PUB

DOWN THE WITH STANLEY ORR

“I was rallying back in the late 1970s and early 1980s and rallied for about 10 years. It was mainly at home but I came over and did a few national events and I was the first Irishman to win the Galloway Hills in a Group 1 Escort in 1981.”

He competed in the British Championship “I didn’t have the money to compete with the national guys so I did a few more events at home. I always liked gravel and I found that, back in those days, you could be competitive on gravel with not such a good car. On asphalt you had to have the perfect car. I did the British Championship in 1986 in a Group N Toyota Corolla and won the class. After that I stopped rallying and decided to get my head down and do some work.”

He walked away from the sport “I had not a lot of interest in rallying over a long period. I’d no interest in Group N or WRC cars. Then the British Historic Rally Championship started to appear on TV and that started the bug going a wee bit. A guy came into the yard one day and offered me a standard Ford Escort Mk1 and that’s where it started.”

He came back in historics “Over two or three years the guys who service for me built it into a rally car. I made a comeback in 2013 after more than 25 years away. In 2014 we were over and did the BHRC and we had a really good year and got friendly with David Stokes. That’s part of the reason that Guy Weaver, David’s co-driver, is with me now. I spoke to David about it and it was with his blessing.”

He’s planning a BHRC campaign “I didn’t do a lot last year because we had quite a big accident on the Circuit of Ireland. After 2014 I couldn’t have done another full year and the car needed to be rebuilt. But I always wanted to come back to the BHRC. Guy’s got a lot of experience and knows where he is going. If all goes to plan we’ll do the full season. The hotels are booked for them all!”