In 2011 PAL Rallying competed on only TWO events as a team (plus a test day) after spending most of the year updating their rally car and rebuilding the engine. Here is a short review of all the events.

Blyton Test Day, Sunday 19th January - Not the best track day we have ever had and most of the problems were self inflicted ! The first thing was we forgot to turn on the radiator fan for the sighting lap, this lead to the car boiling over and having to be left to cool before we could go out on the circuit. A few fast and successful laps then we had a loose wire on the coil stopping the engine. A few more laps then it was Pete's turn for a drive around the track. The first part of the circuit was OK with a few tail out moments, then with Liam urging me to go faster (as I do to him when we are competing), I got into a long square right, way too fast, hitting the cones on the inside and the back end skidded out. I managed to catch the car but as we were sliding sideways we ran out of road and went off down a small slope into a muddy field with the car coming to rest on its side (on the drivers side for a change). We climbed out and were met by the driver of the following car (thanks for stopping to help out) and the three of us pushed the car back onto its wheels. A quick check showed no real damage, but later in the day we were getting smoke in the cabin and could see sparks at Liam's feet, so at that point we decided to call it a day.

Bill Cammack Memorial Rally - Manby Motorplex, Saturday 19th February - With the worse weather for years at Manby, very heavy rain and deep standing water at lots of places on the circuit. After the first split was the watersplash (or Lake Manby as it was today), we went through it too fast at only 15mph and this started to mist up the windscreen badly. By the end of the watersplash straight I couldn't see out of the car with Liam not much better. Just after the split 2nd time was a square right left, when trying to slow down we just aquaplaned and went straight through the corner and over the tyres. The second time at split we slowed down very early to ensure we didnt miss the corner again. By this time we could hardly see out of the car at all and at the final split I said to Liam its a split right and he turned right as I said it (like he usually would) but the split was further along and we went head on into a bail (quite slowly with no damage) and had to reverse out. By   this point the car was only running on three cylinders as we crossed the finish line. Investigations in service showed a broken inlet valve and the end of our rally. Despite our problems on stage we completed SS1 at 2nd in class in some of the worst conditions ever !

Premier Stages Rally - Sherwood Forest, Sunday 20th November - 
It had been quite a while since we had been out on the stages competitively. A few problems early on in the day with the engine not running too well at tick over, but going great when at higher revs. New plugs and a few adjustments reduced the problem and we started SS1 at a pre-planned steady pace, to give Liam a chance to assess the handling of the Nova on forest tracks.
SS2 saw us take a full minute off our first stage time as we found a comfortable pace, but not pushing too hard. The stages were a little rough in places, the car and crew took a few hard bumps but held up well. As the day progressed Liam got faster without really trying, the long straights had us in 5th gear at high revs (though not on the limiter !), the car was tending to wander a little at high speed and needed constant driver input. On SS5 we caught the car that started 30 seconds in front of us and then had to slow down a lot to pass a Subaru that broke down in front of us, partially blocking the road. Thanks to the crew of the car we caught who let us start in front of them on the final stage. SS6 was getting dark and we didnt have the lamp pod fitted, but this didnt create a huge problem as it was still half light, so with no one close behind and the next class car too far ahead we had an enjoyable last stage.
After the dissappointments earlier in the year it was nice to get to the end of the rally with the car still running !

Other Events Involving PAL Team Members
Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally - Sherwood Forest, Saturday 11th June - Pete was co-driving for Emlyn Evans in his Peugeot 306, the first time driving his rally car in a forest event. A steady start but improving with each stage and gaining experience. The car developed an intermittant misfire which was slowing us down, but this was traced to loose plug leads and cured for the afternoon stages. A much improved afternoon with a few "moments" but no drama's which ended with us finishing 89th overall and 11th in class B11 for 2 litre cars.

Opposite Lock Rally - Manby Motorplex, Saturday 19th July - Pete was co-driving for Emlyn again, this time at a multi-use airfield event.
A good first stage was then followed by by a broken bottom ball joint and drive shaft on stage two. These were repaired then we restarted the practice rally on SS4. A jump on the grass taken too fast resulted in a very heavy landing, causing heavy damage to the front of the car. This was repaired enough by the excellent efforts of the service crew, allowing us to get out on the next stage (though the sumpguard was being held on with a ratchet strap !). We had some good stages catching the cars in front of us, then on the last stage, halfway down the straight, the car lost drive due to suspected clutch failure. A good days rallying but unfortunately for Emlyn a hefty repair task before his next event.

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