All posts by paulcommons1983

BHRC

Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages – April 2024

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A sublime drive by Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney, in typical Welsh spring conditions, would land the Porsche 911 duo a famous Historic Rally Victory on the 50th anniversary Severn Valley Stages.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Severn Valley Stages, Midland Manor Motor Club had the excellent idea of extending the usual rally distance to create a mouth watering 62 mile event winding through classic Rally GB stages such as Myherin and Hafren.  Naturally this was a huge attraction to would-be entrants with a reserve list required within days of opening and a whopping 180 cars taking the start in Llandrindod Wells!

Slightly disappointingly only 34 of which were lined up for the Historic element of the event, which had reduced in number during the run up to the rally following the withdrawals of Matthew Robinson (engine) and George Lepley (illness).  Despite this however onlookers were treated to rip-roaring battle for victory that will long live in the memory.

Nick Elliott and Dave Price sat on top of the British Historic Rally Championship points table coming into the Severn Valley Stages and the Fiat 131 pairing were quickly into their groove in Mid Wales as they set fastest time on stage 1 by 6.6 seconds.  Their fortunes would quickly turn on the very next stage however as the RSD prepared machine would disappointingly end the day in a Tarenig ditch.

This instead left an incredible battle for victory between the category 3 Ford Escort MK2 of Joe Price and Chris Brooks and the older category 2 Porsche 911 of Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney; a duel which seemed to yoyo one way and then the other depending on the profile of the stage and differing strengths of each machine.

Perhaps making up time in the faster sections Perez and McElhinney would find themselves in the lead of the rally after the first run through Tarenig (SS2), but it was Price and Brooks who recorded faster stage times in Myherin and Hafren to sit just 1.9 seconds adrift of the lead by the time the cars reached the Builth Wells mid point service.

And with all to play for and still some 33 stage miles left to go Price seemed to have stepped up a gear as for the third stage in a row the Ludlow man set a quicker time than Perez to finally take the rally lead on stage 5. But could he hold onto it?

No was the answer! As relinquishing the lead seemed to be all the motivation Perez needed with the Global Brands backed Derbyshire man going on to record devastatingly quick times in both Myherin Main and Hafren Main (the longest stages of the event) to secure a famous 5 second victory, the first for a category 2 machine in almost 5 years!

Behind, ex British champion Mark Higgins, back in the David Appleby Engineering TR7 for the Severn Valley, was able to really show what the British built brute of a V8 was capable of as he and Phil Pugh sat just 12.3 seconds off the historic rally lead after stage 4.  And whilst not able to match Price and Perez through the second run of Sarnau and Myherin Main, signed off in style with fastest stage time in Hafren Main by a whole 8 seconds to round out the podium positions.

Adrian Hetherington and Daniel Petrie had an up and down rally but a strong run over the afternoon stages saw the Ford Escort MK2 duo climb from 6th to 4th, setting fastest time in stage 5 in the process, to leave Mid Wales with the BHRC championship lead.

In category 2 Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds would claim the runner up spot with 13th aboard their Ford Escort MK1, but some 6 minutes behind the event and category winners.  (More a statement of how well pedaled the 911 was than anything else)  Whilst Class C3 winners, Josh Carr and Osian Owen, fought back from time lost in the morning to climb from 6th to 3rd in category with 13th and 10th fastest times on the final 2 stages aboard their Pinto powered MK1.

Elsewhere, MK2 Escorts would claim class D3 and D2 victories with Shaun Bolt and Shaun Layland fininshing 11th in their 2 litre machine whilst Chris Squires and Shaun Hughes would end the day in 14th in their 1600cc Ford.  Meanwhile Steve Magson and Steve Bielby would take the non homologated class victory with 16th whilst Matt Bown and Tom Jordan would claim Class C2 in their Hillman Avenger.

The Severn Valley Stages would also form part of the British Rally Championship where Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans would claim National event victory in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2.  The Welsh pairing would emerge in the lead after stage 3 and not look back as they went on to record a 20 second victory from the similar machine of William Creighton and Liam Regan and Polo GTI R5 of Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani.

The bulk of the entry would however be found in the Severn Valley Stages part of the event where Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear would come away with another victory aboard their Ford Fiesta R5, whilst well driven Mitsubishi Evos in the hands of  Rob Wilson and Martin Haggett and Russ Thompson and Stephen Link would complete the podium positions. 

A healthy contingent of historic class machines would also feature in the clubman field where a strong drive by Jack Thorne and Dan Morefield would see them emerge as victors aboard their Ford Escort MK2 with the similar machines of Barry Stevenson-Wheeler and John Pickavance and Rob Dennis and Andy Boswell taking 2nd and 3rd.

I have often wondered how longer rallies, akin to the old ANCRO series, would be received today and I think we now have an answer!  What an event this had been, great stages, crazy weather (Fog, high winds, sun and rain) and possibly the best entry for a UK gravel rally in many a year!  The question is whether more longer rallies for a reasonable entry fee can be achieved?  I am guessing if 180 cars can be attracted then the fee would be less of a problem!

HISTORIC RALLY RESULTS

GALLERY

BHRC

Rally North Wales – March 2024

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In what turned out to be a rally of attrition, Nick Elliott and Dave Price braved very soggy conditions to claim 2024 Rally North Wales National victory; a first in the fabulous RSD prepared Fiat 131 for the duo and ending a 2 and a half year BHRC victory drought!

