offered us his spare throttle pot. We fitted it in the 45 minute service and it was a huge relief to everyone when the car fired up sweetly."
The nova pairing set off on Saturday morning for a loop of 3 stages confident that the car was fixed. Saturdays opening stage was perfect from the pair and they began to stretch their legs on the front-wheel-drive cars behind. The next stage brought it's own challenges to the flying crew when a rain shower hit the area with 2 minutes to go before they started the stage.
"It was so heavy and it was too late for us to do anything about changing tyres! We went into the stage and it was like ice in places. We went wide only a few corners into the stage and were luck to keep the car pointing in the right direction but then we totally lost it under braking for a tight right hand bend. I knew the car wasn't stopping and I didn't want to go through the hedge so I pitched the car into a spin and we ended up going backwards into a bank. We knew we had to keep pushing but I knew we were very close to the edge. The rest of the stage was pretty hairy but I was relieved to have done very little damage."
The rest of the morning stages were calmer for the pair and they began to settle in to a great rhythm. By the lunch time service the crew had climbed to 14th overall and had a huge lead in the class and FWD battles so decided that they needed drive for a finish. The final loop of stages was the biggest distance the crew have ever completed without a service. A total of almost 50 miles was a big challenge for them but they managed their tyres across the stages to bring the car back to the finish in Duns town square in 12th overall.
"We're both ecstatic with the win and we are very pleased to have been the fastest FWD car to finish. We also beat all the 2 litre 2WD cars which is very positive and were only beaten by the 2.5 litre monsters such as the Darrian of John indri and Escort of Simon Mauger which is to be expected with their huge power advantage. This is our favourite event for a very long time and we must thank the team for doing a great job on the car and also to everyone else to tried to help us when we were having problems. The spirit is still alive in the rallying community and we are pleased to come back to such a friendly and competitive championship."
The crew will now have a break over the summer months before committing to their next event although they have hinted that an appearance on more of the asphalt championship events is possible.