A young Manx woman who has already built up quite an impressive CV in car rallying is about to embark on a second full season of navigating at national level.
After a successful 2023 Bonnie Papper has been invited to continue with Ignition Motorsport for another year in the Fiesta R5 with Colin Minton, competing in the BTRDA Forest Rally Championship.
In addition she will also contest the North West and Welsh Championships.
Bonnie may only be 20 (she was the first baby born at the ‘new’ Noble’s Hospital in July 2003) but she was recently crowned Pirelli Welsh Junior Rally champion co-driver.
In addition she was the overall champion co-driver for the Association of North Western Car Clubs [ANWCC] championship, and second overall in the MRF Tyres BTRDA forest rally series.
She also competed in rounds of the Independent Paint Supplies Rally Championship, the Seacon UK English Rally Championship, Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship and SP Petch Rally Championship.
On home soil, the Douglas woman also contested the Manx Rally Championship, although events in this series were few and far between in 2023.
Her first year in motorsport was 2021 when she accompanied James Hampton to fourth place overall in the Duke Targa Rally in a Mazda MX5 (first female navigator); and 59th overall with Kevin Jeffray in the PokerStars Manx Rally in a Toyota Corolla T-sport.
In 2022 she and Lee Merrywather finished second overall in the Haydn Minay Targa Rally in a Toyota Yaris, and 11th overall one week later with David Cluckie at the Lookout Stages Rally in a BMW 325i E30 (third in class, first two-wheel-drive, second female navigator).
She and the aforementioned Jeffray were 30th overall in the Manx National Rally and 13th overall (third in class, first junior co-driver) in the Heroes Stages Rally. Later the same year Bonnie and Jules Gravestock were sixth overall in the Cushag Rally in a BMW Compact.
Bonnie ended the year with an outing in the Coppermines Grizedale Stages Rally with Colin Minton in a Ford Fiesta R5, finishing 30th overall (second female co-driver).
Things moved up a gear last year when Papper took part in a host of events across the UK and Isle of Man.
She and Minton were 28th overall in the prestigious Malcolm Wilson Rally (first junior co-driver); 45th and 46th respectively in the Get Jerky Rally North Wales and Rallynuts Stages Rally; and 30th overall in the Brick&Steel Border Counties Rally (again first junior co-driver and second female navigator).
Back in the island she and Jeffray were 45th overall in the Manx National Rally (ninth best locals), returning to the UK to finish 15th overall interclub (second in class, first female co- driver and first junior co-driver) in the Plains Rally; and 21st overall in the Kielder Forest Rally (first junior co-driver).
Continuing to partner Minton in the Fiesta R5, Papper grabbed 22nd overall in the Nicky Grist Stages (first female and best junior co-driver); 48th overall in the RSAC Scottish Rally (this time in a ProDrive Subaru Impreza – fifth in class); and 27th in the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages, back in the Fiesta.
But an amazing run of consistency ended in late September when the car’s radiator broke after completing all the stages of the Trackrod Forest event, forcing them to retire en route to the finish.
They were 17th overall in the Visit Conwy Cambrian Interclub Rally in late October (third in class, second female co-driver).
On Guy Fawkes Day, Bonnie finished an excellent second overall in the Malton Forest Rally with Alan Carmichael in a top-spec Hyundai i20 R5 (once again first female and first junior co-driver). They led the rally after stage two but the car suffered brake failure on stage three, costing them a lot of time.
Back-to-back events with Minton at the Wyedean Rally in the Forest of Dean and alongside Tim Green in a Mini Cooper S R53 at Cadwell Park brought more good results.
It included a class win in the latter, securing Green the overall Mini Rally Championship for 2023 as well as the Tarmac Cup.
Papper and Minton rounded off their year at the Grizedale Stages Rally in early December (precisely one year after she joined the Ignition Motorsport team).
After an icy start on the Friday, day two dawned with heavy snowy which ultimately led the event to being abandoned at the midway point of the six final stages. They were 33rd overall at that juncture, and climbing the leaderboard, but it was the end of the road so-to-speak and team got snowed in at the rally base so they had to sleep overnight in the lorry in their race kit.
A payments administrator for RL360, Bonnie Papper hopes to compete in Ireland and was recently invited to rally in Belgium but she had to turn down the opportunity as she couldn’t afford the additional travel costs.
Her first event of 2024 will be a Tarmac rally next month in a Ford Escort MKII at Beverley in Yorkshire’s East Riding.
To follow Bonnie’s progress, check out her Facebook pages (Bonnie Papper Motorsport). Her Instagram is Bonnie_papper_motorsport.
Shortlisted earlier this week for the Under-21 Sportswoman of the Year Award, she said: ‘I am searching for sponsors to join me on my rallying career when I hope to represent the Isle of Man and the Manx community.’
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