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Rallying isn’t fair. If it was, the cars would all be evenly matched and talent would not be suffocated by big budgets. This is not a gripe, it’s a recognition of the status quo. There is very little room for ‘Davids’ in this ‘Goliath’ dominated rallying world, but every so often, a spark of genius, of raw natural talent, of controlled driving frenzy comes along that makes the cynical spectator and hardened team manager suddenly catch their breath, prick up their ears, focus their eyeballs and revel in what makes this sport so great.
We saw it with Colin McRae when he burst on to the scene in a poor wee tortured Talbot and before him we saw it with the late Drew Gallacher, two huge talents, one which made it to the top and the other which didn’t. Along the way, Scottish rallying has been peppered with countless more natural talents, some whose star shone brightly for a few seasons before burning out on the altar of poverty, and others who stayed the course, made their mark and made rallying all the better for it.
But as in every sport, talent and genius are not enough, and it has to be said, that manufacturers and team manager have all done their own bit to waste talent and destroy careers. Manufacturers come and go at the dictate of the marketing men and when they pull out, leave drivers, co-drivers and preparation teams at the mercy of the private market. And team managers too have often favoured instant results over dedication and commitment, and some have even used drivers as the excuse for their cars going nowhere.
As I said, rallying is not a fair sport and it takes a special breed of driver to come into the sport and get to the top on sheer merit. One such driver is Andrew Wood.
His taste for speed was first nurtured on the bumpy tracks of motocross events where he won the 1977 Scottish Junior Championship before moving on to four wheels and a season of road rallying. Like many, Andrew’s first taste of forest rallying was at the wheel of a Ford Escort. It was a 1300 cc machine and he finished second in class in the 1979 Scottish championship at the end of the season. The following year he scored 5 class wins on the way to the class title beating the likes of Hugh Munro and Gordon Boyd. He also finished 9th equal overall in the Division II category of the championship that year beating the likes of Malloch Nicoll, Alastair McSkimming and George Marshall who went on to win the Scottish title overall in 1985.
In 1981 he stepped up to an RS1800, still in the Division II newcomers category, but up against some serious opposition. Old-timers will remember ‘The Wild Bunch’ spearheaded by Kenny Stewart and Alastair McSkimming. These were the glory days of MkIIs when rear wheel drive and sideways to victory captured the imagination of rally followers, and ‘Woody’ was right in there with them. He finished fourth in his first season in the big car behind ‘Mad Mental McSkimming’ and Kenny ‘The Wildman’ Stewart and was just pipped at the post by one point for third by a ‘young’ Malloch Nicoll.
The 1982 season was something of a transition year for Andrew. He only did 5 events in the Scottish series (out of 9) but still scored enough points to finish 7th overall behind the likes of Ken Wood and Donald Heggie, but his sights were set on higher things. He won Group A on both the Tour of Cumbria and Pace National Rally that year in an RS2000, was fourth in Group 1 on his first attempt at the RAC Rally (when it was a genuine ‘British’ rally!) and still won the Group A title overall in Scotland.
When he was invited to join the British Junior Rally Team in 1983, it should have marked him out for even higher things, but like so many good ideas in British rallying, the Junior Rally Team fizzled out through lack of direction from the top and support from all around. He was also saddled with a Ford Escort Turbo! Remember them? They had the sporting appeal of used bath water and all the power of a compact Flymo. And this was the car that Ford thought could turn the fortunes of a sporting nation! Fortunately, the year wasn’t a total loss, Andrew got a second place Group A result on his first ‘proper’ International, the Swedish, in an RS2000, and another second in Group A on the Scottish – in a Talbot Sunbeam.
In 1984, Andrew got his first real break. He was asked to join the Dealer Vauxhall-Opel Team. There was just one problem, it was run by a committee of Vauxhall dealers, and we all know what committees are like. Some were there for the sport, others were there for the jackets.
