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Vehicle Specs
Donor vehicle:	Ford Fiesta 1.6 Sport / Zetec S. Model dated from September 2008 for purchase from any source. Promotional price available from M-Sport.
Engine:	1.6 Zetec 16V – 1598cc – Ti-VCT; 4 cylinders in line; DOHC; 16 valves; alloy cylinder head and block; variable cam timing.
Power:	170 PS @ 7,500 rpm from 97 octane fuel
Torque:	182 Nm @ 5,700 rpm
Transmission:	Five speed sequential gearbox developed by Sadev with plated limited slip differential and uprated driveshafts. ECU developed by Pi with flat shift feature with full throttle closed loop control shift.
Suspension:	Reiger adjustable dampers with Eibach springs, spherical jointed top mounts front and rear. Front dampers adjustable for bump and rebound. Standard rear beam with uprated mounts. 2-bolt clamped front upright. Adaptor pin mounted in uprights with spherical bearing connecting the lower arm. Five stud hub.
Brakes:	Gravel (front): 285 mm AP ventilated discs with four piston competition calipers. Asphalt (front): 310 mm AP ventilated discs with four piston competition calipers. Rear: 280 mm AP ventilated discs with single piston calipers. Hydraulic handbrake.
Steering:	Electric power-assisted steering.
Wheels:	Gravel: OZ 6"x15" Gravel Asphalt: OZ 6.5"x16" Asphalt
Bodyshell:	Welded T45 steel multipoint rollcage. Optimised seat position and integrated dash bar. Jacking points optional and seam welding is permitted.
Electronics:	Bespoke instrument cluster by Visteon in the same style as the standard series cluster.
Dimensions:	Length: 3953mm. Width: 1722mm. Height: 1481mm. Wheelbase: 2490mm. Weight: 1030kg.

A lot of hard work, new challenges and great beginnings

...............I have been looking forward to this rally and to getting back behind the wheel after a very, very long break!

I know everyone was expecting us to be in S2000 and be at the first round of the J-WRC this year, but like the A5 Toyota Yaris which I drove the door handles off before moving up a class, the same applies with the FORD R2. I am enjoying this journey and there is still so much to gain and yes I also cannot wait to get to the S2000! Although we showed the pace in our field in the last three rounds of the NRC there is still work to do to get to the top of J-WRC.

I would like to put the record straight about the rumour that we will only be doing “ 4 rounds of the SANRC” This is the new season and we will be contesting the full season, so watch this space!

We have re-structured and moved the preparation of the car to our workshop (AHS Racing) We have some new sponsors, a new team boss and with a common dominator that was inconsistent for the last two seasons, our navigator! I can proudly say we will be a dominant force.

TOTAL NATAL Rally

Leading up to the rally we only really knew we would compete practically three weeks before the event. We did not want to put ourselves in the same situation as last year where we had committed to J-WRC and SANRC and for reasons out of everyone’s control pull out at the last minute leaving us always on the back foot as sanctions and penalties can be applied.

I am proud to announce our sponsors for the 2013 season in the South African National Rally Championship, they are:

· Castrol Edge

· Ford Racing

· Regent Insurance

· REACT Marketing

· GoPRo

· The House of Marley

· Monster Energy

The Total rally of Durban is the first rally every year of the South African National Rally Championship and with everything being a “big push” my mechanic and myself pulling all hours of the night to have the car prepared in time for the start line - it was done!

The guys left on the Wednesday with the rally starting on the Friday. We had shake-down on Thursday, this being the first time really sitting in my car since the last rally (Garden Route of 2012!) We did have a planned testing day at the beginning of January but the engine decided to cry “enough” and we only managed to do a total of 12 km - but I suppose still better than nothing!

Craig and I settled in on shake down and everything felt great. We had put the prep in for the notes and all we had left to do was acclimatize for the rally. Friday was an early start, documentation opened up at 6am and our scrutineering time being at 7:12, the rally was to get underway at 11am.

Our start time for the rally was 11:32 and so we headed off to the first stage......This was also the first time Craig and I had sat with each other since the last rally. (Garden Route 2012)

Sadly as we rocked up to the start of the stage the Total Durban rally claimed its first victim, Hergen Fekken went off the road in the first 700 metres which was a great pity as this also lead to his car catching alight. Fortunately he did come back on super rally rules on day two!

Our first stage was pretty average, keeping it clean and but we only managed to post the 3^rd fastest time with Guy Botterill taking the win and Thilo Himmel sneaking in 2^nd place! We had service and with some changes headed back to the stages 2 and 3 but again we were still losing time. Thinking it was me being “rusty” we decided to work on my driving but things still felt loose on the front end of the car. You cannot do anything besides drive the car until you get back to service.

Stage 4 was cancelled due to another car catching a light, (this being due to stage 3 having a hell of a jump at the end of stage and Johnny Gemmel landed heavily on his nose possibly causing the exhaust manifold to open and the heat catching the power steering fluid alight.)

We did the next stages but still lost more time. We ended the day in 2^nd place - 33 seconds behind Thilio Himmel as Guy unfortunately got a penalty which cost him 2 minutes.

Day two was a new day with our start time being 7am. We headed to the stages with the attitude of claiming the “top step” but this was not to be.... we just could not find a way for the power to be put down on the road. All we could do was try and fend off Guy who was on a charge to claim positions - I must congratulate him on his drive as the end result meant Thilo had won the rally (whom I have competed with in previous years and highly regard as a fast driver. I have always said he should have been in the national series much sooner - but still glad to see him now in a very competitive Toyota) and Guy had snuck in and taken 2^nd and we still took a podium!

To me as driver am not pleased with the result but at least there are points in the bag. It “sucks” that we couldn’t fight for the win and continue our momentum from the last year but regardless it was a great event and I learnt a lot even though we had “one wheel drive” most of the time.

I would really like to thank all the organisers on the Total Natal Rally – It was so great to start an event of the season where everything runs so smoothly and all the enthusiasm was fantastic. With all the stage cancelations which lead to more drama in organising the cars from one stage to another so a big “ups” to them and I can say I am seriously looking forward to next year’s event...

Once again thank you to my sponsors and then my team. My mechanic put in endless hours and did a fantastic job, the car did ran faultlessly. The part we have found to fail cannot be blamed on bad prep. I would like to thank my navigator Craig Parry who now has come onboard to help me fulfil my dream of reaching the pinnacle of rallying the WRC, I am sure the next couple months are going to be super hard work but the result will be amazing and the pace can only improve tenfold! I can truly say we can’t wait for Sasol as first recce is an option and the roads are amazing (WRC quality) and this event is always a pleasure to drive.

Thank you to everyone for all the support before, on and after the event, we didn’t deliver the top step but we are looking forward to the next event where our season should kick off with a bang, it is going to be a goodie!

For everyone who likes to follow up dates and wants to see what our plans are for the coming months, events, rally events and overseas plans please take a look at my website:- www.ashleyhaighsmith.com and if you want “day to day” updates give a like on Facebook and twitter :)

See you all at Sabie Sabie...........................

Personal Note For the year ahead From Facebook

Compliments of the Season and a Happy New Year to you all!

Really hope everyone has set their goals high for 2013 as this is the
year to make or break!

I know I have not been updating my Facebook page and Twitter (
@Ash_Haigh_Smith ) or my website ( www.ashleyhaighsmith.com ) but glad
to say we are finally functional again and from now on I will be
updating our progress for 2013 season, sponsors and just other awesome
stuff that I find!

