2009 Legend Fires North West Stages Rally
Friday 20th February 2009. (Evening)
12 Stage miles / 20 Road miles with first car commencing at 18:30hrs
(Including a specator Stage on Blackpool Promenade).
Saturday 21st February 2009.
70 stage miles / 100 road miles with first car commencing at 08:30hrs
(Including specator Stages on Blackpool Promenade and at Pontin's Holiday Centre).
North West Stages on TV
Due to a late change in the Channel Five schedules, the first showing of the Legend Fires North West Stages Rally 2009 on Channel Five will now be on 1st April in the early hours. This is the full 1 hour program that will also be shown on Motors TV on the evening of the 3rd April 2009.
The official DVD from the rally will be availabe shortly after this from AMGTV.
RALLY PHOTOS AND DVD
Official Rally photographers Pro-Rally Photography have published a gallery of images taken from the 2009 Legend Fires North West Stages Rally. The official DVD from the rally will be availabe soon from AMGTV.
BLACKPOOL GETS READY TO RALLY!
The 2009 Legend Fires North West Stages Rally is now only days away and the organisers, Motor Sport (North West) Ltd, reckon that this year's entry, with a total of 110 cars, is the best ever!
Five times previous winners, a record that includes wins in all of the last four years, Steve Simpson and Mark Booth lead the field away on Friday evening in their Hyundai Accent WRC. They are hoping to retain their record as the only crew to have won the rally since it moved to Blackpool in 2005.
Friday's action gets underway around 18.30 with two, timed to the second, special stages along the lower and middle promenades starting from the North Pier. Running ahead of the competitors will be former World Rally star Neil Wearden with co-driver Rick Forster. Their immaculate silver Ford Escort Mk2 will be running as car '0' and they will be undertaking a safety check to ensure that everything in the stage is in its right place before the competitors start.
On Saturday, cars that are still in the rally, will be flagged away from the North Pier by Blackpool's Deputy Cllr Mayor Valerie Haynes before the start of another pair of promenade stages. These tests however, which Wearden will start at 8.50, are longer than those the previous evening as competitors drive at race speed all the way to Norbreck.
Thousands of spectators are expected to line the promenade on both days and on Saturday fans can also catch the action at Pontins Holiday Centre where the first of four special stages starts around 11.30. Spectators are admitted to Pontins on production of the Official Rally Programme that will be for sale both there, and on the Promenade. It contains a full entry list and all the other information needed to make a great day out. Accompanied children of school age will be admitted to Pontins free.
Amongst those hoping to give Simpson and Booth 'a run for their money' are Blackpool South Shore Motor Club members John Stone and Lee Carter. Having initially elected to give a second outing to the Ford Escort Mk2 they debuted on last months Jack Frost Stages, they may now switch to their tried and trusted MG Metro 6R4 in which they won the event in 2004.
During the winter the car has been undergoing a major rebuild and there were fears that the engine wouldn't be back in time for them to use it on the Blackpool based event which is sponsored by Stone's company, Legend Fires.
It's now a race against time to get the car ready as Stone explained "The plan is to have the car rebuilt by Wednesday night so we can then take it for a private test session on Thursday. If all goes well then we'll be starting the rally on Friday in the Metro but should there be any problems we can always fall back on the Escort. It's just a case of watch this space!"
It's certainly going to be a tough event with the first cars not expected at Saturday's Pontins finish until after 18.00.
Following the rally an hour long TV programme will be broadcast to around 50 countries worldwide reaching almost 16 million homes in the process. The 2009 Legend Fires North West Stages Rally is a BIG event, so don't miss it!
HOME DEBUT FOR WEARDEN'S NEW ESCORT
Neil Wearden makes a welcome return to the stages this year when he will compete on selected events in the Ford Escort Mk2 he has spent the past three years building.
Wearden last competed in anger in 2001, when partnered by Irishman Trevor Agnew, he completed a full programme of World Rally Championship events. Since then he has only had the occasional 'guest' outings, the latest of which was behind the wheel of the Oaktec Hybrid Honda Civic on last years Jim Clark.
Teaming up with Wearden on his return, is his long-time co-driver Rick Forster with whom he was won the Junior British Rally Championship back in 1995. Having completed a successful test session at Wigan's Three Sisters Circuit before Christmas Wearden will stage debut the car on the forthcoming Legend Fires North West Stages where he will run as course car.
These days Wearden runs the family garage business in Pilling, but he is relishing the prospect of a return to the rally stages and in particular the chance to perform in front of home fans. He told the Gazette "There is a serious side to our course car duties, which we won't lose sight of, but at the same time we'll be looking to give the fans something to enthuse about so rest assured we'll be trying whenever and wherever we can!"
The car is equipped with a 2.3l Duratec engine producing around 260bhp and weighing in at only 940Kgs it's sure to be quick, especially with Wearden at the wheel. It looks immaculate in its silver livery and Wearden is right to be proud of his creation. His project has already caught the eye of a trio of local businesses who now have their company names emblazoned on the car. Two of them, Pipe Scan and ND Civils are based in Preesall where Wearden still serves as a member of the local part-time Fire Brigade. The third is Tyres (South Shore) Ltd the Blackpool based company run by renowned rally tyre expert Tony Mekwinski.
Wearden continued "We plan to contest the Jim Clark Reivers Rally in May and the Pendragon Stages in August before switching to the forests for December's Grizedale Stages Rally. After that we'll start looking at a more comprehensive programme for 2010 but the main aim for Rick and I isn't to win rallies, though that would be nice, but to have some fun!"
Girls, just like to have fun!
Well that's if you think it's fun crawling under an oily rally car in the freezing cold whilst howling gales blow sand into your face. Not every girl would call that fun, but there again not every girl is mad keen on motorsport!
That certainly can't be said of these Myerscough College students though. They form the service crew responsible for a brace of College supported Ford Escort Mk2s, one of which is crewed by their tutor Peter Kenyon and student co-driver Steven Hartley. In the weeks leading up to the rally they are undergoing a rigorous and comprehensive training programme that will hopefully prepare them for every event eventuality and possibility. It won't been easy as Peter and his colleagues are putting them through a series of stiff tests, many undertaken outside, at night, in sub-zero temperatures.
Will they pass the test? To find the answer to that you'll have to check the post rally results to see how Peter's car and the similar one manned by Peter Jackson and Steve Coombes get on. One thing's for sure though these girls will pull out all the stops to keep the boys on the road. Kenyon said "Having trained them I have every faith that they have all the requisite skills to carry out a long list of jobs."
There is a serious side to all this though as motorsport is a growing business and to cater for its needs Myerscough is one of a small band of Colleges that offers specialist courses and qualifications for the industry.
Wish you were here!
Organisers of the 2009 Legend Fires North West Stages have sent postcards to over over 600 potential marshals asking for their support on next months two day rally.
The postcard for the Blackpool based event carries the typical 'Wish you were here' seaside message with a photo of rally sponsor John Stone competing on the events now famous Promenade Stage. For this year's rally however, run over Friday 20th and Saturday 21st February, Stone will be behind the wheel of the Ford Escort Mk2 he debuted on the recent Jack Frost Stages at Croft.
Friday's action gets underway around 18.45 with a pair of floodlit Promenade Stages and Saturday's action is spread over six venues.
Anyone able to offer their services as a marshal, on either day, should contact Mark Carter on 07724 472756 (before 21.00 please).
