Mad Dog Rallying Update

Mad Dogs on the Winter Challenge Rally 2001 (2nd in class, 13th overall)

Several people have asked me about rally plans for 2007. Earlier this year I proclaimed that the Mad Dog Rally Team would enter the 10th Monte Carlo Historique (MCH) event to be held in January, 2007. The repair of PRX 720B was completed and a rebuild mapped out with Bill Richards. Lots of upgrades to performance and safety (especially considering out altercation with a wall in 2005) were planned. Better still we obtained very valuable sponsorship from a major parts supplier as well as a US-based automotive magazine. But despite this promising start things slowed down mid-year and we failed to secure an additional major sponsor. It's an expensive business to be competitive in the MCH and in the absence of a personal fortune external funding is essential. Following this letdown I felt quite despondent about the future of the car and decided that one rally every couple of years didn't justify the the expense of keeping it in cosy lockup the rest of the time, so relcutantly I put it on the market.

I received quite a few enquiries including one or two that were serious. The publication of advertisment corresponded with a trip to the UK and needless to say I popped in to Bill Richards racing for a chat. In retropect this was not the most sensible thing to do if I'd wanted to remain objective. After sharing several glasses of good shiraz with Bill being exposed to an evening of his infectious enthusiasm I decided to pospone the sale for now and agreed that we will definitely enter the 2008 event (just one year away). The rebuild will start in January and I can assure you that the next iteration of PRX will be seriously hot: faster, stronger, safer and more reliable than ever before. The team is all on board and the sponsors are happy. Now we just need one more major investor to cover the entry fees (3000 Euro). So if any deep pocketed readers want to back the team in return for some substantial publicity please let me know.