PRESS RELEASE: 10th August 2008

Conor Flies in Latvia

The Gulbis rally in Latvia saw 5 British Junior crews head out to Gulbene 50km from the Russian border.
The service crew of Andy & Alex with Co-driver Tim Young had already travelled on Thursday to try some different components on the Golf Gti16v, after fitting head gasket, fuel pumps, filters etc, the car was scrutineered, and professed fit for the Rally.

Conor’s sister Ella joined the team for the recce and the roads were duly noted, with some good tips from Ella on distance and lines, each stage was driven over 3 times at 60kmh maximum, while Andy, Alex, Russ and Liz sorted car prep and cleaning. The rally was to start on the Sunday at 10am.

I test drove the car on Sat night and was surprised how flat the car felt, it didn’t feel like 150bhp.

So to the rally, Conor & Tim, set off, we watched on the 1st and 3rd stage. How proud were we of all the Junior drivers, they were superb, after 3 stages and service, Conor complained of a lot of movement from the rear of the car, lack of power and clutch problems with bearings tightened and reduced rear tyre pressures, clutch bled they set off, again we watched on ss4 & 6 , brilliant driving but you could see the Golf didn’t want to pull high revs.

No worries, Conor & Tim still got a brilliant 38th Overall and 2nd British Junior home.

We are now bringing the Golf back to the UK to sort out the problems, Conor will use the Peugeot 205Gti on the next round.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 8th August 2008

British Junior Rallycross Driver
British Junior Rally Team- Latvia

Conor Flynn sets off for Latvia this weekend, to drive his Golf Gti 16v in the Gulbis rally, the Rally is very close to the Russian border. His support team of Andy, Tim & Alex have flown out today to do repairs to the car, which is currently at the Skandi Autos Bentley dealer where it is stored between rallies. Conor and Co-driver Tim Young hope for a good solid run to get the maximum mileage, the Golf is supported by Skandi Autos, PIAA lamps, Yokohama, Revolution Wheels, Get-Connected and Digital Motorsport.

Conor has also competed in the Best of British Rallycross round at Croft, he again set fastest times in the Mini plus got the coveted Pole position but then the car was on 3 cylinders in the very wet finals, the fault was later traced to a cracked plug lead, never mind the bonus points for fastest kept Conor at the top of the Open Championship.

Conor is next racing at Lydden on Mon 25th August, in the Get-Connected, MotorV8, Mintex, Yokohama, Phaze 2, Archway, 205/RWD Challenge, PPIK, RSI, Kent Cams, Digital Motorsport, SMMC, Corbeau, PIAA lamps, Supported Mini.

The next round after is at Pembrey on 28th September, We hope 15 yr old Conor gets a bit more luck on these next 2 rounds to build his lead up in the Championships.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 10th June 2008

British Junior Rally Team- Latvia

Conor Shines at Sunny Pembrey

Conor Flynn competed in the 3rd round of the British Open Rallycross Championship, which doubled up with the 6th round of the BTRDA Rallycross Championship,

The Pro-Drivers, PIAA, Yokohama, Phaze 2 Hair, PDL, Toni, Mintex, Corbeau, MotorV8, Get-Connected, Archway Building Services, Ciro, Digital Motorsport and Rally School Ireland backed Mini, had just had new piston rings from SMMC while service guru Mutley had re-prepped the car.

Conor was in fine form, feeling fit and strong, he dominated the heats[consisting of 3 Open & 3 BTRDA heats] winning the first 5 and getting the commentator very excited as 6 out of 6 had never been done before. The 6th heat saw Conor well in the lead when a puncture on the front left saw the car lose grip and steering, with 2 laps to go, Conor decided to save the car rather than risk any suspension damage missing out on a unique record.

Conor made amends by winning both the Open and the BTRDA Finals, taking maximum pointsfrom the meeting

1st Conor Flynn 63
2nd Matt Thompson 56
3rd Daniel O Brien 48 Open Championship Scores

Conor also lies at the top of the btrda when you drop the scores, big sister Ella [17] will be out competing at Mid Wales Stages on 29th June, while Conor will be at Croft for rounds 4 of the BRDA and Open Rallycross on 6th July.

A big thank you to Mutley, Russ, Ella, Mum Liz, Barney & Carol, for looking after the car & crew at the weekend, plus of course a huge thank you to You the Sponsors & Partners helping Conor this year.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 2nd June 2008

LatviaTukuma Rally news & pics

Hi everyone, this is just a brief report on what happened at the weekend.

