For me, the year has finally come to a close. My hunger for all things four-wheeled will now have to wait until 2013, bar a few track days here and there if I’m lucky. As depressing as this is for me, it gives me a good chance to look back at my year, so I can see for myself exactly how far I’ve came since 2011.

And boy, have I went a long way. My year started out in the same vein as it has for the past three – my local springtime rally, the Malcolm Wilson Rally. Muddy lanes through Whinlatter come to life every March to the sound of speed. Incidentally, I would find myself closer to the core of rally more than I ever could have imagined in summer. More on that later…

 

In April I found myself doing something I’ve wanted to since I first started photography – shooting a GT Event. This one in particular, the British GT Championship, at Outlon Park, was a complete washout. But the rain couldn’t take the smile off my face. Even after the rest of the year has thrown more and more amazing things at me, I still look at this race as one of my favourites of 2012. You can read more about it on MotoIQ.com.

The North beckoned once again and pulled my up to Kielder Forest for the Pirelli International Rally. Although the event was dominated by the smaller Citroen DS3 and Ford Fiesta, it delivered some amazing driving from the European professionals.

And in a turn of events about as abrupt as this sentence, I ended up in Los Angeles. But before that, I made a trip to my local rally powerhouse, M-Sport. This image was shot for an article that was unfortunately never published, but keep an eye out, those images, as well as choice parts of the article, will be on my site in the near future. Keep an eye out!

The second half of the retrospective will take a good, long look at the rest of my year, both back at home, and my two months in America. And then it’ll feel ashamed because 2013 will in no way be able to be as good.