The Monte Carlo Rallye - 01/02/05

The Monte Carlo Rallye Historique continues with five more stages today. We've not had any reports sent in directly from the team, it may be that John hasn't had chance to find a suitable location to send in anything. At the end of Stage 8 there were 304 competitors still running out of an original entry list of 352 which isn't bad really, however there's still quite a way to go yet and some of the stages at the end of the rally have proved to be very tricky indeed.

Todays Stages:

Stage 9 - Selonnet - Bayons - Finished 264th on stage

Stage 10 - Trigance - Chateauvieux - Finished 9th on stage

Stage 11 - Col de Castillon - Sospel - Finished 126th on stage

Stage 12 - Sospel - La Bollène Vésubie

The team have abandoned the event after crashing out 

Stage 13 - Lantosque - St Laurent

Team unable to repair car in time to undertake this stage

For more information about the rally please visit the official Automobile Club de Monaco site here

The Monte Carlo Rallye - 31/01/05

The Monte Carlo Rallye Historique continues with four more stages today. The team are running well down the field at the moment despite some spirited driving. The main problem is is thought to be attributable to part of the navigation equipment, the Halda, which isn't giving the sort of accuracy expected. Update: 

The team do seem to be finding their feet a bit now - Hopefully with a few of the 'Halda' related issues out of the way the team will continue to creep up the leader board on the five stages scheduled for Tuesday the 1st of February.  

Todays Stages:

Stage 5 - St Jean en Royan - Vassieux en Vercors - Finished 233rd on stage

Stage 6 - St Nazaire le Désert - La Motte Chalancon - Finished 82nd on stage

Stage 7 - Rosans - Bif. D26/D994 - Finished 76th on stage

Stage 8 - Savournon - Sigoyer - Finished 100th on stage

For more information about the rally please visit the official Automobile Club de Monaco site here

The Monte Carlo Rallye - Latest News - 30/01/05

Well it was always going to be eventful but things started to go wrong before they even arrived in Reims - The team boarded the Euro Shuttle at Cheriton but they were immediately pulled up with a fuel leak. A quick dash back to Ashford for a replacement fuel tank (to replace the brand new but faulty sender unit) and they were on their way again. We haven't had any reports from them yet but the results of after the first stage proper from Burzet to Bif. D215/D237 the organiser's website is showing Bill and John in 253rd out of 321 runners .

Stage 1. Burzet - Bif. D215/D237 - Finished 284th on stage

Stage 2 - Freydaparet - Lalouvesc - Finished 260th on stage

Stage 3 - St Félicien - La Batie d'Andaure - Finished 247th on stage

Stage 4 - St Pierreville - Antraigues - Finished 287th on stage

For more information about the rally please visit the official Automobile Club de Monaco site here

The Monte Carlo Rallye Historique Starts today - 28/01/05

Bill Richards and John Morrow will starting their attempt on the 2005 Monte Carlo Rallye Historique today. It's the first time that Bill has ever driven a rally and for John it will be the first time that he's navigated the event although he has driven in previous incarnations of the rally. There are many famous cars and drivers on the event and the entry list looks rather like a "Who's who" of continental rallying. John is fully equipped with a wireless laptop computer so we hope to receive reports directly from the team as the event progresses. For more information about the rally please visit the official Automobile Club de Monaco site here

Press Release from MiniWorld - 29/12/04

John Morrow reports that MiniWorld have just released the following press release on the subject of the 2005 Monte Carlo Rallye Historique:

MiniWorld Magazine and the Cooper Car Company are pleased to announce the entry of a five car team of Mini Coopers for the 8th Rallye Monte Carlo Historique running from Friday 28th January to Wednesday 2nd February 2005. 

The team, which includes both Paul Easter, winner of the Rallye Monte Carlo with Timo Makinen in a works Mini Cooper S exactly 40 years ago, and veteran navigator Willy Cave who is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first works co-drive on ‘the Monte’ in an MG Magnette, will be starting from Reims (3 cars) and Monte Carlo (2 cars). 

