HHandbrakesandbrakes airpins HHairpins g he world of rallyin & yyourour insightinsight intointo thet world of rallying CCoverover BBOGIEOGIE WWINSINS RRALLYEALLYE SSUNSEEKERUNSEEKER ININ SSTYLETYLE IISSUESSUE 117272 • 0033 MMARAR 22011011 hhttp://wp.me/pkXcttp://wp.me/pkXc Park SServiceervice Park MINI unveils SStarttart RampRamp S2000, P6 BRC and Irish c Ferme rally news Molly Taylor at PParcar Ferme Sunseeker, P8 BRC,BBRRC, P12 USA rallyingr snippetssnipp Hanson still RA,RRA P14 WRC and IRC leads, P10 newsnew updates Team Total Novikov joins Barrable plans Pitchford wins revealed, P7 Stobart, P11 IRC action, P10 award, P5 DDOCUMENTATIONOCUMENTATION Editorial Information 04 News Editor Evan Rothman 04 Start Ramp - News Shorts 04 Pitchford wins media award 05 Fan Foto Framed 06 Features Photojournalist Eva Kovkova 06 MINI unveils S2000 and WRC schedule 07 Team Total reveals plans for 2011 08 Taylor and Smart retire from Sunseeker 09 Solberg ready for Mexico Contributors RallyBuzz, Motorpics, Newspress. 09 BRC Rallye Sunseeker report by H&H 10 Hanson still in charge 10 Barrable plans for IRC campaign Novikov joins Stobart for Mexico All content copyrighted property of 11 HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS, 2007- 11. This publication is fully protected 12 Events by copyright and nothing may be 12 BRC Rallye Sunseeker review reprinted in whole or in part without 14 RA Rally in the 100 Acre Wood review written permission from the editor. 16 WRC Rally Mexico preview While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of information from sources and given to readers, the editor cannot accept responsibility for any inconvenience or damage that may arise therefrom. Contact E-mail us [email protected] Call us +27 83 452 6892 Surf us http://wp.me/pkXc To receive your FREE weekly Welcome to H&H! HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS Welcome to issue 172 of HANDBRAKES & eMagazine, or if you’d like to share this HAIRPINS, your FREE weekly insight into with a friend please send your e-mail the world of rallying. address to [email protected]. As always, I hope you enjoy HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS is not this week’s exciting edition packed with a SPAM e-mail: email addresses are news on Craig Breen’s growing CV, news added to the mailing list voluntarily. from the USA, the UK and of course the rallying mecca that is Europe. To top it all, as crews ready for the respective South African Off-Road and Rally Championships, we bring you a big read once more this week. Yours in Rallying, Evan Rothman Bringing you the latest international rally news, extensive event previews and reviews, in- depth feature and technical articles, award- winning photography and insightful columnists, HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS is distributed to your Handbrakes e-mail inbox each week for FREE in the form of a high-quality 2MB .PDF file. To receive this FREE eMagazine (in .PDF format), Hairpins please send an email to [email protected]. & your insight into the world of rallying http://handbrakeshairpins.wordpress.com )XOOUDQJHRI6WLORSURGXFW QRZDYDLODEOHIURPVWRFN Telephone +27 11 6708400 E-mail: [email protected] Website: ats-motorsport.co.za SSTARTTART RRAMPAMP Team & Event News Videos Fan Foto Framed 45 ENTRIES KOPECKY HUNT PLUS FOR WINS CZECH FINALISES CANARIAS MEDIA PRIZE 2011 IRC Words: Staff Writer Words: Staff Writer Words: Staff Writer Interest in Rally Islas Canarias El Jan Kopecký has received a boost Reigning Intercontinental Rally Corte Inglés continues to grow as he prepares for Rally Islas Challenge (IRC) 2WD Cup champion after organisers revealed that Canarias El Corte Inglés, round two Harry Hunt has confi rmed the 45 crews have registered for the of the 2011 Intercontinental Rally remainder of his IRC plan for 2011. Intercontinental Rally Challenge Challenge. The London-based Briton, who round. The 29-year-old from Czech beat Kevin Abbring and Rafael Tulio And with entries for the island Republic was chosen by members of to the IRC 2WD Cup title in 2010, will event not closing until 1 April, there his country’s motoring media as the contest Tour de Corse, Geko Ypres Rally, is a strong possibility that even more recipient of a Golden Steering Wheel, Sata Rallye Acores, Barum Czech Rally competitors will sign-up for the Gran which go to the best performers in Zlin, Rallye Sanremo, RACMSA Rally of Canaria-based rally. a variety of motorsport disciplines, Scotland and the Cyprus Rally. One of the latest names to including rallying, each year. “After winning the IRC 2WD Cup enter is Spaniard Ruben Gracia who will Kopecký, who has fi nished last year I’m really excited about the be a contender for IRC Production Cup runner-up in the IRC standings for the challenge I’ll face trying to defend my honours in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer