Andrew Komosa - A winning blind rally navigator

Andrew has, with much patience, attended many MSA Medical Panels to gain a Licence to Navigate on Special Stage Rallies - he is blind and very determined.
At last his ambition has been achieved in great style - a real example of courage to all of us.
  

Andrew Komosa - Takes to the Rally Stages
Dear David
I thought you would like to know that whilst competing on the Legend Stages Rally on Sunday the 27th October 2002 I won my first trophy

in sixteen years, since losing my eyesight in 1986.

John Gorton drove his Sapphire Cosworth (see right photograph) to 32nd place overall and third in the over two litre class, thus winning an award from Clitheroe & District Motor Club.  I acted as navigator using tactile diagrams prepared by my girlfriend, Debbie Plumb, enabling me to not only call out the bends, directions and cautions, but to tell John to "slow down" as we spun for the third time at nearly 100 MPH! 

The conditions were terrible in the morning, as the rain was persistent and as the rally progressed, the road surface worsened into a slippery, rough track.  However, both John and I enjoyed ourselves

Hello David.and BMSAD....

John and I competed on the Proflex Stages Rally last Saturday and had a terrific time. 

As you can see from the attached photo, we were seeded 64th out of 65 entries!  However, we would have finished 35th, if I hadn`t sent John the wrong way on stage 5, losing us about one minute.  This dropped us down to 38th and 4th in class4 [cars over 2 litres]... although we received the "Spirit of the Rally Award"!!!

The car performed pretty well, although the gearbox rear housing worked loose making it difficult to select 2nd and 3rd, loosing about 20 seconds per stage.  Also, John announced at 100 mph that the brakes had failed!.. the new vented disc kit had come with standard pads and the fluid had boiled! 

Nevertheless, when we got back to the pits after the morning`s stages, our service crew had set up a barbeque... yummy. 

Life is all about being able to do what you want [within reason] and I want to thank BMSAD again for making this possible... although on stage 1, when I thought I was going to "throw up", I wasn`t so sure! 

Regards... Andrew