Dunlop British Touring Car Championship ace Lea Wood has become one of the first people to get a ride in famed ‘extreme sports’ driver Ken Block’s latest ‘Gymkahna’ car…
Central Group Racing team driver Wood got the opportunity to ride in the Ford Fiesta – built to World Rally Car specification – during a secret test in Wales recently (see photo above – he is in there somewhere, honest)!
Wood, from Hereford, told btcc.net: “Our family business, Wheel Heaven, deals with the company here in the town who’ve built the Fiesta. They needed some kit and a truck so they used ours. I was the lorry driver and then spent four days overseeing all the wheels and tyres on the car. It is a proper WRC machine but obviously with quite a few trick bits.
“Ken was a top bloke, very pleasant, and knew that I raced in the BTCC so invited me to go for a spin. I think he thought he might show me why rally drivers are better than BTCC drivers! He certainly knows how to drive a car sideways, I’ll give him that! But that’s about it…
“I was in the car when the TV crew there decided to do a lot of the filming for the promo video of the car which is on You Tube.”
While the Fiesta is now in Los Angeles for this weekend’s ‘X Games’ event, in which Block will dazzle his adoring American fans, Wood is in final preparations for the resumption of his BTCC season at Snetterton, Norfolk (6-7 August).
He contested just the final two of the season’s opening five rounds but made an immediate impact at Oulton Park where he drove his older BTC-spec Honda Integra from 21st on the grid to seventh on a damp track surface. It was a giant-killing performance that netted him his first outright top ten result in the BTCC.
Wood added: “Joining the season so late means it’s been a bit start-stop for us because of the seven-week break but now it’s finally back down to business with Snetterton. We’ve just got a few final things to put on the car and we’re all raring to go.”
Source: BTCC.net
