Pickering's David Brown secures superb third place at Trackrod Rally Yorkshire

Pickering panel beater and part-time rally driver David Brown emerged from his local North York Moors Forests with possibly the best result of his career last weekend.
David Brown in action at The Trackrod Rally Yorkshire

Photo by Paul Mitchell PhotographyDavid Brown in action at The Trackrod Rally Yorkshire

Photo by Paul Mitchell Photography
David Brown in action at The Trackrod Rally Yorkshire Photo by Paul Mitchell Photography

Pickering panel beater and part time rally driver David Brown emerged from his local North York Moors Forests with possibly the best result of his career last weekend.

While Matt Edwards was stepping up his bid to register a straight hat-trick of British Championship successes, Brown was also popping champagne at the Filey sea-front finish after securing third place in Historic Cup section of the 175-car Trackrod Rally Yorkshire.

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“It’s right up there!” enthused Brown, who alongside co-driver and Pickering neighbour Steve Bielby, finished two minutes and eight seconds down on newly crowned British Historic Champion Nick Elliott’s similar 1980s Ford Escort after six stages and almost 60 miles of competitive driving.

Father of two Brown had both his sons Jack, 21, and Alfie, 16, along as part of his service crew and had spent much of the previous week rebuilding his car after it caught fire on an event in Cumbria a few days beforehand.

“Everyone who is anyone in the historic rallying world was there so it probably is the best result I’ve had.

“Some of our competitors would have been doing up to 115mph on the faster stretches in Dalby but we were a little bit down on them as I had to change the engine for a less powerful one after the fire.

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“So I had to work quite hard to make up for that and, although we had a couple of ‘moments’ everything went really well this week.”

Malton’s Steve Bannister, the Trackrod event’s most successful ever driver, was less fortunate as he was forced out when his Escort’s engine lost all it’s oil midway through Saturday morning.

Brown is now gearing up to contest the Malton Forest Stages in November with the Roger Albert Clark Rally - a logistically challenging five-day event at the end of the same month - the ultimate goal as part of celebrating turning 50 this year.

Elliott clinched the historic crown with his second victory of the season, while in a much more modern and high spec VW Polo R5, Edwards was dominating the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, over the same course, despite the presence of most of the UK’s leading drivers.

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Edward was quickest on five of the six timed to the tenth of a second tests, to finish just ahead of fellow Welshman Osian Pryce in another four-wheel drive Polo, with Cockermouth’s Matthew Wilson - the youngest ever winner of a British Championship round when he won the Trackrod at just 18 years of age in 2005 - third in a Ford Fiesta Rally 2.

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