In his second exclusive column for Crash.net, rising British rallying star Matt Beebe looks back on the opening event of the 2007 British Rally Championship calendar – the Pirelli International – and ahead to what promises to be a thrilling and closely-fought campaign…
The Pirelli weekend started really well. The build-up had all been a bit mixed-up because we hadn’t been sure if our new Citroen C2R2 would be ready or not, and we took the MG up there too so we had it ready as a back-up if we needed it. It was only once we got to Carlisle that we knew the Citroen would be ready.
It was a relief that Total Motorsport had managed to get it prepared in time – they really had to burn some midnight oil to get the job done – though it was run on the event by my usual crew from North Warwickshire and Hinckley College, with assistance from m3motorsport and Total Motorsport.
The first few stages on the Friday night represented my first time in the car, and I was immediately surprised by how quick and powerful it was. I thought being a 1.6-litre it wouldn’t be that much faster than my old 1400cc MG, but it’s a little pocket rocket. It’s a proper rally car, a real driver’s car. You’ve got to grab it by the scruff of the neck and really take hold of it; if you don’t it will bite you. It certainly looks the business, and in my opinion it goes the business too.
Kielder in the dark was certainly very interesting. It was only my second event with my co-driver Neil Foulkes so we were still gelling, but it was going well and I was getting used to the car. I was happy with the times we set over the first three stages – we were the second-quickest Citroen which was encouraging, and not too far off George Thomas.
