Leaving the scorched grass of Heathrow airport we were hopping the Irish Sea on our way to the glorious green of Norther Ireland for the Ulster Rally. A change of set up from gravel to tar, a new livery and all new team gear we were ready for the weekend ahead of us. You could feel the excitement and nervous anticipation in air as we convoyed down to Newry.
The event started on Thursday afternoon with Charlie and Ashley heading out for recce while the team set up the service bay in the yard at Modern Tyres and finished off the final prep of the TenSix.
The opportunity to recce stages is something that’s not been available during the BTRDA events so far this year, Charlie and Ashley continued running through stages on Friday morning before the road closures kicked in for the main event.
Back at the service park the TenSix was due to go into scrutineering at 9:30am, all was going well with the final clean and shine until a potentially major problem was noticed. Fortunately some phone calls and some spannering later, problems were solved and the car passed ready to compete.
With recce and scrutineering complete it was time to have a late lunch and rest before the rally began later Friday afternoon.
Stage One was a loop just over 6 miles long sat at the foot of Slieve Gulion. A narrow, winding route, tracking up and down the elevation giving an impressive back drop across the border into Ireland.
Through stage first was the Rally 2 and R5 cars, absolutely flying through with antilag chuntering away. Next up was the quintessential Irish tar mark II escorts, Millingtons roaring away, rear ends sliding round every corner.
After the Escorts Charlie and Ashley came darting through the stage and up the side of the hill into the golden hour sunset.
SS3 was another lap of Slieve Gulion but this time in the dark. Seeing the burning bright shine from lamp pods bursting through the darness is something which will never get boring. The already narrow stage was now feeling even more claustrophobic making it a tough challenge, especially after a long day of recce and rallying.
The challenge of photographing rallying at night is the lack of light, short of bringing a full lighting set up the options were limited. Starting out at dusk allowed for some ‘normal’ photos but once the darkness closed in the long exposure light painting gave a different view of the stage. It was interesting seeing how the light painting highlighted the line choice each driver was taking through the corner.
The car culture in Ireland is very impressive, especially around rallying. The crowds that came to watch SS1 and SS3 was phenomenal, we were sat at the top of a bank seeing droves of spectators pushing through the woodland and bracken to get a good spot to watch from.
The evening ended with a night service before parc ferme. The team were prepared and jumped straight into action getting the car up onto stands, checking for wear and tear in, on and under the car.
The lack of ambient light made photography a challenge but gave the opportunity to try out some motion blurring. Making the most of the pace the mechanics were working at, the camera shutter speed was slowed down to a couple of seconds capturing the car in crystal clear focus and the work in a blur.
Day two began with SS4, a closed road stage twisting through the countryside north of Newry. The Irish weather was not disappointing, the first time we’d seen rain for a while and it certainly added to the spectacle on stage with spray flying off the road as the cars came pounding through stage.
The classic tree lined stages of a closed road event made spectating and photographing a bit of a challenge. Trudging through the wet grass to find a gateway just in time to watch the Evans and Jackson Polo R5 come howling through.
Once again Charlie and Ashley looked quick on stage, ploughing through the rain in the TenSix followed by a rooster tail of spray.
Unfortunately, the decision was made to retire during service before the final loop of stages. Thank you to all involved in organising, hosting and mechanicing before, during and after the event.
We will see you again soon when we’ll be back out on gravel again.
Images and words by Mitcham Media
Check out all the shots from Ulster 2022 below