Round two of the British Historic Rally Championship would see the crews head to Welshpool for the Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Car Club organised Rally North Wales. Dyfnant Forest, having made a return to the timetable in 2023, would again feature heavily with 2 stages (East and West) but first up the crews would make the long journey out towards Aberangell for the infamous Gartheiniog and Dyfi tests.

Round 1 winners and pre event favourites George Lepley and Dale Bowen didn’t take long to get into their stride, with the Anglo / Welsh pairing living up to the hype and leaving the morning visit to the Dyfi forest complex with a commanding 11 second lead. However their strong run would soon come to an end in stage 3 (Dyfnant West) after suffering from a sheared front hub.

Whilst desperately unlucky for the Galant VR4 crew it did allow the 2 wheel drive machines to take centre stage and it would be historic stalwarts Nick Elliott and Dave Price who would find themselves with a 15 second lead by the time the cars reached the mid point service halt courtesy of a consistent run through the morning stages.

It was Irishman David Crossen who was a net quickest over the first runs through Dyfnant West and East however, enough to leave he and fellow Irishman Adrian Hetherington on equal times and rounding out the top three as the cars returned to Welshpool. All to play for then given the conditions which seemed to progress from light drizzle to heavy downpours as the day went on.

Having struggled on the Riponian, the Fiat 131 appeared much more to Elliott’s liking in Mid Wales though and the Cheltenham man put in a stellar drive over the remainder of the event. In what can only be described as monsoon conditions by the time the cars reached Dyfnant for a second time Elliott and Price did an excellent job of navigating through the slippery stages to keep the chasing pack at arms length and make a well overdue return to the top set of the BHRC podium.

Crossen’s afternoon meanwhile did not live upto the morning’s promise as he and co-driver Ben Teggart dropped to third in Gartheiniog before dropping out of the event altogether one stage later with their MK2 Escort failing to emerge from the second running of Dyfi. A stage which would also see the demise of round 1 top scorers Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis with diff issues. The Yorkshireman may not have been on the pace for outright victory but looked odds on for a top five at the halfway point and a good haul of points.

And after such a strong start, the luck was certainly not with the Irish crews on St Patrick’s weekend as a puncture in stage 7 for Adrian Hetherington sent he and Dan Petrie plummeting down the order. Seventh overall in the end such a disappointment for the MK2 Escort crew having closed the lead gap to 12 seconds with just 2 stages to go and looking certain to leave Mid Wales at the top of the BHRC standings.

The 2024 running of Rally North Wales turned out to be a real rally of attrition but this did benefit those who managed to stay out of trouble. Daniel Mennell and Seb Perez were two such drivers who found themselves sitting 5th and 6th at service but would ultimately end the day on the Historic podium!

Just a second apart after the first loop of stages there wasn’t much to choose between the two crews but whilst Perez was marginally quicker in stages 5, 6 and 8, crucially, Mennell (with Richard Wise alongside) was a whopping 9 seconds faster in Dyfnant West to claim second overall by a mere 1 second! An excellent drive by the Yorkshire duo, building on the flashes of speed shown on the Riponian one month earlier.

Despite losing out on second, Perez and Gary McElhinney will have been delighted with 3rd in their Category 2 Porsche especially after their devastating final stage retirement on the RAC last November. Perez certainly knows his way around rear engined rear wheel drive machinery and could well be an overall title contender come the end of the season; category 2 victory by almost 5 minutes proof if ever it were needed of an excellent drive.

This year’s event had also attracted a couple of Welsh rally legends to the historic category in the form of multiple British Rally Champions Mark Higgins and Gwyndaf Evans. Higgins had stepped into the David Appleby Engineering Triumph TR7 and showed what the brute of a V8 was capable of by setting very competitive times in stages 1 and 2 before falling foul of a particularly slippy section towards the end of Stage 3. Gwyndaf meanwhile fared rather better and whilst not really in the victory battle he and co-driver Dale Furniss set joint fastest historic time on stage 5 on their way to an excellent 4th overall in the National event.

Elsewhere the battle for class C1/C2 honours was one of the rally highlights with 4 crews in the mix for victory early on. It would however turn into an all Avenger battle over the afternoon loop following the retirement of Ian Beveridge’s Toyota and Mark Tugwell’s Escort MK1. Riponian class winners Matt Bown and Tom Murphy would just have the edge in pace though and the East Midlands based duo would claim a second class victory in as many rounds as they edged out the Chrysler Avenger of Tony Jardine and Dominic Tobin.

Other BHRC class victories would go the way of David Dobson and Brian Hodgson in their MK2 Escort (Class H1), Mike Reed and John Millington (D3, Escort MK2), Phillip Harris and Derek Davies (C3, Escort MK1) and Stuart Anderson and Adam Houston (D4, Vauxhall Chevette).

Rally North Wales was also the opening round of the Welsh Rally Championship which contained a fair few well pedalled historic machines. None more so than Ben and Steven Smith in the Pinto powered MK1 Escort who put in a sublime drive to claim top spot with an overall time which would have seen them finish 6th in the BHRC!

And so after a very long and wet day in Mid Wales it is Nick Elliott and Dave Price who proudly sit on top of the BHRC standings with Adrian Hetherington having to make do with second after what could have been so much more. Next up is another visit to Wales, this time a little further south for what promises to be an excellent 50th anniversary celebration of the Severn Valley Stages Rally. Let’s hope everyone has fully dried out by then!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

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East Riding Stages Rally – February 2024

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Mark Kelly and Will Atkins held off a late fightback from the Hyundai I20 R5 of James Williams and Ross Whittock to claim 2024 East Riding Stages rally victory aboard their Skoda Fabia R5.

