By Freddie Holmes
A teenager from Pengam has returned from his first rally driving competition with a trophy for best novice, and a taste for speed.
After passing his driving test last May, Aaron Jones has already taken a trophy for ‘Best Novice’ at The Royal Welsh Showground Stages at Builth Wells in November, going up against none other than former rally champ Damian Cole in the process.
The sixth form student also went home with third in class and 17th out of 50 overall – not bad for someone who cannot yet watch an 18 certificate film.
Peter Jones, Aaron’s dad, told Caerphilly Observer that his son had always been involved with cars in some way or another.
He said: “From the age of 13 he’s been driving cars on and off trailers, it’s all self-taught, no one has taught him.”
Aaron said: “It was challenging, but very rewarding to be able to do what I did in the dark – I’m basically driving blind because you don’t get to practice the course either, and only get a map on the day.
“I’m very competitive in everything I do, there’s no point in doing it if you’re not going to do well. When you’re in the car I don’t speak to anyone, I have to ignore the outside world.”
The young rally driver’s mum, Gayle Jones, said: “We only wanted him to finish, but he was exceptional. He took his helmet off after the race and everyone was shocked that he was a youngster.”
Aaron doesn’t get to practice rallying outside of competition time, and can only test the car on public roads. His main form of practice only comes from playing video games and watching videos of rallying online.
Aaron Luke Jones Rallying is managed and run by the Jones family, with the majority of under the hood tinkering going on in their own garage.
Aaron said: “It’s still a learning curve, we have to manage everything ourselves. You’ve got to do it yourself because no one will do it for you.”
So, what is it that makes this young graphic design student turn into a competitive petrol head?
He said: “It’s the adrenaline, the excitement of showing off your talents. I love speed, I love cars, and I love the feeling of controlling a car at speed – it is very dangerous but that makes it more exciting.”
“If someone overtakes me on public roads I can control myself, if you put them in the same situation as me on a rally course where I can drive my fastest, they wouldn’t come off as well – it’s unsafe on public roads anyway.
“That being said, it’s not exactly safe on the track – there’s a lot of things to navigate through: trees, buildings, sheer drops, pillars, and skips.”
Aaron explained: “I’ve come close a few times – once I hit a container which resulted in a completely new front end of the car.”
Aaron drives a 20-year-old Nissan Micra, which he and his dad have managed to take to nearly double the power it had from new.
“The power to weight ratio is great, but in the class we take part in it’s bad as we’re racing against £15,000 200bhp cars.”
Aaron and his dad have stripped as much unnecessary weight out of the car as possible; fitted bucket seats and harnesses, a racing steering wheel, lightweight alloy wheels.
Aaron can travel up to 250 competitive miles during a 4am rally, so what is it that makes this young student that does graphic design turn into a competitive petrol head?
He said: “It’s the adrenaline, the excitement of showing off your talents. I love speed, I love cars, and I love the feeling of controlling a car at speed. It is very dangerous but that makes it more enjoyable and exciting, it helps to keep you focussed and keep yourself calm so that you get yourself out of that dangerous situation.
“You have to tune your driving style to suit the conditions, and at the moment I’m just trying to know the limits of the car.”