HE might be a rally rookie, but Scott Partridge says he won't be hanging about on the Rally GB.

Scott, 34, the personal chef to billionaire Sheikh Mohammed, travels the world cooking for the rich and famous.

Come November 11, however, he'll be swapping his apron for driving overalls as he aims to find a recipe for success on Britain's biggest rally.

Scott, from Mitcheldean, has been granted a place in the limited National Rally field, no mean achievement in itself.

That means he'll be driving many of the stages used by the world's biggest stars, such as Sebastian Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen.

Scott has only ever completed a handful of rallies in his life and he's never tackled anything as testing as the National – a two day rally which features stages much longer than he is used to.

It's costing him around £8,000 to do the event, but he says it's worth every penny to fulfil a boyhood dream.

"I was a bit surprised to get in but my results have got better through the year. I still don't think it's really sunk in.

"I started off the season finishing down in the 100s but I'm now up to the 50s and 60s.

"It's a top 10 car, a real beast, but I'm still learning.

"At the start of the season I wasn't even using the anti-lag."

Novice Scott says he is even considering a full-blown crack at the British Championship next season.

He originally bought his fantastic group N 2004 Subaru Impreza to do the Wyedean Rally in.

The car used to belong to Alister McRae, the rally driving brother of the late, great Colin McRae. Alister used the car on the PWRC World Championships.

Ex-works co-driver Chris Ridge will navigate for Scott on the Rally GB.

Scott said: "Rallying is such an adrenaline rush.

"I'm looking forward to representing the Forest of Dean and although the main thing is to finish, I won't be hanging about."