Whatever, after the abortive Escort Turbo, Andrew got his hands on a decent motor, a 2 litre Vauxhall Astra. What a year! He won the Group A class on the Audi National and was third in Group A on the RAC Rally. He also won his class on the Ulster and Manx, in a Samba (!), and finished second overall in the Esso Scottish Championship in a Lotus Sunbeam behind Ken Wood and ahead of Donald Heggie.
If 1985 was the Astra year, then ’86 was the year of the Manta with 2 victories and 5 top 5 finishes in the British Open Championship. Unfortunately he lost the title on the tie-break to the late Mark Lovell. He also had his first taste of serious, raw power in the form of the Astra 4S, a supercharged, four wheel drive monster that Vauxhall could have turned into a serious Group B car - before the rule-makers got their paws on the regulations and neutered the class making the way ahead possible for more hugely expensive and technically sophisticated machinery. Such is progress!
His last year with Vauxhall-Opel was ’87 when the company severely cut back its involvement in British rallying leaving a void that is still apparent today, but Volkswagen snapped up Woody. In 1988 he finished 7th on the Circuit of Ireland and 6th in Ulster in a Golf GTI and went on to finish 9th overall in the British Open Championship. Sadly, Volkswagen’s rallying involvement was even shorter than Vauxhall’s and Woody turned to privateering again for 1989.
He finished 10th overall in the British Championship in an Audi Quattro with a string of top ten finishes and won the Scottish Championship outright in a variety of begged and borrowed machinery, clinching it with an Astra at a time when four wheel drive was beginning to dominate the sport.
In 1990 it was back to Ford, this time with a Sierra Cosworth and he finished 8th overall in the British series with another string of top ten finishes including 5th on the Welsh and 7th on the Scottish, but the writing was on the wall. The youngsters were on the way up, like McRae and Burns, grabbing the headlines, and the professional drives that were on the go.
Throughout the 90s, rallying took more of a back seat while Andrew devoted more time to the family farming business, but in 1997 and ’98 he drove an Astra into 11th place overall and won the Weldex 2WD award on the ’97 Scottish Championship, and was 10th in ’98 and just losing out on the 2WD award to Keith Robathan in his MkII.
And then came the Millennium. In the year 2000 Andrew Wood drove an elderly Audi S2 Quattro into the pages of Scottish folklore. At a time when Metros and Cosworths, and Imprezas and Lancers were powering through the woods, Wood’s Quattro was a revelation. Watching that beastie go was pure magic. Where the Audi lost out on power and mechanical sophistication, Andrew made up the deficit, and more, with sheer bloody talent.
So what was the secret? Well, it wasn’t really down to just one secret. Andrew has a consistency of pace and an unerring eye for the correct line through the corners. And this is where he makes his biggest killing on the clocks, his ability to carry speed through the corners. At times, belief was suspended as watchers gasped at the sheer pace of man and machine where others were stabbing brakes and unsettling the suspension. Andrew’s economical use of the forest roads and the middle line were put to devastating use in his pursuit of his own national title.
Since then, marriage to Ann (Jaggy not invited, so who ate all the cake?) and more recently fatherhood has put a stop to rallying, but not to an involvement in the sport. For many years, Andrew has been consulted by numerous drivers, both newcomers and established front runners, to coach and advise on driving style and technique, and all have left suitably impressed and a good deal quicker!
And now comes the latest stage in his long love affair with rallying, Andrew Wood Motorsport. In addition to rally car preparation, AWM has acquired the Dunlop tyre agency for the north and now Andrew (and family) can be seen at most events with the big yellow truck, still dispensing advice and good cheer to all around, and still at the heart of Scottish and British rallying.
But there is one abiding question left unanswered among Andrew’s many legions of fans. If Vauxhall hadn’t pulled out when they did, if Ford hadn’t lost its way with that frightful turbo, if Audi was still involved in rallying, where would he be now? There are those amongst who reckon that Scotland would have had one more world rally champion to add to the list - Louise Aitken-Walker, Colin McRae, Derek Ringer and Robert Reid. Aye, if only!
BTQOJB
(by the quill of Jaggy Bunnet) |
A highly personal (and ever so slightly opinionated) 