All posts by paulcommons1983

BHRC

Rally Anglo Caledonian – November 2024

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Seb Perez celebrated his British Historic Rally Championship crown in style; braving storm Bert, with Dale Bowen alongside on this occasion, to claim historic category victory on the new for 2024 Rally Anglo Caledonian.

The brain child of Colin Heppenstall, Rally Anglo Caledonian was a new event for 2024, effectively replacing the Carlisle Stages with a 140 mile 2 day blast through the English / Scottish border forests.  A mouth watering prospect and what better way to round out the British Historic Rally Championship season!  However things started to unravel on the run up to the event as first the rally was robbed of an epic title showdown following the forced withdrawal of title hopeful Mark Higgins (injured) and then the onset of Storm Bert!

Heavy Snow, rain and high winds were forecast putting the rally in doubt but somehow, through quick thinking and a flexible approach the team behind the award winning Roger Albert Clark Rally managed to pull off a minor miracle in what were, at times, horrific conditions.  The fact that only 2 stages and part of Buck Fell were lost is quite frankly an incredible achievement!

Day 1 saw the worst of the conditions as Kielder was hit with a couple of hours of heavy snow before rain set in.  And despite the organisers decision to delay the event by a few hours and re-work the running order the stages were still treacherous by the time the historic crews came through the first loop of stages in the Kershope forest complex.

The result was a completely mixed up leaderboard with cars separated by minutes rather than the usual seconds with Matthew Stroud leading the historic runners from David Henderson, Paul Thompson and Matthew Robinson.  Meanwhile Perez and Bowen had opted for a steady start, lying 11th of the historic runners and sitting over a minute behind after stage 2.

The newly crowned BHRC champ would soon reap the rewards of a cautious start however as top 3 stage times in Ash Park 2 and Kershope 2 saw the Porsche 911 pilot climb to second in the historic category before really showing his class by setting a pair of phenomenal stage times in what turned out to be the final stages of the day.  Indeed his time of 17.48 through Gowanburn, a whole 1 minute and 31 seconds quicker than overall event winners Alan Carmichael and Jane Nicol in the Hyundai i20N may well go down in folklore!

Paul Thompson meanwhile had required a hire car for this event following accident damage incurred on the Malton Forest rally and would have been over the moon to sit 2nd in the historic category overnight following a measured drive through the snow, ice, fog and darkness of Killer Kielder; so impressive in-fact that he and Josh Davison had a margin of almost 5 minutes over 3rd placed fellow Yorkshireman David Henderson! But given the conditions just making it to the end of day 1 was a feat in itself as expected front runners Nick Elliott, Ben Friend and Stefaan Stouf found out whilst Adrian Hetherington would also hit trouble but return on Sunday under Super Rally rules.

Sunday would be a different kettle of fish entirely however as rising temperatures and torrential rain had almost cleared the snow entirely from the Southern Scottish stages and the predicted high winds were not quite as bad as expected leaving the event to run like clockwork.

After setting the timing sheets alight on Saturday evening Perez and Bowen picked up where they left off on Sunday morning, reeling off 4 top 5 stage times in a row through the classic stages of Castle O’er, Twiglees, Windyhill and Ae to sit just 18 seconds behind the overall event leaders!  Could the 911 crew really take the battle to the modern 4WD Hyundai over the remaining 4 stages?

Unfortunately a gear stick issue in Twiglees 2 would put pay to any overall victory challenge but once resolved the 2024 BHRC champ would still go on to record a dominant historic rally victory with a winning margin of over 7 minutes!  Some drive and we can only hope the mighty Porsche makes a return in 2025!

Paul Thompson and Josh Davison meanwhile followed up an excellent day 1 with another solid performance on day 2, consistently setting top 15 stage times in their borrowed Ford Escort MK2 to round out their season in style with the runners up spot on possibly the toughest UK gravel event of the year.

Recent rear wheel drive convert David Henderson, with Will Atkins alongside, was setting a strong pace throughout Sunday and may well have challenged Thompson for second had it not been for losing the clutch in Castle O’er 1 and suffering punctures in both Windyhill 1 and Castle O’er 2.  Despite this Henderson still managed to close on Thompson throughout the day and round out the podium positions just over 1 minute in arrears.

Elsewhere in the historic category classes Bryan Jardine and Declan Campbell claimed Safari spec victory in their MK1 Escort with a brilliant 8th overall and 7th in the historics whilst Andy Madge and Matt Cooper claimed an excellent Pre-85 class victory with 18th overall aboard their Toyota Corolla; this after putting in one of the starring performances of Saturday morning to sit well inside the top 10!

