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Exclusive Interview with
Top British Co-driver
Clive Dunbabin
CLIVE DUNBABIN,
|
| Personal | |
| Name: | Clive Dunbabin |
| Age: | ** I will be 28 years old this Christmas day |
| Marital status: | Single |
| Children: | None |
| Occupation: | Electrician |
| Date of birth: | 25/12/75 (Yes, it's true I was born on Christmas day) |
| Country or county where you live: | Cheshire, England |
| Any other hobbies? | Going to the gym! |
| Your opinions | |
| Favourite food: | Chicken Tikka Madras from the local Indian |
| Favourite drink: | Stella Artois (Lager) |
| Favourite motorsport paper / magazine: | Motorsport News |
| Favourite sports person (other than rallying): | Eddie Irvine |
| Favourite film star: | Clint Eastwood |
| Favourite holiday destination: | Tenerife |
| Which TV sports programmes do you watch? | Question of Sport & any programmes on rallying |
| Starting out | |
| How did you start out? | Dan and myself had watched
my older brother (Mark Dunbabin) rallying a Mk 2 Escort and, once he had
finished his rallying, Dan and myself got the huge sum of £400.00 together
and bought our 1st rally car (MK2 Escort 1300) and won the
class on the first rally I competed in (1996 Plains Rally).
From this point I was hooked. Since then we have had a Nova (1997 winners Welsh Clubmans Championship), Peugeot 205 (countless Class wins), Skoda Felicia (winners 1999 Skoda Trophy & 2nd in class on the 1998 Network Q Rally of GB) ,Honda Civic (Runner up in the 2000 BTRDA F2 Championship), and now we have the Peugeot 106 GTI (Super 106 Cup). |
| First driver you sat with: | Daniel Dunbabin (My Twin Brother) |
| First event: | 1996 Plains Rally |
| Rallying background | |
| Type of licence held: | International |
| Which motor club do you belong to? | Warrington & District Motor club |
| Do you contribute towards your rallying? | I own half of the rally car & pay half of all the bills |
| Have you ever driven on a rally? | No. Never had the desire to do so and probably never will! |
| Did you ever marshal on events? When and where? | YES. My older brother Mark
always took myself and Dan to all the local events.
Now Dan and myself marshal on our own motor club (Warrington) event based on Anglesey (The Enville Stages) |
| How many events do you get to watch? (eg. per year) | 10 |
| How many rallies do you take part in? (eg. per year) | 12-15 |
| Have you competed abroad? Where and when? | Not yet but, on July 6th, we are rallying in France (Rallye Charlemagne) |
| Your opinions (rallying) | |
| Favourite rally car: | Metro 6R4 |
| Favourite rally driver: | Didier Auriol |
| Favourite rally co-driver: | Nicky Grist |
| Favourite bit of road or forest: | Radnor forest |
| Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events? | Pace Notes |
| Things you dislike about rallying? | The rising costs to compete
in clubman rallies.
Motor clubs and the M.S.A. have to realise these club rallies are where our future rallying stars have to start and, the more expensive rallying becomes, the more the number of people who start rallying decreases. |
| Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2001? | Tommi Makinen |
| .... and in 2003? | ** Richard Burns will definitely win the
world championship in 2003. |
| Rallying history | |
| Drivers you have sat with: | Spencer Wilkinson ( Peugeot
106 )
Julian Broadhurst (Lada) Daniel Dunbabin (Mk2 Escort, Nova, Peugeot 205, Skoda Felicia, Honda Civic, Peugeot 106 GTI.) |
| Best driver you have ever sat with? | Dan Dunbabin |
| Best result: | Winning the Skoda Trophy 1999 |
| Worst result: | Crashing out of the 2000 Cambrian Rally whilst leading by 27 seconds |
| Championships contested: | ANWCC Forest Championship
Welsh Clubmans Forest Championship Evans Windows Forest Rally Championship BTRDA Silverstar Championship BTRDA GoldStar Championship British Rally Championship Skoda Trophy Peugeot Super 106 Cup |
| Best Championship result: | Winner 1999 Skoda Trophy |
| Best rally memory: | Competing in the 1998 Network Q Rally of GB |
| Strangest incident on a rally: | Woodpecker Stages 2000
On the last stage of the rally, while having a huge battle for the lead of the event with Graham Middleton in his Hyundai kit car, Dan and myself came around a 60 right to find a deer facing us in the middle of the stage. Luckily, it started to run at the sight of us. (I think you would if you were faced with a Honda Civic doing 90MPH + revving at 9500RPM) |
| Biggest accident: | The 2000 Cambrian Rally In
Penmachno
(Five times side-over-side and twice end-over-end at 85MPH plus!) |
| Achievements gained from rallying: | A lot of great friends who help us on rallies and prepare the car in between rallies with us at home. |
| Your current performance | |
| Your current driver(s) and events or Championships being contested in 2001 | Driver : DANIEL DUNBABIN
2001 Super 106 Cup |
| .... and in 2003? | ** We have just acquired David Higgins' Grp N Impreza for us to use on the BTRDA and a few international events - possibly somthing abroad! |
| How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance? | I'm currently in the process of losing 3 ½ stones in weight! |
| How could you improve your current driver’s performance? | Try to gain some more experience on tarmac! |
| If you had £50,000 to spend
on rallying, what would you do?
|
I would probably hire a WRC car for 1 World Rally Championship event, and take out a large insurance policy against it, and have a right good crack to see if Dan and myself could get in the top twenty. |
| Your future in rallying | |
| Where would you most like to compete (in the world): | Finland - with all those super high speed jumps (YEE HA) |
| Which rally would you most like to compete in? | Swedish Rally (with all those really wild super sideways moments) |
| Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for? | Didier Auriol. He is such a exciting driver; there is never a dull moment. |
| Ambition in rallying for the future: | Would like to be noticed by a manufacturer's team for a works drive or, if not, just to do gravel / ice notes for someone. Must be the coolest job in the world! |
| What would you like to put back into rallying? | I would like to promote / help
some young drivers who would not normally have the finance to compete
on anything more than club rallies gain some world championship experience!
(It takes a lot of money, which I don’t have, yet!) |
| The future of rallying | |
| Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend? | Justin Lawson. He is currently competing in the Super 106 Cup. |
| Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend? | Paul Hargreaves |
| What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers? | Never be afraid to tell your driver to slow down, because there is only you who can tell when your driver is going ragged ! |
| Any other comments | If you see me on a rally, come over and say Hi. |
| updated 21/12/02 (items marked **) | |
| Return to Top Co-drivers for even more exclusive interviews |
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