Ti Motorsport

Press Release from Tony

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Manx Challenge Round 1

Finally Delivered on Time.

At last our 2nd 1400 C2 made it to the start of an event after weeks of frustration for the whole Ti team.Due to time constraints Tony had been unable to try the car before the event and spent much of Friday driving around Manx roads which were not closed to traffic.

The car seems to be significantly quicker than the other 1400 due I think to the use of a lot of 1600 management parts.

Braking is also better particularly for tarmac with the rear having discs instead of the standard drums.

With scrutiny out of the way, we had removed the tint from the windows this time we just had to wait until 4 o'clock on Friday to join the main event on stage 11.

With 2 options for the Silverstone control tyre Tony opted to start on wets as the weather was so changeable but again took 2 slick spares with him just in case.

On the first stage one of the brand new Leda rear dampers decided to let go giving Tony what was he said the biggest scare of his rallying life. With no service until after the following stage it was damage limitation time. At service we replaced both shocks and sent a very shaken Tony out for the next stages.

4th place at the end was the best we could expect after the massive time loss on the first 2 stages but at least we had some points.

New 1400 C2

This weeks Manx International rally finally sees the introduction of our new 1400 challenger

 in the RC1 category. Tony Simpson will again be partnered by Stefan Arndt and the whole team will be hoping for a better result than on the Pirelli where a water hose ended their run.

The new car is still running an 8 valve engine from a C3 together with a gearbox from a 1600 C2 GT.

Front brakes are vented & use Mintex competition pads while the rear uses GT rear discs & calipers again with Mintex pads.

Suspension is again Leda 2 way adjustable, tyres will be Silverstone control items.

Despite the non finish on the Pirelli & the non start on the Midland it is still possible for us to win the championship but its going to be an uphill struggle. With the Manx being a double header this seems to be a good place to start.

Midland Withdrawal

Owing to some problems with the engine management on the new car we have withdrawn our entry on this weekends Midland Rally.

We hope that the problems will be resolved before the Manx

Press Release 2

For Immediate Release 22 April 2008 Liverpool rally driver Tony Simpson suffered misfortune in the opening round of the British Rally Championship Challenge as he retired from this weekend’s 19th April Pirelli National Rally with a mechanical problem. Tony was driving the Delivered On Time backed TI Motorpsort Citroen C2 R1 for the first time in competition with Stefan Arndt returning in the passenger seat on the pace notes. The pair have been asked to help the team develop the car form a very basic road car you would see pottering down to the shops into a full blown group N 1400 rally car challenging the more established manufactures in this class such as VW Polo GTI and the MGZR. A task which Tony was relishing going in the 55 mile event based around the Kielder complex on the Scottish boarders. Starting late morning on the Saturday the crew and team were full of hope for the Silverstone Tyres shod little Citroen, tony takes up the story….. “I felt 100% ready for the day ahead the test session we had 2 weeks before we had spotted the weak points on the car and many of them had been addressed, we knew the engine was somewhere close to being 25 horse power down on our main class rivals and the gear box ratio’s where always going to be a little challenging in the Kielder complex. Its hard to drive a car on its limits when you have a lot more in the tank speed wise, but we knew this from the outset and developing a new car is never easy. Most people thing you just keep bolting on new parts when others fail, this is the worse thing you could do! Fault find, test and test again until its right. Saturdays problem was a design difference between a road car and a rally car radiator, all the water hose’s where on the bottom of our radiator and with the stages being so rough we managed to shake them loose and lose all the water out of our engine causing it to seize at the end of special stage 2 we have now reworked the radiator and cooling system to combat this in future” Tony returns to testing duties next month after opting out of the next round of the championships before the weeks disappointment anyway. “The team and I will now be working on base set ups for tarmac as the car has never been on tarmac rally, with this we have a brand new dog engagement gear box and a couple of other bits which will get us closer to the likes of the Polo and MGZR” “It was a frustrating weekend and I’m so disappointed that we didn’t finish,” commented Simpson. Simpson returns to BRC action on the Rally of the Midlands in June, but further smaller events are also being scheduled to work on the mechanical gremlins of the new C2 R1 rally car. Tony is supported this year by, Delivered on Time, Seacon UK, Bridge Road Boxing Gym and North Devon Design; and wishes to thank everyone involved in getting this project off the ground. You can keep up to date with Tony’s season by logging on to www.simpsonrallying.com  ENDS Media Notes not for publication To arrange an interview, contact Tony for more information on 07843 675518 or email tony_rally@hotmail.com

   

BRC Challenge Pirelli Rally

While the internationals were on the stages  from about 9.0am the Challenge Rally crews didn't get under way until mid day. The car was unchanged from North Humberside but with  Delivered on Time support gracing the sides this time. Because of the one make tyre supplier we were also using Silverstone tyres.

While we waited for the start Stefan who had been worrying about his Golf sump sourced a new sump from somewhere in Hexham, as the photo caption says he was like a kid with a new toy.

Just another job for the service crew, at least it was fairly straightforward.

