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Exclusive Interview with Top
British Co-driver
Gordon Noble
 |
Gordon co-drives for Niall McShea in the Production Car WRC 2004updated 20/4/04 (items marked ***)Gordon's latest newsNews from PCWRC 2004 |
| Personal | |
| Name: | Gordon Noble |
| Age: | ** 42 |
| Marital status: | Married to Joan |
| Children: | ** 7 year old Nicole, 1 year old Mark |
| Occupation: | Civil Engineer ( roads authority) |
| Place of birth: | Enniskillen, N Ireland |
| Country or county where you live: | Omagh, Northern Ireland |
| Does your spouse / partner like rallying? | Has an interest, but has never competed, runs a car accessory shop. |
| Any other hobbies? | Water Skiing , Cycling |
| Your opinions | |
| Favourite food: | Well-done steak |
| Favourite drink: | Tea or Guinness |
| Favourite motorsport paper / magazine: | Motorsport News / Carsport / ** Rally XS |
| Favourite sports person (other than rallying): | Joey Dunlop |
| Favourite film star: | Clint Eastwood |
| Favourite holiday destination: | Disneyworld (big child’s playground) |
| Which TV sports programmes do you watch? | RPM. World Motorsport, any motorsport programme I find |
| Starting out | |
| How did you start out? | Navigation rallies after being in motor club while a student at Ulster Polytechnic |
| First driver you sat with: | Kenneth Murray |
| First event: | North Armagh navigation rally
in Sept 84 driving a TR7
As a passenger, Cookstown Navigation rally in Feb 1985 |
| Rallying background | |
| Type of licence held: | International |
| Which motor club do you belong to? | Omagh and Donegal |
| Do you contribute towards your rallying? | Time, blood, sweat and tears |
| Have you ever driven on a rally? | Yes, in navigation and stage
events.
Navigation events in various cars, represented Northern Ireland on inter-association events in UK. Some stage rallies in an Avenger and a Sunbeam, but never finished higher than 3rd in class |
| Did you ever marshal on events? When and where? | Yes, I am a licensed Clerk
of the Course and organise at least one event per year (Bushwhacker)
I also marshal, time, results, act as steward or generally assist at a few others |
| How many events do you get to watch? (eg. per year) | About 1 or 2 |
| How many rallies do you take part in? (eg. per year) | ** About 14 |
| Have you competed abroad? Where and when? | In Spain, Gran Canaria, Hungary, Belgium, Greece, ** France, USA |
| Your opinions (rallying) | |
| Favourite rally car: | Escort BDA or Lancia Stratos |
| Favourite rally drivers: | Ari Vatanen / Markku Alen / Henri Toivenen |
| Favourite rally co-driver: | ** Rory Kennedy |
| Favourite bit of road or forest: | Kindrum / Fanad / Knockalla loop ( Donegal) on a sunny day |
| Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events? | Either, maps for Co-driver input, notes are safer and faster |
| Things you dislike about rallying? | Cost
Apathy amongst competitors and spectators towards organising and assisting in the running of the sport. If you get something out of the sport you should put something back in |
| Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2001? | Gronholm again |
| ... and in 2003? | ** Gronholm again |
| Rallying history | |
| Drivers you have sat with: | 50 so far are - Roy Alcorn, Herby Blackburn, Sam Bowden, Derek Boyd, Seamus Burke, Gavin Campbell, Trevor Cathers, Anthony Donnelly, Robert Drysdale, George Elliott, Neil Fletcher, Mark Fisher, Rory Galligan, Stanley Gordon, Ian Giboney, Ken Graham, Kevin Harley, Eamon Harvey, Paul Harris, Mervyn Hill, Angus Hunter, Garry Jennings, Jon Joannides, Mervyn Johnston, Tony Kearns, Brendan Kelly, Rory Kennedy, John Leinster, Robin Lyons, Niall Maguire, Stephen Mawhinney, Kris Meeke, Gary Milligan, Jimmy Mills, Des Moore, Kenny Murray, Ronnie McCartney, Peter McCullagh, Derek McGarrity, Robbie McGurk, Denzil McKimmon, Kenny McKinstry, Sam McKinstry, Hugh O’Brien, Kevin O’Kane, Eric Patterson, Kevin Shaw, Jeremy Shields, Richard Smyth, Philip Young |
| Best driver you have ever sat with? | Who knows? |
| Best result: | The first win on a navigation rally, which gave me the confidence to continue. |
| Worst result: | Failing to finish Acropolis 2000, retired on SS3…… |
| Championships contested: | Navigation and stage championships
in N Ireland 1980’s
Tarmac Championship in Ireland, 1989 to 2002 British Rally Championship 1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002 Seat super six 1998 Peugeot Super 106 1999 |
| Best Championship result: | Group N victory in both British Championship and Irish Tarmac Championship in 1995 |
| Best rally memory: | First sight of Walter Rohrl
in a "short Quattro" on Ulster in 1985.