Three Championships are in sight for this year for the #AHS Team, we are
now just pushing for the budget to compete and make the next step
forward in progressing to succeeding to the top level of Rallying!

To get onto the main matter on hand, the winner for the "House Of
Marley" ( www.thehouseofmarley.com ) is Mohamed Abd Elmeneam . ( We will be sending a
private message shortly).
The prize for "2000 likes" was a set of #TheHouseOfMarleyZA Headphones,
a #OneLove T-shirt, stickers and a Team AHS T-shirt plus a 2013
Calendar...

On an excellent note, we are so close to the "3000" bench mark!!! (
Which is quite incredible thank you all so much for your support) So
that means by the end of this week the goal is to top "3000 likes."

I will be having updates through the rest of the day with pic's from my December
holiday and what I have been getting up to........

Hope every one has had an radical day and keep this page in your feed and please share with your friends and family!

Cheers

Ash #AHS

Ambassador For House Of Marley!

Official Brand ambassador for The House Of Marley,

Must be my lucky day as walking into the office today , I noticed a big brown box..

and Look what what I found inside =D /

Big Thank you For www.thehouseofmarley.com for the support, Proud to be representing such a legend will be Jamming to these on every rally ;)

yes JAH!

Have a great Weekend!

Ash

Update after Championship win =)

So lately, the web site, Facebook and twitter has been rather quiet, I am sorry about this!

With the season ending, things are now in place for next year as we have to look for sponsors and make our plans set so we can tackle the various championships.

Yes, I say Championships as we are aiming to compete in the South African National Championship and Junior World Rally Championship, both being full campaigns, and with the WRC starting in less than two months away it’s “ crunch time” to get the money in the bank they say….

We will be doing weekly updates, and some exciting stuff to be put on auction and raffels (kindly donated from my sponsors) to be hosted upcoming in to the festive season, just some words to get you “amped” will be - GoPro Hero 3 Black edition, PS3 Games, and some lubricants for your car as well team merchandise! There will also be updates throughout the week on our website, so keep posted!

Last but not least here is our season standings in class S1600 for the year in the South African Championship:

HAIGH SMITH Ashley	35
TROTT Craig	35
CONRADIE Tjaart	19
WESTON Clint	18
JANSE VAN RENSBURG Morne	15
VACY-LYLE Matthew	14
BOTTERILL Guy	13
VAN DER WESTHUIZEN Nic	13
VERLAQUE Megan	11
LLOYD Murray	6
SNYDERS Christoff	5
COETZEE Dolf	5
FRANKEN Paul	4
LOURENS Janine	1
BOTHA Stefanie	0

S1600 Champions!

WE DID IT! THE SOUTH AFRICAN S1600 CHAMPION

A great rally all round, a BIG THANKYOU to all my supporters, and my sponsors Castrol Edge; Bp Ultimate, Regent; GoPro; Ferodo; React and especially my great team and professional support of Damseaux Motorsport.

I was the youngest A5 Class Champion and have now achieved my next step the 1600 Class Championship 2012 and again the youngest.

It’s amazing to be part of four major achievements this year :- Ford Manufacturers Award – Ford S2000 Class Championship – Ford Overall Class Championship & Ford 1600 Class Championship. Considering that for the first time in 36 years we have taken a fair share of the cake!

And a big Congratulations to Mark Cronje for taking the South African rally Championship ,well deserved

Full report to come ;-)

Head-to-head battles in Polokwane

After 197km of all-out aggressive rallying, we claimed the top step of the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive category podium on Sunday afternoon. It was a close battle with my fellow competitors, and hats off to Tjaart Conradie for keeping me honest on every stage. We had to work hard to keep his Toyota Auris S1600 behind us, but it was a head-to-head battle I thoroughly enjoyed.

The Polokwane Rally, Round Seven of the eight-event South African Rally Championship, got off to the best possible start for Team AHS and our sponsors. Leading Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive category after Day One’s eight stages and some 150 competitive kilometres, we enjoy a 14.1 second lead over Tjaart and we managed to extend that on Day Two, but it took lots of sweat and flat-box rallying.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, with thanks to Castrol, BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro and React, my co-driver Craig Parry and I enjoyed every second of this testing rally. Fighting for seconds with Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600) and Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600), and with five stages and nearly 50km of action run on Sunday, we attacked from the very first corner to the very last to eke our advantage out to claim the Class win.

We had a few minor moments in the Fiesta on Saturday and we had a trouble-free run on Sunday over the high-speed jumps and tight hairpins. The speed in this Class is truly electric!

Our Fiesta was once again on song and it was fantastic to be reunited with my Welsh WRC Academy co-driver Craig Parry on an event. We used the time in the car together to work on improving my driving confidence and speed. Every stage counts!

Day Two, which took place on Sunday 07 October, took in five stages to the south of Polokwane. These speed tests were in contrast to Day One's high-speed offerings we encountered to the north of the Limpopo Province city.

Our next event for the South African Rally Championship is the season finale, the Garden Route Rally, on 02 to 03 November in Knysna and George in the Western Cape.

To keep up to date with rallying, visit http://ashleyhaighsmith.com/, follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ash_haigh_smith and “Like” on Facebook for photos, video clips and the latest news at https://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith.

Thrills at Polokwane Rally

The Polokwane Rally, Round Seven of the eight-event South African Rally Championship, got off to the best possible start. Leading Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive category after eight stages and some 150 competitive kilometres, we enjoy a 14.1 second lead over our rivals and look forward to another day of battling it out over these quick stages for Class victory on Sunday.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, with thanks to Castrol, BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro and React, my co-driver Craig Parry and I have enjoyed every second of the rally thus far. Fighting for seconds with Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600) and Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600), and with five stages and nearly 50km of action to run on Sunday, we will be attacking from the very first corner to the very last to eke our advantage out to claim the Class win.

We had a few minor moments in the Fiesta on saturday, with a few overshoots and high-speed jumps. The speed in this Class is truly electric! Our Fiesta is on song and it is fantastic to be reunited with my Welsh WRC Academy co-driver Craig Parry. We are working on improving our speed and building confidence, and this takes seat time. Every stage kilometre is important!

Day Two, which takes place on Sunday 07 October, takes in five stages to the south of Polokwane. These are in direct contrast to Day One's high-speed offerings we encountered to the north of the Limpopo Province city, as Sunday's stages will be more technically challenging: we thrive on these tight and twisty stages.

Podium aims for Polokwane

I’m aiming for a win in this weekend’s Polokwane Rally. Let that be a warning and a statement of intent to my rivals. A top ten overall at the end of this event’s 197km and 13 stages? That is the plan!

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver for this event Craig Parry and I will be pushing from stage one to the final flying finish in the Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive Championship category. Winning those titles might be a tall order in terms of Championship points, but I do love a challenge!

With us missing the WRC Academy round for the Rallye de France – Alsace this weekend due to lack of funding, my WRC Academy co-driver Craig is joining me for his second event on South African soil. Craig is fresh from a second place result in last weekend’s International Rally Yorkshire, the final round of the 2012 British Rally Championship, where he and his driver finished second overall. We will also use this event to hone our in-car skills for our upcoming battle against our WRC Academy rivals for the RallyRACC de Espana later this month.