Conor drove superbly the first nights results saw him in 57th, while the other Brits were in 72nd and 81st overall.

Conor was really taking smooth lines, the roads were fantastic, How there is not a Latvian world champ , I do not know, as most of the roads are awesome gravel tracks, very low population, means a drivers Idea of heaven.

Pat

 

PRESS RELEASE: 1st May 2008

Crazy Weekend in Store for Flynns……….

15 Yr Old Conor Flynn, heads to Pembrey, South Wales for the 2nd & 3rd round of the BRDA Rallycross Championship.

The Mini backed by PPIK, Prodrivers, Yokohama, PIAA, MotorV8, Get-Connected, RSI, Corbeau, Digital Motorsport, Mintex , Phaze 2 Hair, PDL Motorsport, JJ Car Sales and the 205/RWD Challenges, will be looked after by a volunteer crew from the 205 Challeng., Dad Pat will be replaced by Rally drivers turned Mechanics Andy Davies and Rob Wilson who will swap over on Saturday night to join Mum Liz, while Pat races north to Grantham to watch Daughter Ella [17] co-driving with Toni Carannante [BMW 325] in Rd 2 of the Yokohama 205/RWD Challenge.

Sporting new Yellow wheel arches the car is being prepped by PDL motorsport, from their Chesterfield base.

With only 6 Juniors entered[In the BRDA] it looks like the Open Championship is the one to win this year.

Go for it Conor & Ella, more news after the weekend!

PRESS RELEASE: 22nd April 2008

British Junior Rallycross Driver
British Junior Rally Team- Latvia
Kekava rally Press release

Latvia near MISS…

The hire car waiting for us at Riga Airport was absolutely Hilarious! Lime green with a big Pizza Sign on the roof promoting the hire company.

This was to be my first ever recce Car! How cool, Saturday morning picked the golf and service shogun up and went to scrutineering! It was a busy schedule, I had 2 hours to recce 4 stages each doing a run of twice, so we jumped into the hire car and arrived at the first stage, I was shaking now and I hadn’t even started the Rally, the first stages Were great, Fast Flowing and very smooth, this was to be my first ever Rally stage! On an International Rally, what amazing experience,

The recce went well, getting into the Pacenotes very quickly, with dad driving, and Tim sat in the back writing what I was calling. We finished Recceing and got back to the service area, where the Golf was sat gleaming waiting for me and Tim, I couldn’t wait, my feat and hands shaking,

Me and Russ Thompson took the Golf to get fuel, A freak Accident happened - an auxiliary drive belt flung off into the cambelt bending all 16 VALVES.. Rally Over!

Not so fast, Janis was on hand to help, he bombed around everywhere and managed to find a 16valve Golf head at 8pm Saturday night! What a man, so this now laid on my Amazing Service crew! Who worked their hardest and got the car finished off at midnight, Me asleep in my bed, woke at 7am ready not knowing whether the car was fixed or not, so fingers crossed walked down to breakfast!!

What was sat outside The Golf all ready to rock n roll, Breakfast gulped down and off to the Start, me co-driving as too young to drive road sections, I think this was the quietest me and Tim have ever been, Both nervous, we did a quick swap as it was now my turn to drive, as 10 seconds came up I engaged first, my feet shaking, 5,4,3,2,1 GO we were off down the first straight which was coming to my first ever Bend read to me by Pacenotes, It was amazing!

The first stage taken steady went amazingly good, it felt a totally unforgettable experience driving through the stage, all I wanted to do was do it again so 10minutes later there I was at 10seconds again this time no foot shaking just a smile from Ear to Ear, what an experience!! And to think people get paid for this Pleasure!!! WOW!

Thanks for everyone who made this happen, especially Mum, Dad, Ella for the support and money! Andy, Russ, Alex, Rowan and Peter for fixing and looking after the car And of course to Tim for getting me through the challenging stages and Gemma for setting the Junior Rallying Team up, If it was not for these then I would not of Had The Best Experience of my Life.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 21st April 2008

Junior Rallying first event; “Better than hoped”

The first international event for Junior Rallying in the 2008 Latvian Rally Championship went “Better than we could have hoped,” according to Manager Gemma Price. Junior Rallying had three drivers competing on this weekend’s Kekava Rally, the second round of the Latvian RallySprint Championship and all acquitted themselves admirably on the scheme’s debut for multiple drivers in Latvia.

