Driver
Wug Utting
Was introduced to rallying in 1976 and immediately took to the sport like a duck to water, and now possess a wealth of experience. Winning several Regional Championships in the 80s during glory days of the works Ford Escorts, by preparing his own cars, as well as building-up a well-known Surrey based Rally Team. He took a few years off in the 90s to foster a Family, and involve himself on the organisation side of rallying, and now boasts three Sons, all of whom are involved in Motorsport. Under his direction, The Team switched predominately to Subarus in the late 90s, and Wug currently contests National as well as Regional Championships. International events include WRC rounds such as WRGB and The Rally of Finland. His hobbies include shooting and skiing (as do the other members of the Family), and with a motto of ‘Why give-up now, when you can give-up later’ intends to continue rallying as long as his eyesight allows. Golf is not an option.
Driver and Co-Driver
Max Utting
After a very successful year in 2008 after coming 2nd overall in the UK for Fiesta Sporting Trophy championship, in 2009 Max will be taking some time out from rallying. With only a handful of events planned for 2009, Max has decided to concentrate on his year of his degree of real estate management at Oxford Brookes University.
This year however, Max is driving 3 international events, starting with the second round of the British rally championship, the Pirelli International based in Carlisle.
In the summer of 2009, Max has decided to go travelling, an opportunity he missed out on his gap year. One of the destinations is Australia, where Max has teamed up with Sydney based Racesource, to contest in the 6th and final round of the Australian Rally Championship in the Rally of South Australia. Max will be hiring a 2005 spec Subaru Impreza.
Later on in the year, Max has plans to contest in Wales Rally GB a round of the WRC. His girl friend, Katie Blake will be co-driving for him this year.
For 2010, Max is planning to return to the competitive fiesta championship, in the all new 2009 fiesta.
After spending a season learning the rudiments of rallying on 12-cars and road rallies, Max was advised by his Father to co-drive for him on his first ‘small’ stage rally. This turned-out to be upgraded at the last minute to the final round of the British Rally Championship in 2002, and really was like being thrown-in at the deep end. Not being phased at all, Max spent the next three years co-driving for Wug, and went-on to attain his International Licence at the minimum age. Another ‘duck-to-water’.
Max’s first rally car was a Peugeot 205 Mi16, in which he managed a 1st in class during its first outing on the Newton Abbot Stages in 2005. For 2006 he soon moved up a grade to a Ex-Cup car GpA Fiat Stilo Abarth, which, being bright yellow, drew a lot of interest. Reliability proved to be a problem finishing just 3 out of 8 events contested. The International Ele Rally in Holland was his first International Rally as a driver, but a crash at the end of leg 1 ended the rally. In 2007, moving-up further, a one-year old Ford Fiesta ST was chosen to compete on the UK’s Fiesta Sporting Trophy. After a disastrous first round with brake problems and a puncture, Max achieved a 7th position in the FST on the second round and improved one place on every event until the Mewla, when whilst lying in 3rd place, crashed into one of the famous Epynt Armco barriers. The final round of the FST proved unsuccessful as a small roll into a ditch caused the crew to get stuck. The combination of the last two DNF’s for the year caused Max to drop from 6th overall in the championship to a disappointing 10th overall. The Malton Forest Rally was the last event on 2007, which proved to be very successful. Jemma Bellingham co-drove and after a successful weekend, will be co-driving for Max full time in 2008. The crew managed 2nd in class and 1st front wheel drive car. With a good result on this event, this promoted Max to 3rd place overall in the Hankook Challenge and rounded off a very well achieved 2007.
Caterer & PR
Sus
Wife to Wug, and Mother to the younger Uttings. She too has co-driven with Wug in the 1980s, with considerable success in MkI & II Ford Escorts, and with others in a Metro 6R4. The demands of motherhood has demoted her to Caterer for the Team, but as this is probably the second most important factor in rallying and a rather unenviable position. Sus regularly entertains sponsors and clients on events, and escorts and explains what is happening to the uninitiated.
Driver
& Co- Driver
Katie Blake
Kate has only just been introduced to rallying,
largely through helping with servicing for Wug and Max on their
2007-2008 rally campaigns.
After many occasions where a serious sense of ‘itchy
feet’ came about, Kate entered a national competition run by BTRDA in
association with Motorsport News; the ‘BTRDA Drive’ competition. The 10
successful entries from 150 were invited along to a selection day which
gave the opportunity to win a season of motorsport. Kate came second,
but the enthusiasm and buzz from the selection day meant the bug had
bitten, and it wasn’t long before Kate bought herself a Nissan Micra,
to prepare (with some help!) for rallying. The Micra is a one litre,
2000 model , and will be used for the Formula 1000 championship, as
well as numerous Autotests and road rallies.
In addition to preparing the car and herself for her
first season of rallying, Max has also starting training Kate up on the
Co-driving front by creating dummy roadbooks and pacenotes so the
format and skill of co-driving isn’t such a mystery!
Co-Driver
Douglas Utting
Douglas followed Max’s example when it came to being introduced to rallying, but had an unexpected promotion to Wug’s co-driving seat when Max suffered a broken neck, at the start of the 2004 season. This too was like being thrown-in at the deep end, but he managed to guide Wug round several events with a surprising element of success. Douglas is currently co-driving for Max, and has now completed enough events to qualify for his International Licence, but only his youth prohibits this.
Service
Alan Lovejoy
Wug’s Brother-in-Law and good friend for over 30 years, who runs his own Joinery business in Tunbridge Wells. Not that rallying has much need of joinery, but his knowledge of angles, and his keen eye for a straight line, as well as his experience of servicing for the Team over many years, makes him invaluable.
Service
Andy Belcher
Has known Wug ever since he learned to drive, and is a Partner in his own business of running a garage in Old Coulsdon, Surrey. Andy has seen plenty of action on the race circuits, and with track-rods, and currently prepares and races Caterham 7s.
Specialist Engineer
Martin Julier
Ever since Martin left school, and had teachings from his Father, he has always dedicated himself to Motorsport and engineering. His vast experience and hands-on approach reflects his unique talents in the field. He has spent the past few years preparing World Rally cars for MSP, and travels around the world overseeing foreign rally teams.
Service
Kevin Stapleton
Better known in the computer and communications industry, but has been a close friend of the Team for several decades. Often caught repairing radios, alternators, starter motors etc., he seems to apply a mathematical solution to any problem, not that this impresses his Wife too much. Superb in the capacity of Management.
Service
Lawrence Green
GT for short.
Service
Mike Ainsworth
Mike is a Motorsport engineer, studying
at Oxford Brookes and working at the MINI plant in Oxford and is one of
the most reliable service crew members, especially for Max and his
Fiesta.
In his spare time, Mike enjoys Kung Fu, and working on both his Nova
road rally car and his recently purchased Celica.
If hes not working, servicing or doing Kung Fu, he'll be working on the
beast that is Kate's Micra.
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