'Doctor has told me not to race': Why a broken wrist won't stop Elliot Payne's bid for Trackrod Rally history

Not only that, but victory across five woodland routes would see Elliot eclipse his father in securing a third straight BTRDA (British Trials and Rally Drivers’ Association) Championship title. Charlie could ‘only’ win it three times in four years.

Just how much it means to Elliot can not be summed up by him trotting out a well-worn line that it would be a dream come true, but in the fact that he will race with three fractured bones in his wrist.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post just hours after undergoing an X-Ray in hospital, Elliot Payne said: “Doctor has just told me again that I can’t drive and I can’t do anything…but we’ve just got to crack on with it haven’t we? We’ve got a championship to win.

“I got through the last rally with it so we’ll do it again. I was in a bit of pain last time but my co-driver was doing a few of the gears and pulling the handbrake, so we got through it.”

Asked if he would drive if there wasn’t a championship on the line in the North Yorkshire Moors next week, the 21-year-old momentarily lets his guard down.

“Taking the doctor’s advice would probably be the wisest thing to do,” he laughs, before checking himself, “but even my father is like ‘you’ll just have to get on and do it!’

“Having aimed for the championship all season, it’d be a bit of a letdown if you’ve got a little bit of a broken wrist and you’re pulling out it because of that. And it would be bloody good to win three in a row.”

The Trackrod Rally has been going for seven decades, the BTRDA Championship just as long and the Payne family now through two generations.

Charlie won his three titles in four years in the middle of the last decade, by which time the motor-sport bug had already bitten his young son. “I started autograss racing when I was 12, I was originally on motorbikes before then and trails riding from the age of seven,” he says. “That biking experience taught me good balance, which believe it or not makes a big difference in a car.

“As soon as I was old enough to get a race licence to do autograssing, which is just like banger racing, I did that from 12 to 16.”

Put bluntly, Elliot was racing behind the wheel of a car as young as 12 years old. “It’s quite surprising, I know,” he acknowledges, “but your allowed to.

“I then did a bit of junior rallying in a Citreon C1, then we got a chance when the owner of Swift Caravans sponsored us to do a rally in a R5, and a few stages in I actually beat my Dad and haven’t looked back from there.”

Father and son would be racing against each other next weekend as well, were it not for the stroke Charlie suffered last year. Still recovering from that, he has become his son’s team manager.

“He’s one of those who knows what’s wrong with the car before we’ve got back to the garage,” says Elliot.

“I’ve got a bit of the mechanic’s brain, but not as clued up as my dad who’s done it for many years.

“Dad’s hoping to get back out rallying in the middle of next year.”

As well as rallying, the family name is also familiar in North Yorkshire business circles. For 50 years Payne’s Dairies have shipped produced and pasteurized milk to supermarket and independent stores across the region from their Boroughbridge base.

Due to his father’s health problems, Elliot has taken on the running of the business which eats in to the time he has for rallying.

“Rallying is a hobby at the moment,” he admits. “I’m running a business on the side which doesn’t half keep me busy, so it’s a weekend out and then back into work.”

There is no cash incentive to Payne’s hobby either. Despite racking up numerous wins over the last three years, his is a sport that comes with no prize money.

“I bloody wish it did,” laments Payne who races 16 weekends throughout the year.

Rallying is a sport done for the love of it and from the drivers’ perspective, is reliant primarily on sponsors.

“I’m sponsored by Amigos Tequila Beerand Fuchs Oils,” explains Payne. “Pirelli sponsor our tires but they’ll only provide four, and we travel with six or eight.”

Payne has a team of six; himself, co-driver Patrick Walsh, a head mechanic, another mechanic, someone back at base doing diagnostics on the computer and his father lending his experience.

“You could work it on driver, co-driver and one mechanic, but if anything goes wrong, especially if you were fighting for a championship, you’re struggling,” says the driver. “If it was just an afternoon out you wouldn’t spend the money on it.”

Long-term his ambition is to race in more rounds of the British Rally Championship - picking and choosing the ones he wants to do and has time to do has been his strategy this year - and then maybe one day race in the World Rally Championship.

He would need a sponsor to put up major money to make that happen, or for a works team to take note of his accomplishments and offer him a drive.

“I’d love to go to the World Rally Championship but at the moment business comes first,” he admits.

“I’ve got time on my side, though. Maybe by my mid-20s I’d be aiming for that.

“You’d need a bigger sponsor, we’re always looking for new sponsors to progress and go further. And we’ve got contacts up in Cumbria who have built all our cars, they’ve suggested stuff for us to do and how we can progress to that level. It’s good to know that avenue is open.”

For now, though, victory in the Trackrod Rally is the only focus.

This weekend, he and his co-driver will receive a DVD and a map of the routes through Dalby, Cropton, Gale Rigg, Staindale and Langdale forests that next week’s rally takes the drivers through. In days gone by they might have sat together and studied the form but now it’s more on instinct.

“I watch it now when I can and then I’ll give my notes to Patrick, he alters his own things that he knows suits me,” says Payne, mindful that given his fractured wrist he might need a hand changing gears again.

“Patrick has done years of rallying, he’s one of the most experienced guys out there.”

There are also a lot of selfless guys out there, nearly 1,000 in total, 500 of them marshalls, volunteering their time to ensure the Trackrod Rally goes off safely.

“It’s quite a statement. Marshalls stand out in any conditions to make sure everything runs smoothly, they do a really good job, making everyone safe. We couldn’t do it without them.”