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Simon Moore - Peugeot 205 Scholarship Champion 2004 and 2005.
Simon Moore, from Boldon, Tyne & Wear, got his first taste of rallying by co-driving for friends and family at club level and decided to have a go at driving in 2001. He started out in a home built 1300cc Nova and immediately set the pace by finishing 2nd in class in his first ever rally at Croft motor circuit and finished 2nd in class in the North Of England Tarmac Championship at the end of 2001.
Simon wanted to move on and prove his ability and he felt the only way of doing this was in a one make championship with a level playing field. The 205 challenge was perfect for showcasing talent with controlled parts using the 1.6 205 gti on a limited budget.
Simon entered the 205 challenge in 2002 and finished an impressive 4th overall. In 2003 he set the pace and won the Fastest stage Championship outright and with it a prize drive in a UKRallycars.com backed Cosworth on the Red Dragon rally in which he will compete with later in May 2004.
In 2003 Simon came out top on an internet and media based pole out of many other drivers and got the opportunity to drive John Stones Legend Fires Metro 6R4 at Cadwell Park and finished an excellent 3rd overall, his first time in 4wd machinery.

Career Highlights
      • Peugeot Challenge 205 1.6 Champion 2003
      • Metro 6R4 Prize drive 2003
      • Fastest Times Prize drive Saphire Cosworth
      • 205 Scholarship Champion 2004
      • Fastest stage Champion 2004
      • 1st Overall Pirelli National
      • 205 Scholarship Overall Champion 2005
      • 2006 Driving Andy Bakers Modified 205

Press releases

June 24th 2006

Change of Fortune for 100th Event

Simon Moore and Co–driver Huw Mathias finally ended their run of bad luck with Championship Victory and 15th Overall on round 3 of the PSOC Quaife Challenge on the Mid Wales Stages on Sunday.

Due to reliability problems with the modified 205 used in previous events the pair used a different much lower spec car which was effectively a road rally car with to improve the chances of a much needed finish to gain Championship points.

Marking Huw Mathias 100th competitive event, the event consisted of 120 starters, 6 stages over 45 miles of hot and dusty Welsh forests. Seeded at car 11 amongst much more powerful 4wd machinery the pressure was on for Simon to perform well, having never driven the striking Orange car until the very first stage.

Throughout the day the speed improved as the pair got used to the different handling of the car and the stage times were very impressive, even more so considering the car still had carpets, standard drum brakes and a cable handbrake fitted!

With no major problems throughout the day and a clean run through all of the stages at the end of the 45 miles the pair finished the event 1st Peugeot crew with AB Motorsport team mates Chris Reid / Craig Burgess finishing 2nd. (www.abstars.co.uk)

“ It has been a successful day today, we drove the door handles off that little car to squeeze every ounce from it and we’ve proved you don’t always need ultra high spec machinery to get a good result on demanding stages, we just needed a cup holder and an air freshener and we could have gone to Asda on the way back to do the shopping “ joked Simon.

The next event in the Championship is the Swansea bay rally on July 22nd.

 

May 13th and 14th 2006
Last Stage Heartbreak on Pirelli

AB Motorsport driver Simon Moore and Co-Driver Huw Mathias had an eventful Pirelli Rally after setting some impressive times and running 6th overall only to be denied 205 Quaife PSOC Championship victory ½ mile from the end of the last stage with mechanical failure.

The Pirelli Rally used 43 miles of the classic Killer Kielder stages with Start and Finish at Carlisle airport. The plan was to get used to the modified Peugeot 205 and gradually increase the pace. The high average speeds on the Pirelli rally would suit the extra power of the 205 however stability problems on the long straights lost the pair time throughout the day.

On stage one there were two ‘moments’ where the car stepped slightly off line onto the loose gravel and nearly came to an abrupt end so Simon backed off to get to the finish. The Proflex suspension was absorbing the bumps and crests very well and when the clock stopped surprisingly the time was a mere 3 seconds from the more modern fastest Ford Fiesta ST time which was encouraging.With small adjustments to the suspension the straight-line stability was improved slightly but time was still being lost on the long straights due to backing off instead of being flat out, which was frustrating the Duo.

With a short 10 minute service at halfway point a new set of tyres were fitted on the front and 3 stages remained before the finish in Carlisle.

