A FATHER and daughter are celebrating winning a major UK off-road motorsports championship title – he as the driver, she as the navigator.

James Tennant, of Sourton, and his daughter Philippa, 25, were presented with the All Wheel Drive Club’s Gatton Manor Trophy after triumphing in the club’s series of eight off-road heats in the Westcountry and Wales over the past year.

James has been competing in motorsports for 40 years. It used to be the case that his wife Melanie, a petrolhead in her own right, was his navigator. Now that role has been taken by Philippa, who works as a radiologist in South Wales.

‘Philippa is absolutely brilliant as a navigator,’ said James. ‘We walk the course beforehand and she remembers absolutely everything. She’ll say ‘you want to be on the left there’, and when we come flying around the next day she’ll remember.

‘It’s a team sport, and without a brilliant navigator I couldn’t do it. So this is a win for both of us.’

James, now 60, has been competing off road in Land Rover-based vehicles for 40 years, and 20 years ago he took another prestigious title, the British Cross County Championship (Standard Production) in his Land Rover Discovery, with Melanie as his navigator.

He takes part in the All Wheel Drive Club contest every year.

It’s been great to finally get my name on the trophy,’ said James. ‘I am on first name terms with everyone else on it and I’ve seen it presented so many times over the years.

‘In previous years we have gone to Kent, Norfolk and Yorkshire to compete, but this year we didn’t have to go too far.

‘We had one contest in Minehead, another in Tiverton and another in Ilfracombe, so three of our routes were local. The other five were in Wales.’

The Tennants competed in a Maserati with a Land Rover engine. The contest involves competitors getting wet and muddy in off road heats which challenge them to cope with rough terrain and also flatter sections at speed.

‘It is rough in places, you can break your car if you are not careful,’ said James. ‘We don’t practise beforehand because you can’t really. I’ve had this car for seven years, and it has taken me three years to really get the hang of how to drive it, because it is completely different to the other Land Rover-based things I have had.

‘It is much lighter and has a much more powerful engine, so I’m arriving at obstacles much faster than I used to. The possibility of it all going horribly wrong is greater, but that concentrates the mind wonderfully.’