The Heart of England Rally Championship 2008 is being campaigned by father and daughter pairing Sian and Hywel Tidley rallying an AB Motorsport prepared Peugeot 205 Gti supported by GRM, FoundEx, LMH Civil Engineering Ltd. and Rally Action Photography.
Driver Sian is a 20 year old parts person employed by a local Citroen dealership, sharing her fathers passion for cars from a very early age. In her first year of competitive motorsport she won the AWMMC 2007 Under 21 driver of the year award.
Rallying is obviously in her blood - father and co-driver, Hywel, has returned to competitive motorsport after a 20 year gap previously entering in a MkII Escort RS2000.
Co-driver, 48 year old Hywel, is a Director with GRM a Midlands based Geotechnical and Structural Engineering Consultancy, fascinated by all things technical, spends his spare time working on the rally car or involved with his local motor club or other restoration projects.
The Heart of England Rally Championship 2008, is a National Series, consisting of nine sealed surface events covering venues from the idyllic surroundings of stately homes (Weston Park - Agbo Stage Rally) to the frighteningly demanding fast, narrow, tarmac roads of Epynt Military Ranges in Wales (Welsh International Rally).
Sian and Hywel will be contesting and supporting The Richard Burns Memorial Rally which will take place at Royal Air Force Marham, Norfolk (home to 8% of the Royal Air Force and a third of the Royal Air Force's aerial warfighting capability), over September 13-14 2008.
The aim is for the event to raise excess of £100,000 for charity to be split between the Richard Burns Foundation – which provides support for people suffering from life-threatening diseases or injury and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund which provides similar financial support to serving and retired members of the RAF.
The Peugeot 205 Gti stage rally car was bought in 2006 and is currently prepared and run by Warwickshire based professional motorsport preparation company AB Motorsport. Andy Baker has years of experience building and preparing successful rally cars, his cars having won the 205 Challenge for 4 consecutive years.
Recent modifications to the Red Dragon Rallying car for 2008 include a new higher power engine and full tarmac set-up. Sian and Hywel form part of the successful ABstars rally team - a venture created by Andy Baker to assist up and coming rallying talent, increasing their profile offering wider sponsorship opportunities. Red Dragon Rallying Team and support crew now consists of:
Mary: Team administrator (and Catering Manager)
Shaun: Chief Technician
Ben: Test driver and Service Crew # 1
Callum: Service Crew # 2
John: Service Crew # 3
Ben (2): Service Crew # 4
Andy Baker at AB Motorsport (Car development, preparation and event support)
Iain: Web site design and development
Red Dragon Rallying are deeply indebted to those above for their tireless support both on events and during car preparation.
Without these guys it just would not happen!
