Wearden stars on Jim Clark

Neil Wearden scored a brilliant second in class, and tenth overall on the British Rally Championship Challenge, Jim Clark Rally when the Oaktec Honda Civic Hybrid CVT moved up to the premier league of UK rallying.

Co-driven by Daily Telegraph correspondent Franca Davenport, Britain’s greenest rally car ran in the Group N 1400cc BRC Rally Challenge class on the gruelling 100 mile event set on closed public roads in stunning countryside of the Scottish Borders.

Wearden moved back to centre stage after a seven year lay off since his appearances in the World Rally Championship in a Peugeot 206 World Rally Car, but this time, rather than compete at the head of the field, he took on the runners in the small engined class in the unique Honda, following an invitation from the Oaktec team who wanted a top driver to evaluate the hybrid car.

Despite his lengthy lay off, Neil and Franca were immediately on the pace and blitzed the class opposition on the first stage and continued to lead the Group N 1400 class until stage five. After the Ford Ka of Callum Bendall and James Haugh crashed out, a ferocious battle ensued between Wearden and Davenport in the Civic Hybrid, Neil Primrose and Craig Thorley in the new Suzuki Swift and James Watts and Steve Greenhill in the VW Polo. Watts and Greenhill gradually gained a small cushion and won the class by just over a minute with the Honda Hybrid a further minute in front of the Suzuki.

Oaktec launched the Civic in 2007 with support from EEMS,the UK Government Energy Efficient Motorsport Project, and recently have added Bosch Transmissions as a main corporate sponsor. The team were thrilled with the result from a car that is about 350 kg above the class weight limit by nature of its sheer size. Apart from some minor problems with the brakes, which had been uprated prior to the event, the Hybrid car ran faultlessly and Neil was especially impressed with the chassis and transmission. As he commented after the rally,

‘This is a new experience for me. I am used to driving cars in the bigger classes with much more power. With only 1300 cc in a large car that is at an early stage of development I was unsure as to how we would perform .But the stability of the chassis enabled the car to carry tremendous speed on the fast flowing roads, and the electric motor and CVT transmission made it very easy to drive. . The weight penalty caused some problems on the longer up- hill sections and the smaller, lighter cars were quicker off the line and out of the hairpin bends but I’m sure when this car is developed we will get that back through using the torque of the electric motor. This type of technology has to be explored to ensure the future of our sport and I really enjoyed the chance to try it at this early stage.’ Oaktec boss Paul Andrews added,
'I am delighted with the outcome of the weekend and second place in class. We were competing against quick cars with very good drivers. The Civic is a large family car and as such carries a substantial weight penalty over the small hatchbacks that are the norm in our class. However the torque from the electric motor and Neil’s talent behind the wheel largely overcame this disadvantage. Despite the weight and size of the car, the package of hybrid technology and CVT transmission has massive potential to gain performance without spoiling the cars low emissions and fuel efficiency. The development program with the Civic Hybrid is at a very early stage I would love to get Neil and Franca out in the car again after we have exploited some of the untapped potential of the system' Oaktec are now evaluating what they have learned from the rally and will embark on a serious technical development program over the coming months. The Civic will be on show at the Green-Car-Guide-Live Motorshow in Liverpool on the 12^th of June at the UK Motorshow at Excel in July before making further competitive outings later in the year.

This text is available for reprint as are the photos in the gallery.