I’m working on a complete overhaul for the blog, i’m a web designer yet I cringe when I look at the format of my own work. And as a designer I look at stuff i’ve done in the past and think now I can do better. The logo above needs a little work but that’s the route I’m going down.

Hopefully in a few weeks the show season gets underway and i’ll be able to bring you the latest and greatest from the UK scene. I did 29,575 visitors last year, I wouldn’t have done that without you guys blogrolling me and checking back. So thanks to all you guys and girls who’ve supported the blog since the beginning and for the people who read my shit.

I’ve been here before, its 6am dark and wet and i’m debating whether or not to stay in bed or not. I’ve not been rallying for a while so I dragged my ass to Blackpool for what turned out to be a fantastic rally.

When your day starts off like this you know your in for a tough day’s rallying. Walking to the first stage I couldn’t see a thing I simply walked towards the Bacon and tyre smoke smell. Sadly I never found the Bacon.

The Northwest Stages are held in Blackpool on a series of sealed Tarmac roads, the surface varies from smooth Tarmac, to sandy sideroads.

Tony Bardy was running hard in the ex works Nissan Pulsar GTI-R. He blew an engine on Friday with the team working through the night to get it replaced.

Alex Taylors service was brought to you by a Lump hammer and a length of pipe. The Forrester flies though, unusually it still has the back seats and interior.

Spied this Euro Type R at service in Championship white, yeah Championship white is under there somewhere.

The Group B Rx7 didn’t make much of an impact in the WRC but I was stoked to see one. The noise from the Wankel Rotary evokes memories of the golden era of rallying.

John Stone debuted his new Fabia WRC sadly retiring on the Friday after some mechanical issues he restarted on Saturday. The pre event favourite

Local businessman John Stone has a new toy to replace the ageing but by no means past it MG Metro 6R4. An ex works Skoda Fabia WRC. Will another Northwest stages Stalwart bring out his Hyundai Accent WRC to play?

I’m loving the dev work Japanese tuners are starting to put into the Swift. Along with Top Fuel, Tryforce are pushing the limits of the platform.

2010 is gonna be a big year for the Time Attack championship, with the series now MSA certified entries are hotting up for the new season. Whilst most competitors take their roadcar to bits, take a shell and scratch build Robin Duxbury simply bought Matt Neals BTCC winning civic.

With Time Attack competitors equalling the BTCC circuit times last year it’ll be interesting to see how well or not the Civic will go.

The Civic currently makes 250hp from the N/A ITB setup

So naturally I was fawning over this Mugen Euro Civic Type R but I can’t get over the price tag, £46,000 roughly for what looks to be a Civic with some fairly small tweaks. Although with only 20 muted for the UK you’ll be lucky to ever see one, let alone own one.

The LFA looks tough from every angle, check out the woodscrews on the rear spoilers. Lets hope they don’t make production.

The Swift Sport Rallycross championship is replacing Stock Hatch for 2010, the cars are rumored to be around 140hp.

Buddy club have gone down the forced induction route and gone for a turbo setup for Time Attack this year. My brother works on the team and they were champions in 09.

The big news from Autosport is that Sumo Power have been designated as a customer team for the new Nissan Skyline GTR in GT’s. Recently acquired by JRM Motorsport keep an eye out for these guys this year.

Finally got a chance to check out the new GTR SPEC-V I couldn’t dig the forged Rays wheels at all.

Guy Wilks has once again been picked up by Skoda UK to contest the IRC after a successful Rally Scotland

Keith Cronin won the Pirelli Star driver competition last year and he’s set to contest the BRC in this fully funded TEG Sport prepared Impreza.

So first event of 2010, consider this my 2010 comeback post. This weekend in January usually sees me fawning over exotic Japanese machinery at the Auto Salon, and checking out whats new in the motorsport world at Autosport. And on the way back the Swift broke, again.

I never got the whole Supercar thing, they cost a fortune, they suck on most of the UK’s road and every time I see one the driver has a branded hat and he’s alone. Very alone, he’s the guy who sits in the corner of a wine bar with a solitary glass of Pinot.

I love Lambo’s though

I was never really a fan of Fords but im loving KW’s new Ford Focus RS

The owner tells me this is soon to get the new J’s racing GT kit, this was one of the cleanest s2000’s on the UK scene last year. And with most of the J’s racing catalogue the most modified.

Check out the J’s carbon intake chamber and signature blue cam cover

Nissan we’re handing out these GTR brochures so it’d have been rude not to take one, or three. Definitely one for the collection Nissan have pulled out all the stops with the UK GTR marketing.

Steve Hill is stepping up to an Evo X for 2010 in the British Rallycross championship. Rallycross is big news in the UK. And with the new Rally America series for 2010 you’ll be seeing short track rallying stateside.

So if everything’s worked you should now be seeing me on my new server, or be stuck in an endless spiral of disapointment and repeats of M*A*S*H. After a trawl through my unposted items I found these gems, taken earlier this year.

Well the news finally dropped that Ken Block is entering the World Rally Championship for 2010, and with DC Shoes set to provide the teamwear I may well have an empty wallet this year. The guy gets a lot of hate, and he’s being vilified by the Subaru community for jumping ship to Ford for 2010. But with a shot at the World Rally Championship who wouldn’t?

The WRC need’s a personaly we’ve no Mcrae’s, Burn’s and Kris Meeke has commited to another season of the IRC with Peugeot.

Apologies for any down time in the coming weeks, i’m moving the blog to a new host so I may have some database issues!

You know the drill New Years day,everyone’s hungover and I’m sober for a 10th year and I end up on the GTR owners club swooning over expensive turbo J-tin. When the Top Secret Drag R catches my eye, ever since this car was imported i’ve been a fan. Sadly in years gone by its been relegated to the garage.

But the new owner has done a refresh, and its back! I dont know what it is about the car i’m just big on anything from the Smokey Skunkworks.