Michael Leete & Christine Bird
MOTORSPORT PARTNERSHIPS
Steve Shelley
“ The Club has recognised that Tom, particularly, is moving forward with great enthusiasm and being awarded the trophy was great recognition that we’ re being accepted,” says Tony.“ Tom has youth on his side and I think he may well do big things within motorsport, and within the Club, with me in support alongside him.
Michael Leete & Christine Bird
Trials Falcon Motor Club
“ It helps that we have been learning at the same time. It is not something my dad’ s introduced me to through his experience or vice versa; we both went into it knowing absolutely nothing and thought‘ how can we learn this; how can we get better?’ I honestly think if it had just been one of us joining the Club, we probably would not have even made it this far.
“ After every event, we sit down and talk about what we’ ve done and discuss how we can improve. We work really well together, and I think it’ s because we do really enjoy spending time together at the Club and in motorsport in general, we both want it to be an enjoyable experience, so we try hard to make sure it is.”
Participating in 12-Cars has even opened Tony and Tom’ s eyes up to the wider world of motorsport, and when they are not in the car, they have started to attend other events together as spectators. They have also become more involved in the Club – and this year they were even awarded its Kelvin Brown Trophy for Enthusiasts of the Year.
“ As a parent, it’ s been great to see him interacting with other people who have the same interests. It’ s very maturing. He’ s communicating with guys who’ ve been rallying for 20 or 30 years, and he has built his confidence. With my encouragement, he recently put himself forward to organise a Tabletop Rally, so he’ s contributing to the Club as well.”
Tom also plans to help one of the other Club members manage a 12-Car Rally for next year – and if all goes well, he has been invited to organise and run his own one the year after. Meanwhile, inside the car, with a season of experience, the Purdys are now planning to step up a level and make a mark on the results, which could test their relationship further.
“ Last year was all about learning the ropes and this season we want to be more competitive, so we will see how that goes” says Tom.“ There was no real pressure last year because we knew we were going to come last, so it didn’ t matter. Now there will be more pressure, but if things become challenging, we just need to remind ourselves why we’ re doing it.
“ We are also starting to think about the future now and wondering what other events we can compete in once we have got Navigational Rallying nailed. We have talked about jumping into a Stage Rally, but that’ s a big, big step up, so we will probably do some Targa Rallying next and see where we get with that.”
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Revolution- August 2025