PRESS RELEASE: 5 September 2010

Beebe picks up win number two

Driver Matt Beebe secured his second class win of the 2010 season this weekend as he triumphed on the Woodpecker Stages Rally in and around Ludlow, Shropshire.

Beebe sealed the double as he completed the event almost a minute faster than his closest N3 class rival.

Following the heartbreak of Beebe’s last outing at the Quinton Stages in July – when his MGZR160 broke down as he led until the last mile – the Nuneaton based driver was overjoyed with this result.

He said: “It was a good victory, and we’re very pleased to have done it. It was what we needed after we had a bit of bad luck in the last round”.

“It was good to finish, because after the car broke last time we wanted to get back out there to make sure everything was ok”.

“As there was quite a big time lapse between the last rally and this one you start to think and wonder if there was any other problem with the car, and want to test it out there again.”

Licensed mechanic Beebe made all the repairs himself, and worked to fix the broken drive shaft and gearbox problems that blighted his chances during the last competition.

The changes made all the difference as the car performed perfectly, as it was guided around the Worcestershire gravel tracks without a hitch.

“It makes all the hard work worth it when the car works so well and you win,” the victorious rally ace continued.

“As I did all the work myself, if anything went wrong it would have been my fault. The car was faultless all day though and I’m very pleased about that.”

Beebe will now turn his attention to the Trackrod Clubman rally in Yorkshire on 25th September where he hopes to complete back to back victories.

“Where the next rally is only three weeks away and hopefully we can do it all again I’m looking forward to it.”

Matt has recently started his own business – M8T BB Rallying Ltd – and offers general road car servicing, rally car preparation, and on event servicing and advice for anybody interested.

For more information on any of this or Matt’s rally career please visit www.mattbeebe.co.uk

 

PRESS RELEASE: 12th July 2010

Beebe dominant until last stage drama

Nuneaton rally driver Matt Beebe was left disappointed after missing a great opportunity to win his class at Saturday’s Quinton Stages Rally as he was forced to pull over agonisingly close to the finish line.

With just one mile left to run until the end, and a comfortable three minute lead over his nearest rival, Beebe’s MGZR160 suffered a broken driveshaft as he went over a big jump and landed heavily.

The disappointed racer said: “Because we were ahead by a good gap we’d decided to take it easy and get to the finish.”

“We took our time over the rough bits but I must have been carrying more speed than when we went over the jump in the same stage earlier in the day and we landed badly.”

“I’m absolutely gutted, we weren’t doing anything stupid and the driveshaft isn’t anything we’ve had a problem with before, but maybe we were trying to get too many miles out of it.”

“Everything was going so well and we’d done the hard work to be in the lead of our class – the car was doing well until the end and we were really pleased, but that’s motorsport!”

The three times British Champion remains upbeat about the weekend despite the late setback, and keeps some perspective on the situation and the season as a whole.

“If you think we went to a rally at the start of the season and didn’t even make it to the start of the first stage it doesn’t look so bad,” Matt continued.

“At least we did all the stages this weekend that was really enjoyable, and everything was going so well with the car and both me and Rich (Matt’s co-driver) were doing well too.”

“It was disappointing to have had bad luck at the end but we’ve done well at the last two rallies and I think it evens itself out overall.”

There is now a month and a half’s long break before the next British Championship meets, but Beebe doesn’t plan to rest on his laurels and is looking to get his next rally fix on foreign soil instead.

“The next round isn’t until September so we’ve got plenty of time to mull over what might have been. We’re looking at going to Belgium to do a tarmac rally at the Tour of Flanders.”

“We’re just seeing what deals we can do to go across, it’ll be a good holiday for the team.”

“Belgian Rallies are quite keen to get British drivers over there, and offer various incentives for British Teams.”

Matt has recently started his own business – M8T BB Rallying Ltd – and offers general road car servicing, rally car preparation and on event servicing and advice for anybody interested.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 24th June 2010

Beebe puts Rally of the Midlands ghosts to rest

Matt Beebe put the ghosts of his last Rally of the Midlands to rest as he claimed an impressive 16th place overall finish out of over 100 starters at the 2010 event.
The three times British Champion’s previous outing at the competition was in 2008 when he rolled his car and consequently wasn’t able to race again for another 18 months.

Beebe says the accident never really crossed his mind as he took to the start line in Bedworth Town Centre on Friday evening, but is glad to have got the rally out of the way and come home with a positive result.

The driver said: “You’ve got to take the risks in rally driving, and it’s good to get it out of the way but you shouldn’t dwell on the past.”
“You just have to move on, and we knew the MG was a good car, and we made sure everything was right, so it was good to prove we can do it and that the car is competitive.”
“It proves the car was prepared properly and we’ve got the speed, so it was a great advert for M8T BB Rallying, and that’s what we were worried about doing.”

The Nuneaton rally star’s top twenty position also saw him claim sixth place in his class, and was the first Group N two wheel drive car to cross the line. He also scored 2 fastest stage times on the Bramcote stage.

