In 2010 PAL Rallying competed on THREE events as a team (plus a test day) after spending most of the year building their new rally car, here is a short review of each event they competed in together.

Opposite Lock Rally - Manby Motorplex, Saturday 24th July - The first event we competed on in our newly built Nova. We were intending to have a steady first stage, as Liam had not actually driven the car yet. However, as the start was counted down the adrenaline kicked in and we were off the start line very fast with wheels spinning, we were both surprised at just how quick the car was ! On SS1 after a tight square left / right chicane, we accelerated away along a short straight and at 70mph when changing up to third gear, the wrong gear was accidentally selected, this caused the engine to over rev and spin out the fixing bolt for the crackshaft pulley smashing the crank position sensor and bringing the car to a halt and ending our rally.

Blyton Test Day - After the dissappointment of the Opposite Lock Rally a few weeks before Dave Wood kindly let us put his class winning 1400 8v engine into our Nova. The damage to our 1600 16 valve engine was pretty vast, with the pistons and valves needing replacing as a starting point, so we decided to buy the 1400 engine and make a change into class one.
The goal for the day was to bed the engine into the car, (the engine hadn't been run since November 2009) and to get Liam acclimatised
to the car with a little more seat time, which we had completed by the end of the testing day.

Rainworth Skoda Centenary Stages - RAF Barkston Heath, Sunday 22nd August - We planned just to complete SS1steadily after our previous dissappointment, but when we checked the stage time we were 2nd of 7 cars in class one. Liam pushed harder on the next stage and we caught and passed the 106 that was 30 seconds in front of us, but as we overtook, it kicked up a tyre which smashed the headlight mounting, on the navigators side as usual. Just after the start of SS3 the car appeared to be struggling with no power, we continued and it seemed to get better then worse, we completed the stage but lost around 40 seconds. Investigation at service found the brake bias bar had twisted so the front brakes were stuck half on ! The adjuster was removed before the next stage. We were competing for the class lead until we had this problem. SS5 was another good stage, overtaking cars (something we havn't done much of in our 106), just a little slip at a square right, we approached too fast and had to go straight on over the grass, but no harm done. On the last stage we had over a minute lead over 3rd in class we decided to ease off a little to ensure a finish, so Liam drove within himself but he then got a little "Red Mist" as we managed to catch the Sierra which started a full minute in front of us, getting the car on three wheels in some corners! - We finished Second In Class One our first award together as PAL Rallying.

Harold Palin Memorial Rally - Manby Motorplex, Saturday 2nd October - The early stages were very slippery and the watersplash very deep, making the windscreen mist up towards the end of the SS1, but a good start left us 2nd fastest in class one.
More of the same then for most of the day, with a half spin at the hairpin, a few trips onto the grass and some snaking under heavy braking, but we were increasing our time over third in class. As the surface dryed out, we pushed harder, we caught a 1600 peugeot 205 on a straight and overtook it with straight line power and later braking into a 90 degree corner. After SS4 as we drove into service and lifted the bonnet we could see flames coming from the bottom of the engine. A quick dash for the extinguisher and the fire was quickly put out. Further investigation showed the exhaust manifold downpipe had broken and the hot exhaust had then set fire to some oil on the sump guard. This was temporarily welded up and we were ready to go again. On SS7 we approached the jump near the service area a bit faster than the previous times and as we touched down got out of line and had a high speed 360 degree spin hitting cones and stage markers with both sides of the car, luckily the damage was only cosmetic and we carried on with the stage. Just after the start of SS8 our problems began with the engine stopping then starting again, we completed the stage but lost over a minute and went from 2nd in class to 3rd in class by 2 seconds. The fuel issue was cured ready for the next stage and we set off on SS9 with the car running perfectly again and us determined to get back into the 2nd in class position we had held all day, after some fast driving we went onto the gravel section on the second circuit, the engine just stopped and that was the end of our day ! An electrical fault had caused a frustrating end to a very promising performance which saw us beat most of the other cars in our class.

We would like to thank everybody who helped make these achievements possible.