The 2005 MiniWorld Rallying/Cooper Car Co. team are: 

Peter Collier/Paul Easter in a Mini Cooper S (starting from Reims)

Alain Lopes/Joseph Lambert in a Mini Cooper S (starting from Monte Carlo)

John Morrow/Bill Richards in a Mini Cooper S (starting from Reims)

Peter Barker/Willy Cave in a Mini Cooper (starting from Reims)

Geoff O’nion/John Lindley in a Mini Cooper  (starting from Monte Carlo) 

Following a gruelling Concentration Run of nearly 900km over Friday/Saturday night, the team will begin the timed sections high on the Ardeche Plateau early on Sunday 30th January with runs over the famous Burzet and St.Pierreville/Antraigues stages amongst others. Restarting in classification order from Vals les Bains on Monday 31st January cars will cover six further stages on the way to Monaco via an overnight halt in Gap. The final night loop out of Monaco and back, consists of three stages run without a break for 100km from the Col de Castillion, over the Col de Turini the Col de St.Roch and the Col de L’Able to finish at St.Laurent du Touet. The Team should arrive back at the Finish in Monte Carlo during the early hours of Wednesday 2nd February all being well. 

No Mini mounted team has ever won the Rallye Monte Carlo Historique although Mini Coopers have dominated the 1300cc class for cars built from 1962 to 1965 since the rally’s inception. Perhaps the MiniWorld/Cooper Car Co. Team can pull off this feat in 2005? 

(as well as via this site obviously ! - Webmaster)

The 2005 season - Preparations have started !

Bill's and Lee's Minis 

Both of the cars this year are having some major work carried out to them the most interesting is the change to the front ride height. Due to the excessive angle of the top ball-joint, it is almost impossible to get the car much lower than 7" from the sill lip to the floor safety, but due to some ingenious modifications to the front sub-frame and suspension Lee is hoping to run a ride height of 6" which should make the cars handle much better and will also still keep them conforming to the regulations. 

Bill's Mini will also be benefiting from some more power and both Bill and Lee will also be carrying out some testing at Peter Baldwin’s rolling road with some different types of induction systems to try and allow the use of the unmodified round Mini front again. 

Lees Mini will be benefiting from a 1380cc engine this year as the 1293cc engine has been a handicap with most class structures allowing the use of up to 1400cc. Piper cams have made a one-off camshaft. The engine will also be running on split 45 DCOE Webbers and will be using a host of Cosworth parts inside. 

Dave’s sprinting car 

For the 2005 season Lee’s father Dave will be using the sprinting car which has received a full rebuild. Included in the rebuild has been the use of a Roll-centre weld in roll-cage, multiple suspension changes, a Curley carbon dashboard and a big hike in engine power. This Mini is now a full Bill Richards Racing works car and should be very successful next season. 

Lee's 2004 season 

2004 was my first full season of circuit racing and I intended for it to be a learning curve and did not expect to achieve too much in the way of good results. The first half of the season was spent developing the Mini and ironing out some bugs. Although the Mini was a regular class front-runner the development of the car did not stop. 

During the second half of the season the Minis pace was dramatically improved and class wins soon started to come, along with top 10 finishes. The last two races of the year were the best performances with one race spent defending against a host of Sierra Cosworths and a very rapid Peugeot 306 with a 2 litre 16v engine fitted.

The last race of the season was contested in the rain and with Bill winning the race I managed to get into second place on numerous occasions but did not quite managed to hold on to it being beaten in the end by the Escorts of the Craig clan. 

Monte Update - Preparations continue

8th Rallye Monte Carlo Historique

Today the Mad Doggers received news that Bill's friend and long standing customer, Geoff O'Nion, has been accepted by the Automobile Club de Monaco as the fifth member of the Cooper Car Company team. This is only the second time since 1968 that this team has competed in anger, the last being on the 2002 MCH rally in which John drove along with Tim Woods. This time around the team should be much more organised if not quite as pure (the Peter Collier/Paul Easter team will be driving a Triumph 2000!) as in 2002. However the assembled band of petrol-headed gypsies represent a considerable pool of talent and with a little luck may do quite well. Follow this site for a further update on the team's preparation for the rally.

