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John co-drives for so many drivers that we wouldn't have room here to list them all! This is one busy man! But we'll mention Marcus Dodd, Brian Bell, Richard Tuthill, Brian Lyall... updated 24/10/03 (items marked ***)

Personal
Name:	John Bennie
Age:	** 37
Marital status:	Separated
Children:	None
Occupation:	Co-driver / ** Co-ordinator
Place of birth:	Glasgow
Country or county where you live:	Glasgow
Does your spouse / partner like rallying?	*** Single at present
Any other hobbies?	Squash, Cycling & generally trying to keep fit. To relax, I enjoy the cinema and eating out.
Your opinions
Favourite food:	Italian, French or Chinese (depends on my mood)
Favourite drink:	Fresh Fruit Juice (Smoothies!) - best served in a hot climate!
Favourite motorsport paper / magazine:	RallyXS. It is a light-hearted but interesting read!
Favourite sports person (other than rallying):	Can’t name any one person, but anyone that can ride and complete the Tour De France gets my respect!
Favourite film star:	Cameron Diaz
Favourite holiday destination:	The Scottish Islands for relaxation and the USA for its sheer variety! ** Australia is good, too!
Which TV sports programmes do you watch?	Most of them, including Transworld Sports, CART and a lot of Eurosport.
Starting out
How did you start out?	My father was involved in motorsport which got me interested. Then, when I was old enough, I started navigating on road rallies (before I had a driving licence). A driver I was with on road events decided to do a stage rally and it all went from there.
First driver you sat with:	Andy Knight (on stage rallies) - NOT the one from Mull!
First stage event:	Valentine Rally 1987. Retired, stuck in a ditch.
Rallying background
Type of licence held:	International Rally
Which motor club do you belong to?	** Currently, Glasgow University Motor Sports Club and Malton Motor Club
Do you contribute towards your rallying?	** Not financially
Have you ever driven on a rally?	*** Yes, 3 times now! Did Grizedale and Galloway Hills on consecutive days in a borrowed Sunbeam in 1997, then this year I drove a Peugeot 205 on the Tour of Mull. Finished top 205!
Did you ever marshal on events? When and where?	Yes, occasionally. The last time was on a Navigational Rally and prior to that was the Scottish Hill Rally.
How many events do you get to watch? (eg. per year)	4 - 6
How many rallies do you take part in? (eg. per year)	Over the last few years it's probably averaged out around 20.
Have you competed abroad? Where and when?	Belgium, Portugal, Eire (does that count?), the USA, Cyprus, Greece & Finland.
Your opinions (rallying)
Favourite rally car:	** Subaru Impreza P2000
Favourite rally driver:	(Past) Michele Mouton (Present in WRC) Petter Solberg.
Favourite rally co-driver:	Tina Thörner - she has the right attitude to life!
Favourite bit of road or forest:	*** Don’t have one favourite - they are all good when it’s all going right! South Wales is excellent in the summer, Grizedale is a challenge, and don’t forget the Island of Mull. That’s just in the UK…..
Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?	** Probably notes now. Maps working well are satisfying as a co-driver, but notes working well increases the speed…. And speed is what it’s all about!
Things you dislike about rallying?	The cost. If it was cheaper, more people would be doing more of it.
Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2002?	Tommi Makinen or Richard Burns
.... and in 2003?	Richard Burns (but I’d really like to see Petter Solberg win it!)
Rallying history
Drivers you have sat with:	*** At the last count there are 48 of them! The top 3 are Ian Wilson (44 events), Marcus Dodd (40 events) and Brian Lyall (33 events).
Best driver you have ever sat with?	Either Marcus Dodd or Richard Tuthill. ** Both are blindingly fast on their day.
Best result:	With Marcus, the one I cherish the most was winning the Granite City Rally in 1999, beating Brian Lyall on his home ground. And that was with a car that only had the first 4 of its 6 gears! The Bulldog in 2001 was also good, beating Stephen Finlay conclusively and lifting a third ANCRO Title. With Tuts, winning in the States (Chattanooga and the Wild West), beating the might of Prodrive and John Buffum's Hyundai Team in a privately run Mitsubishi! We owe a lot to Winning Makes for the opportunities we've had out there.
Worst result:	Ending up in hospital (Weldex 1996).
Championships contested:	Scottish, British National, BRC, ** SCCA ProRally
Best Championship result:	1997 Scottish Champion and Mintex National Champion the same year. ** Also 2000 & 2001 National Champion
Best rally memory:	The 1999 Granite City Rally and Chattanooga.
Strangest incident on a rally:	The front wheel falling off and disappearing over a wall. Then just as the car was coming to a halt without a big accident, the wheel bounced off a tree in the field and came back over the wall and hit the side of the car. Didn’t expect that!
Biggest accident:	2000 Network Q Rally of GB. Marcus and I hit a tree side on at approximately 70-80MPH! The car stopped dead. ** The Weldex in 1996 with Malloch Nichol was also a sore one – that’s when we ended up in hospital. It’s on plenty of crash videos…..
Achievements gained from rallying:	You learn the benefits of being organised, planning and being fit and healthy. Have also been able to travel and see different parts of the world.
Your current performance
How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?	** Gain more foreign experience.
How could you improve your current driver’s performance?	Compete at WRC level more often.
If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do?	Don’t know. £50k probably isn’t enough. I’d like to invest a lump of capital and use the income from that to continually promote young talent. You wouldn’t get enough income from £50k to do very much each year.
Your future in rallying
Where would you most like to compete (in the world):	** On the World Rally Championship!
Which rally would you most like to compete in?	*** Dakar or Pikes Peak
Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for?	The world champion (in the year he wins it)!
Ambition in rallying for the future:	To progress as far as possible
What would you like to put back into rallying?	I’ve already been on MSA’s Rallies Committee and Car Club and Event Committees. I was also involved in starting the University Initiative in Scotland a few years ago, resulting in the formation of Glasgow University MSC. I will continue to put time and effort back into the development of the sport in Scotland. I will also continue to watch out for exceptional young talent and try and help them in whatever way I can at the time.
The future of rallying
Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend?	** Ramana Lagemann from the USA. He’s driving for Prodrive in the ProRally Series and it would be good to see him given a chance to compete in Europe. He’s getting quicker and quicker….
Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend?	*** Me(???), of course! I'm always looking for more co-driving opportunities.
What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers?	Be prepared and organised. Always concentrate on the job in hand.
Any other comments	Enjoy life - you only live it once!
updated 23/2/02 updated 22/1/03 (items marked ) updated 24/10/03 (items marked *)