past two seasons alongside co-driver title,” said Hunt. “Obviously it’s going to Evolution X after fi nishing seventh Petr Starý, received the award recently be more diffi cult this year because I’m overall on the event last season. following his exploits in last season’s IRC stepping up in terms of car performance Gracia will be looking to make in a Škoda Motorsport Fabia Super 2000. and I’m going to face even more rivals. up for his disappointing exit on Rallye He said: “I really appreciate this But I’m doing a good spread of events Monte-Carlo in January when he was award from the media. It honours the and I’ve got a good chance to learn even challenging for a place in the top 30 results of my job although I was making more. I’ll certainly be doing my best only to go off the road and retire on the some mistakes last year in the IRC and to get some good results and build my eighth stage of the event. I hope these will not be repeated [this experience.” Rally Islas Canarias takes place year].” All drivers in any two-wheel- from 14-16 April and counts as the Kopecký has received the award drive car built to Grp A, Grp N and Gr R second round of the 12-event IRC series. on three previous occasions in 2004, regulations are eligible for the IRC 2WD The event made its fi rst appearance on 2006 and 2007. Cup drivers’ title. Only those car makes the IRC schedule in 2010 and was won Rally Islas Canarias is based registered as an IRC manufacturer by Czech crew Jan Kopecký and Petr in Las Palmas on the island of Gran are permitted to score IRC 2WD Cup Starý in a Škoda Fabia Super 2000. H&H Canaria. It runs from 14-16 April. H&H manufacturers’ points. H&H THIS WEEK’S BEST VIDEO << Tim Williams represented HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS at the opening round of the 2011 Rally America season. This talented photographer also fi lmed the cars in action, and here is his series of video clips: http://wp.me/ppkXc-2uq At the top of each page, a tabbed section contains video clicks we recommend viewing. In other tabbed sections, we have linked articles posted on our website that will add more perspective and insight into the article it accompanies. Together with the videos, HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS aims to offer readers a fully-interactive reading experience. Send [email protected] your favourite rally-related videos to to be featured in this section. Or, send us a twitter to @Evan_Rothman or a message on Facebook. THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF RALLYING RallyBuzz.com features European rally championships, British rallying, RallyCar events, international rally results and videos, as well as S2000 and WRC news. www.RallyBuzz.com IIssuessue 117272 • 0033 MMarar 22011011 PPageage • 0055 Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo test the MINI Countryman WRC: http://wp.me/ppkXc-2CX FAN FOTO FRAMED Got a great shot from a rally? Send your favourite rally photograph to [email protected] to be featured here! Picture by Bill Holmes. PITCHFORD NAMED MOTOR SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR 2010 Words: Staff Writer Picture: Motorpics Ralph Pitchford, who was the highest-placed South African in last year’s Dakar Rally when he navigated American Mark Miller to third Download H&H’s place in a factory Volkswagen Race Touareg, FREE January Rally is the 2010 Bridgestone/Guild of Motoring Calendar: Journalists Motor Sportsman of the Year. http://bit.ly/hdWp0A The 49-year-old former national off road motorcycle and production car co-driver champion was competing in his fourth Dakar Rally and is SOCIAL MEDIA: regarded as one of the world’s best ultra-marathon off road navigators. FOLLOW US! Winner of the Colin Watling Award for Follow HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS on Twitter and special achievement in motor sport by someone Facebook for insightful news and entertainment. other than a competitor was Adrian Pheiffer, for his lifelong dedication to motor sport as a competitor, club offi cial and motorsport journalist and, most recently, as the author of a signifi cant book which chronicles the history of early Cape motorsport and specifi cally the half decade of the Killarney motor racing circuit, an institution with which he has been associated since its birth more than 50 years ago. Also nominated for the Colin Watling Award was Ian Schofi eld, for his long-time support and sponsorship of Formula Ford in South Africa, which has seen the category grow into one of the most competitive in the country. H&H SSERVICEERVICE PPARKARK Interviews Exclusive columnists In-depth articles MINI UNVEILS S2000 MACHINE, WRC SCHEDULE Words: Staff Writer motorsport to the mix, you can see we MINI John Cooper Works WRC will be Pictures: Newspress have an exceptional blend of attributes made from ultra-lightweight plastic.