James Everard

M-Sport finally unveiled their first global rally car, the Fiesta R2, designed to allow competitors to graduate in Ford cars from national level through to WRC.

A European tour showcasing the R2 has proven the car to be immensely popular, and it is looking to be the most hotly contested single make championship in Europe and the UK. The R2 and ST will be in the same championship, the Fiesta Sport Trophy, and with some of the highest calibre drivers involved it is looking to be one of the most thrilling contests of 2010.

Everard and regular navigator Sam Collis, see this as the perfect opportunity to progress from the top level results gained in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy and to prove their worth in the R2. An invitation to the first Fiesta R2 test day at Carisle on 28th September will allow Everard to test the handling of the car before the kit has been fitted to his own. The Championship is set to follow all rounds of the BRC plus the Malcom Wilson Rally.

James is completing in this year’s Ulster Rally in his Ford Fiesta ST rally car.

Preparations have been taking place for the last few weeks and James and his team set off for Ireland on Wednesday morning.  James arrived safely and has already signed on and is surveying the stages.

James will be posting regular updates via Twitter and you can follow James’s progress in several ways:

• Through this web site.
  The Used Garage Equipment Online Rally Team at their engineering base in Hull will be correlating all the information and updating James’s web site accordingly over the course of the rally.
• Through Twitter.
  Receive James’s updates by following James Everard on Twitter.  James is Twitting personally directly from his rally car when time permits.
• Through Facebook.
  James will be updating his Facebook profile personally whilst in Ireland and in addition the Used Garage Equipment Online Rally Team will post further information and photos when they become available.

The latest updates we have received from James are as follows:

1. On route to Stranraer with Sam Collis ready for Ulster Rally recce tomorrow.
2. Now in Ireland heading to Rally HQ with Sam to sign on for recce.

Fiesta Sporting Trophy Ireland
Killarney Rally of the Lakes
4th May 2008

Everard Enjoys First Irish Experience

Everard and Collis flew over to Shannon Airport on Wednesday morning and then drove 80 miles to Killarney. They were looking forward to taking part in the Rally of the Lakes over its famous tight mountain side course arriving a couple of days prior to the event giving them a chance to recce in a hire car.

James and Sam along with the Used Garage Equipment Online Team were spectators on Saturday, as the International Rally got underway. Then on Sunday, the Fiesta Sporting Trophy crews joined the National Rally with an exciting opening stage at Molls Gap. This famous stage starts at the foot of the mountain, climbing up to the top and back down the other side. Everard set a very good time on the first stage and was very pleased with the Fiesta set up and handling around the tight hairpin corners of the first stage.

On the second stage, James closed in on the fellow Irish FST competitor in front of him, taking 30 seconds out of his time. Then pushing hard with just over a mile remaining on the Ballaghbeama stage, James ended up on the wrong side of a fence in a peat bog. The call into a corner was, three right, tightens to one, over bumps. The Fiesta lifted off a bump on the inside of the one right, resulting in a wheel on the edge of the grass, sending the Fiesta through a fence. The Fiesta was sucked into a peat bog, leaving no chance of escape and resulting in a premature ending to the rally for Everard an Collis.

There was an up beat quote from Everard after his Fiesta was retrieved from its soggy resting place:

James commented: “I was very pleased with the pace of the Fiesta on my first visit to Ireland, I would have liked to complete all the stage miles but never the less, thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I may have a word with Ford, I’m not sure if they are aware that when parked in an Irish peat bog the shell is not water tight! On a serious note, the team and I are looking forward to returning to Ireland for the next round of the Irish Championship.”

The Fiesta was found to have only suffered superficial damage after being almost up to the door handles in a peat bog. A front bumper, wing, and head light unit are the only parts needing to be replaced after any of the Irish countryside brought home has been washed away.

The next next round of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy UK takes place on the May 31st. Everard and Collis will be looking to maintain there position at the top of the leader board with a third consecutive podium finish at the Seven Valley National Rally.

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