BHRC preview, round six: Isle of Man Historic Rally

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Round six of the 2006 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship takes the historic crews to the Isle of Man for two and a half days of flat-out asphalt rallying on classic closed road stages on the island. As ever, a fine entry has been assembled for the rally that starts in Douglas on the evening of Thursday 3 August.
 
Category 1
The category 1 cars (pre '68) are a key part of the BHRC and heading to the Isle of Man three crews from this division are the big rivals to Steven Smith and John Nichols for overall BHRC championship success this season.
 
Making his Isle of Man debut will be former touring car racer Patrick Watts in his Sunbeam Tiger. Partnered, as ever, by Elgan Davies, Watts has been the pacesetter in category 1 this season and will surely fly on the island. However, he's never seen the Manx roads before, so it will be very interesting to see how his pace compares with island veteran Dessie Nutt, who shares his Porsche 911 with Geraldine McBride.
 
The Lotus Cortinas in class B4 have been enjoying some fabulous battles this season and the pace has been fierce in this truly sporting contest. The contenders are Philip Atkinson/Nicholas Kaighin, Neil Calvert/Michelle Calvert and Jonathan Gale/Graham Gale. However, a real dark horse in B4 is the Lotus Elan of former Le Mans racer John Sheldon and Lesley Stevens. Although this is a whole new experience for the Portugal-based crew, they have shown tremendous winning pace on events like Tour Auto, the Tour of Spain and the Modena Cento Ore.
 
Meanwhile, B2 is home to the 1300cc cars and it is the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton that is overdue a victory. Overdue some good luck is the Mini Cooper of Mike Barratt/Joanne Watson, while Peter Horsburgh/Anthony Preston should also be contenders in their Mini.
 
Category 2
More than any event on the Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship schedule, the annual asphalt blast on the Isle of Man is the event that Steven Smith and John Nichols look forward to. Having won the historic rally for the last two years, they are going all out for a hat-trick this year and the fact that they will arrive on the island with a handy points lead in the championship suggests that they could be tough to beat.
 
In previous years, they have really won against the odds. Both times, horrible weather on the opening leg on Thursday evening allowed Smith and Nichols to take time from their rivals in more powerful cars. In 2004 they won in a modest Escort RS2000 and last year they used a category 1 (pre '68) Porsche 911. Now, they come to the Isle of Man in the newly prepared, and considerably more powerful, category 2 Porsche 911 of XS Racing.
 
With victory on the two previous gravel rounds of the championship and a strong run on the asphalt of Epynt, Smith/Nichols now lead the overall BHRC standings but with dropped scores to come into play later in the year this is far from settled.
 
The big rivals to the VK-backed Porsche include the similar Prepfab-entered car of Jimmy McRae/Campbell Roy. Jimmy needs no introduction to the Isle of Man, as a three-time winner of the international rally, and his pace will be watched very keenly as he returns to the BHRC after missing a couple of rounds. Other Porsches will be in the capable hands of Paul Drinkall/Roy Brown, Andrew Street/Jez Mason and Peter Lythell/Liz Jordan.
 
Of course, the BHRC is also about the Escort pack and it is David Stokes and Guy Weaver who should set the Escort pace. After two retirements earlier in the year, they need a strong finish on all the remaining rounds and are sure to be quick here. Meanwhile, other quick Mk1s will be campaigned by Craig Salter/Preston Ayres, Graham Samuel/Tony Phillips and Frank Cunningham/Aaron Forde.
 
Elsewhere in category 2 (1968-74 cars), the 2-litre C3 class features current points leaders Martin Kenny/Dave Stocking, Bob Gibbons/Neil Cook and Ian Drummond/Chris Parsons in Escorts. However, the pace of the leading class C2 cars will be fantastic and the quickest 1600cc cars will be harrying the 2-litre cars. The big contenders are Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes, John Worthing/Bill Robertson, Robin Shuttleworth/Mark Midgley and Russell Morgan/Martin Kenyon.
 
The Isle of Man Historic Rally is organised by Manx International Rally Ltd. For more details about the event, please visit the website at: http://www.mir.co.im
The historic rally starts from Douglas on Thursday evening and covers 22 stages before the finish back in Douglas on Saturday afternoon. 

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