How Maz Miller and Iain Davidson started in rallying…
After co-driving previously at single venue stage rally’s, I wanted to give rally driving a go for the first time. Iain Davidson as my autotesting co-driver was up for learning to rally co-drive. We put a deposit down on a rally car in Scotland in Feb 2020 and then unfortunately Covid-19 lockdowns hit. Eventually we got to see the car in August of that year and it was a perfect first rally car for us, a 1L Nissan Micra. It needed new harnesses and new fire extinguishers and a few bits doing to it but was a great starter car with logbook, rollcage, in date seats, adjustable shocks and chipped for max power output, apparently built by the same guy that built one of Colin McRae’s early rally cars.
I was lucky enough to get my BARS training course done at Silverstone Rally school just before the second Covid lockdown hit last Christmas so was able to upgrade my MSUK licence to drive and when the lockdowns eased in April we decided to enter the EMAMC championship in Class 0. Neither Iain nor I are very great at doing major mechanical repairs (we can both do basics only) so that our strategy was simply to take some basic spares and if any major jobs needed doing we would just retire. We hired a van with tow bar and trailer which gave us our cheapest and easiest option for transporting to and from stage rally venues.
Our first Rally was in May 2021 in Melbourne – John Overend Memorial Stage Rally – and went reasonably well , the biggest problem being bringing the sides of the gazebo instead of the roof an a scorching hot day, we all could have done with some shade ha ha! I felt I was quite slow through most of the chicanes and had a wee off from some gravel that put us onto the grass verge as I braked. We lost about 5 minutes but managed to dig ourselves out to get going again and finished that and all the other stages.
Learning to control the car at speed on loose gravel surfaces was fun with with a front wheel drive car and a step up in speed from the autotesting and Iain and I had to feel our way around being both newbie co-driver and driver. Our timing was a bit off and I mostly drove what I saw so not the best in our first rally however, we got our first points in the EMAMC championship for us both.
Our second rally – Flying Fortress in Kettering – was again a roasting hot sunny, sweaty day. We didn’t get our entry in quick enough to get a start but a withdrawal from another rally team (as their car wasn’t ready) gave us an opportunity to enter and for me to drive with an experienced co-driver. Geoff Moss and his wife Val were an absolute treat to spend the day with, full of all sorts of interesting stories from their vast years of rallying. The Rally stages had lots of gravel surfaces which were slippy and fun and some very tight single track roads with treacherous stumps, trees and big boulders off the sides so that my former autotesting came in handy for the precision driving needed. The forest section in the last 2 stages took its toll on the car and we finished the rally with the car rattling and bumper looking lop-sided and in a right sorry state.
The most important learning came from driving with an experienced co-driver, I learned from Geoff Moss what I was supposed to do, listen to the co-driver telling me what was coming ahead so that I could make things flow. Geoff helped me to be able to drive faster as I knew what was ahead, but more importantly, I could teach Iain the timing of calling the route ahead. Geoff co-drove his 297th rally with me and his experience was completely invaluable. I earned my second round of EMAMC championship points with no offs tho rally car needed the front frame replacing as the former owner had obviously had a major front offside impact and it was crumpled in multiple places.
This gave me my first excuse to play with the angle grinder which was fun though slightly scary on potentially losing fingers ha ha! I chopped the frame out but had to get help putting the new one in as we don’t weld and the subframe was out by about an inch in the offside. The rally community were great putting me in touch with Craig Stevens who rebuilt the front end in time for rally 3 at Leconfield.
Iain and I started to click as a team as we both got the hang of working together better with calling the timing on the stage routes better, the only exiting brown trouser moments being taking out a crate twice on one of the stages from carrying too much speed. We successfully finished Rally 3 at Leconfield and Rally 4 – back at Melbourne in August – relatively un-eventfully and again got more points for the Championship.
The last 2 rally’s we entered were Cadwell Park and Donington Park as Asphalt Rally’s and these were a different beast from the gravel and broken concrete surfaces we’d been on before. Cadwell Park was a shock in the morning to find the electrical cutout ceased at scrutineering, it’s the fastest learning curve managing to scrounge a new one from another team and fit it in time to make it to the start line in time but we made it with 2 minutes to spare. It rained at Cadwell for about 90 minutes before we started so the road surface was slippy as anything, I spun out twice on the first lap and counted about 7 other cars that didn’t make it all the way round, thankfully with no injuries. By stage 3 we started to get a dry line on the road and confidence built as we started getting some grip on the sunny bits. However, we got caught out with a patch of road in the shade and spun out ending up facing the wrong way with car 81 hurtling towards us. It was a bloody miracle they didn’t hit us, they bounced off a tyre and must have missed us by inches but thankfully they did. We shook hands after that stage relieved on both sides at the near miss. Stages 7 and 8 were night stages – a first for us. We got some bright headlight bulbs and a light bar at fitted which were an absolute must. Rob Brooks giving the advice and again Craig Stevens doing the fitting. The heavens opened just as we were about to start stage 7 so we just took it really easy all the way round until the last left hand bend before the right turn up the mountain backwards where I understeered onto the grass, thankfully I carried enough speed to make it back onto the tarmac and we finished the stage. Stage 8 I felt like ´driving miss daisy’ speed all the way round but we had our 5th finish in the championship and the wee car was still intact.
The final Rally of the championship for us was at Donington Park where we managed to get a garage which was a bit of a luxury given the rainy weather off and on all day and sharing it with 2 other Scot’s which was a treat. We started Stage 1 on slicks but should probably have had our wets on but made it round ok despite spinning twice- managed not to hit anything. The absolute treat was the gravel part at the end of each stage on the in-field, this was brilliant fun sliding sideways in the wee Micra that handled it no problem. A miss-timed chicane in stage 2 meant that I went right through a tyre wall and once again our bumper was hanging off. Good old gaffer tape and cable ties, shows I was at least trying ha ha! The final night stage at Donington was accompanied by a massive downpour and a tremendous amount of spray so I gently, gently drove the stage, 2 minutes slower than the previous one but successfully finished gaining again more championship points.
When Iain and I started making plans of rallying together, little did we realise that we would end up second overall in the EMAMC championship and winning multiple trophies. It just goes to show you that you can still have success in a small car, spending relatively little money and having limited mechanical expertise. We couldn’t have done it though without the help and support from multiple motorsport clubs and all the fellow rally crews at the events, what a fantastic experience and a fabulous first year rallying for us.