Taken for a ride: Report by Brian Doogan.

vation.

Having explained in recent weeks what he does to his rabbits before selling them off to the highest-bidding restaurant, the option of a quick getaway from animal rights activists is imperative.

Otherwise he might end up an hors d'oeuvres along with the rabbits.

Of course, his fate could yet be the same when the national newspapers discover that "rabbit-breeding" is not so much a hobby as a scam he devised to generate publicity in advance of the Network Q RAC Rally which began in Chester today.

Several reports suggested that the eccentric activity helped him raise enough money to rebuild the Peugeot 205 he crashed in last year's so that he could take his place on the starting line today.

He was quoted as saying: "My rabbits started breeding overtime - it was tough to keep count.

"I was able to sell them off and put some of the cash towards the £4,000 we needed."

Though he is a car mechanic now, this smooth talker could probably make a good living as a spin doctor.

If a travelling salesman showed up at his door, Knight would not only be odds on to shunt him off without causing offence, but having sold him half the scrap lying about the yard as well. "I figured that there are so many privateers taking part in this year's rally that the only way to stand out would be to say that you do something out of the ordinary," said Clowbridge's Knight whose naturally comical face makes him instantly believable even when pulling a complete fraud.

"So I told them I'm a rabbit breeder.

"I said, 'We don't worry about them as pets, we just deliver them straight to the restaurant trade.'"

There will be plenty around who regard the racing of cars at treacherous speeds as "out of the ordinary" enough.

When this is set alongside the fact that the terrain for the RAC Rally - forest roads - provides a similar experience to driving on marbles, the car being in a permanent state of instability, straitjackets might be a more sensible option for participants than flameproof overalls.

Knight would naturally dispute that he is a candidate for the asylum and cites an acute reluctance to board even the most sedate fairground ride to support his claim.

The very thought of flying has him reaching for a clean pair of underpants and the closest he's come to doing a skydive, which of course he listed as one of his hobbies when biographies were being prepared for the RAC, is lying in bed, experiencing the "falling dream".

Yet he participates in a sport which converted racing cars into hearses for 132 people in Britain alone between 1982 and 1992. Speed can be a dangerous addiction.

While he is aware of the dangers, he is loathe to dwell on them.

For then he would be beaten, a man unable to back himself to assume the risk which would increase the hazards considerably.

"It's probably a built-in thing - I have to block it out," he admits with candour that is typical of him before going on to talk about the accident that eliminated him from last year's RAC which was by far his worst in a lifetime of pursuing motor sports.

"I don't worry about taking that same corner this year.

"It was a very fast bend, about 80, 90 miles per hour, only a slight bend.

"Halfway through the bend there was a little bump and it just sent the car in the air.

"Of course, once in the air you can't steer and the centrifugal force of doing the corner meant that we went off wide, landing at the side of the road rather than on it.

"This tree stump stopped the car dead and everything on the drivers' side of the car was jammed in.

"All the pedals were on top of one another.

"If I hadn't been knocked about, it would have sliced my foot right off."

As a one-footed rally driver is about as useful as a one-armed fighter, I wondered if his definition of himself would be irreparably damaged if he were to suffer injuries that prevented him from ever stepping into a racing car again. What would happen to his psyche if, with the adrenaline rush of rallying hard taken from him, he could no longer feed the habit?

"I'm not a complete druggie," the 33-year-old jested in reply.

"Of course, that rush of adrenaline is a fairly central element.

"But I don't take a corner at top speed just for the rush.

"I want to get round that corner faster than any other beggar and that's the bottom line."

It was his dad's interest in motocross that first generated Knight's passion for motor sports.

On a cut-down bike, he began racing at the age of five and remained on motorbikes until he was 22.

While escaping early from the pub one afternoon, he fell into a crowd of people at the roadside.

The excitement on their faces suggested they weren't hanging around for the bus and the vibrations of a charging engine soon gave the game away.

Knight wasn't instantly hooked by the attraction of watching cars speed past him. But he thought he might like to try his hand at it.

"I don't like watching motor racing and in fact - you might find this silly - I don't like driving" he said. "I used to be a professional driving instructor which involved miles and hours of driving on the roads.

"It doesn't take you long to get sick of it.

"Now, of course, I'm the world's worst back-seat passenger. "I'm like the Harry Enfield 'You don't want to do that' character.

"None of my mates' girlfriends will drive with me in the car. I have to take taxis home."

Girlfriend Siobhain is happy to let him in her car so long as he agrees to keep his mouth shut. It helps that his other great passion is tennis, a game he says he loves, but is absolutely rubbish at, and Siobhain constantly gains the upper hand.

Co-driver Noel Fletcher has to make sure he's not rubbish while co-driving for Knight throughout the next three days. They are an intriguing contrast of personality - Knight more flamboyantly aggressive while Fletcher is the type who would be first to the shelter in an air raid.

His is as crucial a job as Knight's. If he were to slip unknowingly onto the wrong page he might begin to direct Knight into a wall just beyond the brow of a hill.

Fletcher has to concentrate as hard as Knight and the driver has to trust the guy riding shotgun 100 per cent.

"If he tells me we are approaching a corner with a straight stretch around the bend, I will be going for that flat out" said Knight. "So there's no use in a road with sharp bends appearing in front of my eyes because I won't have time to make that adjustment. "You have to trust him and I've been driving with Noel for six years - we've won a national championship together - and all together I've known him for over 20 years.

"So we get on fine."

That familiarity may be crucial come Monday afternoon when Knight hopes to finish top privateer in the three-day race.

Ian Knight's last experience of an RAC Rally was stepping out of his crushed car like a drunk searching through the empties.

When this year's event reaches its climax he might be sampling the champagne at the grand party - where rabbit will no doubt be the main course.

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