GRIFFIN-MOTORSPORT

 Woodbridge rally sprint

20/01/2008

 

Griffin motorsport's first event of the year, held at woodbridge mod base.

The day started early and the weather was fine but cold.

The team had entered two cars in this event with Brett Griffin driving his 106 gti with Damien Rigden co driving and in car two Damien would be driving his n'duro proton with Brett co driving.

The day was set up of 8 tests around the hangers and runway at woodbridge.

We got ready for the start with damien driving first and when we came in swapping cars and rolls.

First test over and all went well both finding it very slippy.

The next few test went well with both cars putting in great times, end of test 4 and Brett was 2nd overall and damien 9th.

Test 5 and 6 go very well and on to 7, Damien clears the stage and we swap so Brett is driving, all going great until we slid a bit wide on a corner and hit a small stump punturing the tyre but we carry on to the end of the stage not lossing to much time.

Last test and we both go for it, both putting in great times and Brett putting in the fastest time of the day.

We pack up and wait for the results.

We are both over the moon with our results, Damien coming 7th overall and 1st in class and Brett coming 2nd overall and 1st in class.

We both collect our awards and jump for joy with our results today.

What a great start to the year for Griffin motorsport, hope we can keep it up.

 

2nd overall  1st in class

 

Emerald stage rally

16/02/2008

 

The emerald stage rally was held at rockingham raceway in corby this year, The track is designed for champ cars and consists of a banked near oval track, there is also some twisty infill tracks that the british touring cars use. We would be using abit of both tracks. The weather started with a frost but soon brightened up to be a cold but sunny day.

We set up in the service area and went and signed on. There was some fast cars here with some coming over from irland, we got to the start and waited for the off.

Stage 1 and 2 were set out the same and we took a careful start as we did not no if the frost has gone but we soon found it had and push hard to put in some good times.

Stage 3 and 4 and we lined up and waited to go, 3 cars till we went out and the red flag came out which means the has be a crash and all cars must stop, the car that had just left the start had hit a bridge and blooked the track. It was soon cleared away and no one was hurt so the stage was started again, the car in front a white mk2 escort had just left and it was our turn to go, we started well through the bridge and round 2 corners then down to the hairpin where there was a track official waving for us to slow down as the whit mk2 in front of us had missed the hairpin and hit the fence on the out side and smashed off 1 wheel, The stage was stoped again and we were given a nominal time for the stage.

All going well at lunch we were 24th overall and 2nd in class, we had to make up 9 seconds to get 1st in class.

Stages 5 and 6 and we put our foot down to make up some time, all going well untill we got stuck behined a escort and could not get past as it was a narrow part, eventually we get past but loss time.

Stage 7 and we are only 5 secs behind 1st so we push on and make 4 sec back on the stage taking us 1 sec behind the leader going in to the last stage.

Stage 8 and all to play for, all fired up we push hard alittle bit to hard as we slide abit wide and on to the grass but we keep control and rejoin the track, The last bit of the stage goes well and we finish hoping we have done enough to take 1st.

We pack up and load the car on the trailer and wait for the results, we did it only just winning our class by only 1 second, we collect our awards and have a well deserved drink to celabrate.

we also collected max points for the AEMC championship, great start to the new championship hope it carries on.

 

16th overall  1st in class

 

The Dukeries rally

 

14/06/08

 

The Dukeries rally is held in Southwell just out side Nottingham with most of the stages being run in sherwood forest.

The day started early as we set of for southwell race course for the start of the rally, which we nearly had to pull out of as Brett had damaged his hand 3 days before at work and could hardly move it but we decided to strap it up and go for it.

We arrived at the race course and unloaded the car and went and signed on.

We were ready for the start of the rally and we were sorting the rally car out and checking it over, We moved the car on to the road ready to go and the throtal cable snapped so we had to fit a new one with only 15 mins to the start.

We got to work and fitted the new cable in the nick of time and set of for the first stage hopping that nothing else could go wrong.

We arived at stage 1 and got ready for the off, we found the stage very dry and dusty but all went well and off to stage 2.

Stages 2,3 and 4 all go with out incedent and we put in some good times finding after stage 4 we are 4th in class.

