Girl Power Rallying

Dukeries Rally 2006 Lizi Skinner and Karen Watts... Karen's story.

This event started along time before the actual days leading up too it. Talking one day with Craig Drew and Chris Gibson they got us to enrol as members of the British Rally Forum.

An evening of surfing this site and Karen sees an advert from a young Liz Skinner looking for a co driver, Karen decides to type out a message in reply but didn't know what too do. Have a look at this she asked into the hot seat at the computer to have a look, right click the button without her looking and it and it was gone HOPEFULLY (not very good on computers). So that was the start of Girl Power Rallying but in the week leading up to the event gets a call off Steve Jenkins & Mark Vaughan with an SOS we want someone to help Andy with management so I jumped into the hotseat.

Friday comes and we head off up the motorway for sunny Mansfield , meet up with Dave, Craig and Rachael (lizi's crew) for all the documentation side before Karen gets the first ride in the car with Liz arriving with Dad Tim and taking the car for a blast up the industrial estate. Friday evening and we take a recee into town to find the start and meet up with the lads to sort out Saturday. Good nights rest sort out the stickers on the micra and all Karen's paperwork before heading to the start to meet up with Andy and the Saxo Boys.

It seemed a bad start with a leaking valve even before the start line, but we head off with Andy driving and myself on the maps.

We decided it was going to be a good fight with Steve and Mark in at 240 and Liz and Karen at 241, first management and no real problems for anyone so head off to management 2. Steve arrives complaining the car is running hot Andy does his stuff and off they go. We head for service at Thorsbury Hall and await their arrival, do our hair and makeup as bound to be on telly as we are parked next to Steve Perez. As we wait my phone goes its Karen Steve and Mark are out she says both ok parked at end of stage 4 with engine problems, Andy and Adrian are dispatched to recover the car and crew and I swap over to Girl Power Rallying. Car is checked over girls are fed and watered and dispatched on their way with the chase team of Craig, Rachael and Bob in tow the next stage proves hard going with the girls not finishing due to a stage blockage with an earlier competitor, over to the result tent and they been given a notional time but its miles off what they been doing so we need to get it sorted on their return.

They come back into service car checked Karen and myself talk with officials about the time and leave it in their hands after a lengthy chat, get both of them fed and watered again with only 2 stages too go the last being a twelve miler. We head out of service and make our way for the first of the two stages arriving in time to see the restart of the action, not long before the cars starting coming Amanda Cornforth arrives at our junction and just disappears out of sight when Liz and Karen go whistling through having taken nearly 30 seconds out of her on the stage. We pick up the trailer and head for Mansfield and the finish line arriving in front of the girls, jump out of the van see them through the finish.

Girl Power Rallying had achieved a massive result of third in class A5 beating a lot of good drivers in their class on the way, Liz and Karen pick up their trophies from Mr BTRDA Howard Wilcox before we all make our way south.

Girl Power Rallying would like to thank all their sponsors for their support on the rally.

Dukeries Rally 2006 Lizi Skinner and Karen Watts... Lizi's story.

 

‘Yeah I’ll be doing the Dukeries, providing I can get a Co-Driver of course’ was the resounding sound in the Ferguson-Skinner household after the Red Dragon rally. With enthusiasm running high but an empty seat in the Micra, the search to find someone was now top of the agenda. A wanted advert was placed on the British Rally Forum and in came the replies. One stood out above the rest, a phone call later a new partnership was formed. Now, I’m sure both of us would tell you that at this point we had no idea what would be the outcome of this new pairing. With both Kaz and myself new to the rallying game, neither of us having done the Dukeries rally before and as an added extra me using a different notes format to what Kaz was used to, I think it’s safe to say that we were both a little cautious. After meeting up the week before the rally things felt a bit more at ease and we both couldn’t wait to jump into the Micra Mouse and get started.

The big day soon arrived and ready to get started in our sports bras, overalls and pixie boots, we left for the first stage feeling somewhat apprehensive. I’m not sure who I terrified more on that first stage,Kaz, myself or the spectators that were standing on a certain corner that I came ‘slightly’ too fast into – taking a scenic route through the trees on one side and then up the bank on the other before returning to the stage! Still, we got through it and at that point we had no idea that we had set a decent time. With temperatures soaring and dust a big issue on the stages, we were both grateful to head back to service to rehydrate – and to find that we were 3 rd in class with a good 40 second lead over 4 th. Elated? You bet! Still, with three stages to go including a long trip up the motorway to the infamous ‘Rainbow Hill’ or as it was renamed after our visit ‘The Boob Juggler’, it certainly was not time to start celebrating.

Now, if we thought there had been a problem with dust on the previous stages, it was about to get a whole lot worse! Being so hot we had travelled up the motorway with the driver’s side window down, which is electric. Just as we were reaching the start of the stage I tried to do the window up. Nothing. Despite resorting to thumping it and slamming the door hard (that was the solution according to the ‘Women who know Nothing about Electrics’ theory) we made no progress. Within seconds of starting the stage the car was filled with dust, how Kaz managed to keep reading the notes I’ll never know. We didn’t finish the stage competitively due to the misfortunes of a fellow competitor landing on his roof and blocking the stage – thankfully unharmed. The final two stages went smoothly, except one jump which looked momentarily like it was going to end in bent metal but actually we got away with me just bruising my elbow!

So 7 stages, a duff electric window, buckets of sweat, a car full of dust, a couple of ‘moments’ and ‘The Boob Juggler’ and we finished 3 rd In A5, Kaz’s first finish and my first BTRDA podium spot. Girl Power Rallying was born.

The next Oestrogen powered outing, The Quinton Stages………..