Brick and Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge
The 2013 Brick & Steel Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge for 14 to 17 year olds will get under way on the 17th of this month (March) when the championship organisers host a pre-season Junior Track Day at Kames Motor Complex Muirkirk.
Organised by East Ayrshire Car Club the event at Kames will be sponsored by ABR Roofing Services of Motherwell whose generous support means that the day will be free for all Junior participants.
Last year 10 junior drivers with their more experienced co-drivers crews tackled the opening round of the series at Charterhall in March. Numbers grew steadily through the year and organisers are currently hoping for at least 15 crews on this year’s first event, the PJ Planthire Charterhall Stages Rally in Berwickshire on March 30th, with the second round at Ingliston on 27th May.
Naturally, there would be no show without the ever enthusiastic ‘Papa Smurf’ in charge, with David Barlow commenting: “Safety is way at the top of our agenda and we take our responsibility for the youngsters and their co-drivers very seriously. That is why training and practice is so important and the combination of willingness to listen and learn on top of “youthful exuberance” makes our job so much easier. But we could not do it without the help of organisations like Brick & Steel, ABR Roofing, Knockhill and Kames and a whole host of experienced people. This is going to be another cracking year!”
At the Kames event on the 17th, youngsters will first have a classroom session to talk about driving techniques followed by a full day to experiment and practice what the qualified instructors have shown them. The instructors will then monitor and advise each driver during the day.
Another valuable addition to the day’s events will be the appearance of a couple of leading young drivers from the ‘senior’ Championships (British Rally Championship and Scottish Rally Championship) who will drive the cars and advise on setup to suspension, brakes, cornering, and of course, driving technique.
This introductory event will be followed up with an Advanced Performance Driving course at Knockhill at the end of July. By this time, most of the Junior drivers will have competed on 3 or 4 rallies. This later course will be run under the watchful eyes of the Knockhill instructors who have huge experience of teaching the tricks of the trade to enthusiastic youngsters. In fact the Knockhill folks can make numpties look half decent, so this will be a doddle.
More info on the Brick & Steel Ecosse Junior 1000 Challenge at:
http://ecosse205challenge.co.uk/cms2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=236&Itemid=232
2013 Junior 1000 Ecosse Challenge calendar of events, including one ‘foreign’ event in Wales:
March 30, Junior Charterhall Stages (near Duns). Border Ecosse Car Club Nat B event.
April 27, Ingliston Junior Stages, (near Edinburgh). Dunfermline Car Club Nat B event.
June 15, Junior Summer Crail (Crail, East Fife. Glenrothes Motor Sport Club Nat B event.
July 14, AlBar Kames Junior Rally, Kames (near Ayr). East Ayrshire Car Club Nat B event.
August 11, Solway Coast Junior Rally, Kirkcudbright. Solway Coast Car Club Nat B event.
September 15, North East Junior Rally, Boyndie. Aberdeen & District MC Nat B event.
October 20, Kames Junior Rally. East Ayrshire Car Club Nat B event.
November 2/3, Glyn Memorial Rally, Anglesey. Caernarvonshire & Anglesey Motor Club Nat B event.
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