Kings Langley rally driver Paul Alexander heads to the Isle of Man this week, where he hopes to contest round three of the MSA National Gravel Rally Championship, the Roush Manx National Rally. Comprising of 16 stages based on the Island's closed public roads, the Manx is the fastest event that championship contenders tackle, with both crew and cars being tested to the limit over the narrow, bumpy lanes, often in changeable weather conditions.

With previous experience of the Manx roads, Paul is relishing the challenge ahead: "The Isle of Man event ranks as one of my favourite events of the season, as it offers such a unique challenge. The roads are really demanding, but can also be breathtakingly fast if you have confidence in your car and pace-notes. I've never had much luck there, but hopefully that'll change this week!"

Since the previous event, on which the PURE Digital and Polypipe Civils supported driver secured an excellent top 20 finish, Paul's unique Mitsubishi has been converted to tarmac specification, including new suspension, bigger wheels, engine modifications and revised electronics. Unfortunately, the new tarmac-specification brakes were damaged during transit, so as Paul leaves for the island to prepare his pace-notes, SRM Racing face a battle to locate replacements!

Paul takes up the story: "We had a really hard job locating the specialist parts for the car, and for a long time it seemed that we may not even make the start. Having no tarmac brakes is obviously a big blow, but after the effort we've all put in to prepare for the rally, I'm determined to take the start. It will be a big disadvantage, but if need be I'll use the small gravel brakes instead - you never know it might even make us faster!

Co-driving for Paul in the Yokohama-shod Mitsubishi will be Denbigh's Vicky Johnson. The late call-up means that the pairing won't have sat in a car together before they travel to the island, but both are confident that the pre-event reconnaissance will allow them to build a good partnership.

For latest team news, images, event results, competitions, and further information about our partners, please visit www.alexrally.com.

Team PURE Digital is supported by the following leading companies: PURE Digital, Polypipe Civils Ltd., Yokohama HPT, Co-OrdSport, SRM-Racing, Bill Gwynne Rallyschool International, Birch Print Productions, Midland Turbo, Aquamist, Compomotive, Doughty Precision Engineering, Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM), Plastics-4-Performance, Pagid Racing, CamSport, Shell Racing Fuels, PIAA and Allsports Logistics