Things went well on stages 4 and 5 and before the last short spectator stage they were running 6th overall and comfortably leading the chasing Peugeot 205 crews behind.

Disaster struck after a big jump into a hairpin left when the car lost drive due to a driveshaft failure, possibly from a hard landing and the pair could do nothing but pull over in front of the cameras and running commentary and think about what could have been.“Obviously we are all disappointed not to get the result we deserved today but its very encouraging to know we can be running so well when the cars still not at 100% and were not driving flat out which is good news for the future as we improve” said Simon.

AB Motorsport team mate Chris Reid came home first 205. With two non-finishers the pair must now finish every rally to have a chance of going for overall honours.

Co-Driver Huw Mathias now swaps seats and flies out to contest the rally of Jordan in a Subaru Impreza next week before competing on the next Championship round which is the Mid Wales Stages on 24th June.


April 30th 2006
6th Place showed promise

Reigning 205 Scholarship Champion Simon Moore had a fun packed event at Swinderby Airfield on the Bloodhound stages and was running 6th overall amongst the more powerful 4 wheel drive cars until mechanical gremlins struck.

Simon had 18 year old co-driver Phil Hall sitting alongside him for the event for the first time which consisted of 65 miles of fast tarmac stages in surprisingly hot conditions and were seeded car 8 out of 90 starters surrounded by a mixture of 20 Subaru Impreza’s and Mitsubishi Evolution cars.

The first two stages were over 11 miles long and the duo were running a fantastic 6th overall, 1st 2 wheel drive car by over 30 seconds and caught and passed some of the previous front running cars mid stage raising many eyebrows in the process.

It was obvious that the second hand Yokohama tarmac tyres were performing well but had seen their best so a brand new set of Dunlop’s were purchased and gave some extra needed performance. However 2 stages later the new tyres were worn down to the canvas much to the amusement of the service crew!

An overshoot on a fast left hand bend on stage 3 clipped a tyre and broke a driveshaft 3 corners from the finish line forcing an agonising stage maximum time of 23 minutes after pushing the green 205 over the finish line with the support from spectators.

With the time lost the crew tumbled down the leaderboard to over 50th position overall but showing true determination the pair went back out on stage 4 and were 5th quickest and continued to set top stage times and entertained the crowd with long sideways drifts and slides onto the loose gravel!

“Its been a fantastic day today, the cars performed very well and without the driveshaft failure we would have finished in the top 6 amongst cars with more than 100 bhp more than us and been 1st 2wd by over a minute so I’m very pleased with the result” said Simon

The next Championship event is the Pirelli National rally on May 14th 2006

 

April 24th 2006
Busy Time For Moore.

Simon Moore 2006 Reigning 205 Scholarship Champion Simon Moore has a busy time ahead by competing in two very different events in the next three weekends. He will be driving AB Motorsports boss Andy Bakers 180bhp Peugeot 205 crowd pleaser for the first time with 18 year old co-driver Phil Hall on this weekends Bloodhound Stages at Swinderby, (tarmac rally near Newark). The car will then be used 2 weeks later on the very different Gravel Pirelli National Rally on May 14th as part of the Peugeot Sport Owners Club 205 Championship.

“It will be good fun to compete on the Swinderby rally on Sunday to get used to the very different handling and power characteristics of this car and to complete extra miles with no Championship pressures. It’s will be the first time i will have driven this car on tarmac and it will be with a different co-driver.
I started single venue rallying over 6 years ago and I have always liked this venue, it offers an excellent 65 stage miles over 6 fast stages and it is good for spectators to watch the cars in action.”
“We have converted the car to tarmac settings and fitted some new parts from the last rally, then we will change the car back to Gravel settings the following weekend.

There is an added incentive now for Peugeot 205 owners to push even harder than before with Ford World Rally Team Boss Malcolm Wilson’s and Kevin Furber’s £3K Cash incentive to the first 205 crew to beat the front running crews in the brand new Fiesta ST150 Championship which is a tall order but worth pushing for.
 
The next Championship event is the Pirelli National Rally on Sunday May 14th, in which Simon will be competing with regular Co-Driver Huw Mathias who both won the rally outright last year.


Visit www.simonmoorerallying.com for further information.

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