Wednesday 24 August 2011

Rally - The REAL Stig in Scotland


Rally fans are in for a treat at the end of September when Swedish rally star Stig Blomqvist takes part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally at Aberfeldy on Friday/Saturday, 30th September/1st October.

It’s been something he’s wanted to do since he missed out on the 2008 Colin McRae Rally ‘tribute’ event. Stig had entered that event, but unfortunately, had to cancel at the very last minute.

Joining him in the car will be Petter Solberg’s former World Championship co-driver, Phil Mills. Since Phil ‘retired’ from the co-driver’s seat he’s been busy building up his own rally car preparation and engineering business in Wales, called Viking Motorsport.

So it’s no wonder that the duo will be entered in a ‘genuine’ Group 4 works replica Ford Escort MkII complete with 2 litre BDG, 5 speed ZF gearbox and an Atlas axle.

Since he started rallying back in 1967, Stig has driven for every major car manufacturer and just about every successful works rally team from two wheel drive V4 Saabs to four wheel drive turbocharged Audi Quattros and everything in between.

The Perthshire stages also hold wonderful memories for Stig as he contested the International Scottish Rally in the late 70s and early 80s through some of these very same forests, although he only won ‘the Scottish’ once, in 1983. 

It was just such a treat to see Bjorn Waldegaard in the Porsche, and Hannu Mikkola, Ari Vatanen and Malcolm Wilson in MkIIs, amongst so many other rally stars on the 2008 event, and it'll be great to see the real Stig in action this year.

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