I guess its always in your blood. You never get rid of it. No matter how hard you try, or others try for you, rallying is pretty much an addiction.
My name is Matt Cotton. I have been involved in motorsport all of my life and entries on my CV range from MSA Scrutineer to British Rally Championship driver. After a 3 year lay off from competing and a burning desire to get back onto the top rung of British rallying again, I set up MCR Marketing Solutions in 2010 to try and fund my return to the BRC. I have certainly learnt a few lessons along the way.
I guess its always in your blood. You never get rid of it. No matter how hard you try, or others try for you, rallying is pretty much an addiction. I am one of the lucky ones that has been involved in our amazing sport since – well since birth really and its been part of my life in one way or another ever since.
I have my Uncle to thank for my involvement in the sport from an early age and he guided me through the sometimes hazardous aspects of marshalling and organising and later on, becoming an MSA Scrutineer.
Of course that was all a cover really, what I wanted more than anything was to become a rally driver. I have to say I miss that desire now. Don’t get me wrong, I still get excited and almost wet my Cornish pixie pants at the thought of getting behind the wheel again, but that initial euphoria of driving your first stage can never be beaten. I purchased several cars over the next 15 years. Starting with an Opel Manta and culminating in a ex-works MG ZR I managed to get some reasonable results along the way. 2008 was the year I sold my soul to Satan, and hired a C2R2 to contest the British rally Championship. On paper the results looked ‘ok’, but truthfully it was a year I`d like to forget – it would be a blog entry in its own right.
Some 15 years on from my first event, and I find myself almost back to the point I started at. Having spent most of that time with a debt the size of a small country, I managed to pay most of it off and sit back and resign myself to rounds of golf and the Antiques Roadshow. That lasted about 6 weeks.
I sat down and realised that there was only one person that could get me rallying again. Me. I didn’t have the money – far from it, but why not devote my ‘would-be’ rallying budget for the year to something worthwhile? Something to get me rallying again? And that’s where MCR Marketing Solutions comes in. Off the back of Matt Cotton Rallying I set up the marketing arm to vigorously promote myself to the brands and businesses that would no doubt be flocking to my door.
Herein lies mistake number 1…