Based around the farming and mining city of Polokwane in the Limpopo province, this event offers drivers, co-drivers and rally cars with a tricky task: these roads are open and fast on Day One and then tight and twisty on Day Two, but they are dotted with “Triple Caution” instructions and deceptively fast corners. Seeing the DVD of the route, this rally will be a great one to push my Ford Fiesta R2 in and to give the spectators something to cheer about as we slide into and out of turns at high speed.

Our rivals will undoubtedly be Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600), Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600), Morne Janse van Rensburg (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600) and Megan Verlaque (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600). Trott leads the Class standings with a solid lead, but there are still two rounds of the season remaining and Trott only has to drive sensibly to score a handful number of points to secure his title here this weekend. The rest of the 11 entered Class S1600 screamers will be out for victory, and we’ll want to be that front of that bunch.

The Polokwane Rally starts on Saturday morning at the Tom Naude Technical High School at 09h00 and heads north of the city for eight stages. Sunday sees action move to the south of Polokwane for four stages and then it heads to the Peter Mokaba Stadium in the city for the finale.

The focus is on!

The FIA WRC Academy is a first rung of the ladder to success in the World Rally Championship (WRC), the pinnacle of the sport of special stage rallying. With a six-event calendar for 2012, and contested by the fastest and bravest young rally drivers in the world, the WRC Academy is highly competitive and prestigious series.

Competing in all rounds of this series, from Portugal, Greece, Finland, Germany to France and Spain, the WRC Academy’s rising stars require strong performances and Championship points to score well for the overall title crown. All compete in identical Ford Fiesta R2 cars built and prepared by M-Sport, a Cumbrian, UK based motorsport firm also tasked with running Ford of Europe’s motorsport aims with the Ford World Rally Team and the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, as well as a number of privateer crews worldwide.

South Africa’s Ashley Haigh-Smith, the 19-year-old championship from the Western Cape, has signed up for the WRC Academy series for 2012 and attained impressive stage results in three rounds thus far. With tuition from the WRC’s best drivers and co-drivers, engineers and industry experts, the WRC Academy provides competitors invaluable information and education to improve their rally skills in and out of the car.

Unfortunately Ashley was forced to retire from the previous WRC ADAC Rallye Deutschland in August due to a lack of funding. With a concerted effort nationally and internationally to raise funds for the remaining two rounds of the WRC Academy 2012 calendar, Ashley has had to withdraw his entry to the upcoming WRC Rallye de France – Alsace (04 – 07 October 2012) due to the same funding shortfalls. He will now concentrate his efforts on acquiring the necessary financial support to compete in the WRC RallyRACC – Rally de Espana (08 – 11 November).

Fans of Ashley can still catch him in action this month as he travels to the province of Limpopo to take on the Polokwane Rally, the penultimate round of the 2012 South African Rally Championship on 6 – 7 October.

The wheat fields of the Overberg

This was a fast rally. Not even our dust trails could keep up with us, as we launched our Ford Fiesta R2 into the air over a blind crest and pitched into a never-ending sweep. The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally, Round Six of the 2012 South African Rally Championship, played out in the Overberg region around Caledon in the Western Cape earlier this month, and the Championship fight for the Two Wheel Drive and Class S1600 categories is still mathematically open.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver for this event Kes Naidoo and I found ourselves on the third step of the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship podium at the end of some 200km of timed rally action.

With a slender 3.1-second lead at the end of the first full day of competition over our 2WD rivals, it was a day of high action. The event started on Thursday 13 September at the Toyota CapeGate dealership in Brackenfell with a short super special stage in front of hundreds of enthusiastic rally fans. After an overnight halt, crews all made their way over the famous Sir Lowry’s Pass to contest the fast and flowing gravel stages in Grabouw and Caledon for Friday and Saturday’s scheduled speed tests.

We set the pace from stage one and have fortunately held to it all of Friday 14 September’s stages. On the final stage of the day, we experienced a big heart-in-mouth moment: we went too deep into a culvert, and this tipped the car over and we rolled. We lost speed, but I planted my foot flat as soon as we were back on all four wheels. The damage was fortunately only cosmetic, and the bonnet flew open in the stage and caused me to slow my overall speed. Despite this, we still held the lead in the Class and were looking confident of stretching out an advantage over our closest rivals Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600) and Morne Janse van Rensburg (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600) over Saturday’s closing six stages of the event.

Over the event’s final 84km of action in and around the farming community of Caledon, Botterill closed on my lead after the second stage on Saturday morning. We limped through this stage with suspected gearbox gremlins. Reaching the service park, our technicians diagnosed the problem as a broken gearbox mounting. We were forced to nurse the car through the remaining three speed tests, and we lost even more time to Botterill and we were overtaken and pushed back to third in Class by Morne Janse van Rensburg/Rikus Fourie (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600).

Botterill performed faultlessly all weekend and proved a worthy winner on the day. Janse van Rensburg was also impressively quick, and we’ll need to mark these two crews for the remaining two rounds of the series. The rally’s 13 stages claimed a number of victims, and this included some of our body panels and windscreen: Paul Franken (Toyota Corolla S1600), Matthew Vacy-Lyle/Schalk van Heerden (Toyota RunX S1600), Clint Weston/Herman Groenewald (Citroën C2 S1600) and Stefanie Botha/Willem Hugo (Toyota RunX S1600) all suffered the cruel side of this sport to retire.

For some rallies, reaching the finish feels like winning. The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally 2012 was a testing trial for the team, and we reached the finish of the event in third position in Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive Championship.

At the front of the rally, Johnny Gemmell/Carolyn Swan (Toyota Auris S2000) claimed their second victory of the season, with Enzo Kuun/Guy Hodgson (Volkswagen Polo S2000) and Mark Cronje/Robin Houghton (Ford Fiesta S2000) in second and third respectively.

On the Podium

For some rallies, reaching the finish feels like winning. The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally 2012 was a testing trial for the team, and we the finish of the event in third position in Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive Championship.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver Kes Naidoo and I pushed through every corner of every stage to gain an advantage over our rivals. We led the Class after the Thursday and Friday’s competition, but Saturday saw us drop down the leader board. Frustratingly, there was nothing we could do to drive around the problem and we had to settle for third position.

We reached Friday night’s overnight halt at the Tsogo Sun Hotel, Casino and Spa parc ferme venue just six seconds behind Guy Botterill/Simon Vacy-Lyle (Toyota RunX S1600). With determination we took to the first two of Saturday’s six stages, and we closed the gap to Botterill. However, in stage ten we limped through the stage with suspected gearbox gremlins.

Reaching the service park, our technicians diagnosed the problem as a broken gearbox mounting. We were forced to nurse the car through the remaining three speed tests, and we lost even more time to Botterill and we were overtaken and pushed back to third in Class by Morne Janse van Rensburg/Rikus Fourie (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600).

Botterill performed faultlessly all weekend and proved a worthy adversary. Janse van Rensburg was also impressively quick, and we’ll need to mark these two crews for the remaining two rounds of the series. The rally’s 13 stages claimed a number of victims, and this included some of our body panels and windscreen: Paul Franken (Toyota Corolla S1600), Matthew Vacy-Lyle/Schalk van Heerden (Toyota RunX S1600), Clint Weston/Herman Groenewald (Citroën C2 S1600) and Stefanie Botha/Willem Hugo (Toyota RunX S1600) all suffered the cruel side of this sport to retire.

