Name: Mark Williams
Age: 41
Born: Southend, Essex, England
Lives: Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Children: Sophie-Hannah (7), Lucie-Camille (5)
Mark made his debut in rally
in June 2007 after over 10 years of off-road racing experience in the
UK and Europe. Mark made his rally debut in an ex-Subaru Canada Subaru
Impreza, a far cry from his humble start in a BL Mini in grassroots
Minicross event.
Minicross proved a great training ground. Intense door handle to door
handle competition on grass fields across the south of England provided
a great introduction to the sport. A 4th in the Grass Championship in
1996 encouraged Mark to move into rallycross events and this gave him
a 6th overall in the Minicross Championship in 1997.
A poor year in 1998 was
followed by a major crash in 1999 shortly before he moved to America
and this was believed to be his retirement. However, within a year he
was back with a Citroen AX GT in the new Stock Hatch category.
This was followed in 2002
by a move up to a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO V that ran in British and Dutch
series. In 2005, Mark purchased the ex-Michael Coyne Ford Escort Cosworth
but a couple of events highlighted the need for significant engine work
and 2006 was spent rebuilding the car.
However, come 2007 the car looked great and the dollar was plunging
to new lows against the pound and Mark could no longer afford to run
a car in Europe. He therefore decided to experiment with rally.
The experiment was a success and after a very enjoyable 2007, Mark formed
a partnership with Jeff "Jeffy" Secor and Planet Motorsport
for a more ambitious campaign in 2008 that delivered three podiums and
a has plans for more events in 2008. 2009 sees Mark focusing on the
Ontario Performance Rally Championship.
Mark is the senior vice president and president of financial services
for Best Buy and travels to Minneapolis on a weekly basis and to markets
around the world in which Best Buy has business operations.
2010 Results
New York Rally Sprint - Class 2nd of 5/Overall 6th of 14 (Williams/McCann)
Black Bear Rally - Class 2nd of 5/Overall 10th of 20 (Williams/Tolhurst)
Lanark Highlands - Class 3rd of 6/Overall 17th of 27 (Williams/Tolhurst)
2008 Results
100 Acre Wood - 17th (Williams/Secor)
STPR - 11th (Williams/Secor)
Black Bear - 3rd (Williams/Ockwell)
New England 20 - 8th (Williams/Secor)
Rally West Virginia - 2nd (Williams/Secor)
Galway-Cavendish - 2nd (Williams/Secor)
Rallye Ste. Agathe - 14th - after an off made famous on youtube! (Williams/Secor)
2007 Results
Black Bear Rally - 4th (Williams/Drake)
Galway-Cavendish - 4th (Williams/Drake)
Rallye Ste. Agathe - DNF - crash from bad note (Williams/Drake)
Rally of the Tall Pines - DNF (Williams/Drake)