Other historic class victories would go the way of Douglas and Graeme Menzies in their Ford Escort MK2 (D3) with 15th overall, Alex Waterman and Chris Davies (C2) aboard their Datsun 1600 SSS with 20th overall, James and Jack Brady (F2) with 24th overall in their Porsche 911, Drexel Gillespie and Gill Cotton (C3) with 26th in their Ford Escort MK1, Ed Abbott and Tom Bishop (D4) in the crowd pleasing Jaguar X-JS V12 with 35th and William Paterson and Tom Hynd (D2) with 40th overall in their Talbot Sunbeam.

In a different approach to the Roger Albert Clark Rally, the organisers allowed 4WD machinery for Rally Anglo Caledonian and despite having the best machinery for the job Alan Carmichael and Jane Nicol put in an excellent drive aboard their Hyundai i20N to claim victory,  it can’t be easy having the likes of Seb Perez hunting you down especially as the Derbyshire man could probably drive 911’s in his sleep!

The Sunday stages also formed the final round of the Scottish Rally Championship where the pace at the front was frenetic!  4wd crews featured heavily at the top of the time sheets but it was Mark McCulloch and Michael Hendry who would run out victors in their Proton Satria Evo after a well controlled drive. 

Top seeds Josh Wink and Jack Bowen (Hyundai i20 R5) appeared to struggle through the morning stages but were ultra rapid over the final 3 and were an incredible 11 seconds quicker than anyone else in Twiglees 2 to leap from fourth to second on the final stage of the event!  Meanwhile Greg McKnight and Harry Marchbank would head the 2 wheel drive crews, coming home an excellent 5th in their Ford Escort MK2 whilst Donald Peacock and Mairi Riddick would be first historic crew home in 13th.

Everyone must have a story to tell regarding the rally and ours was no different having only managed 1 stage on Saturday following a drive to Kielder that took 5 hours longer than usual!  The main story of the weekend though has to be how the organisers managed to keep the event running.  A quite unbelievable achievement in the circumstances.  Let’s hope they are rewarded with a much larger entry in two years time.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY 

NHRC, Uncategorized

Malton Forest Rally – November 2024

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Ford Escort crew Dan Mennell and John H Roberts continued their strong run of form in the Forests of North Yorkshire, making up for last stage disappointment on the recent Trackrod to claim a commanding Historic Category victory on the 2024 Malton Forest Rally.

The Malton Motor Club organised Malton Forest Rally has often attracted a strong and varied entry but none more so than the 2024 event. Indeed this year’s rally featured a historic entry that many a national championship would have been proud of, with not only an abundance of top Yorkshire based crews on the start list but also featuring the likes of BHRC front runners Ben Friend and Adrian Hetherington.

It would be a Yorkshireman at the head of the field early on however in the form of Dan Mennell. Malton local Mennell had already upped his game in 2024, showing glimpses of potential with a fastest stage time on the Riponian early in the year, but with the addition of experienced Welsh co-driver John H Roberts seems to have found another gear. And, seemingly motivated by the last stage disappointment on the recent Trackrod rally, the Ford Escort pilot leapt into 2 second lead after stage 1, an 8 mile blast through Langdale.

A five mile stage in Gale Rigg would follow before another 8 miler in Cropton closed out the morning loop of stages. And it was the latter stage where Mennell and Roberts would stamp their authority on the event, setting a time 5 seconds quicker than anyone else but more importantly 16 and 19 seconds quicker than Friend and Matthew Robinson respectively to hold a commanding 23 second historic category lead at the mid point service.

The battle behind however was far less clearcut with positions second to fifth covered by a mere 3 seconds! Sitting 5th at service, Ben Friend had shown his pace in the Yorkshire forests already this year having claimed victory on the recent Trackrod and appeared to have re-found this form on stage 4 as the Allglass Anglia Ford Escort man, with Osian Owen alongside on this occasion, recorded fastest time in Landgale 2 to climb three places up the leaderboard to second.

Matthew Robinson and Hannah Davison (Ford Escort) had struggled through the morning also and, whilst not able to match the pace of Friend in Langdale, had however moved up to third and sat just 2 seconds behind the Suffolk man as they headed into the Cropton finale. Could Friend come out on the right side of another last stage Yorkshire forest decider? Unfortunately for Friend and Owen the answer on this occasion was no as Robinson used all of his local knowledge to set a ridiculously quick time in Cropton 2 to take the runners up spot in style.