I have another exciting campaign to introduce to you from all of us at Team AHS: Win a V.I.P. trip experience to France OR Spain - the choice is YOURS! The prize consists of a trip for one winner AND their partner to witness a WRC event of their choice in either France or Spain. You'll also experience a Shakedown Stage with me, visit the best spectating locations on the stages to watch the WRC stars and the WRC Academy rising stars in action and enjoy a SIX-DAY European experience. To enter, send your details to me at Ashley@ashleyhaighsmith.com, pay your entry fee (US$110, GBP £70, €85, R900) and you will stand a chance at this fantastic prize! With each entry, your name will also be stickered onto my rally car for the WRC Rallye de France – Alsace. We have only 300 spaces available for individuals to enter, so better snap these up F-A-S-T. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity for your business to not only support a local and passionate rally driver on his dreams of competing at an international level – that is me! – but you will also receive international exposure and a little treat from the rally to remember your part in the event too. Send your information and thoughts to me at Ashley@ashleyhaighsmith.com and we will accommodate your contribution with an advertising space on my rally car.

Fast, faster, fastest: The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally

This has been the fastest rally. Not even our dust trails can keep up with us, as we launch our Ford Fiesta into the air over a blind crest. The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally, Round Six of the 2012 South African Rally Championship, plays out in the Overberg region around Caledon in the Western Cape.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver Kes Naidoo and I find ourselves sitting at the top of the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Categories at the end of the first full day of competition.

We have a slender 3.1-second lead over Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600) after six stages and 96km of action. After the rally’s first start and first stage at the Imperial Toyota CapeGate dealership on Thursday night in front of hundreds of cheering rally fans, the event moved to Grabouw and Caledon for five high-speed stages on Friday.

We set the pace from stage one and have fortunately held it ever since. We had a big heart-in-mouth moment on Friday’s final speed test, a 1.27km in industrial Caledon. We went too deep into a culvert, and this tipped the car over and we rolled. We lost speed, but I planted my foot flat as soon as we were back on all four wheels. The damage was fortunately only cosmetic, and the bonnet flew open in the stage and caused me to slow my speed. Despite this, we’re still in the Class lead and we’re hungry for the six stages that lie in wait on Saturday.

This event will take in 84km of rallying before concluding at the Tsogo Sun Hotel, Casino and Spa in Caledon on Saturday evening. With Botterill so very close behind us, we will have no relaxation on the stages on the way to the final Parc Ferme.

Botterill has been driving fantastically, and the same can be said of all the Class S1600 crews in fact. A few have fallen out of the rally, but this has not dampened the action: Paul Franken (Toyota Corolla S1600), Morne Janse van Rensburg (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600) and Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600) are all engrossed in a battle for third place, with Franken and Janse van Rensburg separated by a little less than 3.0 seconds.

At the front of the rally is Johnny Gemmell (Toyota Auris S2000), Enzo Kuun (Volkswagen Polo S2000) and Jean-Pierre Damseaux (Toyota Auris S2000), all within one minute. Rally fans are in for a treat on Saturday!

Too boot, I have another exciting campaign to introduce to you from all of us at Team AHS: Win a V.I.P. trip experience to France OR Spain - the choice is YOURS! The prize consists of a trip for one winner AND their partner to witness a WRC event of their choice in either France or Spain. You'll also experience a Shakedown Stage with me, visit the best spectating locations on the stages to watch the WRC stars and the WRC Academy rising stars in action and enjoy a SIX-DAY European experience. To enter, send your details to me at Ashley@ashleyhaighsmith.com, pay your entry fee (US$110, GBP £70, €85, R900) and you will stand a chance at this fantastic prize! With each entry, your name will also be stickered onto my rally car for the WRC Rallye de France – Alsace. We have only 300 spaces available for individuals to enter, so better snap these up F-A-S-T. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity for your business to not only support a local and passionate rally driver on his dreams of competing at an international level – that is me! – but you will also receive international exposure and a little treat from the rally to remember your part in the event too. Send your information and thoughts to me at Ashley@ashleyhaighsmith.com and we will accommodate your contribution with an advertising space on my rally car.

To keep up to date with the rally, visit http://ashleyhaighsmith.com/, follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ash_haigh_smith and “Like” on Facebook for photos, video clips and the latest news at https://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith.

Maps, Itinerary and Useful Information: Toyota Cape Dealer Rally

The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally is to get underway in overcast conditions in Brackenfell, Western Cape this evening. The first stage starts at 19h00 around the Imperial Toyota CapeGate Dealership, and then the rest of the event takes place in Caledon in the Overberg.

If you are looking to spectate and cheer us on, please click on the below links for directions, maps and useful information:

Here is the event's ITINERARY.

The SPECTATOR GUIDE.

Useful MAPS.

Further INSTRUCTIONS.

The Caledon Grand Prix is here!

The fastest rally I’m set to contest in 2012 is undoubtedly the Toyota Cape Dealer Rally. Round Six of the South African Rally Championship, and sandwiched between two of my WRC Academy events in Germany last month and the upcoming WRC Rallye de France – Alsace, this rally is not for the faint-hearted.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver Kes Naidoo and I find ourselves fighting for the top slot in the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championships at this weekend’s Toyota Cape Dealer Rally.

Flat-out and fearless is how we’ll tackle the 12 stages over 182km of timed competition, and we’ll be aiming to claim the maximum number of Championship points. This event is dubbed the “Caledon Grand Prix” and it is one of only events on the South African calendar will fans will get to hear these rally machines bouncing on the rev limiter in top gear over blind crests… My Ford Fiesta R2 has been meticulously prepared since the Rally South Africa, and I’ve gained even more knowledge and insight into the sport I love through the lessons given in the WRC Academy series. Now is the time to put into practice these lessons!

The rally gets underway on Thursday evening at 19h00 with a 670m-long stage at the Cape Gate Toyota dealership in Brackenfell. This is the perfect opportunity for fans to see all the rally cars up close and meet the rally crews.

After our overnight halt, the event resumes at 08h00 on Friday morning. All crews will make their way to Caledon in the Overberg, for the event’s second stage. Here the remaining 11 stages will be played out on the high-speed gravel roads that cut their way through the forests of Elgin/Grabouw and the wheat fields around Caledon. The event will be based around the Tsogo Sun Hotel, Casino and Spa for Friday where we will face six stagesand it will conclude on Saturday afternoon at the same venue after five demanding special stages.

I expect Morne Janse van Rensburg (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600) and Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600) to be at the front of the Two Wheel Drive brigade, with Stefanie Botha (Toyota RunX S1600), Megan Verlaque (Volkswagen Polo Vivo S1600) and the local flyboys from nearby Cape Town to challenge for podium positions too. This will be the only opportunity for Western Cape rally fans to enjoy the South African Rally Championship in its area, ads this is the only round in the Cape of Storms in 2012. In fact, this should be a closely-run affair and an event where’ll all be pushing our cars to their extremes to gain a tenth of a second advantage over our rivals.

To Europe, and Beyond!

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Learning from the best in the business

Every time I compete and attend a WRC Academy event, I am on steep learning curve. I want to learn as much as possible and the best way to do this is to absorb all the lessons, lectures and talks presented to us as part of our WRC Academy training. The M-Sport folks certainly know how to put on a show!

