By Paul Evans
A one-man, one-night-only, show takes place this Friday at Theatr Brycheiniog in Brecon, when Nicky Grist takes to the stage to talk about his career as one of the world’s top rally navigators.
He’s often been told that he should write a book about his career, but in reality running Nicky Grist Motorsports and supporting British rallying doesn’t even give him enough time to accept all the after dinner speaking engagements he’s invited to do – so getting Grist to sit down and recall some of his famous rallying stories is a rare thing indeed!
But on Friday (27 July), starting at 19.30, rally fans will have Grist’s undivided attention when he regales some of his incredible, funny and spectacular high-speed memories of co-driving for the likes of Dave Metcalfe, Malcolm Wilson, Mikael Ericsson, Armin Schwarz, Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae.
Having started co-driving on Welsh road rallies, Ebbw Vale-born Grist made his FIA World Rally Championship debut on the 1985 RAC Rally (with Stuart Nicholls in an Astra GTE), and then made his first overseas WRC appearance on the 1990 1000 Lakes Rally with Malcolm Wilson in a Q8 Team Sierra RS Cosworth.
In total, he has contested 128 WRC events, winning 21 of them – including two RAC Rally wins, two Safari Rally wins and four Acropolis Rally wins. He’s also finished on the WRC podium 43 times, scored 183 WRC points and set fastest time on over 400 WRC stages!
Grist’s first WRC win was on the 1993 Rally of Argentina with Kankkunen in a Toyota Celica, and his last WRC outing was on the 2006 Rally of Turkey with McRae in a Kronos team Citroën Xsara WRC. And it’s with these two legendary star drivers that Grist is best known for co-driving for – and where some of his best stories come from!
On display at Theatr Brycheiniog on Friday will be Grist’s favourite rally car – his own Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 that he and Kankkunen won the 1994 Rally of Portugal in.
An Audience With Nicky Grist co-insides with a superb exhibition upstairs in The Andrew Lamont Gallery of the work of world rally photographer Maurice Selden, which runs until 20 August.
Theatr Brycheiniog is located at Canal Wharf in the centre of Brecon, and Friday night tickets are available HERE.