There would be no catching Mennell and Roberts however. With the damage being done on the first run through Cropton the Anglo Welsh duo were able to take a slightly more relaxed approach to the afternoon loop. It’s all relative though as Mennell and Roberts were still the quickest historic crew over stages 4, 5 and 6 to claim a an excellent 26 second breakthrough victory.

Northern Irish pairing Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill (Ford Escort) made a welcome return to the Yorkshire forests for the Malton Forest rally but any thoughts of a top finish were ended by a mechanical issue during the morning loop. Meanwhile after a strong morning run which saw them lying third at service, Paul Thompson and Josh Davison would disappointingly end the day in the Gale Rigg undergrowth after a large off following a compression. This instead left the way clear for the evergreen Steve Bannister, with Callum Atkinson alongside, and Jack Mathewson, co driven by Chris Williams, to complete a Ford Escort MK2 lock out of the historic category top 5.

Further back, Stuart and Linda Cariss would claim class H1 victory for the smaller engined machines after ending the day a very commendable 20th in the historic category. In fact some 28 historic crews would make it to the finish at Adderstone Field which must be some kind of record for a Northern Historic Rally Championship event?

There were no surprises at the head of the overall field as the ultra rapid Elliot Payne would claim victory for the 3rd successive year aboard his Ford Fiesta Rally2, this time with Patrick Walsh alongside. Kyle White and Anthony Nestor would however put in a strong showing to claim second in their Hyundai i20 just 29 seconds in arrears.

Elsewhere class victories would go the way of Max Crowther and Phil Bramma (Class 1) with 58th position overall in their MG3, Scott Renshaw and Terry Wilson (Class 2) with 36th aboard their Fiesta R2, Gary Beckwith and Kirsty Angell (Class 3) with 40th in their Ford Escort MK2 and Nigel Cay and Fred Roberts (Class 4) with an excellent 19th overall aboard their 3 litre Vauxhall Chevette.

This had been another great days rallying in the Yorkshire forests and whets the appetite nicely for the British Historic Rally Championship deciding Anglo Caledonian rally in just over 2 weeks time. Dan Mennell is not showing on the entry list as we speak but on this evidence, should an entry materialise, could be a real dark horse for the win.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Motor Racing Legends

MRL Silverstone GP Meeting – October 2024

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Harry Barton and Oliver Reuben retained their Silverstone GP Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup crown with a convincing win aboard the Nigel Reuben Racing prepared TVR Griffith.

Now the traditional curtain closer for the Motor Racing Legends Series, the Silverstone GP meet had attracted a healthy entry with over 30 cars lining up for the Pre-66 3 hour ‘into the evening’ enduro and possibly more impressively an almost similar number of entrants for the brand new GT3 Legends pilot event for 2006 to 2012 GT3 spec cars. Quite some achievement!

The opening day’s track activity would centre around the Pall Mall Cup however with a 50 minute qualifying session preceding a late afternoon start for the 3 hour main event. And it was a pair of Jaguar E-Types that made the most of the damp morning track conditions to form the front row of the grid, headed by the Marcus Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff / Andy Newall machine.

The pole-sitting Jaguar would however drop back early on and be forced into an early stop with Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff suffering from cramp. Conversely the TVR of Harry Barton had made great progress from it’s relatively lowly 6th position on the grid, with the young historic racer quickly hitting the front and building a comfortable lead over the other front row starting E-type of Richard Kent and Lotus Elan of Simon Evans.

Pall Mall Cup rules dictate a two stop race, one of 60 seconds and the other 5 minutes in duration (for re-fueling) and it is this niche set of rules that brings in-race strategy to the fore. As it was both the Griffiths of Barton and Elan of Evans opted to take their longer stop first, the former having no option courtesy of a faulty transponder, which left another Elan in the hands of Max Lynn in the lead of the race with the similar machine of Miles Griffiths in hot pursuit for much of the middle stint.

The Nigel Reuben Racing prepared TVR of Harry Barton and Oliver Reuben was however in a league of it’s own on the day and as the final pit stops unwound would find themselves with a healthy advantage entering the final third of the race. The class 4 competition may have been a little light on this occasion, with the stablemate TVR not able to enter following damage at Spa and the Alex Brundle E-type a non starter courtesy of timing chain issues, but the pairing hardly put a foot wrong; Barton (back in the car for the final stint) eventually crossing the line with a commanding winning margin of 1 minute and 42 seconds.