I am unable to compete in the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, but that doesn't mean I have packed my bags to return home to Cape Town just yet. In Germany this week we underwent training from Reiger Suspension, leaders in shock absorbers and damping technology. Their engineers explained to us the complexities of damping, the importance of set-up and the intricacies of each variation we make to the suspension of our Ford Fiesta R2s.

The training was really useful and the guys from Reiger shared a great amount of knowledge. It was really useful to get an explanation on the optimum set-ups for toe, camber and caster because you always get a bit confused there! For us guys with not so much experience yet, it is good to know how to best set-up our cars for the stages.

I hope I can put all that I learnt into practice on my next rally. When I go back to South Africa, I’ll certainly be playing around to see what sort of a difference I can make to my car. In the past, I would do a test and adapt my driving style to the car, but now we can look to adapt the car to my own driving style and maybe find a better rhythm.

Podiums, points and in-flight peanuts

At the end of the Rally South Africa, I stood on the third step of the podium. After two tricky days of negotiating the twists and turns of KwaZulu-Natal’s Valley of 1,000 Hills on Friday 17 August and then the fast gravel forest roads near Richmond on Saturday 18 August, last weekend’s Rally South Africa proved to be highly demanding. This challenge has served the perfect preparation for this weekend’s WRC Academy round, the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in Germany.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, I contested Round Five of the 2012 South African Rally Championship’s Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship.

Rally South Africa’s Day One speed tests reminded me of the best bits from the WRC Rally Greece, the WRC Wales Rally GB, and the WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland, while Day Two’s stages were as flowing and fast as those I experienced in the WRC Academy in Wales for last year’s Rally GB.

Our overnight lead of 2.4 seconds shrank on SS5 – the opening stage of Day Two – and we were not able to retake the lead. Clint Weston (Citroën C2 R2 Max) leapfrogged me to take the lead and went on to the Class while Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600) raced into second position. Over the next three gravel stages, I was in the perfect position to watch as those two crews battled each other for the Class win, and should one have made a mistake I would have been well placed to strike. I had to keep Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600) behind me, as he began to chase for the final podium position we maintained.

Excitingly, this rally was also run as a WRC Candidate Event. The two-day rally produced a selection of moments of rallying in South Africa at its best. The four stages scheduled for Day One became only three after organisers cancelled SS2, but SS3 was one of the best rally stages in the world of rallying I have ever competed on. Day Two saw four stages in the amazing forests near Richmond, the corners sweetly flowing into each other. As with Day One, the rally was concluded with a super special stage at Durban’s old Drive-in near the Suncoast Casino in front of the fans. Racing head-to-head, it sure gave them great thrills!

The Championship points I scored and the podium position claimed do my Championship aims well in the South African series, and I look forward to the next round in Caledon, Western Cape on 13 – 15 September.

I have completed the two-day recce with Craig Parry for this weekend’s ADAC Rally Deutschland. This all-asphalt rally, the first for the 2012 season for the WRC regulars and also my first of 2012, is a legendary event. Racing through the Mosel Valley, skipping over the concrete roads in the Baumholder and keeping well clear of the hinkelsteins (large concrete blocks designed to keep army tanks on the asphalt road on the army test base’s Panzerplatte stages) are a dream come true. These roads are as foreign to me as can be in the world of rallying, as rallying in South Africa is run almost purely on gravel roads. Unfortunately, I will not be able to compete on this event due to insufficient funds (as our fundraising campaign didn’t reach our target as we’d hoped), but we will continue to work on the remaining two rounds of the WRC Academy for 2012. The experience I have gained on the two days of the recce has been unbelievable, and with the WRC Academy crews, the M-Sport teams and the assistants has been professional and truly supportive.

The WRC Academy crews contest 12 stages over two days for this event, while the WRC crews face all 15 over three days. The high-speed nature of the stages and the 200,000-plus spectators all make for an unforgettable rally experience. We wish all crews a safe and successful rally! I am already finalising our campaigns for WRC Rallye de France – Alsace and the WRC Rally RACC – Spain, and thank everyone for their support and assistance thus far. Stay tuned for more news on our projects!

To keep up to date with the rally, visit http://www.ashleyhaighsmith.com/, follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ash_haigh_smith and “Like” on Facebook for photos, video clips and the latest news at https://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith.

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Podiums and Points

Day One’s stages reminded me of the best bits of the WRC Rally Greece, the WRC Wales Rally GB, and the WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland, while Day Two’s stages were flowing and fast like I had experienced in the WRC Academy in Wales for last year’s Rally GB.

Patrick quickly accustomed himself to the pace notes and we settled into a steady rhythm on Day Two. Our overnight lead of 2.4 seconds shrank on Stage Five – the opening stage of Day Two – and we were not able to retake the lead. Clint Weston (Citroën C2 R2 Max) leapfrogged me to take the lead and Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600) overtook us too. Over the next three gravel stages, I was in the perfect position to watch as those two crews battled each other for the Class win, and should one have made a mistake I would have been well placed to strike. I had to keep Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600) behind me, and this kept me busy behind the steering wheel of my Fiesta.

Excitingly, this rally was also run as a WRC Candidate Event. The two-day rally produced a selection of moments of rallying in South Africa at its best. The four stages scheduled for Day One became only three after organisers cancelled Stage Two, but this saw me compete on Stage Three which I felt was one of the best rally stages in the world of rallying. Day Two saw four stages in the amazing forests near Richmond, with the corners flowing sweetly into each other for great stages.

As with Day One, the rally was concluded with a super special stage at Durban’s old Drive-in near Suncoast Casino in front of the fans. Racing head-to-head, it sure gave them great thrills!

Technical, Tricky and Treacherous: Rally South Africa

These rally stages have it all: the best bits from the WRC Rally Greece, the WRC Wales Rally GB, and even glimpses of the mystical WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland. This is not a round of the exciting WRC Academy, but rather Round Five of the South African Rally Championship.

Competing in my Ford Fiesta R2, thanks to support from Castrol – BP Ultimate, Regent, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT and Ford Racing, my co-driver Patrick Vermaak and I find ourselves at the top of the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship category at the Rally South Africa.

As a WRC Candidate Event, the Rally Africa comprises nine stages over 185km of competition in Valley of 1,000 Hills and Richmond areas of KwaZulu-Natal. The two-day rally has produced a selection moments of rallying at its best. The four stages scheduled for Day One became only three after organisers cancelled Stage Two, but this saw me compete on Stage Three which I felt was one of the best rally stages in the world of rallying.

Patrick and I lead the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship category by 2.4 seconds over Clint Weston (Citroën C2 R2 Max) and Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600) by 14. Seconds.

We are set to tackle five stages in the Richmond area near Pietermaritzburg for Day Two, with the event finishing at Durban’s old Drive-in on Saturday evening.

Tackling the Rally South Africa

Today starts Round Five of the 2012 South African Rally Championship, the Rally South Africa. After winning Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive Championship category on last month's Volkswagen Rally, my co-driver Patrick Vermaak and I are aiming to repeat that performance on this KwaZulu-Natal event. However, Class S1600 will be hotly contested!