Welsh schoolboy Tom Cave was using the event as a shakedown for the start of his Latvian National Rally Championship campaign in May and achieved what he described as a “dream result”, by finishing the event 19th overall and second in class. However, the result belies the achievement of the 16 year-old, partnered by Price, as the crew picked up ten seconds of penalties for clipping cones on two stages. Without the penalties, Cave and Price would have completed the event 15th overall and the leading 2WD car, an excellent performance.

Cave was understandably delighted with the result. Speaking from the finish ramp in Kekava just outside Riga, he said; “This is a brilliant result; for me, for Gemma and of course, for the team. The objective for this weekend was to gain as much experience as possible and get the car ready for the Talsi Rally next month. We achieved that without question and to get this result on top of that is fantastic.”

Tom Clark, from the Midlands, is another driver pleased with his performance over the weekend. He completed the event 47th overall and 11th in class, amid a series of firsts for the 14 year-old. This was the first time he had driven to pace notes, the first time driving the MG ZR rally car, the first time with co-driver Aggie Foster and his first time on Latvian soil. His was an extremely steep learning curve but according to Price, he performed remarkably well.

Price said; “I’m very pleased that Tom completed the event and made it to the finish. To do that and come 11th out of 30 starters in the class is a huge bonus. The Latvian Automobile Federation (LAF) was impressed with his performance and his driving, which is excellent and a fitting recognition of the importance of the Junior Rallying scheme to develop British talent and also, the relationship between us and the LAF.”

Clark was understandably pleased with his weekend’s efforts; “It’s been a great first event for me and while I’m very happy to finish 11th out of 30 starters, the main aim was to get to the finish of the event and gain as much experience as possible. I haven’t used my own pace note system before this weekend, so was a little nervous about that. But in practice, it seemed to work well. We only had one of the chicanes wrong in the notes but as it transpired, it didn’t cause us any major problems.”

Things didn’t go quite as smoothly for Junior Rallying’s third driver, 15 year-old Conor Flyn. The engine on his family-prepared and run Volkswagen Golf failed before the start of the event on Saturday and he was unable to compete on the first two stages of the event. However, the team and the Junior Rallying technicians worked overnight to repair the engine and he was able to run on Sunday to gain experience, albeit without being classified.

Flyn and co-driver Tim Young put in creditable times on the six stages which made up Sunday’s section and despite not being classified, gained valuable experience of the nature of Latvian stages and driving to pace notes.

“It wasn’t the best start for us with the engine problem and missing the first two stages. But once we got going on Sunday, it was much better. This is also my first time on pace notes and this worked well. Like Tom [Clark], the hardest part was taking in what the co-driver, Tim was telling me. A few of the notes weren’t quite right so we didn’t feel we could commit fully but I am pleased with the stage times. It has been an amazing experience and I can’t wait for the next event.”

Summing up the first weekend of competition in Latvia for Junior Rallying, Manager Price said; “We could not have hoped for the first event to go as well as it did. All the drivers performed extremely well and each gained a huge amount of experience, which will prove invaluable for the rest of their season’s rallying. With the exception of Conor’s engine problem, we had no mechanical issues over the weekend, thanks to the m3motorsport team’s efforts and the support and hospitality we received from the LAF and the Latvian people was fantastic. We now look forward to the next events in the RallySprint and National championships with excitement.”

The next event for Clark and Flyn will be the Rally B&K, the third round of the RallySprint championship, over the weekend of 10/11 May. However, for Tom Cave, his will be the second round of the National Rally Championship, the Talsi Rally, the following weekend, the 17/18 May.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 15 April 2008

British Junior Rally Team- Latvia

Race against time…pays off!

15 Yr old Conor Flynn, had his work cut out to make the line up at Blyton on Sunday 13th April, The 2nd round Of the Rallycross Open series, was combined with the 3rd round of the BTRDA series plus round 2 of the MDA series.

After the engine detonated at Lydden 2 weeks ago, it was really a rush to get the new engine built and installed, with many late nights work.

The determined efforts of Southam MMC engines and Power developments paid off though and the Mini was finished just 12 hrs before the racing started.

With support from, PPIK Karting, Pro-drivers, Mintex, Yokohama, Get-Connected, Phaze 2 hair, MotorV8, Digital Motorsport, JJ Cars, PDL Motorsport, SMMC, PIAA lamps, Ciro & Toni and Corbeau. The white Mini looked great fully logo’d up at the circuit.

