MINEHEAD driver Chris Hickman took on the challenge of the Woodpecker Stages Rally recently in pursuit of more experience for his 2017 championship campaign.

The Ludlow-based event was completely new to the MG ZR pilot, so Glyn Thomas was installed as co-driver for the day to add his experience of the Shropshire forests.

Buoyed by recent success on the Somerset Stages and Nicky Grist Rally, the crew were greeted by atrocious conditions on first set of stages.

“There was a real cloudburst of rain on the Saturday morning and I couldn’t get the heat into my tyres to make them work properly,” said Chris.

“Added to this, the de-mister system failed and I had to tackle the second stage one handed, so that I could wipe the screen clear between corners!”

Despite several brushes with the scenery, the crew returned to service unscathed and then set about the notorious Radnor stage.

“Radnor is just across the border in Wales and has a fearsome reputation from its days as a stage of the old RAC Rally,” said Chris. “We really concentrated on a clean run in improving conditions and were rewarded with a competitive time.”

Returning to the final two Shropshire stages, Chris used his new found confidence in the levels of grip to push on a little and despite a heart-stopping moment up a bank, managed to claim fourth in class.

“Without the de-misting issues in the morning, I’m confident we could have claimed a class award, but sometimes you have accept a finish is better than a badly damaged car,” he said.

The West Somerset Motors MG will next be in action on the Wyedean Stages in November.

Photo: JMS Photographic