Now in it’s third year, The East Riding Stages rally has obviously continued to capture the imagination of competitors having attracted a whopping 133 car entry, this despite not featuring in any of the major championships!  In fact the top of the entry list was flooded with R5 / Rally 2 machinery as many leading crews elected to use the event as a shakedown for their 2024 plans with 10 challenging stages, mainly to the East of Beverley, totaling almost 55 miles the order of the day.   

Having no fewer than 7 overall rally victories to his name in 2023 (according to ewrc), Mark Kelly would have started as one of the pre event favourites and the Garstang Motor Club man wasted no time living up to this hype as he and co-driver Will Atkins set fastest time on all 3 opening tests.  And, despite seeing their lead marginally pegged back in stage 4, would hold a 6 second lead by the time the crews reached the mid event service.

The top 5 crews were however all still in contention with the Hyundai of James Williams, Ford of Callum Black, Citroen of James Ford and VW of Kevin Davies all within 15 seconds of the lead.  Thus leaving everything to play for over the afternoon loop, which consisted of a second run over the morning’s 4 stages but preceded by two short blasts through the Westwood spectator stage. 

New for 2024, the Westwood stage was an attempt to bring the competitive element of the event closer to Beverley town centre but I am guessing no-one would have expected it to be so pivotal to the event outcome! Ridiculously however early leaders Kelly and Atkins managed to traverse the 2 runs of the 1.63 mile stage 6.2 seconds quicker than anyone else, more the doubling their lead to 12.6 seconds in the process. 

And that time gain did indeed prove vital as 2nd placed crew James Williams and Ross Whittock lit up the timing sheets over the final four stages of the day to close the gap to 5 seconds by the time the cars arrived back in Beverley!  A story of what might have been for the Hyundai crew, but another win for Mark Kelly who continued his strong recent form.

2023 Protyre Asphalt Rally Champions, Callum Black and Jack Morton were another crew to lose ground on the two short spectator stages but dug in over the afternoon loop to claim a hard fought third, whilst Kevin and Owain Davies finished fourth in their VW Polo and Neil Roskell and Dai Roberts rounded out the top 5 (Ford Fiesta). 

Historic events is where I am mostly found and therefore it was extra pleasing to see two wheel drive honours go the way of Gareth James and Steffan Evans aboard their Historic specification MK2 Escort. A sublime drive by the Welsh duo saw them end the day in 14th overall, not only finishing ahead of more powerful and more recent 2 wheel drive machinery but also many a R5 / Rally 2 machine.

MK2 Escorts would in fact complete the historic podium with Martin Rossiter and Dan Petrie ending the day 20th and Phil Rogers and Jordan Jones ten places further back, both improving on their start positions by a massive 58 and 47 places respectively!!

Elsewhere class victories would go the way of Gordon Montana Morrison / Ian Parker with 15th overall in their Ford Escort (Class D), Jake Briggs / Harry Walshaw in another of the Blue Oval favourites with 17th (Class C), Ben and Andrew Wilkinson in their Peugeot 106 Maxi with 32nd overall (Class B) and Mark and Andrew Constantine (Class A) with 36th in their Vauxhall Corsa.

All in, it had been a brilliant day in the stunning East Riding countryside. Having never been to this area of the country before there is now a good chance I’ll be back to the area with the family, if not for future East Riding Stages; a tick in the box for bringing tourism to Beverley then!

Closed road rallying is pretty special and whilst we seem to be losing usable forests annually it is great to see a few of these events now popping up. Ease of access on this event and fabulous late winter weather definitely aided the spectacle and watching the top drivers take the Eastfield Farm ‘crest’ on the rev limiter in top was something to behold, definitely whetting the appetite for more in 2024. Fingers crossed for the South Yorkshire Stages!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

BHRC

Riponian Stages Rally – February 2024

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Valentines day and Pancake day, stalwart February traditions which have in recent years been joined by the British Historic Rally Championship commencing with the Thirsk based Riponian Stages Rally; a quite different North Yorkshire based event having taken full advantage of the relatively recent relaxation of the road closure laws.

Similar to previous editions two loops of three stages would face the 105 starting crews, with the recently created Wass Moor (through the joining of Wass, College Moor and Pry Rigg) first up, followed by Cropton, which included a little used section at the start, and a new route through Gale Rigg. 

A tricky route at the best of times, snowfall in the run up to the event, followed by rain and a torrential downpour overnight had left the stages very slippery with what can only be described as lakes and rivers in some parts!  Not that this will have phased pre-event favourites George Lepley and Dale Bowen in their Jason Lepley Motorsport prepared Galant VR4 who had 4wd at their disposal.

I’m not sure too many would have predicted Daniel Mennell and Richard Wise aboard their MK2 Escort topping the time sheets after stage 1 then? However any thought of an upset was off the table on the very next stage as an off in Cropton undid all of their early good work.  A real shame but their pace continued to be strong over the remainder of the event (setting a 2nd and two 3rd fastest stage times) which suggests they could be right in the mix over the course of the season.

Committing to the whole BHRC in 2024 (although not eligible for overall championship honours), Lepley and Bowen were fully into their stride by stage 2 however and cemented their position at the top of the time sheets by stopping the clock 9 seconds quicker than anyone else in stage 3 (Gale Rigg) to hold a 20 second lead by the time the cars reached the Wombleton service halt. 

Two more stage wins in the afternoon before a steadier run through the Gale Rigg finale would see the Nottinghamshire man claim a second career BHRC victory.  He and Bowen may well have had more modern machinery and all wheel drive at their disposal but their pace on the day would have seen them finish 5th overall in the Interclub event, behind only the leading R5 / Rally 2 crews!

