Midland Rally Sport

Are you a Rally fan? If so then you may want to follow a newly formed local rally team Midland Rally Sport. It has been set up by a group of highly experienced and enthusiastic rally drivers, Paul Daniels and Baz Wheeler who have both been members of Loughborough Car Club for a number of years and have competed in a range of road rallies. Paul has competed in 12 car road rallies as well as marshalling various events. He met his co-driver Steve at their local Radio control car club in 2007 and from that day the pair decided to stop playing with toys and do the real thing. Together they purchased a Fiat cinquecento sporting road rally car. This may be an odd choice but this little car gave them some good results and was suited to the small twisty roads. After 12 months out of road rallying when Paul’s son Lewis was born, the pair reunited and decided that now was the time to put together a car and compete in a proper championship. They chose the 2010 BTRDA (British Trial and Rally Drivers Association) Tarmac Championship and local single venue events. Then they set about finding a suitable car which came in the form of a 205 Xs and with help from friends and family the car was finished in March 2010, see picture below. In 2009 Paul met Baz Wheeler through the Loughborough Car Club. Baz is the chairman of the Loughborough Car Club and has been a member since he was 17 years old. He has been competing in rallies since 1991 and specialises in Mk1 and Mk2 escorts. After a break, when he and his wife Katherine renovated their house, built a new garage and started Metric Services an Electrical and Mechanical Contracting Company, in 2005 they bought an escort, shown in the picture below and with his wife as co-driver they competed in several rallies including the Rally of the Midlands and the RAC clubmans 2008 rally. In 2010 Paul and Baz decided to set up Midland Rally Sport Rally Team. They now have a dedicated website www.midlandrallysport.co.uk that offers a full online web shop to buy any motorsport products you may need. They also have a dedicated workshop ready to take on any build or maintenance for competition cars. 2010 will be a big learning year for Paul and co driver Steve and in 2011, with the help from sponsors, they hope to compete in a full championship If you would like to advertise your company with the team please see sponsorship opportunities on the Midland Rally Sports web site, then you can be a part of their 2011 campaign.The team are looking forward to a challenging year as they try to juggle work and family life with building and maintaining the cars as well as taking part in the programme of rallying events they hope to participate in this year. The Syston Town News will be following them through the year and hope that they succeed in completing the BTRDA Rally of the Midlands in June, which will be Paul and Steve’s first competition rally in the new 205Xs they have just finished rebuilding. The rally will take place on Friday 18th and Saturday 19th June commencing in Hinckley, so watch this space for future reports.