Phil building on his earlier successes
FOLLOWING on from the recent mention of leading Welsh rally drivers using the enforced lack of motorsporting competition to put their talents to use in a literally constructive way – building new competition cars ready for when events can run again – the list now includes successful Swansea driver and TCS Plant proprietor Phil Turner.
Perhaps he was inspired by the announcement that Czech car maker Škoda was to honour its 120th anniversary in racing by creating the exclusive Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo Edition 120, with only 12 limited edition versions of the rally car available.
Over the decades the Mladá Boleslav-based company went from long-distance races with motorbikes to hill climbs, circuit racing and rallies on four wheels.
Škoda have collected many victories, most recently dominating the WRC2-WRC2 Pro category of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Though not one of these exclusive 12 creations from the factory, Turner’s car has been built along the lines of the new machine, but with individual design and construction making it perhaps even rarer.
The Swansea driver, a winner of many events in his former car, a Mitsubishi Evo, obtained the new-build bodyshell from Poland and, after a protracted time dealing with EU red tape, had it prepared to the standard required before it arrived in Wales.
Once safely in the Principality the bodyshell was delivered to competition car preparation specialists SW Motorsport of Pontarddulais, who were entrusted with the impressive build.
The two-litre turbocharged engine is the one, now rebuilt, from the previous Turner car, the trusty Mitsubishi Evo. It has been paired with a new high ratio Quaife gearbox. Now also completed in a new colour scheme, the car is mechanically to R5 specification.
Turner and regular co-driver Simon Anthony, both Port Talbot Motor Club members, will contest the full season of the Welsh Tarmacadam Rally Championship, in the two-litre class, once the series is permitted to run.
THE Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally has been included in the revised Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, the Epynt MC event now hosting the opening round of the 2021 series on Sunday, August 29.
Despite Covid-19 restrictions forcing the cancellation or postponement of four rallies and a rescheduling of the series, Britain’s premier sealed-surface rally championship will still consist of five top events, including one double-header event, making six qualifying rounds.
The Port Talbot Motor Club Legend Fires Tour of Epynt was to be the opening round, but was twice forced to postpone due to Covid restrictions and latterly military usage of the Epynt Ranges on a rescheduled date.
It left championship organisers little option but to seek a replacement, Epynt MC naturally pleased to replace the Port Talbot MC event if it could not run.
Port Talbot MC is now again in discussion with the MOD about a date later in the year.
The first of three closed-road stage events, the Hills Ford Three Shires Stages Rally, follows the Mewla, with the Cheltenham MC event taking place across
Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire on September 5.
The Pokerstars Rally on the Isle of Man will be a double-header event, with championship points awarded at the end of day one (round 3, Friday, October 1) and day two (round 4, Saturday, Oct 2). Organised by Manx Auto Sport, this event replaces the cancelled Manx National Rally.
The Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally will host the fifth and penultimate round of the series. Organised by Whickham & District MC and Hadrian Motor Sports Club and held on the Otterburn military range in Northumberland, it will take place as originally scheduled on October 24.
The sixth and final round will be the MJE Wheel Repair Specialists Tyrone Stages Rally in Northern Ireland. Originally scheduled to run in July, the Cookstown Motor Club-organised event will now take place on Saturday, November 6.
The Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship will work closely with all the event organisers to ensure that everything operates within Covid-19 guidelines.
All the competitor awards and prizes will remain, including the very generous overall and class tyre incentives offered by Protyre, and Onthepacenote
offers junior competitors incentives and awards including a free test in a Hyundai i20 R5 for the best-placed junior driver at the season end, an award that also relates to the 2021 Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh National Rally Championship.
Mintex offer Prosport Championship event-by-event awards for best seeding improvement, and a season end draw for an under-25 driver to win £500.
The Hendy Ford Performance Trophy, plus a £100 voucher redeemable at Hendy Ford Motorsport, will go to the highestplaced registered two-wheeldrive naturally aspirated Ford driver in the end-of-season overall points.
The winning driver in the new Ford Escort Challenge receives a custom-made and fitted stainless steel exhaust system from Scott Williams Motorsport, with the winning co-driver earning a Nicky Grist Motorsports £100 voucher.
A series press officer and photographer covers all rounds, which will also be filmed and streamed live by Special Stage TV.
Competitors who registered for the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship in 2020 will have their registration fee rolled over for the 2021 season. Competitors will need to pay their 2021 BTRDA membership fee.
Jane Evans, the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship co-ordinator from West Wales, said: “We are delighted to announce the revised 2021 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship calendar that continues to offer a challenging number of events, the majority of which will be held on closed public roads, that befits Britain’s premier sealed-surface series.
“We’d like to thank all the event organisers for their incredible hard work, and we hope that government and regional Covid-19 guidelines will allow these events to run if it is safe to do so.
“The Motorsport UK Covid-19 compliant guidelines, together with continued success of vaccination, will allow us to welcome championship competitors back and to do battle out on some of the UK’S very best asphalt stages.”