Simon Evans and James Littlejohn have formed a formidable partnership in recent years and put in possibly the performance of the day to claim second aboard their Lotus Elan. Whilst not able to compete with the 5 litre Ford powered TVR, Evans and Littlejohn were able to keep the eventual winners honest and it was quite some achievement to end the event on the same lap! Littlejohn was particularly rapid on the day and managed to set a lotus Elan lap record with a 2.23.944 on well used tyres!

In fact Lotus Elan’s would make up 1 third of the field with the nimble 1600cc machines featuring heavily in the battle for the remaining podium position. Miles Griffiths had starred throughout the race and seemed to be heading for that final step of the podium following a race long battle with Shaun and Max Lynn but tragically suffered a front end issue with only minutes remaining. This left Shaun Lynn (the man now in charge of Motor Racing Legends activities) and son Max to claim third with Andy Wolfe and Ben Tinkler fourth. Wolfe and Tinkler’s result, in yet another Elan, all the more remarkable having started from the pit lane!

A healthy contingent of Porsche 911s, usually found in their own stand alone Peter Auto races, had entered this years event and it was the David Danglard and Phil Quaife machine that proved the class of the field as they claimed class 3c honours with an excellent 11th. And talking of excellent performances Can Bitirim and Dave Gardener defeated many a more powerful machine to bring their MGB home in 13th to to register class 3b top spot. Meanwhile Pre-63 GT honours would go the way of Grant Williams and Ciprian Nistorica aboard their E-type with 17th overall.

Earlier in the day the GT3 Legends series made a successful track debut and it was British GT stalwart Jon Minshaw who found himself in an early lead before a collision with the similar BMW Z4 of Rob Hall put them both out of contention. Instead it was the Lamborghini Gallardo of Jack Tetley who lead for much of the opening stint but Nick Maton, having taken over for the second half of the race, could not keep Andrew Jordan at bay. The former BTCC champion, aboard the Chevrolet Corvette, appeared in top form however, producing sub 1m 58 second lap times on his way to record a 17 second victory for he and Matt Holme.

In fact it proved a good day for Jordan as Andy Middlehurst and Jonathan Bailey had earlier claimed Historic Touring Car Challenge victory aboard their JRT prepared Nissan Skyline. On a drying track Middlehurst swapped positions on more than one occasion with the similar machine of Ric Wood but had made the conscious effort to look after the tyres of his wet shod machine. This proved pivotal as Wood was forced into retirement having ‘destroyed’ his whilst Bailey (replacing Middlehurst for the second half of the race) just had enough rubber left to reel in Darren fielding (BMW M3) over the closing stages to claim victory.

Having driven through what can only be described as monsoon conditions on the way to the circuit we were treated to a fabulous golden hour to round out the day. And just like the weather the Motor Racing Legends season had also ended on a high with the GT3 Legends series a clear hit. Hopefully, under the guidance of Shaun Lynn, the series can go from strength to strength as it would be great to see grids such as the Historic Touring Car Challenge attract the numbers we were used to in seasons past.

RESULTS

GALLERY

Gt & Sports Car Cup

Castle Combe Autumn Classic – September 2024

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Having stumbled across the opening day entry list on the run up to the event it was an absolute no brainer to trade in a planned visit to Snetterton for the Autumn Classic at Castle Combe.  It appeared this event had developed nicely over the last 7 years since my last visit with an absolutely full to the brim schedule topped off by a 2 hour race for the brilliant GT & Sports Car Cup!

Encountering torrential rain on the approach to the Wiltshire circuit however it did cross my mind whether the correct decision had been made but thankfully only a handful of laps behind the safety car were required for the first qualifying session before normality returned.  Panic Over!!

The tricky early morning conditions had though produced a rather mixed up grid for the Ecurie Jaguar competitors taking part in the first race of the day. In a grid of cars where essentially anything Pre-66 Sports and GT is permitted it was no real surprise to find the ultra rapid Grant Williams make the most of the limited grip on offer and put his Jaguar MK2 on pole, but in stark contrast the Jaguar D-type of Christian Albrec and Gary Pearson would find themselves starting from a lowly 14th.

By the scheduled race time however the circuit had dried somewhat and this seemed to suit the Austin Healey of Oliver and Jack Chatham and the powerful 3 litre machine would leap into an early lead. Tom Barclay, starting the pole sitting Jag on the other hand, was not able to match the pace of Williams and dropped back leaving the Butterfield’s to lead the Jaguar charge in a MK2 of their own whilst the Jaguar D-Type in the hands of Christian Albrec had made great progress and would find himself second before the mid race pitstops.

