Reigning BTRDA (British Trial and Rally Drivers’ Association) 2006 1400 Champions Neil Weaver and Nick Thornton will compete in a Group N-spec car for the first time on next Saturday’s (3 November) Cambrian Rally.
 
Ludlow driver Weaver and Holmfirth co-driver Thornton will hire Dorian Rees’ Subaru Impreza N8 to contest class N4 of the Llandudno-based event and will be backed by regular sponsors ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres.

The crew campaigned a class B13 Impreza on their last outing on the Plains Rally in September. It was the pair’s first time together in a four-wheel drive car and Weaver’s first time driving a four-wheel drive machine on an event but they endured a difficult day after they rolled the car on stage one, which caused a variety of problems, although they managed to finish 27th overall.

This time out they will be looking to have a successful run on the 45-mile forest gravel event, but the Cambrian has not been kind to Weaver and Thornton in previous years. They did the event in 2004 in their 1400cc Vauxhall Nova and in 2005 in their 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa but failed to finish both times. They did not do the Cambrian last year after already securing the BTRDA 1400 Championship title. “It’s great to have another opportunity to drive a Subaru Impreza and this time in the competitive class N4,” Weaver said. “We’re really grateful to Dorian Rees for hiring us the car and I’d also like to thank our sponsors Telford-based ACCREDIS UK and Hankook Tyres, whose backing throughout the season has been so important.

 “Hopefully we will have a much better run on the Cambrian than on the Plains and I’m determined to get my first finish on the event after being unlucky the last two times. “It will be interesting to see how we fare against the regular N4 crews and we will be trying as hard as we can to get a good result.” The Cambrian Rally will be Weaver and Thornton’s last outing for the 2007 season.