Name:

Andrew Dugdale

Age:

29

Marital status:

Looking

Children:

None

Occupation:

Bridge designer

Place of birth:

Carlisle

Country or county where you live:

Manchester

Does your spouse / partner like rallying?

She will, when I find her!

Any other hobbies?

Swimming, trying to keep fit, Carlisle United. 

Favourite food:

Mum's cooking

Favourite drink:

Boddies – during the closed season only, obviously!!

Favourite motorsport paper / magazine:

Come back, Rallysport

Favourite sports person (other than rallying):

John McEnroe – you can't beat the single-minded determination of the guy. 

Favourite film star:

Sharon Stone - ummmmh

Favourite holiday destination:

The Nile

Which TV sports programmes do you watch?

World Motorsport, WRC on Eurosport, The Grand National, The Boat Race. 

How did you start out?

Spending a week in a mate's car following the RAC, then joined a motor club and went marshalling. Started 12 cars and road rallies.

Met Steve on Cumbria Road Rally championship in 96 – he beat me!

Started special stage navigating for Steve in 97 BTRDA championship, then did 2 years in Skoda Trophy.

2000 was best season yet, won class N2 on BRC in a Proton Satria.

First driver you sat with:

Malcolm Wilson; test session at Lowther Park stage in 95. 1^st competitive ride was with Steve Head in a 1600cc Nova.

First event:

Wyedean Rally 97

Type of licence held:

International

Which motor club do you belong to?

Spadeadem MC and Lancashire and Cheshire Car Club

Do you contribute towards your rallying?

Only Team Penguin, there’s nothing else left!!

But get in touch if you need a nav.

Have you ever driven on a rally?

No – Steve has got a car he wants written off, so watch this space.  The other problem is finding someone brave enough to sit in clever half of the car.

Did you ever marshal on events? When and where?

First event was the Jim Clark Memorial Rally in 1990 when it was in the woods at Kershope. Since then I’ve done all the BRC rounds, RAC and most rallies in Kielder.

Struggle to get out much to marshal these days, but try to do a couple of events each year.  Last year Steve and I did course car on the Malcolm Wilson and the Cambrian.

How many events do you get to watch? (eg. per year)

3 or 4, usually involved with running somebody, or after retiring from events – didn’t see too much last year, thankfully.

How many rallies do you take part in? (eg. per year)

10 to 15, hoping to do a few more this year.

Have you competed abroad? Where and when?

Does Scottish Rallying count?

Tour of Flanders in 98 with Skoda Trophy.

Favourite rally car:

Metro 6R4

Favourite rally driver:

Dave Metcalf

Favourite rally co-driver:

Tina Thorner – better looking than Phil Mills

Favourite bit of road or forest:

A696 Penrith to Alston, in either direction.

Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?

Notes are faster. Maps give more moments, or perhaps I’m crap at reading maps!? 

Things you dislike about rallying?

Lack of any structure. With 60 Grand I could do my first rally in a WRC car.  With 10 Grand I could be the next Colin McRae but never get an opportunity.

To succeed you have to be a good businessman and be able to attract your own sponsorship and I don’t see that changing. It’s about time drivers earned the right to drive faster cars, with annual promotion/relegation between classes; now that would give football a run for its money.

Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2001?

Auriol, a good outside bet.

Drivers you have sat with:

Steve Head
Malcolm Wilson (Escort Cosworth)
Steve Clark (106)
Teppo Vekka (106 - member of Finnish Junior team)
Dave Head (Nova)
Nicky Harper (Skoda) 

Best driver you have ever sat with?

Steve Head, yes really!!

Best result:

1^st Overall Grizedale Stages Rally Dec 2000 – our first win.

18^th O/A on Pirelli and 1^st in class in 2000 was most satisfying result – the finish was in Carlisle.

Worst result:

4^th in class on 1999 Rally GB – 8 punctures and gastric flu, other than that it was a great event.

Also, car 111 on 98 Pirelli, it was the same both ways up!

Championships contested:

97 BTRDA

98, 99 Skoda Trophy

99, 00 BRC

Selected rounds of 106 cup

Best Championship result:

1^st British Rally Championship Class N2, 2000

Best rally memory:

Too drunk to remember it.

I’ll always remember McRae passing Sainz on a road section of the Network Q just after he’d taken the lead in ‘95 – nice piece of psychology.

Strangest incident on a rally:

Marshalling at 7am in an icy Hamsterly forest on the RAC. Didier Auriol rolled. I was first on the scene and was faced by two people in shiny white (scary in the darkness). His Toyota was upside down, wrapped round a tree. We managed to get him out of the trees and on his way. He finished the event and managed to win the World Championship!  

I was in Chester for the finish and he thanked the lads that pulled him out – nice one!

Biggest accident:

Ulster 99 with Steve Clark in the 106 cup. Up a ditch, bounced off a hedge and ended on the roof – Ouch.

Achievements gained from rallying:

The Roger Clark Award was great for us last year. Steve and I put a lot of effort in and got a lot out of it.

Rallying is only thing that can motivate me to get fit. I’ve also learned a lot about PR and the internet.

How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?

Lose some weight, but that’s getting more difficult.

It might help if I knew the difference between left and right! 

How could you improve your current driver’s performance?

Get him a faster car. 

If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do?

BRC in an N4 Mitsubishi Lancer with Steve Head. 

Where would you most like to compete (in the world):

New Zealand

Which rally would you most like to compete in?

Rally NZ

Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for?

Juha Kankunnen 

Ambition in rallying for the future:

To complete a championship in a World Rally Car, and win.

What would you like to put back into rallying?

Encourage young spectators – they are the future of the sport.  Hopefully increased terrestrial TV coverage on Saturday mornings will improve the profile of rallying in Britain.

Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend?

Steve Head and Guy Wilks. 

Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend?

Richard Pashley 

What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers?

Concentrate on the road sections, it’s easy to get distracted and miss a turning. A friend told me, Honest!

Otherwise, go road rallying and learn to read a map in the dark and under pressure.

Go for it!

Anybody need any gravel / weather crews? Give me a shout on andrew@teampenguin.co.uk