An engineer and designer by trade, Peter started competing in rallies almost as soon as he passed his driving test in 1981. A fairytale 1st place with driver Nigel Chetwynd on the 1991 Cumbria Classic Caper convinced Peter he was a genius navigator. He learned the hard way that he wasn’t, but by sticking at it and changing seats to drive the Cooper he competed in the Safety Devices Historic Rally Challenge throughout the 1990s slowly improving to the point where he won his class in the Welsh Historic Rally Championship.
In 1999 he partnered up with Irish co-driver Hugh Wyllie and for two seasons competed in the British Historic Rally Championship. In 2001 he teamed up with veteran British navigator Willy Cave, a partnership that lasted until Willy’s death in 2022. The pair competed in 25 international rallies winning the Rallye des Alpes Internationale outright in 2003 and 2010 and winning their class and category in the gruelling Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique in 2004, 2007 and 2011. In all Peter has competed in 15 ‘Montes’ since 2001.
Peter is a Member of the Guild of Motoring Writers and in 2021 published a book titled ‘Mini Cooper 1961-2000’ on the design, development and history of the Mini Cooper.
Christa is a professional artist and illustrator and hails from New England where her forefathers landed in 1620. Although Déjà vu Monte-Carlo 2024 will be her first motoring event she is no stranger to exciting sports being a qualified hang-glider pilot. After 20 years in California she now resides in Plymouth UK with husband Peter and paints in a studio located less than 100m from where her ancestors departed for the New World 400 years previously.
They will drive a 1986 VW Golf GTi Mk2 8 valve Type19 which has undergone slow development as a road rally car. Déjà vu Monte-Carlo 2024 will be the car’s first motoring outing in Peter’s hands, the aim being to get it to the end of the event without any major breakdowns.