The Healey would have always been up against it to keep Gary Pearson behind in the second half of the race but that would in the end prove immaterial. Indeed, a sensationally quick stop for the D-Type crew would see Pearson emerge with a comfortable lead which the long time Jaguar racer duly maintained until the finish.  The runners up spot was however just reward for Oliver and Jack Chatham after an excellent drive whilst Tom and Richard Butterfield rounded out the podium positions.

A 60th anniversary grid walk preceded an excellent Historic F3 race which was a nice touch by the organisers. Better still the race itself featured a fantastic duel at the head of the field between the Brabham BT18 of Andrew Hibberd and Alexis MK17 of Peter De La Roche.  Hibberd may well have expected a more straightforward victory having qualified one pole but came across a gutsy De La Roche who, try as he might, could not quite find a way to squeeze passed the chequered flag liveried machine, leaving the Cheshire based pilot having to settle for second by a mere 0.127 seconds!

The GT & Sports Car Cup for Pre-66 GT cars and Pre-61 Sports Prototypes is often the headline grabbing event and this occasion was no exception.  A 2 hour two pitstop race lay ahead of a fantastic 29 car grid which included everything from AC Cobra, E-type and Austin Healey to MG B and Broadspeed Mini; a mouth watering prospect if ever there was one especially as the early morning rain and heavy cloud had now been replaced by glorious late afternoon autumnal sunshine.

Chris Chiles Jnr had earlier qualified on pole aboard the family AC Cobra but whilst able to take an early lead was not able to pull away from a chasing trio of Jaguar E-types as the front row starting Lister-Jaguar of John Spiers dropped back.  But by half distance all 3 Jaguar E-types had succumbed to the pace (2 of them terminally) and the Chiles’ Cobra had been forced into an early stop which left the Lola MK1 of Nick Finburgh and Ollie Crosthwaite at the head of the field with the Lister-Jaguar in pursuit.  Could the little Lola claim an unlikely victory?

Had it not been for a safety car in the second half of the race they may well have had a chance, but a well timed stop by the Lister-Jaguar crew during the caution period saw the brute of a sports prototype emerge in the lead.  In fact it proved of little consequence in the end as, in a race of attrition, the Lola MK1 crew ran into trouble themselves leaving the Spiers / Ward piloted machine a relatively comfortable cruise to the flag.

Meanwhile, recovering from an extra stop, Chris Chiles Jnr was back in the car and setting the track alight with strong lap times to claim second for he and Chris Chiles Snr whilst Steve Jones and Ben Tinkler would round out the podium positions after a strong drive aboard their Lotus Elan 26R.

GT3 proved to be an Austin-Healey 3000 battle royale as the glorious machines filled positions 4 to 7, however it was Doug Muirhead and Jeremy Welch who would claim class top spot.  But perhaps the closest battle of all was for GT2 honours as Malcolm Paul and Rick Bourne, aboard their TVR Grantura, claimed class victory by just 1.721 seconds from the Lotus Elite of Marc Gordon, Guy Harman and Nick Finburgh.

Golden hour was at it’s peak as a mega grid of 31 Fifties Sports Cars took to the track for the final race of the day where David Alexander had qualified his nimble Lotus Elite at the head of the FISCAR field.  And whilst the Coventry Climax engined machine fell behind a fast starting Jaguar XK150 in the hands of Marc Gordon over the opening laps, Alexander soon reeled the ‘big cat’ back in and found himself back in front prior to the pitstops. 

Maintaining the lead as the stops unwound, Alexander then had a relatively steady run to the flag to claim a 12 second victory.  Gordon meanwhile would bring the Jaguar XK150 home second whilst another Elite in the hands of Brian Arculus would round out the podium positions in what turned out to be a slightly shortened race courtesy of David Reed’s Aston Martin DB2 ending the day in the Tower corner Recticel.

The Mini 7 Racing Club brought plenty of entertainment to the Autumn Classic and the Miglia race in particular turned out to be an absolute classic as ex Touring Car racers Andrew Jordan and Jeff Smith locked horns.  Changing positions on multiple occasions it looked as if Smith might steel the win with a late lunge at Quarry on the final lap.  However Jordan was able to produce a better exit and go on to claim victory by just 0.311 seconds!  Meanwhile earlier in the day Damien Harrington had claimed Mini Se7en victory by a similar margin from Joe Thompson whilst Matthew Ayres took class 7S honours with an excellent 4th.

