Pacenote Publishing

Welcome to pacenote publishing

Hello and thank you for visiting my website. I’m Jim Goodman, a rally co-driver from the 70’s and 80’s. who some of you may remember from my days alongside drivers like Mick Whiteley, Steve Reed, John Cockerill, Ian Oldfield, Steve Bannister and John Laley to name a few.

From my early days as a schoolboy my initial ambition was to join the Royal Navy but when that was scuppered I then developed a desire to play Cricket for Yorkshire CCC. That too eluded me as I was taken into the family business at the age of 16 but when I contracted a highly contagious disease from my Dad in the mid 1960’s my life took a major turn. That disease was rallying and my life soon took on a whole new meaning which changed me forever and although I retired from the sport in March 1987 the passion has remained with me ever since. However, for a while I had to turn my back on the sport in an attempt to wrench myself from the pull which only this branch of motor sport can offer.

So how did I fill the hole in my life which rallying left behind? For many years I concentrated mainly on running the family photographic business (which I had to close at the end of February 1998) and I even stepped into the world of sports videos for a few years. During this time I also spent several very exciting years as a member of the MR2 Drivers Club which was exclusive to owners of that particular car. Then I began to seriously take up an interest which I had begun in 1978, that of long distance walking and in the mid 90’s I joined the Long Distance Walkers Association, joined the local branch and began to spend almost every Sunday doing twenty plus miles on foot. This started out as a social pastime but when I was introduced to Challenge Walks I started to become as competitive on foot as I had been on wheels as walking became cross-country running. Challenge Walks were almost like rallying on foot with the same camaraderie at events which I had enjoyed within the rallying world. Over the next decade I competed on several hundred of these Challenge Walks varying from twenty miles right up to the annual hundred miler which I completed in five consecutive years and I only ever retired from one event due to horrendous weather conditions.

During my walking days I decided to write my first book about the Lyke Wake Walk which turned into a real nightmare for me. After poor sales figures the publishers eventually “went bust” leaving me a long way out of pocket. It wasn’t until I began to write a regular column in the LDWA journal that the then editor told me one day “You write very well Jim, you should consider writing a book” that my interest was rekindled. Believe it or not I first started writing my rallying memoirs as long ago as 1996 but after the publication of that first book back in 1997 where I lost a considerable amount of money I got cold feet and it wasn’t until that little push in 2005 that Flat Over Crest – BANG was reborn. A crazy title you may think but it is taken from the serious crash which almost claimed my life on October 30th. 1976.

When I decided to pick it up and run with it again I already had a lot of the material recorded on disk but to spice it all up I crawled into the loft one night, dug out all my old road books, photos, press cuttings etc. and then spent countless hours sifting through it all, sorting it into date order trying to ensure that I had my details correct and began the task of transferring it all onto the computer. Within a few months my story was recorded but then came the arduous task of finding someone to publish it for me. Having been bitten before I knew who to avoid but after many of the all too familiar replies from publishers that “my topic was not to their liking” or “we don’t deal with new authors” etc. etc. I quickly realised that if I was to see my memoirs reach the public I would have to go down the road of self publication. It has been a long, long road but finally after three years of hard but very enjoyable work my rallying memoirs are here for you to read.

I have dabbled with many interests throughout my life and managed to stay single but nothing has ever gripped me like the thrill of being piloted through a forest in a fully prepared 2 litre Escort BDA.

Please enjoy my story and my thanks to you all for buying my book.

I also thank those who have taken their time to contribute to my “Comments” page.

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