Behind, the performance of Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis to claim maximum championship points as top 2WD crew home, was maybe just as impressive.  In very challenging conditions the MK2 Escort duo held off a strong charge from Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill to claim Category 3 honours, just 37 seconds behind the aforementioned historic winners and topping off a great drive by setting fastest historic time on the final run through Gale Rigg.

Hetherington had managed to keep the rapid Yorkshireman in sight for most of the day and had brought the gap down to just nine seconds after a sublime afternoon run through Cropton but Robinson’s final stage heroics would leave Hetherington and O’Neill having to settle for a very well deserved final step of the historic podium.

2021 BHRC champs Ben Friend and Cliffy Simmons were back for 2024 after concentrating on the BTRDA championship in recent years and were right in the mix for the podium positions throughout.  Hetherington just had the edge in the Yorkshire forests however, but 3rd in category would represent a great start to their championship season.

2023 championship runners up, Nick Elliott and Dave Price had hoped to be fighting for victory in their RSD prepared 131 having worked with Matt Edwards on setup pre-event.  The Riponian proved more difficult than expected however with the recently re-liveried Fiat seeming to struggle in the testing conditions especially on the faster Cropton and Gale Rigg tests culminating in the Cheltenham duo ending the day in 5th.

In category 2, Josh Carr and Osian Owen picked up where they off in 2023 as the reigning category 2 champs defeated their BDG powered counterparts to take maximum category points on the Riponian for a second year running with an excellent 13th overall in the historic event.

After a few morning struggles Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds were actually quickest in category over the afternoon loop aboard their BDG powered MK1 Escort, setting 12th fastest time on stage 6 to top off a strong drive which saw them finish the day in 15th.

Meanwhile Tim Pearcey, with Steve Pugh alongside, was able to increase his pace over the afternoon stages, getting to grips with his new MK1 Escort and leapfrogging Terry Cree and Richard Shores’ BMW to claim the final step on the category podium.

Elsewhere class wins would go the way of Ben Jemison / Dave Jackson with and excellent 10th in their Vauxhall Chevette (D4), Steve Magson / Steve Bielby (H2) with 16th, Mike Reed / John Millington (D3) with 18th and Matt Bown / Tom Murphy (C1 / C2) in 29th.

Having recently announced his participation in the British Rally Championship for 2024, Elliot Payne, with Patrick Walsh alongside, set a blistering pace in the Interclub event to claim victory by a whopping 50 seconds aboard his Rally 2 Fiesta.  Alistair Ginley / Craig Thorley (Ford Fiesta) and Stephen Petch / Michael Wilkinson (Skoda Fabia) would round out the podium positions.  Meanwhile Sam and Olly Lucking would claim historic honours (Ford Escort MK2) with 13th whilst Jack Mathewson and Miles Cartwright (Ford Escort MK2) and class H1 winners Stuart and Linda Cariss (Ford Escort MK1) would complete the historic top 3.

Having personally avoided the Wass Moor stage for the last couple of years a return to the more Western of the stages for 2024 proved to be a wise decision.  The leading crews over the junction 4 crest were mighty impressive and the amount of water at the recently felled junction 5 made for an interesting spectacle also.  Enough to whet the appetite for the 2nd round of the season, Rally North Wales, in just over 1 months time where hopefully a few more historic competitors will be tempted out.    

National Rally Results

Interclub Rally Results

GALLERY

Uncategorized

Roger Albert Clark Rally – November 2023

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Managing to stay out of trouble as others faltered, Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell perfectly circumnavigated the longest, toughest, most grueling Roger Albert Clark Rally to date to claim victory by more than 5 minutes; a record equalling fourth title for the rapid Irish driver.

Two years in the making, the 2023 running of the Roger Albert Clark Rally promised to be the best yet with a route covering 5 days, 3 countries and over 350 miles!  Not only this but an incredible entry of over 150 crews had been attracted which included the likes of Oliver Solberg, Kris Meeke, Chris Ingram and Osian Pryce in addition to the usual front running historic competitors, thus making the event one of the most eagerly anticipated in many a year!

With such a grueling schedule the event was always likely to be one of attrition and Meeke, Ingram and 2023 BHRC champion Roger Chillman were all official retirements before the end of the Welsh leg!  This left Solberg and Pryce to battle it out for top spot as the event moved into South West Scotland on day 3 with the former starting to pull away as he became more familiar with his father’s MK2 Escort.

Pryce had however been managing an oil leak and his victory challenge would unfortunately come to a premature end in Glen Gap as the RallyXtreme MK2 Escort eventually utilised all available lubricant after visibly smoking through most of the morning.  A very disappointing end for the 2022 British Rally Champion after such a promising run over the first 2 days.

Solberg meanwhile seemed to go from strength to strength and had built a lead of over 4 minutes by the end of day 3, growing to over 5 and a half minutes by the start of Stage 28 (Harwood 2, the final stage of day 4).  But then disaster struck for he and Elliot Edmondson as the Viking Motorsport machine suffered a drive shaft failure putting them out of the rally.  And whilst the team had them back in the event under Super Rally rules for day 5, the amount of time required to be made up ultimately saw them end up in a Shepherdshield ditch as they went all in for victory.