The prancing horse was also well represented at the festival with 3 races over the weekend for the Superperformance Ferrari Club Classic.  Battling a mid afternoon downpour Gary Culver would run out the winner of Saturday’s race in this 328 GTB whilst Wayne Marrs (F355 Challenge) and Colin Sowter (355 Spyder) would complete the podium positions.

In short I have nothing but praise for this event, absolutely packed to the rafters with entries from multiple clubs and unbelievably good value at £20 for the day which included a Historic F3 grid walk.  It reminded me of how good the Donington Historic Festival used to be when a greater selection of clubs supplied the grids and also how improved the Oulton Park Gold Cup has become when following the same philosophy. 

Discovering a route to the circuit through the Cotswolds instead of the dreaded M42 / M5 even made the long journey more bearable.  What a great day’s racing and a fantastic effort by the organisers to ensure the event ran to time in, at times, trying conditions.  If the entries are this good again in 2025 I’ll find it hard to stay away.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

BHRC

Woodpecker Stages Rally – September 2024

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Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney tamed the Mid Wales forests for a second time in 2024 to take Woodpecker Stages National Rally victory and cement their place at the top of the British Historic Rally Championship standings

Due to the unavailability of the traditional Herefordshire forests, the 2024 Sixty and Worcestershire MC organised Woodpecker stages rally would see a healthy historic entry tackle tests in Hafren, Sweet Lamb and Ceri, headed by last year’s victors Joe Price and Chris Brooks.  And whilst the 2024 Woodpecker route was a return to similar territory used on the Severn Valley, the organisers had done a great job of ensuring only minimal parts of Hafren were re-used; in-fact even the mileage which had featured on the Severn Valley was passed in the opposite direction!

One thing that was surprisingly consistent however was the weather, with fog and mist a very unwelcome treat for an early September event which proved an additional challenge for the crews.  Not that this seemed to get in the way of Price however as the Ludlow man set a very strong pace through the opening Ceri test to sit just 1 second behind the leading 4 wheel drive historic crew of George Lepley and Dale Bowen.

Having narrowly missed out on victory in 2023, Lepley and Bowen, aboard their Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, would have been keen to get the better of last years victors, but possibly suffering from an incorrect tyre choice would drop time in the next three stages.  However, sitting only 7 seconds behind at the halfway point, the Galant crew would have been confident of making up the time over the afternoon loop (in conditions benefitting all wheel drive machinery) only for a transmission issue in stage 5 to bring a premature end to their event.

After an excellent morning loop, Price and Brooks, aboard the infamous bright Orange Ford Escort, had found themselves with a commanding 24 second lead over the chasing two-wheel drive historic pack and looked odds on for another Woodpecker historic victory.  British Historic Rally Championship leaders Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney, aboard their Global Brands backed Porsche 911, had other ideas however and set a blisteringly quick time through the second running of Ceri to trim the lead by 7 seconds as the crews headed back to the Hafren forest complex.

It was always likely the classic Rally GB / RAC fast flowing but undulating tracks of Hafren forest would decide the outcome of the event and stage 7 in Hafren South proved to be just that. Despite increasing the lead to 18 seconds after SS6, it is not in Price’s nature to take it steady and he and Brooks would unfortunately find themselves off the road, bringing to an end a fabulous defense of their Woodpecker historic title, packed full of their usual sideways flamboyance.

Courtesy of his ultra quick time in stage 5, Perez was now in prime position to take historic honours, however the Chesterfield man found himself with just 4 seconds in hand heading into stage 7 after championship rival and multiple British Champion Mark Higgins, in the David Appleby Engineering prepared TR7, lit up the timing sheets in Hafren Main.

In-fact Perez and McElhinney had found themselves in a battle royale throughout the morning loop with the Fiat 131 of Nick Elliott and the aforementioned Mark Higgins; with the trio of eclectic historic machines covered by just 2 seconds at the Sweet Lamb service halt.  But whilst Elliott drifted away from the battle throughout the afternoon, Higgins, with Carl Williamson alongside, had kept the TR7 right in the mix with his strong stage 6 time.

Once in the lead however there was no catching Perez; the category 2 Porsche pilot seemingly finding another gear to top the historic time sheets through both the final two tests to claim an impressive 8 second BHRC victory; stemming the charge of Higgins somewhat (after back to back Tarmac wins for the TR7 man), and maintaining their lead at the top of the championship standings.

