T
his year’s Ulster
Rally marks 20
years since Neil
Wearden stormed
to his first ever
international
victory at the
wheel of a Vauxhall Astra Kit Car.
He first came to prominence through
the lower ranks of the British Rally
Championship, winning the Junior title
in 1995. But it wasn’t until he was armed
with a Honda Civic and teamed up with
Trevor Agnew for 1997 that he truly
burst onto the scene.
“We were giant-killers,” Agnew
remembers. “We finishing fourth and
fifth overall on some rallies, it was an
amazing turn of speed. And at the end
of that [year] we effectively had four
manufacturers that we had offers with
[for a drive the following season].”
Volkswagen, SEAT, Citroen and
Vauxhall were all interested, but the duo
elected to head to Vauxhall to become
team-mates with World RallyWearden (r) and
Agnew celebrateWEARDEN’S GREATEST
TRIUMPH 20 YEARS ON
FEATURE
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Jarmo Kytolehto.
“Vauxhall were quite good, because
we had Jarmo as my team-mate who’d
already been with them for a year,”
Wearden says. “Going into the ’
season they didn’t put any expectations
on me until the middle of the year.
“For Ulster we ended up getting the new
car [Vauxhall Astra Kit Car]. We had this
specifically-built Tarmac car which was
a flat-pack for want of a better phrase.
It wasn’t a bodyshell as such, it was
a floorpan and wings all built in the
factory so they could make it as light as
possible. I remember doing the test in
it in southern Ireland just before the
Ulster, and it did feel a lot livelier.
“That’s when I had a meeting with
Mike Nicholson [team manager] who
said ‘I want to take up the option on
you for the 2000 season.’ Whether that
spurred me on or the new car spurred
me on, but it all fell into place and the
next thing we were leading the Ulster.”
The 1999 season was dominated by
Renault, as defending champion Martin
Rowe took victory in Wales before team-
mate Tapio Laukkanen won the Pirelli,
Scottish and the Jim Clark. But
the form book was ripped
up as the series headed
to Ireland.
Rowe crashed out on SS2,
and the championship-
chasing Laukkanen
ripped a wheel off hisMegane that same morning putting
him out of contention.
“I remember it very clearly,” Agnew
says. “By the end of stage four, we had
something like a 30-second lead, we
already had one fastest time and I think
we had only one other over the next
20 stages of the event. It just felt really
relaxed for us, we didn’t have any
dramas apart from a misfire that
didn’t really cost us much time.
“I remember the last stage of the
event,” Wearden adds. “We had a big
lead, Tapio was just driving around as
I think he had won the championship
and Trevor said ‘look just drive it, we
want to be at the end’ and I said ‘Trevor,
we’ve got it, don’t you worry about it’.
“The sixth sense or whatever you
want to call it, I knew we were going to be
winning that rally. Whether everything
fell into place [because of ] signing the
contract for the year after, getting the
new car, people falling out, crashing,
having problems, all I can remember
is not feeling the pressure that I’d
probably expect to feel.”
Unknown at the time, it was arguably
the pinnacle of Wearden’s career as just
one further BRC victory followed – the
MSA Rally – in 2000. Vauxhall pulled out
at the end of that year, but Wearden’s eyes
were already on a much larger prize.
“We put together a 10-year plan for Neil
and I to become world champions, and
that was the structure of what we did,”
Agnew reveals. “And from that 10-yearplan down to every single stage we had
a strategy and a goal set for it. I realised
quite quickly that there was no automatic
right to get into the world championship,
so we had to find a way to do it.
“And over a pint we came up with
this idea ‘why not do what [Timo] Johki
does in Finland and try and get an
investor to invest in us as oppose to
try and get sponsorship?’
“So that was how we started and
we co-founded Slipstream Sports
Management. By Easter 2001, I remember
it well because it was Mark Higgins’ stag
do, it was the day we announced we had
£1 million in the bank and we were off
doing rallying in a Peugeot 206 [WRC].”
The pair entered five WRC rounds in
the Peugeot – taking a best result of 17th
in Finland – before doing the Network Q
for Prodrive in a Subaru Impreza WRC.
