Rally-eMag August 2013 / Column
The Road to Wales Rally GB
Dreams of being a rally driver, at some point in
our lives, haven’t we all had them? The harsh
reality though is that rally driving isn’t as a
easy sport to start with as say, football. The required inflated piece of leather costs a lot less
than a full blown rally car. Once you do start,
“A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound. A buck or a
pound, a buck or a pound. Is all that makes the
world go round. That clinking, clanking sound.
Can make the world go round…”
(Joel Grey, Cabaret, 1972)
To anyone who has ever dreamt of driving in a
world class rally, I’m pretty sure you first thought
of you strapped tight into the driving seat speeding between the blurring trees, your co-driver
over the intercom ‘200 Hairpin, handbrake, don’t
cut’, gravel flying hitting the windscreen, you can
feel sweat of pure adrenalin running down your
neck under your helmet, the wheels sliding on
the gravel the smell of rubber and oil.
Well before you get anywhere near that point
you need a car, money and lots of time…
30/32
So the next part of the journey is the hard part,
the money. Finding sponsorship is not an easy
task. The first thing is finding the people and
companies you want to target. I know what you
are thinking, it’s obvious, anyone to do with cars.
That is of course a good starting place. After creating cover letters, PDFs and leaflets I
emailed every company I could think of that had
any connection to cars; rallying and motorsport,
there were lots. When I say I, I mean we. I think
Will Michael make his dream come true to and fly a blue
Impreza through the Welsh forrests?
Words and images By: Michael Jenkins
the road to the top is even more expensive
and thus difficult. In this monthly column we
follow the adventures of Michael Jenkins, an
amateur rally driver who set himse ? H??[????\][??[? \? YX\??&\??[\??[ H???H ?[Y?X\?H ?\?[?[XZ[ ?[ ?Y??\?\?XH?[? \? ?H\? H?\????X?[?B?]?H\???\?Y ] ??YH? H?\? ?????\? ? [?]Y\???YH???H\??\??\?Z???[Y\? ]Z]\?]?H??[][?] H ?\ ? ???[\??[ ??[?\?]Y\?? \?[?H[ ?????X?Y ??YH? H\??\? ?\\?X\??] ?[????[????[? ?\?\?H\?\? \???X?]\?B??\?? H [?H]?H ??[? H ?Y? ??X?[???X][? \?[??? ?YHX^?H? ?X? Y?\?XY[??[?H??H?H ?X?[?? H??\[?H ?[??\??[?[ [?H?[?[ H?[?[?Y ?\????