COVER STORY
That trust becomes even more important on the course, where things come at pace and decisions need to be taken quickly. A wrong call can be catastrophic in this type of event, and Mark says that as their partnership has developed, he has shifted from giving Allana direct advice to providing her with information and letting her make her own decisions.
Allana and Mark have a‘ ditch’ moment, but it never detracts from the enjoyment
“ Some people expect a new driver to almost drive the same way they would, but that is impossible. I have seen that in the past, and it can easily go downhill if you are not careful about how you respect each other’ s speed of learning.”
There are, of course, the inevitable differences of opinion, but Allana says she and her dad never have cross words on track. She puts that down, in part, to the fact Mark’ s experience allows him to take a relaxed approach.“ He knows exactly when to say what,” she says.“ I’ m a big worrier, but he’ s got a lot of patience and keeps me positive.
“ The only time we have different opinions is when something breaks on the car. He will literally do anything to get us back out on the track – but I am more conservative – so, if he wants to do a fix that risks breaking something else or costs more, that is when we have disagreements. When that happens, Jake comes in and tells us what to do!”
Over time, the pair have learned to listen to each other and discuss both points of view. When walking the course before an event, for example, they will sometimes have different opinions on the best way to tackle a particular obstacle, so they usually try out both approaches on different runs to see who was right.
“ Walking the course is an absolute must, and it is really important to be able to take each other’ s opinions and compromise with each other,” says Mark.“ That all comes down building the ability to trust each other’ s information and we are at the point now where, as much as I would like to always be right, sometimes Allana makes the better decision.”
“ Our driver-navigator relationship has really come on as she has developed her driving skills,” he continues.“ She can absorb more information now and she will very much make her own mind up when she’ s driving. I want her to develop at her own pace, so I wouldn’ t say I push her, but I will tell her where she could go faster if I think it will help.
“ We also share advice with Jake and vice versa, because we are commonly all at the same event. If one of us goes out first and realises there’ s something we ought to know about the course, we will feed that back. Ultimately, it comes down to the driver’ s decision, but all the feedback’ s there to make that decision.”
Over the years, Mark has enjoyed plenty of memorable moments in different off-road vehicles alongside his two children, and now that both have left the family home, the partnerships they have developed in motorsport give them a way to stay together, joining not only in competition but also in social events with the family and friends.
“ Once people leave home, you don’ t often see so much of each other because lives are busy, so by all being in the sport, it still brings us together for between 10 and 12 weekends throughout the year,” he says.“ They are both quite happy to sit with us as a social circle in the Club and it even becomes a topic over Christmas dinner, looking back on the season!”
Allana agrees, adding:“ I’ ve always been a daddy’ s girl, but I think this has really brought us closer. He loves to see his kids doing what he has loved doing since he was 21 and he also really loves the family all being together. The main thing for me is that I enjoy it and that my dad’ s enjoying it and having fun too.
“ At the end of the day, we’ re just there to have fun – and if you enjoy it, you will have the spark to be competitive. We won the Championship for our class last year, which was a very memorable and happy moment, and because we are all involved, when we got the trophy at the Club’ s annual dinner dance, we were all there to celebrate together.”
Take up the challenge here Revolution- August 2025
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