Despite a couple of minor mechanical concerns throughout the weekend, Beebe was overjoyed with the final result and feels that it is a sign of things to come in future rallies.

“It’s a really good prospect. There wasn’t a car that finished in front of us that we looked at and thought we shouldn’t be beaten by because they were all highly tuned and modified, so I’m really pleased.”

“It’s a hard rally on the car because you’re going flat out all the way. It was a really good experience though.”

Last weekend’s result was the second consecutive successful rally the 28 year-old has had in recent weeks, and with the next competition looming large at the Quinton Stages on 10th July, Beebe aims to keep the momentum going as he gradually gets back to his best.

“You’ve got to be confident in the car. We’ve had two good results in it now and I’m looking forward to going there (the Quinton Rally) and getting another one!”

Matt has recently started his own business – M8T BB Rallying Ltd – and offers general road car servicing, rally car preparation and on event servicing and advice for anybody interested.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 9th June 2010

Beebe in Nuneaton Town Centre

Local rally champion Matt Beebe and his service crew were in attendance at Nuneaton Market this week to publicise this Sundays Nuneaton Carnival Procession and Bedworth Civic Hall productions for 2010.

This was all in conjunction with the following weekends 9th running of Rally of the Midlands based in and around Hinckley and Nuneaton on 18th – 19th June 2010. This will be the 5th time Matt has competed on his local rally and it will be his opportunity to showcase his self-built and self-prepared rally car MGZR 160 in action.

He will also be promoting his new garage business venture M8T BB Ltd, ‘For all your automotive needs’, having 10 years experience in repairing and maintaining all types of vehicles to the very highest standards. Matt is also available to discuss any rallying needs from building to running a rally car for you. Give him a call 07793968821.

PRESS RELEASE: 18th May 2010

Beebe flies to second place finish

Former British Rally Champion Matt Beebe says he has finally “got the monkey off his back” after securing a brilliant second place finish in his class at the Plains Rally last weekend, only nine seconds down on the previous car.

The Nuneaton driver’s career has suffered an up and down last couple of years, but he put his recent problems behind him to take 47th position out of 144 competitors overall and maximum BTRDA championship points from the trip to Wales.

Following an accident three weeks ago at the Somerset Stages, Beebe’s MGZR160 needed a complete re-shell in order to be ready to compete at the event and the rally ace is delighted to have managed a result that rewards the hard work of everybody involved.

“Everyone worked really hard to get the car ready, and big thanks must go to Dan at CMC Motorsport where the car was rebuilt.”

“The guys at the Research Garage body shop did really well too and they burst a gut to get it done. Without their help we’d never have got out there.”

“It was great to finish, and the result was a bonus really. The car performed faultlessly, and it makes all the hard work worthwhile when that happens.”

Work was still being done on the car up until the Friday morning before the team travelled west, and Beebe said the result was far better than any of the team had dared to imagine on the start line.

He confessed: “We had a couple of late nights getting the car ready and it was all a bit last minute, so all we had aimed for was to finish the rally – so to come second in our class was a real bonus!”

“Being without my regular co-driver for this event Chris Brooks responded to my plea on the Plains event website and considering I had not even met him until 3 days before the rally we gelled immediately in the car and I am really grateful to Chris’s contribution to this fantastic result.”

“It was so last minute we didn’t get chance to give the car a run before the first stage, so we started carefully to make sure we got round, and we lost 16 seconds on the leader in the first sector.”

“We finished nine seconds behind first place in the end, so if we hadn’t lost that time we might have been right in there.”

“I’ve got the monkey off my back now though, and we showed we can do it. We’ve got to keep that going and keep the confidence high, and hopefully we’ll keep the results coming too.”

Beebe next plans to take part in the local ‘Rally of the Midlands’ event in June based in and around Nuneaton and Hinckley and away from competition the 28 year old is concentrating on his business M8T BB Rallying Limited, where he runs a garage and hopes to expand further in the coming months.

Thanks as ever to AVO, PIAA, Eastern Airways, Quadro Services, Freedom is and Martin Dee for their support.

For more information on Matt Beebe Rally, car sponsorship, car preparation or other enquiries visit www.mattbeebe.co.uk.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 13th May 2010

Beebe faces race against time

Three times British Rally Champion Matt Beebe faces a race against time to be ready for his next scheduled rally after an unfortunate crash at the Betta Somerset Stages Rally on 24th April.

The Nuneaton driver had just over two weeks to repair his MG ZR160 before the Plains Rally based in Welshpool on the 15th May, and had to act quickly if he had any hope of making the start line.

The crash occurred during the second stage of the Somerset Stages event on the Saturday, meaning that Beebe frustratingly only managed to tot up six stage miles.

“We’d done the first stage that was only a short one, and had a good clean run and set a good time,” said the rally ace.

“Then on the second we’d done about five miles before we went over a bump that had got bigger through the day, and went a bit wide.”

“I thought I’d got control of it but then the car clipped a tree and rolled, and we ended up upside down.”

Luckily, both Beebe and his co-driver Rich Mills emerged unscathed from the accident, and the team remained optimistic of their chances of sorting the car out for the trip to Wales this weekend.