Having 3 pervious RAC victories to his name Martin McCormack knows exactly what it takes to end the event on the top step.  He and co-driver Barney Mitchell had sat 3rd at the end of day 1 and 2 and had wisely decided on a more cautious approach after a few near misses early on and then an oil issue of their own on day 3.  And it turned out that this was exactly the right strategy as the Irish duo maintained a 5 minute margin over the final day to claim a brilliant victory whilst still managing to put on a show with their infamous flamboyant style!.

Like McCormack, Cathan McCourt and Liam Moynihan had also opted for a safety first approach and were rewarded with an excellent 2nd overall for their efforts, a quite unbelievable result given their lack of mileage on UK soil. In fact McCourt had started the final 39 mile Kielder test in 3rd, 30 seconds behind the crowd pleasing Stratos of Perez, but with the intention of having a real go on the monster finale. And the charge certainly paid off as Perez was unfortunately forced into retirement with the Lancia’s engine succumbing to the heat of the battle.

Whilst McCourt set a quick time on “The Big One” no one was able to get anywhere near the time of Jason Pritchard however as the Welshman set fastest time by a monumental 51 seconds, topping off an incredible final day charge for he and Phil Clarke which saw the experienced duo climb into the podium positions. Pre rally the triple British Historic Champions would have been amongst the favourites for victory but after a trying event saw them visit a couple of ditches, suffer multiple punctures and encounter a fuel pressure issue they will have been delighted with 3rd!

The 39 mile final test was always designed to be a sting in the tail and it proved just that for the unfortunate Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney.  But their incredible run will be THE lasting memory for many followers of event having peddled the Stratos with such style across some of the UK’s finest stages. We can only hope they come back for more in 2 years time!

Further back Mike Stuart and Sinclair Young put in a fabulous performance to claim category 2 honours with an excellent 5th overall in their MK1 Escort.  The Scottish pairing managed to find the perfect pace throughout the event, benefitting from the issues of others along the way to move from 13th at the end of day 3 to 9th by the end of day 4 and then gain another 4 spots over the final day in Kielder.

Northern Irish pairing, Robert Woodside and Dean Beckett aboard their Tuthill prepared Porsche 911, had been leading the category at the end of day 1 but were not able to match the pace of Stuart as the event progressed.  However 10th overall, first none Ford and first in class C4 represented an excellent result after 5 long days.  Meanwhile just one place further back after a consistent run were Class C3 winners Ben and Steven Smith aboard their RS2000, the first none BD powered Ford home.

It’s always great to see the Category 1 machines on display and victory looked to be going the way of Martin Linden and Rickard Forsell in the Volvo PV 544 only for the Swedes to be forced to Super Rally part way through day 4.  This left the way clear for Pete Stimson and Mark Butler to take a well earned victory aboard their Ford Anglia with 81st overall. 

Elsewhere Mark and Andrew Constantine would claim category 4A honours in their recently built Nova SR and Aaron McClure would take Category 4B just one place further back in 55th position overall. Meanwhile Neil Weaver put in one of the star performances of the event as he and Jack Morton took the S1600 Vauxhall Corsa to Open Rally victory with 6th position overall, in the process recording a remarkable category victory margin of over 23 minutes!

This had been some event to follow and whilst I had only elected to take in the middle 3 days still managed to clock up a whopping 874 miles!  Even the weather behaved itself this time with the trip into new territory (for me) in South West Scotland a personal highlight.  Rallying has traditionally been all about endurance and this 350 mile event required it in abundance. So much so that just 4 of the top 20 seeds made it to the finish without Super Rally!  If only a more traditional way of navigating the event between Wales and Carlisle could be found; stately home stages and a route through North Yorkshire or Cumbria seemingly the obvious answer but probably out of the question … 

But that’s just nitpicking, what an event, bring on 2025! 

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

NHRC

Malton Forest Rally – November 2023

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In conditions well suited to 4WD machinery, George Lepley and Dale Bowen put in a strong drive to claim Malton Forest Historic Rally victory with 8th position overall aboard their Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.

A healthy contingent of 94 cars would line up for the start of the North Yorkshire based Malton Forest Rally with several crews electing to use the event as a pre RAC shakedown.  Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney were one of those crews who, having switched from the 911 to the family owned Lancia Stratos in the run up to the event, became the star attraction for many.

With Perez still getting to grips with the Italian Machine he was never likely to trouble the top spots in what proved tricky conditions; however the pace was encouraging, especially through the afternoon loop of stages, as the Global Brands backed machine climbed 6 positions to end the event in a very respectable 20th overall and 7th in the historic category.

With a monumental amount of rainfall in the lead up to the rally, George Lepley and Dale Bowen would be hot favourites to take historic category victory but any thoughts of an easy run to the finish were quickly dispelled as Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis stormed through Langdale to claim an early 4 second category lead. This was was perhaps all the motivation Lepley required however as the Nottinghamshire man went on to set fastest category time on all of the remaining 5 tests to claim historic rally victory by 24 seconds.

It seems somewhat unfair that a rear wheel driven MK2 Escort built in the 70s would sit in the same H2 class as the late 80s Mitsubishi but Robinson fully utilised his local knowledge to keep Lepley on his toes and was rewarded with the unofficial 2WD historic victory with 9th position overall.

Steve Bannister must be able to drive the North Yorkshire stages with his eyes closed having competed in them so often over the years and the ‘Malton Missile’ was holding a strong 3rd in category before being forced into retirement at the half-way point.  This left Barry Mckenna and Arthur Kierans (Ford escort MK2) to round out the historic category podium positions and David Brown and Richard Wardle (Ford Escort MK2) to end the day as 3rd 2WD historic crew home.

