I learnt a massive amount doing the stuff in the Micra and it was not long before I could get to within a second of David's stage time in the Micra, which was a good sign.
The next week I headed off for my first MSA Rally Academy training weekend at Edinburgh University. As I packed my gym kit, folders and pencil case it really did feel like I was going back to school!
It was a fantastic weekend and great to meet all the other Academy and Elite members, we had loads of useful information given to us over the three days, along with a Q and A session with Malcolm Wilson, Scott Martin and Matt Wilson, which was really useful.
After that weekend I spend the next few days working more on my recce skills in preparation for my first event.
The next important date in my diary was the delivery of the Suzuki Swift Cup Car and my first chance to shake it down at the rally school. I spent the morning having a play about in my Micra before switching over in the afternoon for a couple of hours in the Swift. The car felt good so we stopped the test and waited for it to get dark to do some night driving, however I encountered another set back almost right away…
My first taste of night driving was pretty brief as I managed to slide the car into a ditch almost right away on the third corner - now re-named ‘Nick's Corner!' That was my night testing over and done with and the rest of the night was spent digging the car back out. It was a real shame and knocked my confidence slightly for leg 1 of the Pirelli, which was going to be entirely at night.
However once again I tried to take positives from the day, and worked out why I made the mistake, and how to prevent it for the rally.