A deal was then in place to do seven
rounds in a third Impreza in 2002, but
this collapsed after the events of 9/
forced their investor to keep his hands
in his pockets.
While Agnew kept ties with Prodrive
and guided Martin Rowe to the 2003
PWRC title, Wearden “fell out” with
rallying with his career effectively over.
But this year Wearden has made a
mini-comeback after buying the
Hyundai i20 Top Gear magazine
developed for Wales Rally GB in 2014.
He took a class victory and fifth
overall on the Questmead Stages back
in March, before competing on theNorth West Stages and Greystoke Stages.
“Obviously closed-roads at the moment
is a big thing in England, and I got a phone
call saying the North West Stages was
happening, and one of the stages was
literally two miles from my back door,”
explains Wearden, after finishing 32nd
overall on the event.
“So that then lit the fire again, and
I couldn’t have the event go on and not be a
part of it. The road sections go past my
front door, so I’d have had to have gone
on holiday for a week, totally ignored it!
“But talk about pressure, I’ve never,
ever felt more pressure than I did on the
North West Stages for some reason, and
still to this day can’t pinpoint exactly why.”
Although rallying is no longer a career
for Wearden he still enjoys competing
and it runs in the family, as his 16-year-
old son, Nathan, has competed in two
rallies himself.
But there remains a thought of what
could have been, and Agnew is under
no illusions about what the pair could
have achieved if things had gone in
their favour. “Neil was definitely a
world champion in the making if you
think of Burnsie [Richard Burns],
Marcus Gronholm in his later days
not in his early days,” he says.
“When you’ve got somebody so relaxed,
so car sympathetic, so methodical and
just a thinking man and really quick,
he had all the components to become a
world champion it’s just a shame that
we couldn’t make that happen.” ■Crew won at wheel of
Vauxhall Astra Kit CarAdvertising enquiries: 0203 405 8110 motorsport-news.co.uk AUGUST 14 2019 17The Ulster Rally in 1999 was the scene of a special victory. By Luke Barry
T
his year’s Ulster
Rally marks 20
years since Neil
Wearden stormed
to his first ever
international
victory at the
wheel of a Vauxhall Astra Kit Car.
He first came to prominence through
the lower ranks of the British Rally
Championship, winning the Junior title
in 1995. But it wasn’t until he was armed
with a Honda Civic and teamed up with
Trevor Agnew for 1997 that he truly
burst onto the scene.
“We were giant-killers,” Agnew
remembers. “We finishing fourth and
fifth overall on some rallies, it was an
amazing turn of speed. And at the end
of that [year] we effectively had four
manufacturers that we had offers with
[for a drive the following season].”
Volkswagen, SEAT, Citroen and
Vauxhall were all interested, but the duoWearden (r) and
Agnew celebrateWEARDEN’S GREATEST
TRIUMPH 20 YEARS ON
FEATURE
Photos: rallyretro.com, mcklein-imagedatabase.com, LAT+44 (0)1708 606768
http://www.grove-dean-motorsport.com
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The premier on-track insurer for
professional GT, Sports Car, Historic
and Single Seater Racing Teams.
Race / On-Track CoverTrack / Test Day CoverStorage & Transit CoverPersonal Accident CoverDiscounts for multi-event
and annual policies*Championship podium finisher,
Jarmo Kytolehto.
“Vauxhall were quite good, because
we had Jarmo as my team-mate who’d
already been with them for a year,”
Wearden says. “Going into the ’
season they didn’t put any expectations
on me until the middle of the year.
“For Ulster we ended up getting the new
car [Vauxhall Astra Kit Car]. We had this
specifically-built Tarmac car which was
a flat-pack for want of a better phrase.
It wasn’t a bodyshell as such, it was
a floorpan and wings all built in the
factory so they could make it as light as
possible. I remember doing the test in
it in southern Ireland just before the
Ulster, and it did feel a lot livelier.
“That’s when I had a meeting with
Mike Nicholson [team manager] who
said ‘I want to take up the option on
you for the 2000 season.’ Whether that
spurred me on or the new car spurred
me on, but it all fell into place and the
e leading the Ulster.”
was dominated by
ding champion Martin
in Wales before team-
kanen won the Pirelli,
nd the Jim Clark. But
m book was ripped
s the series headed
reland.
owe crashed out on SS2,
d the championship-
sing Laukkanen
d a wheel off hisMegane that same morning putting
him out of contention.