Class H1, for historic specification cars up to 1600cc, was being lead somewhat convincingly by the Hillman Avenger of Matt Bown and Tom Murphy at the mid point service.  That was as good as it got for the East Midlands based crew however as brake failure would end their day prematurely.  This left the way clear for Paul Rawson and Mike Curry to claim class victory aboard their MK1 Escort, with Kurt Hodgson / Sam Campbell (Peugeot 205) and Geoff Taylor / Steve Greenhill (Sunbeam Imp) completing the top three.

In the race for Overall honours Elliot Payne and Jack Morton fought back from a first stage deficit to claim victory by 37 seconds aboard their Ford Fiesta Rally 2; Payne thus completing a whitewash of single day North Yorkshire forest events in 2023!  Behind, Alan Carmichael and Bonnie Papper claimed a well deserved second in their Hyundai I20 R5 whilst Andrew Purcell and Martin Brady took 3rd in their VW Polo.

Elsewhere, Nick Cook and Nigel Hutchinson (Ford Escort MK1) would claim Class 3 victory with an excellent 19th overall whilst Martyn Hawkswell and Ben Cohen were first home in Class 4 (26th overall).  Ben Cree and Robert Wiggins meanwhile would take Class 2 top spot (Opel Corsa) with 34th whilst Class 1 winners Pete Gorst and Mark Twiname (Vauxhall Nova) would just pip them to the unofficial front wheel drive victory with 33rd.

Having visited Gale Rigg more often than close family in recent years it was nice to head to Cropton on this occasion, a decision which was fully justified upon hearing the roar of the Stratos down the infamous long straights!  The river flowing across junction 11 and afternoon sunshine were added bonuses also, nicely whetting the appetite for the long awaited 5 day marathon that is the RAC rally later in the month!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Motor Racing Legends

Motor Racing Legends – Silverstone – October 2023

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Despite a post qualifying engine change, Harry Barton and Oliver Reuben headed a TVR Griffith 1-2 to claim Pall Mall Cup victory at Silverstone.

For the third successive year, the Motor Racing Legends meeting on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit would bring down the curtain on my historic racing season and despite a noticeable drop in entry levels over that time period the stand out Pall Mall Cup for Pre 66 machinery still provided excellent entertainment value.

A damp morning qualifying session, courtesy of monsoon conditions throughout the UK on the day previous, looked likely to produce a mixed up grid however the cream rose to the top by the end of the session as Touring Car legends Rob Huff (Jaguar E-Type) and Andrew Jordan (Lotus Elan) ended up sharing the front row of a relatively healthy 29 car grid.

Huff and Jordan would then use all their experience on a drying track to escape up the road early on with the more powerful Jaguar in the hands of Huff building a commanding lead before handing over to Richard Meins.  Meins however was not as comfortable in the tricky conditions and was quickly swallowed up by a double stinting Jordan, TVR Griffith of Oliver Reuben and Daytona Cobra of Harvey Stanley.

And it would be the latter two that would find themselves embroiled in an almighty mid race battle for the lead (once Jordan had pitted for a second time to hand over to Simon Evans) with Stanley eventually managing to streak away and build what looked to be a potential race winning margin.  That all came to an end a few laps later though as Stanley found himself beached in the Becketts gravel thus handing the advantage back to the TVR of Reuben.

Despite unable to keep up with Stanley, Reuben’s pace was such that Harry Barton (having taken over from Reuben for the final stint) would find himself with a lead of more than 40 seconds over Huff (back in the E-type) and a second Nigel Reuben Racing TVR in the hands of John Davison as the event entered the final hour; a margin that appeared more than necessary given the pace of Huff and the even more rapid Davison.

In fact Davison (taking over from Nigel Reuben) was setting the track alight, soon passing Huff and then setting his sights on the team car of Barton.  However time would be against Davison in the end as Barton just had enough in hand to reach the chequered flag first, bringing to an end a quite brilliant 3 hour race which saw the top 5 all on the same lap and top 3 covered by a little over 10 seconds!  Incredible considering there was not a single safety car intervention throughout!

In a field containing Cobras and E-types I’m not sure many would have predicted the final outcome but the Nigel Reuben Racing machines came into their own as the track dried out to land a memorable 1-2; even more remarkable considering the winning car only just made the grid following a post qualifying engine change!

Earlier in the day, Amspeed prepared BMW M3s completed a lockout of the podium positions in a damp Historic Touring Car Challenge race. With varying degrees of precipitation throughout tyre choice proved a lottery but it was Darren Fielding who just got the better of Colin Turkington (sharing with Mark Smith) in the latter stages to take victory with Tom Houlbrook rounding out the top three.

Having been in two minds whether to make the trip following a busy week it turned out to be a brilliant day at the Northamptonshire Circuit; the completely unexpected sunset and seemingly unrestricted garage access combined with one of the best historic endurance races of the season made it a day to remember.

GALLERY

BHRC

Trackrod Historic Cup – September 2023

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A controlled and consistent performance from Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke saw the Welsh / Anglo pairing top a close fought historic battle in the North Yorkshire forests to claim Trackrod Historic Cup victory.

The penultimate round of the British Historic Rally Championship would see the crews return to the forests of North Yorkshire for the second time in 2023 but this time utilising the additional classic tests of Dalby, Staindale and Langdale, with Dalby also run in the dark on the Friday evening to provide extra spice to a challenging total rally distance just shy of 57 miles.

Pleasingly a mammoth capacity entry list had been put together by the organisers with a more than healthy contingent of historic category machinery and it was George Lepley (with Dale Bowen in the co-drivers seat) who would continue his recent strong form by holding a commanding early lead of over 22 seconds by the end of stage 2! 

