James Giddings Rallying

Really enjoyed being back out in the car yesterday at the Nicky Grist Stages, as always a well run event. Fair play to all who helped it run in the heat 👏🏼

Since I used the recent Sweet lamb time trail as a test for this rally I felt pretty confident going into this one, but the car had other ideas! We ended up dropping time through the morning loop due a faulty wheel speed sensor on the rear, which in basic terms meant our diffs weren’t doing what they should, and on many occasions the car felt undriveable! We also had no anti lag which didn’t exactly help matters!

With those issues sorted in service we had a really good run through the afternoon stages, but ultimately it was a spin on stage 5 that cost us the most, and meant we lost out to a top 10 overall finish. But all things considered, I was happy with my performance in the relentless heat, and it’s nice to know we are nearly back up to full speed after our off on the Severn valley stages a few months ago.

I have to say hats off to Jez Macwhirter for doing an amazing job at repairing the car to his usual high standard, even if we are still waiting on a few body panels!! 😁 and of course to all the boys in service for keeping us going with the heat!

Despite the issues we finished 2nd in class and 13th overall. Unfortunately we don’t have any championships to play for now, but we still plan to be at the remaining few events, and next up for us will be the Britpart Woodpecker Stages in a few weeks time.

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📸 Ben Lawrence Photography | Christopher James 📸

A tough day for us on the Severn Valley Stages.

Despite nursing a damaged gearbox mount all morning, we still managed to set some strong times among the Rally2 cars. No easy task considering we hadn’t done the recce.

The whole Macwhirter Motorsport team were on hand at service to get the issue resolved for us, and after 2 more stages we held a comfortable lead of over 1 minute in our class. Unfortunately on the final stage we got caught out in the tricky conditions and rolled. Thankfully Aled and I were fine. Apologies to both cars behind us for blocking the stage, luckily I managed to get the car moving so the stage could stay live, but there was too much damage for us to carry on.

As a small team on a limited budget, this is definitely a big setback, and I’m not sure how we stand on getting her repaired in time for the next round.

A huge thanks to all the team, my family, and my sponsors for their continued support, and to everyone who has messaged since Saturday, it does mean a lot.

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📸 Black Mountains Media | Race&Rally Photos | Neil Constable 📸

Rally week is finally here 👌🏼

Things have been pretty quiet for me over the past few months on the rallying front, but it feels great to be back and getting ready to go again for the Severn Valley Stages this weekend.

This year we’ll be taking on the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship once more, alongside selected rounds of the British Rally Championship National class.

This season wouldn’t be possible without the support of my amazing sponsors — I’m hugely grateful for everything they do.

Aled will be back alongside me for the ride, and with only a few days to go until our first event of the season, we’re ready to get started.

Here’s to a good one! 🚗💨

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