“I remember it very clearly,” Agnew
says. “By the end of stage four, we had
something like a 30-second lead, we
already had one fastest time and I think
we had only one other over the next
20 stages of the event. It just felt really
relaxed for us, we didn’t have any
dramas apart from a misfire that
didn’t really cost us much time.
“I remember the last stage of the
event,” Wearden adds. “We had a big
lead, Tapio was just driving around as
I think he had won the championship
and Trevor said ‘look just drive it, we
want to be at the end’ and I said ‘Trevor,
we’ve got it, don’t you worry about it’.
“The sixth sense or whatever you
want to call it, I knew we were going to be
winning that rally. Whether everything
fell into place [because of ] signing the
contract for the year after, getting the
new car, people falling out, crashing,
having problems, all I can remember
is not feeling the pressure that I’d
probably expect to feel.”
Unknown at the time, it was arguably
the pinnacle of Wearden’s career as just
one further BRC victory followed – the
MSA Rally – in 2000. Vauxhall pulled out
at the end of that year, but Wearden’s eyes
were already on a much larger prize.
“We put together a 10-year plan for Neil
and I to become world champions, and
that was the structure of what we did,”
Agnew reveals. “And from that 10-yearplan down to every single stage we had
a strategy and a goal set for it. I realised
quite quickly that there was no automatic
right to get into the world championship,
so we had to find a way to do it.
“And over a pint we came up with
this idea ‘why not do what [Timo] Johki
does in Finland and try and get an
investor to invest in us as oppose to
try and get sponsorship?’
“So that was how we started and
we co-founded Slipstream Sports
Management. By Easter 2001, I remember
it well because it was Mark Higgins’ stag
do, it was the day we announced we had
£1 million in the bank and we were off
doing rallying in a Peugeot 206 [WRC].”
The pair entered five WRC rounds in
the Peugeot – taking a best result of 17th
in Finland – before doing the Network Q
for Prodrive in a Subaru Impreza WRC.
A deal was then in place to do seven
rounds in a third Impreza in 2002, but
this collapsed after the events of 9/
forced their investor to keep his hands
in his pockets.
While Agnew kept ties with Prodrive
and guided Martin Rowe to the 2003
PWRC title, Wearden “fell out” with
rallying with his career effectively over.
But this year Wearden has made a
mini-comeback after buying the
Hyundai i20 Top Gear magazine
developed for Wales Rally GB in 2014.
He took a class victory and fifth
overall on the Questmead Stages back
in March, before competing on theNorth West Stages and Greystoke Stages.
“Obviously closed-roads at the moment
is a big thing in England, and I got a phone
call saying the North West Stages was
happening, and one of the stages was
literally two miles from my back door,”
explains Wearden, after finishing 32nd
overall on the event.
“So that then lit the fire again, and
I couldn’t have the event go on and not be a
part of it. The road sections go past my
front door, so I’d have had to have gone
on holiday for a week, totally ignored it!
“But talk about pressure, I’ve never,
ever felt more pressure than I did on the
North West Stages for some reason, and
still to this day can’t pinpoint exactly why.”
Although rallying is no longer a career
for Wearden he still enjoys competing
and it runs in the family, as his 16-year-
old son, Nathan, has competed in two
rallies himself.
But there remains a thought of what
could have been, and Agnew is under
no illusions about what the pair could
have achieved if things had gone in
their favour. “Neil was definitely a
world champion in the making if you
think of Burnsie [Richard Burns],
Marcus Gronholm in his later days
not in his early days,” he says.
“When you’ve got somebody so relaxed,
so car sympathetic, so methodical and
just a thinking man and really quick,
he had all the components to become a
world champion it’s just a shame that
we couldn’t make that happen.” ■Crew won at wheel of
Vauxhall Astra Kit CarAdvertising enquiries: 0203 405 8110 motorsport-news.co.uk AUGUST 14 2019 17The Ulster Rally in 1999 was the scene of a special victory. By Luke Barry