Nicky ready for Eifel Rallye adventure

July 18, 2019 0 Comments

He’s brushed the dust off his favourite race suit,  polished his Stilo helmet and, armed with a selfie stick, Nicky Grist has headed off to Germany to contest this weekend’s ADAC Eifel Rallye.

The event, which is the brainchild of the world famous WRC photographer Reinhard Klein, has attracted almost 170 classic rally cars, and Nicky has taken his 1994 Rally of Portugal winning Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185.

It’s his favourite rally car of all time, and one that he has lovingly restored back to full TTE glory. And after Juha Kankkunen crashed it into a wall on last year’s Rallye Festival Trasmiera in Spain, Nicky isn’t taking any chances this weekend – he’s driving it himself!

And as Nicky is such a massive supporter, coach and mentor to up-and-coming young British co-driving talent, he has asked Phil Hall to navigate for him. The 30-year old Nottingham man is one half of the only all-British crew in this year’s FIA Junior World Rally Championship, as he normally sits beside Tom Williams.

The demonstration event is a who’s who of rallying, with world champions aplenty gathered in the host town of Daun, situated in the Rhineland-Palatinate region.

Stig Blomqvist, who will drive a 1997 Ford Escort RS World Rally Car and a 1000hp Ford RS200 Pikes Peak prototype, is there, as is Timo Salonen who drives a Peugeot 205 T16 E2. Double ladies world champion Isolde Holderied drives the Toyota Corolla WRC and Kalle Grundel appears in both a Peugeot 309 GTi and a Ford RS200. Other star names include Jimmy McRae (Vauxhall Chevette), Harald Demuth (Audi 80 GLE), Matthias Kahle (Skoda 130 RS), Erwin Weber (SEAT Ibiza Kit Car) and Josep Maria Servià in a SEAT Ibiza Bi-Turbo.

All in all there are some 38 Group B cars entered, including an Audi Sport Quattro S1, a Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo, a Lancia Rally 037 and a MG Metro 6R4. There are a variety of more modern classics too, like a Lancia Delta Integrale 16V, a Subaru Impreza 555 and a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth.

The festival begins today (Thursday) with a shakedown, ahead of stages around Sarmersbach on Friday and the Vulkaneifel region on Saturday.

Look out for some very special behind-the-scenes posts by Nicky on his Facebook and Twitter pages!