Our weekend went from bad to worse when we had another THE phonecall. Bottom radiator plastic hose had come off and dumped all the water just before the end of stage 2. When they had tried to restart the engine it had seemed tight and rather than risk even more damage Tony & Stefan retired from the Rally.

On a positive note Tony was dropping about 1 sec a mile to the Polo so with the mods available to us we should be well on the pace next time out.

Tony's First Press Release

Simpson sets sights on Citroen Success

For Immediate Release
03 April 2008
Liverpudlian Tony Simpson returns to competitive rally action on the Carlisle-based Pirelli National Rally on the 19^th April, behind the wheel of an enduro specification Citroen C2 1400. The car is a product of TI Motorsport who are building the low-cost cars as an entry level Citroen C2 R1. The team have a long association with Peugeot and Citroen Sport brands and identified a gap in the market for a low cost version of the all powerful C2 R2 and C2 Super 1600.

Tony was brought in to drive the development car this season due to his history of driving a number of showroom class 1400 front wheel drive cars for manufacturers such as Volkswagen Racing; successfully campaigning a Polo GTI for 2 years and latterly with MG Sport & Racing with their MGZR.

Returning to sit alongside Tony this season will be Stefan Ardnt, who first started co-driving for Simpson 6 years ago, competing alongside him in many of the showroom class cars.

Backing the project along with TI Motorsport is ‘Delivered on Time’; the motorsport logistics specialists, based at Heathrow and Liverpool. The company is responsible for moving teams and vehicles within the world of Formula 1, The World Rally Championship and they are also the sole logistics supplier for A1 GP ‘The world cup of motorsport’.

“I can’t wait to get started with this project” explains Tony. “To be given an opportunity to start with a car from scratch and have an input of how it will progress was just too good a chance to miss. Having Stefan back with me is also a great boost, we work very well together and have shared some great results in some of the cars I have been lucky enough to drive. In fact the Pirelli was the first event we did together 6 years ago, so it’ll be great to do this event again with him.”

The Pirelli National Rally leaves from Rally HQ at Carlisle Airport on the Saturday morning and takes in some 50 miles of tricky stages in the renowned Kielder Forest complex.

“The Pirelli is a great rally, it’s an event that flows and as long as we keep well away from the ditches we will do just fine! It will be the first big stage rally for the car and at this point it’s very important to get miles under my belt in the car. We’re continually developing the C2 R1, and this will be ongoing during the rally, so first and foremost we need to get the car to the end and see where we can improve it for our next event.”

The Pirelli National Rally will see Tony returning to the stages, after a year out of the sport.
“I had a very quiet year last year doing just the one rally, but my day to day business life is spent working in the motorsport world, so I am never too far away from things! I’ve been concentrating on my physical fitness during my time away from the sport. Many people think that rallying isn’t a very demanding sport – but it’s the opposite, both physically and mentally draining. I have been working closely with Robbie Butler at Bridge Road Boxing Gym in Liverpool. He has been superb in motivating and pushing me, and we will continue to work together throughout the year to get fitter; hopefully resulting in some faster stage-times!”

Merseyside-man Simpson, along with Stefan Arndt will contest the full British Rally Championship Silverstone Tyres Challenge in the TI Motorsport Citroen C2 1400.

Tony will be supported this year by, Delivered on Time, Seacon UK, Bridge Road Boxing Gym and North Devon Design; and wishes to thank everyone involved in getting this project off the ground.

You can keep up to date with Tony’s season by logging on to www.simpsonrallying.com

BRC Challenge Event Formats

For those of you interested in following the antics of our 1400 Citroen C2 click on the download & you will get dates details mileages & even entry fees of this years Challenge. Download 2008_BRC_Challenge_event_formats.pdf . Plans are to take in all the rounds starting in Carlisle in April. The C2 will be entered in the R1 category subject to approval by the organisers. Full championship regs are available http://www.rallybrcstars.co.uk/

End of year Let Down

If you read the report from Wales Rally GB you will know that our season with the C2 ended disastrously. Mathematically it was possible I am told for Kaz to have won the Cup but that didn't happen & we are all left with a hollow feeling of mission failure. Not something we are used to at Ti but I suppose it brings you back to earth and will no doubt ensure that we all try a lot harder next year. For my part I have thoroughly enjoyed the BRC and think that Mark Taylor has done a great job & is starting to return the BRC to its rightful place in UK rallying.

Wales Rally GB

With only 2 weeks to go before Wales Rally GB preparations at Ti are well under way. Our R2 engine is back at Longmans having a freshen up and we hope should be ready for collection later this week. The fuel tank seems to have sprung a leak at some point in the recent past as when we took the guards off to give the underside a bit of a once over we found about half a gallon of fuel sloshing about.

Our gearbox which was damaged on the Pirelli right back at the start of the season has finally come back from Sadev so we should have a fresh package for Kaz's last event before he heads back to Japan.

This year will see the return of night stages to the rally which will probably upset the top guys who now seem to want to keep office hours unlike the 120 or so competitors who tackled this years Lombard Revival Rally who seemed to spend more than half of their event in the dark.