As expected, the all wheel drive Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 was well suited the long straights and 90 degree bend nature of the North Yorkshire stages however it was not to be for the young Nottinghamshire man who encountered gearbox issues in Cropton and was forced into early retirement.  Whilst disappointing for Lepley and Bowen, their retirement did however open the battle for victory right up with Seb Perez’s Porsche and Nick Elliott’s Fiat 131 amongst a whole host of Ford Escorts now in with a genuine chance of top spot.

Perez, in the Category 2 Porsche 911, was in sublime form, setting second quickest time through Dalby on Friday evening and then fastest in Cropton to sit less than 1 second from the lead of the historic field after 3 stages.  And the Chesterfield man would definitely have been in with a shout of victory had unfortunate engine issues not slowed the Global Brands backed machine through the two long afternoon stages. But with the Porsche visibly smoking through the Langdale finale he and co-driver Gary McElhinney would have to make do with Category 2 top spot and 5thoverall which still represented an excellent result.

Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis would return to action on the Trackrod in their formidable MK2 Escort and after the demise of Lepley would find themselves in the lead of the rally after stage 3.  Dropped time in Staindale and Dalby would put pay to their victory challenge however, with fastest time through the 13 miles of Langdale not quite enough to overhaul the eventual winners; the duo ending the event in second just 5 seconds behind the similar machine of Pritchard.

Pritchard and Clarke meanwhile are 3 time British Historic Rally champions for a reason and whilst their speed is unquestionable it is their consistency which has delivered the titles.  Having only entered the Trackrod as a pre RAC shakedown, the RS1800 crew were fastest through Staindale to take the lead of the event and quick again in the second running of Dalby to hold a relatively comfortable 8 second lead heading into the Langdale finale.  The pairing would not drop outside the top 5 fastest stage times throughout the two days as they went on to claim a second BHRC success of the season.

Another crew returning to action on the Trackrod were Paul Barrett and Gordan Noble and the Omagh based crew were in the mix for a podium position aboard their Ford Escort as they sat in 4th with just one stage remaining.  The Northern Irish duo would sadly not emerge from the final Langdale test however but on this showing should be right up at the sharp end come the RAC Rally in November.

This left the evergreen Steve Bannister aboard the infamous red-striped white Ford Escort to pick up the pieces; the ‘Malton Missile’, with Callum Atkinson alongside, taking advantage of Barrett and Perez’s misfortunes to climb from 8th overnight to an excellent 3rd by the end of the rally with 5th, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 3rd fastest times through the Saturday stages.

The RSD prepared Fiat 131 of Nick Elliott and Dave Price is perhaps not best suited to the North Yorkshire stages but were able to keep their championship hopes alive with a solid 4th whilst Gareth James and Daniel Petrie would put in another strong performance to round out the top six  in their MK2 Escort.

In Category 2, Stefaan Stouf and Dai Roberts may well have given Perez a run for his money (having sat 3rd overall overnight) but for their rally coming to an end in Staindale.  This left Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds to claim the runner up spot with 12th and Warren Philliskirk and Garry Green to round out the podium positions in their similar MK1 Escort. 

Meanwhile in Category 1, top spot would go the way of Richard Aczel and Allan Harryman in their Porsche 911 (although potentially listed in the wrong category) whilst Terry Cree and Richard Shores would wrap up the 2023 category 1 BHRC title with second aboard their Mini Cooper S.

Elsewhere, in the Trackrod Forest Stages event Elliott Payne and Tom Woodburn (Fiesta Rally 2) would claim a close fought victory after overhauling early leaders Arron Newby and Jamie Edwards (Skoda Fabia R5) over the afternoon stages, whilst WRC regulars Adrien Formaux and Alexandre Coria would take a poorly supported BRC Rally Yorkshire victory by a comfortable 45 seconds.

The British Historic Rally Championship now moves onto the Carlisle stages in late October where courtesy of dropped scores the overall title is very much still alive with the Ford Escort of Roger Chilman and Fiat 131 of Nick Elliot set to battle it out over what promises to be a grueling encounter in the Kielder Forest complex.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

BHRC

Woodpecker Stages Rally – September 2023

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Joe Price and Chris Brooks stormed to Woodpecker Stages National Rally victory aboard their infamous MK2 Escort despite strong all-wheel drive opposition in the form of George Lepley’s Galant VR4.

Pre-event there was much talk about the Group A Mitsubishi in the hands George Lepley taking a convincing victory though it appeared the raw speed of Joe Price, especially on his home event, had not been fully taken into account.  However only half the event was in the Shropshire forests, where the Ludlow resident has so often excelled, with Cwmysgawen and (new to almost all competitors) Ceri replacing Radnor for the 2023 rendition of the Sixty & Worcestershire Motor Club organised event.

In what turned out to be the hottest day of the year it would however be the RSD prepared Fiat 131 crew of Nick Elliott and Dave Price who claimed an early lead after the Cwmysgawen test but George Lepley, with Dale Bowen alongside, put the four wheel drive at his disposal to good use in Ceri to hold a 1 second lead over Price as the crews headed back to the more traditional Shropshire stages. 

And it is the stages on the English side of the border where Price and Brooks come into their own; the pairing setting 9th and 7th fastest time overall in Hopton and Haye Park respectively to gain a pivotal 10 seconds on their rivals and hold a 9 second lead at the mid event service.  And despite Lepley again having the edge in Ceri on the afternoon loop, the Nottinghamshire man was no match for Price in his own back yard, with the Escort pilot going on to claim a sublime 11 second historic category victory.