The speed, sound, braking capacity were awesome, and beyond what I had comprehended was possible, up to that point in time |
| Strangest incident on a rally: | Hitching a lift with 2 Australian
tourists in a hire car (who were lost) while trying to book into a stage
arrival without the rally car in Killarney 1992.
They had no idea what was happening, but they quickly drove me a mile and a bit and left me where I wanted to be. I abandoned them amongst traffic chaos on a closed road and never saw them afterwards!! I succeeded in clocking in at the correct time, nearly 30 minutes before the rally car arrived!!! |
| Biggest accident: | Ulster 1998, Trevor Cathers
in Evo 5 went off whilst flat in 5th over a small bump….
Etc..
** Followed by Rory Galligan in Peugeot 106 on Astra stages 02, again flat in 5th into the trees |
| Achievements gained from rallying: | Many good friends, lots of memories, hours of adrenaline rush |
| Your current performance | |
| Your current driver(s) and championships contested in 2002? | Rory Galligan, Peugeot 206 Super 1600 works team, competing in the British Rally Championship |
| .... and in 2003? | Garry Jennings, Peugeot 206 Super 1600 works team, competing in the British Rally Championship |
| .... and in 2004? | *** Niall McShea, PCWRC 2004 in a Subaru Impreza 2004 |
| How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance? | Get fitter, learn more, do
more events to gain more experience
Have the time available to devote to more effort |
| How could you improve your current driver’s performance? | Get him as many miles as possible in a rally car in competitive conditions. Add to his experience and confidence behind the wheel. |
| If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do? | Waste it on a car for myself,
and rally until the funds were done.
I probably would not win anything, but I’d have lots of fun |
| Your future in rallying | |
| Where would you most like to compete (in the world): | On a WRC stage past my front
door
Or anywhere I have not been before |
| Which rally would you most like to compete in? | Safari |
| Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for? | Anyone who is fast, committed,
professional in their approach, and will take me with them.
The next World Champion would be a good start |
| Ambition in rallying for the future: | 1 Compete in WRC
2 Compete in events at the highest level possible, both status of event and driver / car combination. 3 Be competitive |
| What would you like to put back into rallying? | I already have run navigation classes for Omagh MC, and will do some again in the future. |
| The future of rallying | |
| Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend? | ** Garry Jennings |
| Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend? | Me, or Stella Boyles ( we have not reached the top yet) |
| What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers? | Make sure the driver gets at
least the result he deserves
Keep focused, be organised, think ahead, don’t relax, Know your objectives, stay within reasonable limits of your capabilities, be polite if you can, remember it’s a sport…. |
| Any other comments | Excellent
site, plenty of good information provided by people who understand rallying.
Keep the revs up! |
| updated 21/1/03 updated 28/2/03 (items marked **) updated 20/4/04 (***) |
|
| McShea and Noble land on top
of Sola! PCWRC New Zealand 2004 |
|
I'm
in Kuala Lumpar airport, using up a few hours on the way home.....it's
a long haul with 10 hr and 13 hour flights to London, and then on to
Dublin, 3hrs drive from home...... After
a good test and first pass of the stages on the Recce, we felt good about
our chances on the event, but as with all the best laid plans, it came
to an abrupt halt. On the start line of the first stage on Thursday night,
which was the Manakua Super Special, we were first car on the road, and
the gearbox broke as Niall selected 2nd gear. Having survived the stage
in 3rd gear with a loss of about 10 secs, the repeat saw us jammed between
gears on the start line losing 40 secinds. Having driven 150 km to the
service area, the Jos Boon technicians changed the gearbox on the Syms
car, but we got 2min 30 secs of penalties. PCWRC New Zealand news, reports and results |
| British Rally Championship 2002 |
 I'm off to the PBRC "live" this weekend down in Nuneaton
and staying for a test with Garry Jennings in the 206 on Tuesday.We had a couple of great test days by competing on 2 rallies in the ex-James Thompson 106 Maxi, with 8th overall on the Kall Kwik and then 3rd o/all on the Willie Loughman Rally in Carrick-on-Suir last Sunday. Both outings gave us highest 2 wheel drive by a healthy margin. I hope this can continue through the BRC..... Gordon |
| Return to Top Co-drivers for even more exclusive interviews |
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