JONNY MILNER THE LOSSES ARE WHAT I REMEMBER, THEY STILL HURT

What you saw was what you got with Jonny Milner. He never tried to spin a party line or mould himself to appeal to a certain brand, he simply wore his heart on his sleeve. And while he admits to Motorsport News that might have prevented him making the next step into the World Rally Championship, it endeared him to British rally fans up and down the country.

Atouch over 30 years ago the proud Yorkshireman made his first foray into rallying with an old Peugeot 205 van as a starting point, and 13 years later, his name would be engraved on the British Rally Championship trophy. Armed with a Toyota Corolla WRC, he would repeat the feat the following year before narrowly losing out to David Higgins – this time in a Subaru Impreza WRC – in 2004.

Acouple of seasons in a Mitsubishi Lancer followed where Milner lost out on the 2006 Mitsubishi Challenge title and a subsequent Mitsubishi works drive on a tiebreak before he took a step back, only to return again and win the BritishANCRO series in the same Corolla he won his pair of British titles with.

To this day Milner remains fascinating in conversation. Thanks to the MN readers’questions, he discusses all sorts from cars with chocolate-like gearboxes, the pivotal stage his daughter Katie has reached in her racing career and what it was like competing at the height of the BRC’s World Rally Car era. But let’s start with how it all began.

Question: What got you into rallying? Percy Wingrove Via email Jonny Milner: “Peugeot actually got me into rallying, Des O’Dell. I’d already started at 15 with autograss racing in a Mini and then moved onto rallycross, and we got noticed by Peugeot Talbot Sport and he wanted me to win the rallycross championship and then move into rallying. It was as simple as that. I had watched rallying, I was a big fan of rallying but it never really was my goal. The idea was to go autograss into rallycross into hopefully circuit racing. I love the cars-on-a-grid job and the thrill there. But don’t get me wrong I’m very pleased I went this route.

“We were the first people to bring a 205 GTI into rallycross so that was where the first link started. Des and the team at Peugeot very kindly gave me all the old rally parts, so anything