Meanwhile Richard Jordan and James Gratton-Smith had put in a stellar morning drive to hold third at the half way point but a huge stage cancelling roll in Cwmysgawen ended their involvement in the event (here’s hoping they make a speedy recovery and return to the stages sooner rather than later).  This left the MK2 Escorts of Roger Chilman and Tom Walster to battle it out with Elliott’s Fiat 131 for the final podium position.  The second running of Ceri would see the demise of Walster (stub axle) though and Chilman, co-driven by Patrick Walsh, just had the edge on Elliott over the remainder of the event to take maximum BHRC points with 3rd.

Rory and Paul McCann starred in category 2 with the Hillman Avenger (Class C2) crew claiming category victory by an enormous 41 seconds with an excellent 9th overall in the historic section of the event!  Josh Carr and Osian Owen (Class C3) would take maximum BHRC category points in 2nd aboard their Pinto powered MK1 whilst Andrew Stokes and Jonny Tad Evans (Escort MK1) would round out the podium positions and in turn take class C5 honours.  Meanwhile Terry Cree and Ricardo Shores were first home in category 1 with 80th overall in their Mini Cooper S and in the race for overall honours Arron Newby (Skoda Fabia) survived a late charge from Elliot Payne (Ford Fiesta) to claim outright rally victory.   

Whilst great to see the Galant VR4 driven so well (this being a car I fondly remember seeing in period) It was in some respects pleasing to see two wheel drive machinery still end up on top of the pile.  However it won’t be long before four wheel drive machinery is taking historic rally victories in the UK, possibly as soon as the Trackrod in just over a week’s time!  It will be interesting to see the impact of this (although not currently able to score overall BHRC championship points) and whether an increase in four wheel drive machinery at the sharp end would be to the detriment of historic rallying in general.  I’m hopeful this won’t be the case but the governing bodies potentially have some important decisions to make in the coming years regarding eligible point scoring machinery.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY (From stages 2 & 6 – Ceri)

Equipe Classic Racing

Equipe Classic Racing – Cadwell Park – September 2023

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After what can only be described as shocking weather this summer, I was delighted to find wall to wall sunshine forecast for my annual trip to the Lincolnshire Wolds and, better still, very decent entry lists for the Equipe Classic Racing meeting (including grids from the MG Car Club), something that is not always the case for the very niche Cadwell Park circuit.

Dubbed in some circles as the “Mini Nurburgring” you can see why some choose to avoid but from a spectator’s point of view I love the completely different nature of the track; where else in the UK can you find sections such as Hall Bends, The Mountain and Goose neck? Completely bonkers, just like the much larger German circuit it is sometimes compared to!

Following on from an excellent first glimpse of the Equipe Classic Racing brigade at Donington one month earlier it came as no surprise that the racing was again top notch with the GTS race for smaller engine pre-66 machinery perhaps the pick of the day.  Starting on pole the MG B of Lewis Saunders would eventually regain the lead courtesy of a mistake entering Park Straight by early leader Rob Cull.  Cull in his immaculate TVR Grantura however would emerge back in the lead after the mandatory pitstop and whilst Saunders closed in the final stages it would be Cull who landed a hard-fought win.  Meanwhile David Gardner put in a stellar drive in his class 1 Turner MK2 to claim an excellent third.

In fact it turned out to be an excellent day for Rob Cull, who despite having to withdraw his Capri from the 70s encounter, also ended the day with a quite brilliant podium in the Equipe Libre event aboard the very same 1840cc Grantura he claimed victory with earlier.  Despite possibly better equipped for the twisty bits of the Lincolnshire Circuit the Grantura had no right to be battling with the more powerful Healeys but the TVR man was able to sneak passed both Alex Hewitson and Bill Rawles as the race progressed and round out the podium positions.  Up front however Graham Moss put in a controlled drive aboard his glorious Daytona Cobra to take victory whilst Brian Caudwell kept the 4.7 litre machine honest with a well earned second aboard his Austin Healey 3000.

As expected it was machines from the 70s category which headed the combined Equipe 70s, Pre 63 and 50s event with the Morgan Plus 8 of David and Andrew Wenmam excelling on the undulating circuit to pass the pole sitting Fiesta of Tom Burgess at the start and never really look back as they claimed a near 19 second victory.  Meanwhile Nic Strong completed the podium positions in his Marcos 3000GT whilst respective Pre 63 and 50s victories went the way of Jack Rawles (Austin Healey 3000) and John Pearson (MG A).

Speaking of MGs, the day’s schedule was completed by 2 races each for the MG Car Club organised Cockshoot Cup and BCV8 series’. The BCV8 series provided very close racing throughout with Neil Fowler getting the better of a 4 way Class D battle to take race 1 victory whilst James Wheeler put in the fastest lap of the day to claim race 2 victory with a very rapid 1m40.39! Meanwhile David Morrison (MG Midget) and Mark Wright (MG F) would take a win apiece in the Cockshoot Cup with Morrison’s victory in race 1 a quite remarkable feat in his 1380cc machine when up against much more recent machinery!

There are few better places than Cadwell to take in a days racing when both the weather and entry levels are good, and this event definitely ticked both of those boxes. Aided by the lower early autumn sun it also made for some of my favourite photos of the year so far which is looking like my penultimate circuit event of 2023!

Next up is the Woodpecker Stages Rally and a first visit for me to the little used Ceri Forest!

GALLERY