Nick Elliott and Dave Price meanwhile will have been happy with 3rd after struggling for pace over the afternoon loop in the their Fiat 131 whilst class wins went the way of Ben Jemison and Dean Kellett in their Vauxhall Chevette (D4) with 12th in the National event, David Dobson and Brian Hodgson in their Ford Escort (H2) in 14th, Mike Reed and John Millington in the RS2000 (D3) with 20th, Terry Cree and Richard Shores aboard their BMW 2002 (C3) in 22nd and the Toyota Corolla of Ian Beveridge and Paul Price (C2) in 23rd.

Elsewhere Ollie Mellors and Max Freeman produced a fabulous drive in the interclub section of the event to claim a quite brilliant 47 second victory aboard their Proton Iriz R5 whilst Tom Llewellin and Sion Williams were first historic crew home aboard their Weir Rallying UK Ford Escort MK2, recording a total time that would have seen them 3rd overall in the National event!

Whilst the weather was disappointing the action was anything but and the BHRC leaves Wales with a mouth watering championship fight in prospect over the remaining three rounds of the season, especially as dropped scores start to come into effect.  Can Higgins apply his Tarmac form to the loose in Yorkshire and the English / Scottish borders or will Perez’s pace on the gravel prove too much?  And with Nick Elliott and the Ford’s of Richard Hill, Adrian Hetherington and Rudi Lancaster still in the mix, should the aforementioned duo falter, it promises to be a thrilling end to the season. 

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Masters Historic Racing

Masters Race Weekend – Donington Park – August 2024

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Having swapped Donington dates with the Classic Sports Car Club, Masters Historic Racing would find themselves with a mid summer date for 2024, and with Historic Formula One cars on the schedule it proved an attractive event for the paying public.

Having struggled for numbers at Donington in recent years 2024 represented an improvement but there were still only 11 cars apiece for the Historic F1 and Endurance Legend events with Masters customers possibly favouring the Silverstone Festival at the end of the month. However what was lacking in quantity was most definitely made up for in quality with some iconic DFV powered F1 machinery on display as well as the ex Nigel Mansell piloted Ginetta-Zytek 09s and the absolute beaut that is the Lola B08/80 of Mike Newton in the endurance field. Hang on, I saw the latter two in period, jeez I must be getting old!!

Headlining the opening day of the event meanwhile were the Pre-66 Touring Cars where ex-BTCC racer Sam Tordoff lead the field from pole in his JRT prepared Ford Falcon. Having stormed to victory in 2023, the Yorkshireman would again prove unbeatable in 2024 with the 8 time BTCC race victor making up his elite driver 30 second pit stop penalty within the first stint of the race!

But whilst victory was a foregone conclusion the battle for the remaining steps of the podium was anything but, with the Mustang of John Davison and Cortina of Mike Simpson the leading contenders throughout the first stint. Nigel Greensall however would have a weekend to remember and having taken over the John Spiers Mustang during the mandatory pitstops found himself reeling in the aforementioned duo over the closing stages.

And with only handful of laps remaining, Greensall, a stalwart of historic racing, had managed to slip past both and claim an excellent runners up spot. Meanwhile a self confessed rather robust move at McLeans on the last lap would also see Simpson finally get the better of Davison to make it three very different Fords on the podium.

Greensall had earlier starred in the hour long Sports Car Legends race where again paired with Spiers drove the wheels off the awesome Can-Am McLaren M1B; seemingly sideways from exit of Redgate to the top of the Craner curves for the whole of the second stint to record a first podium of the weekend. Ahead meanwhile Gary Pearson, aboard his Lola T70 MK3B, had managed to keep the Lola T292 of Diogo Ferrao behind for the first stint but post pit stops, with the ultra rapid Martin Stretton installed, it was a different kettle of fish and Stretton would soon find himself in the lead of the race.

And whilst Pearson was able to keep Stretton honest for a while, the thirsty Lola would ultimately end the day in fourth as despite being filled to the brim would run out of fuel with just a couple of laps remaining. This left the similar machine of Jason Wright to claim the runners up spot and Spiers and Greensall to round out the podium positions.

Not content with saturday’s podium finishes, Greensall would round out the weekend in style as he and John Spiers claimed victory in the Gentleman Drivers race aboard their TVR Griffith. The highlight of the weekend for many (me included), the 90 minute race for Pre-66 world endurance machinery saw a high quality entry take the start for the final race of the weekend.

