Beard only raced in half of the six rallies for the season but a strong showing in the last rally secured him second spot overall.

The Hill Top driver finished first in the N class and 11th outright.

Beard has been rally driving for 13 years and in 2004 gained the sponsorship of Subaru in the from of Impreza RS.

The N class is for production cars and Beard was one of the few drivers not to have turbo in his car.

The motor mechanic said this meant he was not as fast as his competitors but raced consistently over the 170km circuit.

The 42 year-old said if he had raced in all the rallies he could be the 2007 titleholder.

“I am very happy with the result. I am ecstatic. If I had raced in all six races I reckon I could have won.”

“I did not have the pace of the turbo cars but my car was highly reliable,” Beard said.

Beard said the Impreza could get up to 215km/h but the highest speed he recorded o the weekend was around 170km/h.

The former Mittagong NRMA manager said he is planning to race in all the NSW and Australian rallies next year with the support of Mark Willard at Southern Highlands Service Centre.

“Mark will join me as the navigator next year which will be great.”

“The boys at the centre and Mittagong Auto Electrics did a fantastic job with the car.”

“They made it much more drivable.”

The highlight of Beard’s rally adventures was racing in the Australian stage of the World Rally in 2005.

Beard earnt this opportunity by finishing in the top five in every round of the Australian rally that year.

“It was great, we finished 20th out of 80 cars and were the fourth best Aussie team,” he said.

The NSW Rally Championship was a blind rally where crews were not permitted to drive on the course and an instruction book is given to all crews in the rally. The driver makes all the judgement calls on how fast to attack the course.