NEWSFLASH: Mad Dogs to do Monte confirmed

Today Bill received notice from the Automobile Club d’ Monaco that he and John Morrow have been accepted for the 8th Monte Carlo Historique rally in January/February 2005. Now the work really begins. The car has finally emerged from the bodyshop where it has had extensive repairs. It looks fantastic. Lee has been hard at work fettling all the usual mechanical items and fitting a number of period parts obtained from Mini Cooper register stalwart, John Kelly. Bill has rebuilt and further modified the motor and it will be dropped into the car sometime in the coming few days. Hopefully all will be together for the MiniWorld photoshoot scheduled for 10th December. In the meantime, John will come out from Seattle next week. In between some academic duties he will be doing shakedown runs with Bill, buying a set of large scale maps from Stanford’s in Covent Garden and get going on route plotting. Bill and John also hope to make a quick trip to Monaco to do a recce of the infamous night loop over the Col d’Turini. Follow the frenetic activities of Mad Dog rallying by checking this site regularly over the two months.

Bill in a Cosworth Sierra? Surely some mistake !

John Taylor Handicap 

Having spent the season giving the Cosworths a hard time Bill finally got his chance behind the wheel of one of the fire breathing beasties as he borrowed a car just to see how different it is from the Mini and to feel the power of the turbocharged engine. 

A wet track probably isn’t the ideal scenario for trying to learn the characteristics of a new car (especially a rear wheel drive powerhouse!) but Bill set about the task with great enthusiasm and soon had the car sideways through the corners.  As Bill became more accustomed to the car the lap times began to fall (although there were a few interesting ‘moments’ along the way). 

The race itself saw Bill becoming more confident in the car and the lap times fell accordingly, by the end of the race the lap times being posted were on a par with the other Cosworths on track.  Being careful to stay out of trouble Bill brought the car home for a 3^rd or 4^th placed finish (awaiting official confirmation – results not currently available). 

Lydden Race Report - 23/10/04

Intermediate Saloons & Super Saloons & Sport Car Championship 

A heavy grey sky and wet track were the order of the day for the Minis first session on track, consequently the Mini was sent out with a full wet setup.  The conditions and sheer amount of traffic on track led to the lap times being down on those normally achieved but of course this also applied to all the other competitors, as ever the Mini performed well in wet conditions and posted a quickest lap good enough for 2^nd on the grid. 

The weather had eased after qualifying and a drying line was beginning to appear on track so the Mini was to be switched onto slick tyres – just as the team were in the process of this change the heavens opened!  The Mini was quickly re-shod with the wets and sent out on track.  A great start saw the Mini get alongside the pole sitter – on the run up to the hairpin the cars were side by side only for the leader to spin!  The Mini had nowhere to go and contacted with the other vehicle, despite some superficial front end damage the Mini was able to continue – it was now leading the race!  Once ahead the Mini revelled in the conditions and never looked like being caught, whilst others toiled in the dreadful conditions the Mini serenely made it’s way to the finish and took the chequered flag for not only a class win but an overall win too! 

South East Sports & Saloons & Credit Professionals Sports Car Championship 

For potentially the final time the Mini was again filling in for the Metro – still sporting its rear aerofoil.  Conditions were slightly improved on the first qualifying session so the car was sent out with slick tyres on the front end and wets on the rear – the slicks had to be scrubbed in just in case they were needed for the race.  After getting some heat into the slicks the Mini set about putting in some quick laps – again conditions seemed to favour the Mini, the more powerful sports specials struggling for grip whilst the Mini seemed to have plenty.  Another excellent qualifying performance saw the Mini line up 3^rd on the grid – ahead of some seriously quick machines! 

The race was again a full wet race as the track was saturated – in places the water was running across the track in small rivers!  The Mini again got off the line well and initially held its 3^rd place tucked up behind a Caterham.  For the following laps the Mini homed in on the back of the Caterham, pressurising it into a spin at the hairpin (seems to have been the day for it!) fortunately there was no contact this time and the Mini was able to continue unimpeded.  From that point onwards the Mini again showed just how good it is in the wet, despite the power and weight advantages of the sports specials they couldn’t close the gap to the Mini – again the Mini was able to find grip that seemed to elude the other cars.  The Mini ran untroubled to the flag for a class win and a superb overall 2^nd place – a great result against some theoretically superior machinery. 

All in all it was a superb day for the team with the Mini taking an overall win and a 2^nd overall to go with a brace of class wins.  The Mini again proved that it is capable of taking on all comers and that in the wet it’s a match for anything with a great combination of power and drivability.