Exclusive Interview with Top British Co-driver Jonty Bolsover

Personal
Name:	JONTY BOLSOVER
Age:	** 43
Marital status:	** Married to Natasha
Children:	** Nina (aged 15), Sancho (aged 13) and Max (4 months)
Occupation:	* Director, Car dealership
Place of birth:	Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire
Country or county where you live:	Derbyshire, England
Any other hobbies?	Squash, skiing, mountain biking, football, Playstation and scrapping with the kids!
Your opinions
Favourite food:	Italian
Favourite drink:	** Wine
Favourite motorsport paper / magazine:	Motoring News
Favourite sports person (other than rallying):	** cyclist Lance Armstrong (at the moment)
Favourite film star:	* Keanu Reeves
Favourite holiday destination:	Antigua, and Sierra Nevada in Spain
Which TV sports programmes do you watch?	Eurosport, Sky Sports
Starting out
How did you start out?	12 car rally when I was 15. There were 23 starters (?) including my school maths. teacher! We overtook him during the rally and finished 1st overall!! My maths. teacher gave me a hard time from then on!
First driver you sat with:	David Atkinson, Talbot Avenger
First event:	1979 Morning Star Trophy Road Rally, finished 16th overall.
Rallying background
Type of licence held:	International
Which motor club do you belong to?	* Dukeries
Do you contribute towards your rallying?	* No
Have you ever driven on a rally?	Yes. Came 18th overall on an East Midlands Road Rally in a Vauxhall Astra hire car!
Did you ever marshal on events? When and where?	Yes. Lots of road rallies in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire.
How many events do you get to watch? (eg. per year)	2 or 3
How many rallies do you take part in? (eg. per year)	10 - 12 * although I did 55 in two years (2002 and 2003)
Have you competed abroad? Where and when?	Yes. Belgium, San Remo in Italy * and Norway
Your opinions on rallying
Favourite rally car:	Subaru Impreza WRC
Favourite rally driver:	* Petter Solberg
Favourite rally co-driver:	Nicky Grist
Favourite bit of road or forest:	Oliver's Mount in Scarborough and Grizedale Forest
Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?	Pace notes are exciting and the way forward but maps were a challenge.
Things you dislike about rallying?	Drivers who 'slag off' co-drivers, early morning starts, rules and regulations
Who do you think will win the 2002 World Rally Championship?	Colin McRae
.. and in 2004?	* Petter Solberg
Rallying history
Drivers you have sat with:	Pete Wells, Gavin Cox, Dave Atkinson, Hugh Smith, Chris Mellors, Neale Dougan, Rory Galligan, Peter Vassallo, Brad Piercey, Jon Cropper, James Sutherland, Pierre Honeger, Tony Shields, Shaun Judge, Malcolm Wilson, Alan McNish, Steve Perez plus + + + + + +
Best driver you have ever sat with?	Galligan, Mellors, Sutherland, and Wells
Best result:	Lots of road rally victories. 1st overall Scottish National 1999 1st Weston Park rally 2000
Worst result:	Breaking the clutch over the last stage finish line of last year's Ulster Rally whilst leading the Peugeot Cup!
Championships contested:	East Midlands Road Rally Championship Motoring News Road Rally Championship Mintex National Peugeot 106 Cup
Best Championship result:	1st overall Group B National Champions in 1989 with Pete Wells * 1st overall Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship 2003 with Steve Perez
Best rally memory:	Being the youngest ever co-driver (at the time) to do the RAC rally and to be part of the British Junior Rally Team in 1983 with Gavin Cox, Mark Lovell, Louise Aitken-Walker and Alan Johnstone
Strangest incident on a rally:	Rolling on a road rally with Shaun Judge into a field in the middle of nowhere. The car was upside down and the two of us couldn't get it back on its wheels. Out of the mist appeared a very, very fat lady who pushed the car over on her own and then disappeared without saying a word!!!
Biggest accident:	Barrel-rolled 6 times with Pete Wells on a Derbyshire road rally. Chris Mellors, who had built the car, recovered it from a river bed the next morning and found the car left in 5th gear - we were trying!
Your current performance
Your current driver(s) and championship in 2003?	Steve Perez in the Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship
Your current driver(s) and championship in 2004?	* Rory Galligan in the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge
How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?	Compete on more events abroad, learn from the professionals
How could you improve your current driver's performance?	Keep him cool when things start to go wrong
If you had £50,000 to spend on rallying, what would you do?	* Take 10 mates to Argentina to watch the WRC round
Your future in rallying
Where would you most like to compete (in the world):	Argentina, Corsica and Finland
Which rally would you most like to compete in?	* Dakar Rally
Which driver(s) would you most like to co-drive for?	* Stephane Peterhansel on the Dakar Rally
Ambition in rallying for the future:	* To continue being frightened by lunatic drivers!
What would you like to put back into rallying?	Collectively gather all the top co-drivers in the world to run a serious training programme for up-and-coming youngsters
The future of rallying
Which up-and-coming rally driver can you recommend?	* Shaun Gallagher
Which up-and-coming rally co-driver can you recommend?	* Craig Parry
What would be the best tip you could give to other co-drivers?	Sit with as many drivers as you can and make sure it's not your fault when your driver crashes HIS car!
updated 2/2/04 (items marked ) updated 20/8/06 (items marked *)
Any other comments	Don't forget, drivers haven't got a clue without a co-driver!
Jonty was Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Co-driver Champion in 2003 (read more)