Immediately Conor was hit in the 1st heat, but a big fight back from the tyre wall saw a fine 4th place with fastest lap. The next 2 heats saw solid places of 3rd and 2nd, before Conor settled into the new engine, happy it was now run in, he tuned up the pace, 3 Straight WINS in the last 3 heats saw Conor on pole for both Finals, plus 3 valuable FTD bonus points in the open for fastest times.

The BTRDA final saw Jess Gwynne head the pack, with Conor & Dan O Brien chasing, a fine move on the inside of the chicane saw Conor in the lead with Dan pulling off a similar fine move.

 

PRESS RELEASE: 21 March 2008

Lydden 2 day event for Conor

Conor Flynn leaves Derbyshire today to work with the Yokohama team at the Yokohama 205/RWD Challenge event at Manby, North Lincolnshire.
After fitting tyres [that help to pay for his tyre budget] he will then be working on the event on Saturday, helping his sister Ella who is doing the event, as soon as the event finishes it’s a mad dash to Lydden Hill on Saturday night.

The Chris Prynne Motorsport run Mini will be lined up for the 2 day event with the best Juniors in the UK, the event is a double Header being the 1st round of the British junior and a round of the BTRDA championships, Conor Currently lies 2nd in the BTRDA series.

With huge help from his sponsors, Yokohama, PIAA, Pro-Drivers, Get-Connected, Digital Photography, Corbeau, Mintex MotorV8 and new sponsor Karting company PPIK. Conor has found a small gain at the rolling Road in power.

This hopefully sees him MotorV8ed enough to go past his PIAAs , His pro-driving approach, should see him Get Connected with the Lydden track, a mint exit from the elbow, should see him scream “Yokohama” as he hurtles down hairy hill to Mabbs bank. Then with a smile his sponsors can say “Cor-Beaut it was close wasn’t it.

 

 

PRESS RELEASE: 2 March 2008

British Junior Rallycross Driver
British Junior Rally Team- Latvia

Conor Flynn makes his debut in the British Open Rallycross series this weekend 2nd March at the Croft Rallycross circuit. Conor has just returned from a 3 week, trip to Sweden where he was ice racing, using a Front and Rear wheel drive car.

Originally Conor was due to make his debut as the Worlds Youngest ever rally driver in Latvia on the 23rd Feb, representing the Junior Rallying British Team, however the event was cancelled at the 11th hour as there was no snow for the Winter event, so Conor was unable to debut the 150bhp Golf Gti 16V, however he is more than ready for the Challenge of the 1000cc Mini.

The car has had a complete refit over winter, is now plain White, with a new shell, plus lots of new parts. Conor will shakedown the Mini at Rallydrive’s base at Blyton hall on Saturday before continuing North to Croft.

The round is also a BTRDA round, so Conor is attempting a 3 fold attack on the British titles this year.

With backing from Yokohama, Pro-Drivers, Digital Motorsport, Get-Connected, PPIK, Mintex, Corbeau, PIAA, MotorV8, 205/RWD Challenges, RSI and a number of personal backers, Conor is raring to go.

The round is Televised and will be shown soon on Motors TV, Conor is one of 12 drivers battling for the Open series, he starts as one of the favourites following a final round win at Croft last year.

Conor’s Website www.conorflynn.co.uk is undergoing a revamp, with pics from Sweden and Croft to be added after the event.
Here’s to a good event, report out after the weekend

CONOR FLYNN MOTORSPORT CALENDAR 2008

February 23/24 Latvia Rally Round 2 in Riga

March 2nd Croft Rallycross Open Series rd 1

March 24th Lydden MSA Rallycross rd 1

April 13th Blyton Rally cross Open rd 2

May 4/5th Pembrey Rallycross MSA rd 2 & 3

May 26th Lydden Rallycross Open Rd 3

May 31st/1st June Latvia Rally Round 4 in Tukuma

June 28/29 Latvia Rally round 5 Bauskas

July 6th Croft Rallycross Round 4 Open, plus Round 4 MSA

August 9th Latvia Rally Round 6 Gulbenes

August 25th Lydden Rallycross MSA Round 5

Sept 13/14th Blyton Rallycross Open Rd 5 & 6

Sept 20/21 Latvia Rally Round 7 Liepajas

Sept 28th Pembrey Rallycross MSA Round 6

October 12th Mondello Rallycross MSA round 7

October 25/26th Croft Open Round 7 & 8

 

