By Bryn Palmer BBC Sport Online

Piloted a Formula One car to a podium finish at a Grand Prix? Experienced the thrill of steering an Indycar clear of the walls at 240mph?

OK then, how about tackling the Le Mans 24-hours, the hardest endurance event in sportscar racing?

Well, Mark Blundell has been there, done that, and got all the T-shirts.

In fact, there is precious little the veteran British driver has not done in a varied 18-year career.

So what is left for someone who has raced in just about every discipline there is on four wheels ?

Rallying of course. And not just any old rally, either.

The Rally of Great Britain, is, as veteran Welshman Gwyndaf Evans - also competing in an MG - says, "as big as it gets".

Even for the likes of Colin McRae and world champion Marcus Gronholm, there is a fine line between being out of this world and out of control on the mud and gravel tracks of the Welsh forests.

But on 14 November Blundell will pitch up in Cardiff for the start of the three-day event in his MG ZR Super 1600 car.

The lure of an event where crowds pack the tree-lined route, and the potential for heading over a 200ft drop into the valley below is a clear and present danger, is compelling for this self-declared novice.

"It is a big thing for me, and to be driving a British car in a British rally makes me very proud.

"I am confident I can drive the car, and my objective is to finish the rally - that would be an achievement in itself.

"But at the same time I want to put on a show. Hopefully I won't end up upside down in a ditch."

To that end Blundell must get used to the vagaries of a front-wheel drive car, using the handbrake at regular intervals, and driving on mud and gravel rather than tarmac.

Not to mention a lack of grip, variable weather conditions, and a co-driver - F1 journalist Bob McKenzie - barking instructions at him.

"I am used to 900 horsepower, a single-seat race car with real down force on it and no-one sitting next to me," Blundell said.

"It will be a shock to the system, and there is a lot to learn, but I am really looking forward to getting rough and ready."

Trepidation

Blundell will compete in two national stage rallies - The Bulldog in Shrewsbury and The Tempest in Aldershot - over the next month as warm-ups for the main event.

His co-driver McKenzie has shouted directions in eight previous rallies, but admits to some trepidation at his latest assignment.

"Mark is a terrific driver, he just lacks rally experience," he said. "But he is a quick learner, and I need to be a quick teacher.

"He has spent most of his racing life only listening to himself, but now he has to listen to me."

And if communication fails and the MG goes belly-up down a Welsh mountainside ?

Blundell is clear on that one. "I can always blame my co-driver!"