Stage 5 starts well and we are going well until we were going flat out in 5th gear down a long strait over a small crest, the rear of the car takes off and lands off line and sends us sideways down the stage with tree both sidesat about 85 mph, our hearts stop ! but we manage to bring the front of the car round strait again and carry on after our heart start beating again, we manage to get to the end with no more moments and set off for service.

We arrived back at service and check the car over for any damage but there is none so off to the results to see how we are doing, We found that we are now 3rd in class with only 4 stages to go and 32 seconds to make up on the leader.

Stages 6 and 7 go well pushing hard we are now only 22 secs behined the leader with 2 stages to go.

We pull up at the satrt of stage 8 and are warned that there are some very bad ruts and some big pot holes, so we decide to take them with some caution and try just to finish.

We soon found that the stages were very bumpy and cut up so there was no room for any errors, we clear both stages and head back to the race course for the awards.

We find at the end we had come in 2nd in class and 53rd overall.

We also picked up max points in the BTRDA rally championship putting us 2nd in class, also max points in the MSA gravel rally championship putting us also 2nd in class, also max points in the AEMC championship putting us 2nd overall.

A great result for the team even with there run of bad luck.

 

52nd overall - 2nd in class 

Essex Charity Stages

13/07/08

 

Essex charity stages is a multi venue rally held in bradwell on sea by Wickford auto club, all procides of the rally go to the Essex air ambalance.

Sam fordham would be absent for this rally as he would be busy getting ready for harvest, Brett Griffin would still be driving for this rally but sitting next to him in the co-drivers seat would be Louise Earthy the newest member of the team.

Louise Earty has her own rally car and has done a few rally sprints and auto crosses and has only co-driven once before, so this would be her first time on a multi venue rally and her first time co-driving for Brett.

Also Griffin Motorsport had entered there N,duro rally car in to the rally with Damien Rigden driving and Robert Clark co-driving for him, this would be Rob's first time co-driving too.

The day started early as we set up in service and go every thing ready for the start of the rally. We set of for the first stage, Louise's was  looking very nervous as we pulled up to the start line, we were off down the stage which was a farm track covered in gravel then on to a grassy track which we found very slippy. Louise was calling the corners well as we neared the finish of the stage we came round a right hand corner still on the grass hit a bump and the car took off as it landed the rear of the car was half way down the bank on the out side and as we were on grass the rest of the car followed slidding down the grassy bank, The car finds some grip and pulls us up the bank and over the finish, Not a good start to the rally.

Stages 2,3 and 4 go very well and we head back to service to check the car over, all seems fine with the car as we walk over to look at the results, we find that we are 1st in class and 4th overall, astonished we set off for the next 4 stages.

Stages 6 and 7 go well but on stage 8 we hit a jump to fast and the car lands hard in a large pot hole, the impact some how jams the throtal open so we have to drive the rest of the stage with the throtal flat out only slowing the car down by turning the engine off, We make it to the end of the stage and take a look at what had happened. We find a sensor has broken so disconect it, this helps as the car does run fine but now it will no tick over at low revs and keeps stalling when going slow But at least we can get going again.

We pull up to the start line with more bad luck we cant select 1st gear so we have to start in 2nd and slip the clutch. The stage goes well and we head back to service to sort the problems out.

We all jump on the car in service and try to fix the car but we find that we have broken a engine mount but we do not have a spare one so we set about welding it, time runs out and we have to leave for the next stage with the engine mount only half welded.

Stages 11 and 12 go great exept we still have no first gear, as we set off for stages 14 and 15 we check the results, We have dropped to 5th overall but still 1st in class and we find that we put a fastest time in on stage 11 beating all the other more powerful cars.

Stage 14 goes very well and we ready our selves for the last stage, we set off still starting in 2nd gear all guns blazzing to make some time up,all goes really well until we turn the last corner on to the finish strait the car losses all power and stalls, with the finish in sight the car stops, Brett jumps out of the car and tells Louise to steer the car over the finish as Brett is going to push it over the line as we are not going to give up with the finish in sight. We both push it over the line in the end and get a cheer from the marshels.

We finish both out of breath we load the car on to the trailer and pack every thing away as we wait for the results.

Stunned we find that we are still 5th overall and 1st inclass we are so please and go to collect our awards. We also take max points in the AEMC rally championship and the Rally 2008 championship. The N,duro rally car also does well and comes in 2nd inclass and 30th overall.

The team had a great day even with there problems we both go great results.

5th overall  1st in-class