Lynn Motor Club members are back behind a wheel
A West Norfolk rallying team are rolling back the years after returning to the sport after more than 25 years in the wilderness.
Driver David Large and his navigator Dave Ottoway are back behind the wheel after purchasing a half-completed rally car from Dagenham.
The pair, who are members of Lynn and District Motor Club, have been have been competing in events in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Essex and Northamptonshire since their surprise return.
Navigator Dave explained: "We started rallying back in the 80's with a Mk1 escort and progressed to a Mk2 when we bought a brand new shell and, with a lot of time, money and hard work, built our next car.
"We rallied this car for a couple of years with a varying degree of success but a great deal of enjoyment.
"Sadly with the many commitments we had at the time we had to stop rallying but never gave up our love of the sport.
"In 2017 we purchased a half completed rally car from Dagenham. After five months of hard work, including strengthening, fitting firewall to gain a rally car passport, we started competing again.
"Since buying the car we have changed the engine, gear box, diff and converted the rear axle to a floating one.
"It's great to be competing in the sport again and we hope this year will be a good one, but in rallying it's always a challenge."
Despite suffering a string of mechanical gremlins in 2017, the team enjoyed a much better year in 2018, improving with each rally, and their best finish was seventh in class at Fulbeck.
After more work on the car over Christmas, the team were back in action at Snetterton last month.
Large, a former mechanic, has worked at Lynn Star for a number of years while Ottoway has run his own carpentry business for 38 years.
The pair are lucky enough to have a great service crew of Andy Sharp, Mikey Sharp, Chris Drewery and Dave Ottoway junior behind them, who give up their time to keep them on track.
Thanks go to sponsors: Ottoway Carpentry, Lynn Star, Sandle Car Supermarket, Anglia Tool Centre, Templar Performance Plastics.