The Rally South Africa takes place over two days with Day One in the Valley of 1000 Hills and Day Two in the forests around Richmond. We face nine stages and 185km of action over the demandingly technical yet high-speed stages. It will be a challenging event for Day One, with the roads through the Valley of a 1000 Hills winding treacherously around hills with sheer drops... The tight and twisty stages will make for awesome driving action, and commitment will be required to set fast stage times. Adding to the excitement of this event is that it is being run under close observation by the FIA bosses as a WRC Candidate Event, organisers hoping for this rally to be included on the 2014 WRC calendar!

Also, follow us here and on Twitter and Facebook where I will post news and photos from the stages. Let's go!

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Gears, Gravel and Grins

The Neste Oil Rally Finland is without a doubt the fastest and most challenging event on any rally calendar in the world. Taking on the 270.51km of timed action for the FIA’s WRC Academy, South Africa’s rising rally star Ashley Haigh-Smith experienced the highs and lows of the sport at its spiritual home in Finland.

With the world’s very best young guns all competing on the same roads and in identical machinery, the WRC Academy produces intense rally action from start to finish. This event is called the “Finnish Grand Prix” for a reason: high speeds, big jumps over blind crests and crazy cambered corners. It is also a rally that rewards total commitment from both driver and co-driver and where the slightest of hesitations or mistakes are punished. This is what rallying is, and this was a dream come true.

This event was run over three days and 17 stages made up the 270.51km of stage distance, but what made this rally even more thrilling was the inclusion of the world famous Ouninpohja stage in all its 33.01km glory. This test was to serve as the rally’s finale for all competitors, but the WRC crews tackled this stage twice and back-to-back while the WRC Academy teams only ran it once.

Everything you have ever heard about Ouninpohja is true, and everything you have seen of this stage cannot prepare you for the feeling in your stomach as you slot your rally machine into first gear and wait for the countdown to the start of your run.

On Thursday evening we took to SS1, and had to tackle three stages. The gravel forest roads around the harbour city of Lahti immediately showed their teeth for Craig [Parry, my co-driver] when only 5km into SS1 our Ford Fiesta’s gear lever snapped – something which can only be considered bad luck. We lost over 12 minutes in that stage to the leaders, as we had to stop in the stage and use our “bush mechanics” training to enable us to find a working solution for changing gears. We limped through the remaining two stages of the evening’s scheduled competition to bring our Fiesta to the Service Park for the M-Sport team to bring the car back to full working order. Even though we completed only three stages, we only arrived at the Parc Ferme in the early hours of Friday morning…

Our alarm clocks buzzed at 6am for Day Two, and we headed to our Fiesta with determination. There is a Finnish word that I learned that weekend: sisu. There is no direct English translation, as the word captures and defines a feeling and a mood. Sisu means to have strength of will, determination, perseverance and acting rationally in the face of adversity. Basically put, to “have guts.” With twelve stages mapped out around Jyvaskyla we became intimately aware of sisu as the day unfolded…

Day Two of the Neste Oil Rally Finland proved to be a challenging day in our office. We had a great start to the morning with a confidence-boosting opening stage. However, errors began to creep in on the next two stages and we lost time to our rivals. We also encountered further problems on the afternoon loop of stages – a repeat of the morning’s tests – as our car’s front brake pipe was damaged and ripped apart by a rock as we passed over the rutted roads.

Craig is a top class co-driver and has been writing pace notes for as long as he has been competing as a co-driver in this sport. In South Africa we don’t use pace notes in the same format as in Europe and other international events, and I have had to quickly learn this system of pace notes and to absorb information in a completely new way. As my confidence in the pace notes and in the technical nature of the stages grew, I felt more and more in tune with the rhythm of the rally. We completed a full round of the South African Rally Championship in just over a day of competition in Finland, but we hardly felt the time pass as we were always kept on our toes. The Neste Oil Rally Finland is fantastically fun!

The final five stages of the rally saw us face more challenges, but we were on our recovery up the leader board and closed in on our rivals. These five stages featured the most iconic aspects of Finnish rallying: wide roads, fast jumps and of course Ouninpohja. We ticked off the first two stages and proved our speed in the WRC Academy, but our gearbox was becoming more and more unhealthy as the stage kilometres passed. At the final service of the event, with three stages remaining, the M-Sport technicians changed the troublesome gearbox in less than 13 minutes! While Elfyn Evans raced to victory in the WRC Academy at the front, we worked hard to post competitive stage times and even close the gap to the leaders to claim eighth position overall in the final speed tests.

The Neste Oil Rally Finland was my most awesome experience of my WRC Academy year so far. The challenges we faced and overcame, and the lessons I learned in the car, have undoubtedly made me a better rally driver. Those stages are brilliant: jumps, blind crests, fast rolling roads… Heaven! Craig and I are already looking forward to tackling the ADAC Rallye Deutschland in two week’s time. I thank my service crew from M-Sport Poland and the WRC Academy personnel for all their hard work on this event to bring me to the finish line and for the always-professional performances by all. The WRC Academy is the perfect starting point for any rally crews with WRC aspirations!

At the WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland 2012

Monday morning at the Service Park in Jyvaskyla, Finland is a surreal experience. Here the “motor homes” or Command Centers as they are more commonly referred to, are being assembled ahead of this weekend’s Neste Oil Rally Finland. Everything in the World Rally Championship is on another level, truly!

We did a recce run of the Shakedown Stage yesterday and another short stage to get into the swing of things. I’ve hit the gym, had a few sessions with the WRC Academy crews and met up with Ken Block for a chat. As you do in Finland, you know. And guys, it really is true: all the Finnish ladies are blonde with blue eyes!

Today we will be doing more recce runs and preparing for the week ahead. This is going to be a very fast and action-packed rally. I pinch myself everytime I see a Neste Oil Rally Finland flag… I really am here, the home of rallying!

You can keep up with me here as well as on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Ash_Haigh_Smith and on my Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith. Let’s go!

Singing in the Rain: The Volkswagen Rally

Rallying in a forest on fast gravel roads defines what rallying is for me. The Volkswagen Rally, the fourth round of the South African Rally Championship took place in the spectacular Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, region, with some of the very rally roads I have driven. Except this time, those roads were reduced to slippery and tricky tracks…

Thanks to Castrol – BP, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT, Ford Racing and Regent, competing in the 30^th edition of the Volkswagen Rally was possible. Sitting alongside me in this muddy and wet rally was Patrick Vermaak, a co-driving veteran with a passion for the sport that burns brighter than my car’s spotlights.

The 12 scheduled stages and 181km of competitive distance for two days of action in Gamtoos, the Longmore Forest, Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth were reduced to nine stages as a result of the pouring rain. And, did it pour!

How did we do in this eventful rally? As with the ups and downs of the Longmore Forest valleys, so was our rally progress. We kept a steady and attacking rhythm throughout the nine stages to claim FIRST in Class S1600 and in the Two Wheel Drive Championship category.

With motoring journalist and passionate rally man Patrick this time out calling the pace notes alongside me in the Castrol – BP Ford Fiesta R2, the wet and cold weather spectators and my service crew had to contend with made for an exciting two days of action in the Eastern Cape.

Class S1600 and the Two Wheel Drive Championship is mighty intense with over 13 crews competing on this rally. The stages in the Gamtoos Valley, in Longmore and the super special stage in Uitenhage were slippery, and the second pass on the stages in Longmore Forest for Day Two really tested our wet weather tyres to their limits. Throttle control and steering inputs had to be precise as we slid our way over the loose rocks and muddy sections on the stages, but we had some great moments to remember. The organisers and officials reported this to be one of the wettest rallies in decades in the National series!

