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Driver Profile

 

December

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July 8th

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June 6th

Click image for the news article.

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February 2nd

Available to pre-order now and due for Winter 2023-24 release. The Scalextric Edition of our Escort.

Click Here For More Information

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October 27th

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September 2022

Everyone has a bucket list of things they want to do in life and Friday 16th September was a massive box ticked. Driving a V8 Holden Commodore, with a rich history in the iconic Aussie V8 supercar series, surpassed a lot of expectation. With sincere thanks to Alex and Ben, plus the guys at Holden Racing UK, for making this possible. The car had previously been raced by Mark Skaife and Greg Murphy.

Click here to see the video

Gary Hawkins

For more photos see the 2022 gallery

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January 2022

Jackson tops final 2021 Autosport National Driver Rankings as Birley grabs third !           Click For Link

 

December 2021

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28th April 2020

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Photos of Brands Hatch and Lydden Hill as Coronavirus stops motorsport action at Kent race circuits

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10th January 2020

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8th September 2019

          

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9th March 2019

Both the Escort and the Honda Integra (owned by Jonathan Bevan) have had engine rebuilds this winter. The Escort will also have new dampers supplied by AST Cooksport. Barnby Engineering are currently making some new lighter 18” wheels. The Honda has also got some new Enkie wheels. It is hoped that both cars will be a little bit more competitive this year.

The season starts on April 6th at Silverstone, where the new Classic and Modern Motorsport Club Southern (CMMCS) begins its new series.

We are also planning to do some of the Ford saloon races, including the Ford power live event at Brands Hatch on September 8th: www.fordpowerlive.co.uk

 

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7th January 2019

Charlize Carlson, who is only 16 years old is the young lady who won the V8 Sprint Car final at Richards Bay (South Africa)

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5th January 2019

Image may contain: 3 people, people smiling, people standing

Rod receiving a gift from Michelle Loosemore at Richards Bay raceway in South Africa on December 29th.

Due to a long running allegation about Intermarque, Deane Wood (from Spedeworth UK) prevented Rod from racing.

Hasten to say the organisers at Richards Bay were not happy about Deane’s intervention.

 

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February 23rd 2018

Making progress

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November 21st

Kent driver grabs title at Brands Hatch for most race wins ever
Birley breaks UK record at home circuit

 
Kent's Rod Birley made history at Brands Hatch last weekend (18-19 November) when he claimed the new UK record for most race wins, just two weeks after a serious crash threatened to shatter his life-long dream.

Birley, who lives on the circuit’s doorstep in West Kingsdown, claimed two saloon car class victories in a Honda Integra at the last event of the Brands Hatch season, to equal and then surpass the benchmark of 625 wins set by cult hero Gerry Marshall. Marshall’s total was achieved during a career spanning more than 40 years from the mid-1960s until his death in 2005. Birley began competing in 1973 and much of his success has come at Brands Hatch, with more than 200 of his 626 wins secured at his local venue. 

It’s been a landmark year for Birley, who chalked up his 600th victory early in 2017 and has enjoyed something of an Indian summer ever since, to close the gap on Marshall. Upon reaching 600 wins, Rod speculated that it would probably take "a year or two" to overtake Marshall, whose photo currently hangs in Brands Hatch's Kentagon restaurant.

Birley was aiming to break the record two weeks ago, when he tangled with a rival on the final run to the chequered flag. A 130mph impact with the pit wall left him with cracked ribs – and may have written off the Ford Escort in which he has achieved much of his recent success.

With the Escort out of action, Rod’s record-breaking moment came in the next best thing as his Honda was shared in a two-driver race with Jon Bevan, whose family prepared his very first racing car.

Brands Hatch was the perfect location for Birley to claim the milestone, as it’s the site of many of his key motorsport memories. Indeed, he cites watching Jim Clark in a Lotus Cortina on the Grand Prix circuit as the moment he realised motor racing was for him, and he was fortunate enough to compete on the support bill at the final Brands Hatch British Grand Prix in 1986. In more recent years, in addition to frequently competing at the circuit, Birley took part in filming for Ron Howard's blockbuster racing movie 'Rush', whilst the venue remains one of his preferred Sunday lunch destinations. 