Cobras in their many forms had previously dominated pre-66 GT events but in recent times the TVR Griffith seems to be the car of choice and having started from pole it was the Nigel Reuben Racing prepared machine of John Davison who lead the early running from the similar machines of Mike Whitaker and Harry Barton.

Indeed all looked to be going well for Davison until the TVR pilot lost the use of second gear after the scheduled stops. This appeared to be all the incentive Greensall needed as the professional driver coach charged through the pack in the second half of the race and would pass the ailing Davison machine at the Roberts chicane with just a few laps remaining. Davison would however have enough in hand to claim second whilst Mike Whitaker would complete a TVR lock out of the podium positions. Meanwhile John Tordoff and Andrew Jordan would claim the under 2 litre class victory with an excellent 6th aboard the JRT prepared Lotus Elan 26R.

11 immaculately turned out F1 cars featured in the 2 Racing Legends events and the pre-85 machines were a joy to watch on the relatively recently resurfaced East Midlands circuit. I challenge anyone to tell me there is a better sound than a 3 Litre DFV engine powering out of the Old Hairpin (even if capped at 10k rpm)!

On the day pole sitter Matthey Wrigley in his 1982 Tyrell 011 was the man to beat and looked odds on for victory in race 1 before being forced into retirement with mechanical woes. This left the very well driven 1979 Williams FW06 of David Shaw to claim victory after the McLaren of Steve Hartley suffered a similar fate; a brilliant drive considering the Williams man was up against more recent ground effect machinery.

Wrigley however made up for his earlier retirement in style during race 2. Starting from the back of the grid, the Tyrrell man quickly weaved his way through the field and into the lead by half distance to claim a well deserved victory. David Shaw again excelled to claim second whilst Simon Fish (Arrows A4) followed up his earlier 2nd place finish by rounding out the podium positions in race 2.

Despite Wrigley setting a time of 1.00.841, quicker than anything else I had seen at Donington in many a year, this was not even fastest time of the weekend. That honour instead went to the Ginetta-Zytek of Freddie Tomlinson who set a ridiculous lap time of 58.880 in the second Endurance Legends race of the weekend. Whilst not overly fussed about the LMP3 machinery in the Endurance Legends races the P1 and P2 machinery at the front of the field invoked great memories of my trips to Le Mans and when the cars at the front are lapping in less than a minute it didn’t really matter that only 11 cars turned up!

Not surprsingly with the pace of the younger Tomlinson, Freddie and Lawrence recorded double victory in their Ginetta-Zytek 09s, with Alfie Briggs in the HPD ARX-04 claiming a pair of seconds whilst the Lola’s of Mike Newton and Alan Purbrick/David Brise took a 3rd place apiece. Incidentally (according to wikipedia) Tomlinson’s fastest lap is a new lap record for LMP machinery at Donington and not a million miles away from the outright track record!

I remember being rather disappointed by the GT Trophy races in 2023, largely due to the lack of entries, but 2024 proved a different story altogether as a wide ranging grid of 24 cars took the start for race 1! Whilst in my head I still struggle see the largely GT3 / Cup class cars as historic it proved an excellent addition to the weekend and I must admit I had forgotten how good the previous generation of GT cars sounded before large turbos became the norm!

On the day the ultra rapid Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo was the car to beat and Craig Wilkins claimed double victory in his 2017 machine. The 2009 Mosler MT900 was my personal favourite however and was pleased to see the 7 litre brute of Adam Sharpe and George Haynes record top three finishes in both events.

Guesting on the schedule were the HRDC Dunlop Allstars and a mammoth 37 cars would form the grid for a 30 minute blast around the Donington National circuit. As it was several of the Gentleman Drivers racers took the opportunity for a second event of the day and it would be John Davison’s TVR Griffith who would edge out Mike Whittaker to take the victory, with no Greensall or Simpson to spoil the party on this occasion!

Aided by great weather, the 2024 Masters Race Weekend proved to be a fabulous weekend of motorsport with a standard of racing to match as just 2 safety car periods were required all weekend. Grids were a little on the light side in places however and I do miss the large entries we used to see for the pre-76 sports car events. Peter Auto seems to be the authority for this era of machinery though which brings us back to the age old debate of whether there are just too many historic racing events on the calendar?

Next up for me is the Vintage Sports Car Club meet at Mallory at the end of August and then back to rallying with the Woodpecker in early September.

RESULTS

GALLERY

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