Having won back-to-back Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship class B12 titles, Mike Pugsley has confirmed that he will contest the series again next year in his Escort Mk1 RS2000.
The Welshman has owned the 1974-built car since 2013, and the immaculate machine is totally self-prepared in his Bedlinog garage.
Despite its age, the Escort is super-reliable and hasn’t failed to finish a rally in over three years. However, the cam followers that almost halted that remarkable run on this year’s Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally will be replaced with a different system over the winter to ensure that the issue doesn’t happen again.
It was yet another highly successful season for Mike, with he and co-driver Marc Clatworthy taking the class B12 title after scoring four wins and a second.
However, rallying such an immaculate Escort Mk1 does have its challenges.
“Quite often, marshals at the start of a stage say to me ‘that’s a beautiful Mark 1, don’t crash it.’ It’s not the sort of thing you really want to hear before starting a stage,” jokes Mike. “We do try our best not to crash of course, but we do push the car as hard as we can as well!”
2020 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship
20/21 March….Legend Fires North West Stages
11 April….Rallynuts National Tour of Epynt
15/16 May…. Manx National Rally
30/31May….Jim Clark Rally
18 July….Tyrone Stages Rally
6 September….Hills Ford Three Shires Stages Rally
27 September….Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally