ALASTAIR FISHER, WRC RALLY DRIVER VISITS LIMAVADY CUSTOM CRUISERS

At the request of members, Alastair Fisher the 23 year old rally driver

from Co Tyrone was approached to come and participate in a Limavady Custom

Cruisers open night. Alastair responded quickly and positively to the

approach, rearranging his commitments and gave us all a night to remember.

Those in attendance had the opportunity to get up close and personal with

Alastair’s Ford Fiesta R2 with its 1.6 Zetec 16V – 1598 cc – Ti-VCT ; 4

cylinder in line; DOHC; 16 valves; alloy cylinders head and block; variable

cam timing in the College workshop.



Alastair who is currently competing in the WRC Academy series and his

navigator Rory Kennedy sparred off each other naturally as they talked

about their various rally exploits and also talked about the safety

considerations both in the car and in their equipment including

demonstrating the new cervical brace to prevent cervical damage in the

event of an accident. Additionally, they talked through how they prepared

their pace notes and those in attendance sat enthralled as we had the

opportunity to watch some in-car footage from the Donegal rally and to look

at the details Donegal 2011 pace notes.



Alastair outlined how he got involved with rally sport, how he juggled his

university studies while competing internationally, his mental and physical

preparation for rallying, of his successes to date, the support of his

sponsors and plans for the future, including his participation in the WRC

Academy this year.



Rosemary Savage, Club Secretary thanked Alastair and Rory for taking the

time out of their busy schedules to come to the club, commenting on Rory as

a example to follow and reminded everyone that the club is about ‘doing it

safely’ and motor sport should also be kept for a controlled environment.



The club wishes Alastair well as he competes in the WRC academy over

incoming months.

Room to Race

LIMAVADY CUSTOM CRUISERS MEET WAYNE BOYD USAF2000 DRIVER

 

It was Wayne’s World at room2race (Newbuildings) on Thursday 8^th December when 25 Limavady Customer Cruisers members called in to race with Templepatrick man, Wayne Boyd ex British Formula Ford Champion and current USAF2000 driver. 

The LCC Crew took part in a mini championship driving Formula 3 cars – including Waynes own 2009 DHL Sponsored Machine. Heat 1 & 2 saw the winning drivers from both races advance to the A semi final with outstanding drives from Greg Hyndman and Chrisy Mawhinney winning their respective races.  Greg was fastest, lapping only 3 tenths of a second slower than Wayne, at the Donnington National Circuit!

The Semi Final race was Silverstone F3 Circuit with the A semi being won by Greg closely followed by Alex McKinney and Jonny Morrow – this was the closest race of the night so far!  The B Semi got off to a blistering start – so much so that 4 drivers jumped the start lights and were subsequently disqualified for failing to heed the drive through penalty! The race was won by Chrisy Mawhinney followed by Nathan Lindsay and Davy Spratt.

The Final took the 11 fastest drivers from the A & B semis and placed them against Wayne Boyd, at Hockenheim (Germany), and although Wayne was in the line up - the pace shown by some of the LCC crew meant that it was actually anyone’s race!  Qualifying, however, saw Wayne take Pole Position ahead of Greg, Jonny, Alex and William Moore.  The race got off to a great start with no major incidents and after 10 laps the cleanest drivers who could keep their cool were at the front with the eventual race winner being Wayne Boyd closely followed in 2^nd was Jonny Morrow, 3^rd James Grant, 4^th Alex McKinney. 

After supper The LCC Crew had the opportunity to watch some video footage of Wayne racing at locations such as Macau, Milwaukee and Brands Hatch and were able to ask him questions about how he started off in Motorsport, a memorable incident, what the future holds and the inevitable what car did you arrive at room2race in.  Wayne talked about the challenges in securing sponsorship and a team to work with, his mental and physical preparations to race and outlined some of the tracks that he had driven, including referring to was very lucky to walk away from a 175mph crash at Macau in 2009 where his car flipped over, and he explained how Formula 3 cars are built and what safety measures are in place which allowed him to walk away!  It was noted by everyone that had this happened on the road in a normal car even at 60mph it would most likely have been fatal!

Wayne started racing at the age of 11 when his dad bought him a kart, which is how most of today’s professional drivers have started and it wasn’t long before people started to realise that there was a huge talent in Wayne.  He advanced onto open wheel racing at the age of 16 racing in the Northern Ireland and Irish Formula Ford Championships before advancing onto the British Formula Ford Championship which he won in 2008!  A feat matched by the likes of Jenson Button.  After a spell racing in Formula 3 where he was a race winner Wayne is now racing in America for the Belardi Auto Racing Team.   You can follow Wayne on facebook at Wayne Boyd racing or you can even download an app onto your iphone to keep informed on his results it’s called Wayne’s Racing World by app Builder www.theappbuilder.com

William Semple, Chair, thanked Mark Robinson from Room2Race for organising the evening and for inviting Wayne to meet with Limavady Custom Cruisers and to talk about his involvement in motorsport. 

Rosemary Savage, DPP member said “it has been a fun evening, and members using the virtual motorsport demonstrated skilled driving and need to remember that when it comes to driving “to do it safely and to keep the craic for the track”.