Simon will be co-driving in the BTRDA Series in 2005

Personal

Name:

Simon Ashton

Age:

35

Marital status:

Single

Children:

None

Occupation:

Technical Sales and Customer Support

Place of birth:

Sheffield

Country or county where you live:

South Yorkshire

Does your spouse / partner like rallying?

Will let you know after her visit to the first one!

Any other hobbies?

Photography, collecting rallying memorabilia

Your opinions

Favourite food:

Christmas Dinner

Favourite drink:

Orange juice

Favourite motor sport paper / magazine:

Motoring News

Favourite sports person (other than rallying):

Lance Armstrong

Favourite film star:

Nicole Kidman

Favourite holiday destination:

Tenerife (good weather, spectacular scenery, excellent rally spectating)

Which TV sports programmes do you watch?

Rallying and Formula 1 (good excuse for a Sunday afternoon snooze when there are no rallies!)

Starting out

How did you start out?

My Dad took me to see the RAC Rally when I was 5 years old. We started spectating all over the country and someone had to read the map so I was practising from an early age.

First driver you sat with: 

Dave Hemingway (of ice-cream chime fame)

First event:

Road Rally – 1992 Rally of the Dams
Stage Rally – 1994 Tour of Lincs

Rallying background

Type of licence held:

National ‘A’, but I’ve held an International before and can upgrade if I need to

Which motor club do you belong to?

Wakefield & District Motor Sports Club
BTRDA

Do you contribute towards your rallying?

Occasionally

Have you ever driven on a rally?

Road rallies when I was starting out. Won second-ever event!

Did you ever marshal on events? When and where?

Yes in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire & Lancashire but not so often. I freelanced for the local newspapers from the age of 17 so was usually taking photographs and wearing a media tabard.

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

6 to 8

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

10 to 15

Have you competed abroad? Where and when?

No

Your opinions (rallying)

Favourite rally car:

Lancia Stratos

Favourite rally driver:

Markku Alen

Favourite rally co-driver:

Luis Moya - he is so entertaining to listen to.
Phil Mills - as I remember him looking very shy on the podium after winning the Vauxhall Rally of Wales with Mark Higgins; then he used to marshal a PC on the Malcolm Wilson Rally and now he’s developed into an established star.
Tina Thorner, I have a soft spot for Swedish blondes!

Favourite bit of road or forest:

Road – Wigtwizzle area (map 110)
Forest – Grizedale or Brechfa

Do you prefer pace notes or map reading events?

I like both but miss maps now the BTRDA has gone all pace notes. I think they ought to have split it 50:50

Things you dislike about rallying?

The top of the sport (WRC/BRC) seems to be a shambles and, under the umbrella of trying to put it right, the powers that be seem only to want to destroy the successful lower formulas (ANCRO/BTRDA).
The costs just keep escalating.

Who do you think will win the World Rally Championship in 2005?

Petter Solberg

Rallying history

Drivers you have sat with:

In chronological order so nobody gets upset –

Dave Hemingway
Errol Bairstow
Sarah Murray
Kevin Bennett
Chris Wood
Stuart Wood
Ian Barrett
David Pattrick
Neil Edwards
Ian Cartwright
Dave Nutt
Stuart Caine
Mark Annand
Harry Sherrard
Ian Emmerson
Duncan Williams

Also Chris Mellors at a Press and Publicity day

Best driver you have ever sat with? 

Gravel – Chris Wood
Tarmac – Stuart Wood
(They are brothers)

Best result:

1st overall 1993 Three Swans Road Rally
1st Overall 1998 October Stages Rally

Worst result:

2003 North Humberside (rolled out); 2003 Dukeries (was on the border of the top 10 until an electrical gremlin on the penultimate stage forced us into the 20s)

Championships contested:

BRC, BTRDA, ANEMMC, ANCC

Best Championship result:

1993 2nd overall ANCC Road Rally Championship
1997 ANCC Multi-venue Champion
1998 ANEMMC Stage Champion
2003 BTRDA Silver Star 7th overall
2004 BTRDA Class Champion

Best rally memory:

Winning the October Stages. The last stage was surreal…

Strangest incident on a rally:

Clearing a safety bank on a single venue and landing in the service area. How we missed the people, vans and trailers I will never know. Finding a clear route back onto the stage was interesting too!

Biggest accident:

Triple roll on 2003 North Humberside.
Rolling across the finish line of a stage on the 1999 Ulster.
Playing pinball with one tonne straw bales at Cadwell Park in 1998, we both only remembered hitting one but apparently hit another two.

Achievements gained from rallying:

Making friends. It seems so different from other areas of life - everyone seems to get along together…

Your current performance

Your current driver(s) and events or Championships contested in 2004

David Pattrick in the 2004 BTRDA. I won my class.

And plans for 2005?

BTRDA

How could you improve your ‘own’ current performance?

I could spend more time on my fitness, which might then help the week before the event with all the late nights...

How could you improve your current driver’s performance?

Ensure he has no worries with my responsibilities so he can concentrate on his own.

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

Invest it in a season with Chris Wood. After lots of single venue events but only a handful of forest rallies we did the 2003 BTRDA on second-hand tyres, most of the team sleeping in the van and we seemed to encounter niggling problems on more than our fair share of events (punctures etc). Despite his lack of forest experience Chris put up an incredible performance against seasoned regulars including some top 10 stage times in an Astra.
Alternatively buy a ride on the Roger Albert Clark Rally in a Lancia Stratos with Markku Alen driving!

Your future in rallying

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

Sweden and Finland

Which rally would you most like to compete in?

Swedish Rally

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

Petter Solberg, Markku Alen

Ambition in rallying for the future:

Become a works WRC co-driver

What would you like to put back into rallying?

To help youngsters onto the ladder as early as possible.

The future of rallying

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

James Wozencroft, Matthew Wilson, Chris Wood

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?

Keep notes after the events to refer back to when you return to the same forests.

Prepare the best paperwork you can but try to keep it simple enough for everyone to understand.

 Interview 18/1/05