Soon after the 2009 season draws to a close preparation for Everard’s 2010 BRC season has already started in the Used Garage Equipment Online rally workshop in Hull.  Nick and his young mechanic Charley Webster have started the rebuild of his 2009 Suzuki Swift for the 2010 season.  The car will undergo a full strip down so repairs can be carried out, parts replaced and the car repainted with a new corporate look.

Nick and his young mechanic Charley Webster from the Hull based Used Garage Equipment Online rally team competed in the Neil Howard Memorial Stages last weekend.

Despite the lower class Suzuki Swift running in the higher 1600 cc class the pairing of Nick and Charley set top 2 stage times all day.

Unfortunately they were robbed of their second in class finish due to an unjust penalty of 7 minutes for passing a higher class 2000 cc car on the grass which had already held Nick up for about a mile.

Result! Nick Everard & Chris Williams win the R1 class on Grizedale Stages Forest Rally 2009:

Nick and his new navigator Chris Williams competed in the Grizedale Stages Rally based in Cumbria, Lake District at the weekend.

The Used Garage Equipment Online rally team and the new pairing tackled the wet, twisty, technical stages of the Grizdale Forest in their Suzuki Swift Sport and although they suffered a puncture on stage 2 of 6 Nick finished the event winning class R1, also setting fastest 1600cc times on the closing 2 stages.

Round 6 International Rally of Yorkshire based in Pickering, which saw the team return to gravel. Young Nick was determined to finish on the podium or in a ditch trying. Nick started round 6 with his new navigator Sam Collis, competing on 9 stages covering 90 miles through Dalby and Cropton Forests.  The young Yorkshireman had a flying finish even though he suffered suspension damage and a destroyed tyre, finishing on the podium 2nd in class and 14th overall.

Round 5 the Ulster International Rally, based in Antrim Ireland. With a good result and solid improvement from the Rally Isle Of man, young Nick Everard was set for a podium position; however it was ill health that blundered his chances of a podium position, regardless of being ill the young Yorkshire man pushed through to finish the event gaining championship points. “It was enormously hard to concentrate feeling so ill, we had a few near misses” said nick.

Round 4 for the second asphalt Event. With a none finish on the previous round Nick was determined to prove himself on the narrow twisty roads of the island.  Competing on 20 stages covering 180 miles, Nick’s constant struggle with pace notes starts to pay off by setting some top stage times on the final day of Rally Isle of Man, including the famous Marine Drive stage.  With earlier problems overcome, Nick brought his Used-Garage-Equipment.com backed Suzuki Swift home 4th in the Swift Sport Cup.

Round 3 Jim Clark Rally based in Kelso. This also saw the move from gravel to tarmac on closed roads, a change for the Nick who has never driven on closed roads before.  It was set to be a challenging event for the 21 year old who set off on the blisteringly quick Night stages full of enthusiasm.  Unfortunately halfway through the second day Nick suffered gearbox problems which would halt his rally on stage 11, robbing the young driver of vitalexperience

Round 2 The Pirelli International Rally based in Carlisle, 120 miles of fast technical gravel stages of the Kielder Forest were a real test for the 21 year old. Despite 2 stages being cancelled due to a front runner’s car setting on fire, Nick had a great event.  Nick was settling in with his pace notes and was rivalling times on the closing stages with the leaders of class R1. Nick brought the Used-Garage-Equipment.com backed Swift home with a 5th in class.

Round 1 the season opener was gravel stages of the International Bulldog Rally in North Wales.

Nick and his team didn’t get off to the good start they were hoping for. Heavy rain on the opening stages made it a tough start for the young driver.  Although they had a good opening stage, Nick slid off the road into a ditch which ended his rally.

Nick and the Used-Garage-Equipment.com rally team are due to collect their new Suzuki Swift rally car in readiness for his assault on the 2009 Suzuki Swift cup championship, from Monster Sport Europe in Milton Keynes on Tuesday 22nd.

The team are eager to collect the car as the season opener, ‘The Bulldog International Rally’ of the ‘Suzuki Swift Cup’ is only a little over three weeks away.

Nick and the team are arranging a test day at David Higgins’ test venue  before the first round to allow Nick to familiarise himself with the car.