We didn’t experience any punctures on our first stage, as was the case on our last rally. Day One’s stages were simply fantastic fun to drive on, and all the Class S1600 crews put on a brave display of driving skill. With 48.9 seconds covering the top three at the overnight stop, the top of this Class is as tight as Patrick’s grip on his notepad all weekend in the car! We were second overall at this point, and 43.8 seconds off Morne Janse van Rensburg/Rikus Fourie (Volkswagen Polo S1600) and were 5.2 seconds ahead of Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee (Toyota RunX S1600). That new VW Polo was being driven well by Morne on his home rally, and had fun in a great battle as we swapped Class stage wins. However, we also had to be careful of Craig in third place; he was within striking distance of us, and he will not hesitate to attack when he sniffs an opportunity.

The reigning Class champions Christoff Snyders and his sister Celeste (Volkswagen Polo S1600) unfortunately retired in Stage One with a busted gearbox. With Christoff in the mix, it would have been a massive race.

Day Two dawned early and after swimming to our cars in Parc Ferme in Uitenhage we were somewhat apprehensive of what lay before us in Longmore Forest. Organisers chopped off two stages for Day Two, the two muddiest ones we expected, but a tough day at office was to be experienced by all.

We took to the first two stages slowly, but it was not our caution that slowed it: our Castrol – BP Ford Fiesta R2’s windscreen was having problems demisting properly thanks to the cold conditions. I had to slow my speed on a few occasions to avoid making mistakes or falling off the mountains in Longmore Forest…

We were in the middle of a great race for the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship category lead on Day One, and it continued on Day Two. It was taken to a new level as the overnight rain converted the slippery gravel stages into a slick and glassy surface. In the third stage of the day, SS9, Morne went off the road at a high-speed left corner, and became stuck on a tree stump for nearly nine minutes. Craig moved into second position, and we snuck past them to take the lead of the Class!

We held a steady advantage over Craig on the final two stages of the rally, and took Class honours by 50.1 seconds. Craig “Mr Consistency” Trott now has a cushion over the rest of Class S1600 by ten points, and we will need to outpace him to claim the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship trophies this season.

There was a good battle developing between Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600) and Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600), who both had aspirations of closing in on Craig for second place. It was eventually Guy who clinched third place, only 8.5 seconds off of Craig and 22.3 seconds ahead of Tjaart.

Megan Verlaque (Volkswagen Polo S1600) drove her new rally car to quick stage times, but her overall position was not indicative of her pace as she had to retire from Day One with gearbox problems and restart on Day Two under SupeRally regulations. We will need to keep a close eye on Megan and Morne in their new and updated Polos…

I will be hard at work preparing for my next event in the FIA WRC Academy in 18 days time for the Neste Oil Rally Finland. This is an event all rally drivers dream of competing on, and I still pinch myself when I think of my trip to the “home” of rallying.

Keep up-to-date with my progress on the stages by following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ash_haigh_smith and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith, and here on my website of course.

Pictures by Dave Ledbitter/Quickpic.

Day 2 at the Volkswagen Rally: When the heavens opened

I never fully understood the phrase “when the heavens open.” Now that the Volkswagen Rally is finished, I now know it from every angle: vertical, diagonal, and just about every other direction that the rain fell on our heads.

Thanks to Castrol – BP, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT, Ford Racing and Regent, competing in the fourth round of the 2012 South African Rally Championship was possible. Sitting alongside me in this muddy and wet rally was Patrick Vermaak, co-driving veteran with a passion for the sport that burns brightly.

Day Two of our rally started off well, but we were slowed by our Castrol – BP Ford Fiesta R2’s windscreen misting up thanks to the cold conditions. I had to slow my speed on a few occasions to avoid making mistakes or falling off the mountains in Longmore Forest.

We were in the middle of a great race for the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship category lead on Day One, and it continued on Day Two. It was taken to a new level as the overnight rain converted the slippery gravel stages into a slick and glassy surface. In the third stage of the day, SS9, the Class leader Morne Janse van Rensburg (Volkswagen Polo S1600) went off the road at a high speed left corner, and became stuck on a tree stump for nearly nine minutes. Craig Trott (Toyota RunX S1600 moved into second position, and we snuck past them to take the lead of the Class.

We held a steady advantage over Craig Trott on the final two stages, and took Class honours by 50.1 seconds. Craig “Mr Consistency” Trott now has a cushion over the rest of Class S1600, and we will need to outpace him to claim the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship trophies.

There was a good battle developing between Guy Botterill (Toyota RunX S1600) and Tjaart Conradie (Toyota Auris S1600), who both had aspirations of closing in on Craig Trott for second place. It was Guy who eventually clinched third place, only 08.5 seconds off of Craig and 22.3 seconds ahead of Tjaart.

We would like to thank the volunteers, the marshals and the officials who had to brave the cold, rain, and mud over the entire weekend. Without your time, energy and generous spirit, rallying would not be what it is today!
I will be hard at work preparing for my next event in the FIA WRC Academy in 18 days time for the Neste Oil Rally Finland. This is an event all rally drivers dream of competing on, and I still pinch myself when I think of my trip to the “home” of rallying.

Day 1 at the Volkswagen Rally: Slipping and Sliding

The wipers of my car are whirring away at their fastest. The windscreen is misting up. The pace notes are coming as thick and fast as this rain is hitting my car’s roof. Grabbing second gear, then third, fourth, riding on the cambered corners and dabbing my brakes I line up for another tight hairpin and I see the rutted and rocky corner open in front of me.

This is but a few seconds of the opening day of the Volkswagen Rally, the fourth round of the 2012 South African Rally Championship. And yes, we did not suffer a single puncture on Day One this time as we have struggled with on previous events.

With motoring journalist and passionate rally man Patrick Vermaak this time calling the notes alongside me in the Castrol – BP Ford Fiesta R2, the wet and cold weather the spectators and my service crew have to contend with have made for an exciting first day of action in the Eastern Cape.

As you know, the Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship is mighty intense with over 13 crews competing on this rally. The stages in the Gamtoos Valley, in Longmore and the super special stage in Uitenhage were slippery. Throttle control and steering inputs had to be precise as we slid our way over the loose rocks and muddy sections on the stages, but we had some great moments to remember of Day One.

With 48.9 seconds covering the top three S1600 cars, the top of this Class is as tight as Patrick’s grip on his notepad today! We are second overall, and 43.8 seconds off Morne Janse van Rensburg/Rikus Fourie (Volkswagen Polo S1600) and we are 5.2 seconds ahead of Craig Trott/Robbie Coetzee (Toyota RunX S1600). That new VW Polo is being new driven well by Morne on his home rally, and we are in a great battle so far as we swap Class stage wins. It is great fun, but we also have to be careful of Craig in third place. He is within striking distance of us, and I think he will not hesitate to attack on the stages on Day Two.

It was sad to hear of Christoff Snyders and his sister Celeste (Volkswagen Polo S1600) retire in Stage One with a busted gearbox. With Christoff in the mix, it would have been a massive race.

Day Two starts early at 08h23 for a 19.17km-long stage in Longmore Forest, and is then followed by five more gravel stages before we hit the awesome Kings Beach parking lot in Port Elizabeth at 14h27 for the final stage. This stage is a short 1.73km, but there are always huge crowds there to entertain on the tar. Patrick and I will be pushing hard to stay on the podium, and will be hoping for a strong day’s rallying.