Conor Flynn’s CV

1999 - I attended a motorbike trials championship in midlands- I also won the junior class riding a 4 speed Yamaha Ty80.
2000 - More motorbike trials. Again winning my class.
2001 - I joined the junior indoor Karting championship based at Nottingham, I finished first in the grand prix series against much older/more experienced Karters.
2002 - I continued with my indoor Karting, which I won the series again
2002 - I competed in a rally car, against a Junior Karter and a journalist from Britain’s leading rally paper [Motorsport News] around a rally stage at Bill Gwynne International Rally School. This was then featured in the Special Christmas issue. I was fastest despite not being big enough to pull the handbrake at the hairpins!!!
2003 February- attended an ice school in Sweden, driving on a frozen lake in a 205 gti rally car I completed around our tracks about 100 miles during that week and learnt the basics of left foot braking and getting a car to slide.
2004 - February I attended Sweden again this time in a Mazda 323 turbo 4x4 this time I achieved a lot more and got an early experience in a 4 wheel drive turbo car, while In Sweden I had the chance to do ice Karting again on a frozen lake.
2005 - February I attended Sweden again this time with a 280bhp Subaru Impreza, this time it was more structured to learn how to power slide, I had tuition from ex Peugeot factory drivers, Hakan Eriksson and Kevin Furber. I was then setting times beating the top contenders in the British Championships
Rest of 2005 - I used a Mini 1000cc in the local Autograss series, winning many races and meetings
May 2005 - I had Pacenote practice with ladies champion Barbara Armstrong.
September 200 5- I had a test day at Sweetlamb forestry complex with my father (Pat Flynn) ex Rally/Rallycross champion.
January 2006 - I was picked by rally enthusiasts/ business men consortium to be helped towards a rally career when I turn 17. This made front page news on Britain’s leading motorsport paper and got a 2 page spread in Britain’s largest news paper the “Daily Mirror”
February 2006 - I attended the Sweden ice driving again in the Subaru this time I was fastest on the ice aswell as the youngest I even beat my dad and my coach Barbara. I also had coaching from the Nurburgring record holder and Le Mans driver Michael Vergers.
April 2006 - 2 day asphalt test at Blyton airfield with Justin Dale and Martin Rowe using a 205 gti rally car.
June 2006 - I took part in a 1 day gravel test at the sweet lamb forest complex using my 205 gti with Martin Rowe (PWRC world champion) coaching me, at this event I also did pace noting.
September 2006 - I took part in a 1-2-1 test at croft race circuit in a BMW 325 rally car, I completed 70 laps of the race circuit concentrating on lines and smoothness.
Rest of 2006 - many single days (approx 20) in doing track days/ recces in road cars. I also contested in local motor club championship navigating for my dad on road rallies.
2007 February - again I attended the Sweden ice school this time using a 170bhp BMW 325 rally car again I was fastest of all 22 RWD cars that attended despite still being the youngest driver.
April 2007 - signed up for British junior Rallycross championship; in my first event I claimed a podium finish, despite being the youngest competitor.
May 2007 - Pembrey Rallycross- despite being pushed off the road and rolling over, we repaired the car I went on to take another podium finish.
June 2007 - A day at Prodrive driving a Focus ST with Australian touring car driver Jamie Wall
July 2007 - Pembrey Rallycross- I made history by becoming the youngest ever winner of a BTRDA round.
August 2007- I attended a four day rally work experience at Rally School Ireland, while there I learnt car maintenance, track maintenance and had four full afternoons of driving including WRC Driver Kris Meeke giving me personal tuition.
September 2007- Lydden Hill Rallycross- I took second place
September 2007 - I attended the Otterburn rally in which I took part in the recce on closed military roads in which I drove and called the notes.
October 2007 - Another overall win at Croft International Rallycross circuit, where Per Eklund congratulated me on my driving, again the youngest in the series.
Rest of 2007 - I attended a multiple of test days (approx 7) driving different rally cars- a BMW, Peugeot 205, Mitsubishi Evo and Mini.
2006-7- During these two years I have helped my father run the Yokohama 205/RWD rally championships, I have attended over 20 days of rally days. On which I have completed over 2500 miles in road cars on private roads.
Dec 2007 ; Joined the Junior Rallying GB team, to compete in Latvia on Rallies.
Also signed to a 3 way attack to contest the BRDA, BTRDA and OPEN Rallycross series aiming to be the youngest British Junior Rallycross Champion