Briley said: “I am really pleased that I managed to break the wins record at Brands Hatch, where I have enjoyed most of my success. Quite appropriately, it was with the Bevan family, as George Bevan built my very first race engine for a Hillman Imp back in 1973. It’s probably not the most sensible thing I have done, as I still have a couple of cracked ribs from the big crash two weeks ago!”

Photo captions:
1. Birley won his 626th race at Brands Hatch at the weekend - a new UK record
2. The local driver claimed the landmark at Brands Hatch in his Bevan family-prepared Honda Integra
3. Gerry Marshall was the previous record holder with 625 wins

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November 5th

Just back from hospital where Rod had to have a full CT scan as they were worried about internal bleeding.

The Doctors diagnosis is a bruised spleen and very sore ribs, which will take a while to heal.

Our car is in a very sorry state. Crash helmet is scrap, but the HANS device saved Rod’s life according to the doctor.

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22nd April 2017

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4th April 2017

Motorsport TV will be showing our races from Brands Hatch (March 25/26) over two programmes. The first will be on Saturday April 29th at 12.25 and the second will be on Saturday May 6th at 11.55

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13th February 2017

The winter rebuilds are in full swing. Joe and Ben at Hart power are working hard to get the new engine/turbo/restrictor sorted for the Escort. This year we have been pegged back even further with a 50 mm restrictor, which is requiring a lot of thought to resolve. Everything was stripped off the car straight after Mallory Park. The calipers have been checked and re-sealed at Techcraft, the gearbox went back to Quaife for a check over, the body panels have been repaired and painted by Luke at Chappell Coachworks. The prop shafts have been balanced and checked at JW Engineering and Phil Stewart has checked the front differential.

Meanwhile the Honda Integra has been worked on as well. Dave at Boss Racing has stripped and checked the engine. Glen at GTS has sorted out the gearbox problem, whilst Mark at Brise has found an issue with the alternator. Could this be the cause of last year’s problems? The engine is now back in the Honda so it won’t be long before we are out testing, although the ECU will need to be programmed first.

Our first meeting is at Brands Hatch on March 25/26, so not long to go now. Just one more win and we hit 600!

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8th December 2016

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7th November 2016

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24th July 2016

Good News !

Our fuel test was all OK. 99.4% fully legal on all aspects.

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28th February 2016

Just four weeks until the first meeting of the year. Already the registrations and entries are looking good. In class A of the Quaife Motorsport News saloons we have Andy Banham (Subaru), Alex Sidwell (Holden Commodore), Rick May (BMW V8), Martyn Scott (BMW E30), Marcus Bicknell (Ford Mustang V8), Luke Reade (BMW Mini turbo), Dan Cowan (Ford Sierra RS500) and Steve Dann (VW Golf turbo) all eager to give Rod a run for his money.

In the Cannons Tin Tops, class T2 looks like being very popular this year. Joining our Bevan prepared Honda Integra will be the Honda Civics of Graham Richardson, Daniel Fisher and Chris Whiteman, the MGZR of Terry Searles, the Renault Clios of Vince Wheeler and James Alford, the Proton Satria of Daniel Adams, the Ford Focus of Phil Usher, the Ford Puma of Adrian Matthews and the VW Golf of lady racer Kelly Dann. Yes Steve Dann’s wife is having a go this year and we all wish her the best of luck.

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19th January 2016

Big THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me in the Courier Group Sport Awards.

I finished as runner up to a Decathlete in the Sports person of the South East category

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4th November

100 wins for the Escort on Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

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19th May 2014

Click to read more

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9th January 2014

Congratulations to Rod who finished second in the Kent sports star of the year awards. The annual event is sponsored by the Courier newspaper group and features many local sports people from a wide variety of sports. This year’s event was held in Tonbridge at the K college, and the awards were presented by Helen Grant MP, minister for sport, and former England footballer Gary Stevens.

 

 

 

This page was last updated Sunday December 31, 2023 12:40 PM

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