'Geriatrics' driving to victory

Team Geriatric taking part in the Penbury Circuit race in the summer

A Wigan Rally Cross team with a difference are on the verge of snatching a top title in the sport.

Made up of seven older drivers, Team Geriatric are named after a chance remark by driver Tony Lynch's wife.

He says she described them as "a bunch of geriatrics" when they first decided to race as a team in 2004.

The team have already won their class in the British MSA Rally Cross Championship and only need to finish their last race win the overall title.

TEAM GERIATRIC WINS Team Geriatric did win the Stockhatch race at Mallory Park, which confirmed them as British Rallycross Drivers Association Champions for 2009, as well as MSA British Rallycross Stockhatch Champions 2009

Tony, who is 49, is no stranger to the top level of driving. He started taking the wheel in 1985 and by 1988, he was winning championships.

However, in 2000, he had to spend time in hospital, as did some of the rest of Team Geriatric, a situation that Tony says gave rise to their racing title.

"How the name came about was that there was myself that wasn't so well; Tony Rice, my chief engineer, was in and out; and we had another chief mechanic, Walter Jenkins, who unfortunately lost his battle with cancer.

"So in 2004, when we came back to the sport, my wife said 'what are you doing?'

"I said 'we're going to have a race' and she said 'you look like a bunch of geriatrics.

"So just for a bit of fun, we put a sticker on - and for my first race back in four years, I finished fourth overall and that was it, Team Geriatric was born."

While the team themselves admit they may be getting on a little, there's certainly nothing geriatric about their car.

They race a Peugeot 205 1.6 GTi, though as Tony explains, it isn't the version that you'd see driving down a normal street.

"We give it a new shell and that goes into an oven and is baked, so that everything that fills all the gaps in a car is got rid of, basically to get rid of the weight.

"Then when you rebuild the car, you can put the weight where you want it.

"It's called corner-weighting. Picture a table with three inches cut off one leg - it'd be rocking.

"What you're trying to do is get away from that situation and make the car as stable as you possibly can."

Team Geriatric have already won their class in the Championship

The team now only need to complete their last race at Mallory Park, near Leicester, on Sunday 18 October to take the Championship and tyre specialist Alan Bott says that he's confident that Tony's talent will see them take the title.

"He goes out there and gives it 110 percent and keeps on winning these championships.

"The guy's totally committed and hopefully at the end of the year, he'll end up with another championship."