Keep up-to-date with my progress on the stages by following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ash_haigh_smith and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AshleyHaighSmith.

Taking on the Volkswagen Rally

The Longmore Forest will echo with rally cars’ engines for the Volkswagen Rally this weekend, Round Four of the South African Rally Championship. This Port Elizabeth-based event has been running for 30 fantastic years, and the event’s 12 stages will include the crowd-pleaser Super Special Stages in Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth, on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 July.

Thanks to Castrol – BP Ultimate, GoPro, M-Sport, REACT, Ford Racing and Regent, I aim for victory here to return my Class S1600 and Two Wheel Drive Championship hopes to the top of the Championship standings after this event.

Total commitment to the pace notes and to the racing line is what makes this event unique and exciting for drivers. With recent rain leaving the gravel roads wet and slippery in places yet dry and hard in others, these speed tests will be a true test of driver skill. With 12 stages and 181km lying in wait for all of us and my mighty M-Sport Ford Fiesta R2, I am looking to top the timesheets of this demanding event.

The Ford Fiesta R2 is well suited to these trying conditions, and I also feel that my efforts behind-the-scenes on improving my technique and pace note skills and my training for the FIA WRC Academy stand me in good stead against our rivals. Sponsored by motor vehicle manufacturing giant Volkswagen of South Africa, the company expects its sponsored teams to bring home the trophies come Saturday evening. Four Volkswagen Polo S1600s and seven Toyota Auris and RunX and one Citroën C2 R2 Max crews have entered for this weekend, so the competition will be stiff!

Two of the previous three rounds have seen us suffer what all competitors fear most: DNF – Did Not Finish. In the previous event, the Toyota Gauteng Dealer Rally, we collected three punctures, a broken sump guard and a bent left front suspension in one stage. At times this sport can be cruel…

Having cast off our bad luck for the season, the remaining four rounds of the Championship will see us convert our pace into rally results and Championship points.

Action gets underway on Friday at noon at the Volkswagen Auto Pavilion in Uitenhage and concludes on Saturday afternoon at 14h35 at Kings Beach in Port Elizabeth.

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Toyota Dealer Rally

Coming back from Greece all hopes were high even with our little mishap with a broken side shaft but we knew we were on the right direction. Craig came down on the Tuesday before the rally as he just competed in the Jim Clark Rally (a round of the British Rally Championship) and finished 2^nd overall.

Prior to Craig arriving we had received our notes on the Sunday and by going through what I had seen they seemed to be the “pretty norm” from last year.

Craig and I went through the notes for 3 days marking and checking our system all hopes were up for a great rally. I knew this event would not be my strongest as I have never really had a great event here in the Gauteng but always approach it with a win in mind.

We arrived Friday to the ice cold weather of Johannesburg. We went through our notes again and then went through to documentation for the rally run on a Saturday –Sunday format.

Saturday was an earlier start for the rally with our seeding being number one in the s1600, we started 14^th on the road right behind the S2000’s. The first stage of the rally was a nice 27km then a road section into another 23km stage. The distance did not bother us at all and was actually quite nice as it means you got to go for it straight away, but in this rally we soon learnt you could not go for the win on the first stage.

We arrived at the start of the stage, 3 min late due to an accident on the high way but with the Competitors Relation officer Ken, whom was “super” helpful and made sure we were compensated for our time (A big thank you!)

So we started this “stage 1” and after 500 metres I went to Craig “we’ve got a puncture” I couldn’t believe my luck! We changed it under 2 min and carried on soon to see Guy Botteril now parked on the side (was a game of leap frog in the end) only to hit an embedded rock which then took another two wheels and bent our new sump guard far worse than the Sasol! We changed what we could and crawled to the end to stop before the flying finish. We could not continue as the rules stated you need all four wheels to have rubber on them and turn so we decided to take super rally two.

With this in mind my mechanics did a fantastic job getting the car back to full spec ready for Day 2’s action as with all the heavy impacts we also bent the left front suspension .

Start of Day 2: again another early start to the rally, we had three clean stages as now we had no chance to fight for the lead as Nic Van der Westhuizen was driving a superb rally and we knew all he had to do was drive to the finish and he would win, so we decided to work on the things I was lacking in Greece.

Just with a lot of correcting of our notes we were able to be on the same pace as Clint without any effort which was a nice feeling…. actually a good feeling to have now, going into the “killer stage” everyone fell victim too. So 3,2,1 we go and once again…. 500 metres I hit the same rock as before and another puncture (my fault totally! )

Craig and myself changed it in top form(as now we can honestly say we are professionals and have plenty of practice on our side) and continued to now drive the stage at a “ snail’s pace” as we did not want a repeat of the stage 1 that put us out of the rally. Slowly coming to the end of the stage we realized something was not right as the car was not steering at all and yes you guessed it, we had another puncture……

Being only 7 km from the end we decided to drive it to the end and change it somewhere on the road section and needless to say we finished the Toyota Gauteng rally.

This rally and my self have never seen “eye to eye” no matter what angle we approach it, but that’s rallying. You’ve got to take what you’ve learnt and move forward. I can say I am very disappointed on how the season has gone thus far, more disappointed to not be giving the sponsors the resut they deserve as we have the pace; just little things have not come together but PE ahead we will be going for the win.

Now, for all the politics and issues that were brought up in this rally, firstly I do think the organizers need a BIG congratulations as last year this event was really crap…(other words can be used) but this year all the effort and time that went behind it you can truly see it was a successful rally.

Now with all the headaches everyone is having from this event: – I am sure a lot of people have been blamed for why this person is out or why this happened etc? How I looked at it was that if a certain few got through the stage without punctures and were on top – well driven, simple – then why didn’t I?

But I do believe that if South Africa is to be on top of the world and be the “most competitive” championship we need to have a recce, even a one pass recce. This firstly would sort out any blame that the drivers could put onto the organisers as it will be fully up to the team in the cars to use there “noggins.” It will also make things a lot safer and cheaper, (for the rally organizers and especially for the teams competing)

So keep the DVD system of Leon’s but also have a recce as the minor cost of running one will make people save, as they say “Millions.” (Then you can choose to do a recce or not, but if a person does not do recce they cannot blame organizers.) Another question to ask is, why does nearly every other championship in the world run a recce and we don’t, even if we are meant to be the most competitive championchip?

Then regards to the tyres, yes they are a bit soft but I do not think they all to blame as we have had them for 6 odd years (even more) and now because people get punctures it the tyres fault! We should drive with what we are given and I am sure that the MSA will look at this rally and for future change to the desired tyre more suitable to our terrain.

Logistical reasons as well, a recce will not do any harm one day cold suffice, and I say this because now with our rallies being so compact and for the spectators, it will even be possible to do a two pass recce. This should strongly be put forward and implemented in the South African Championship if one is to have any chance of competing at the “most competitive” championship in the world.

You never know we probably would have all the interest from our overseas drivers actually come down and compete which in theory will confirm how good our roads are and that we are on the top level.

Without my sponsors React, Castrol, Regent, Go-Pro and my service crew (as we gave them loads of work on this rally) and I cannot thank them enough also my navigator – thank you all!

SANRC Rnd 2 Sasol Rally Sabie Sabie

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