Matt continued: “We didn’t do much damage when rolling, but the car needed the body work and chassis sorting out, a lot of the suspension needed replacing, and we needed to repair the metal work and get it painted up.”

“It’s been a case of finding a car to get spares, they don’t make this model any more and we can’t get all the parts we need – we had to go back home and had a look on Ebay to see if we could find something!”

“The car was taken to the Research Garage body shop and they were able to help out, they’ve been a great help to me before and do a great job.”

Despite the ill fated result, Beebe still feels relatively positive about how he started the rally, although he admitted he was very disappointed with the setback as he makes his return to the sport.

He added: “It felt alright out there, but we only managed six miles so it’s difficult to say really. It still feels a bit alien; I’m not quite back into the groove just yet.”

“Everything was going to plan early on, and we weren’t pushing it too hard but I’m absolutely gutted it happened.”

“I’m was disappointed for everyone involved after all the effort we put in to get out there, and we’ve gone all the way down to Somerset and then that happens.”

The race against time was really on and the car only came out from the body shop on Wednesday morning as entries closed, for the Plains Rally, on 12th May at midnight. A provisional entry had been sent in but it was confirmed that evening that they would be in Welshpool on Friday. All day Wednesday, Wednesday evening and Thursday will be spent rebuilding the car and Matt hopes to be out testing in it by Thursday afternoon.

Once again thanks must go to AVO for the suspension, PIAA for lights and wipers, Quadro Services, Dad for his time and support, Research Garage body shop and last but not least Martin.

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: 21st April 2010

Matt Beebe hopeful ahead of Somerset rally

Nuneaton rally star Matt Beebe is hopeful he can continue his comeback to competition this weekend with a strong performance at the Betta Somerset Stages Rally based at Butlins Resort Minehead.

Beebe is still fighting back from a crash while competing on the 2008 Rally of the Midlands, and – after a promising return at the Wyedean Rally in February – the three time British Rally Champion is confident the good times are just around the corner once again.

The 28 year-old went to the Wyedean event in the Forest of Dean just hoping to secure a finish, and came home having completed victory in the N3 Class and was awarded with the M.E. Damsell Monumental Masons Trophy for his result.

The rally ace said ahead of this weekend’s trip: “It’s like the Wyedean again really, we’re going for another finish, and we’re very hopeful we can do that”.

“We’ve tested the car a lot more, and it feels good. But there’s only so much you can do before a rally because if you keep testing it then something will break eventually.

“We hope to be reliable and go down to Somerset and have fun.”

Beebe has never previously driven on any of the stages of the Somerset rally, and, as another first, the rally will be his first on varying road surfaces – both gravel and tarmac.

“This is the first time I will do a mixed surface event,” he continued. “It’ll be good because we can compare which one we perform better on and see how competitive we are against other cars.”

“The entire course is totally new to me and my co-driver Rich Mills, but I’ve been on Youtube to see one of the tarmac stages so I know where I’m going on that one!”

The ambitious driver hopes to do enough to win the N3 class this weekend, and feels that if hard work and effort translates to good luck, he’ll soon be right back on track.

Beebe added: “You make your own luck by being prepared. When I first started rallying I had three years of good results and didn’t get a single ‘DNF’, but I guess that ran out and we had a little bit of bad luck.

“We’ll just keep going and continue to have fun while we’re doing it, and hopefully it’ll pick up again.”

“We just hope to get some good results behind us again and then hopefully get someone to sponsor us and move on. This is PIAA local rally one of our supporters.”

For more information on Matt Beebe Rally, car sponsorship or other enquiries visit www.mattbeebe.co.uk

 

PRESS RELEASE: 15th February 2010

MATT BEEBE BACK TO RALLYING

After a 2 year absence from stage rallying, Nuneaton based driver Matt Beebe returned on the Wyedean Rally in the Forest of Dean driving his self -prepared, rebuilt MG ZR 160 alongside regular Warwick based co-driver Rich Mills.

Matt’s sole aim was to finish the rally after the disappointments of Jim Clark Rally and Rally of the Midlands 2008.
Although admitting to being ‘rusty’ for the first four stages, Matt got into the groove and enjoyed a day long battle with Owen Le Roy (2007 winner) and with Elfyn Evans until his Fiesta broke.

Despite intending to just drive for a finish, Matt finished 29th from a start position of 44, won his (N3) class, was awarded the M.E. Damsell Monumental Masons Trophy and after this opening round Matt and Rich are leading class E4 in the MSA English Rally Championship and 4th in the Silverstone Tyres Silver Star Championship for 2WD cars.

Thank you to the continued support of PIAA (lights), AVO (suspension), R & A Properties, Snuglux, Martin Dee (who did much to rebuild Matts car over the last 2 years) and service crew Russ and Shaun as well as, as always, Mum and Dad and Quadro Services Ltd.

Matts next championship round is the Malcolm Wilson Stages on 6th March 2010 in Cumbria – watch this space to follow his progress.

For more on Matt check out his website www.mattbeebe.co.uk .