Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship and HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge
News round-up after event three: Astra Stages Historic Rally
Welcome to the post-event news and gossip update for the 2006 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship and HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge.Round three of both series, the Matador Welsh Rally took crews onto the daunting Epynt ranges for over 100 stage miles. As ever, the entry was smaller than for gravel events, but those that did the event were mostly buzzing at the unique challenge.NewsFor those with an interest in birds, the Welsh offered some excellent viewing. A curious red kite made a magnificent sight circling over the Burmah road/Cilleni area on Saturday, while a couple of cuckoos and several buzzards were busy in the valley below German village. On Sunday, a green woodpecker could be clearly heard around Davrian Bridge on the New Road, but proved as difficult as ever to see!Also on the wildlife front, I'm sorry to report that the sheep that took on a Tiger came off very badly. Patrick Watts and Elgan Davies had reported the vast numbers of sheep about on the ranges during the recce and running first on the road meant that their Sunbeam Tiger suffered when they hit a ewe on Sunday morning. However, Patrick did acknowledge that their spin near Four Ways Bridge had done most of the damage.This is Patrick's report of their retirement: "The spin up the hill from Four Ways bent the steering rack, which meant slow progress back to stage end. However the spin dislocated the washer bottle which in turn dislocated the fan belt which in turn dislocated the water in the engine."Ken Forster, winner of C2, was quick to praise co-driver John Stanger-Leathes, who took time out from smoking his pipe to do a spot-on job with the pace notes. "John and I seem to get ever better together. He reads the notes bang on time, every time, and we run like a Swiss watch! Can't go any faster so just need more of the same on the coming events," says Ken.Unluckiest crew of the event were Neil and Chris Parsons, who withdrew Saturday morning when their engine went sick, possibly due to a dropped valve. Neil had previously shared the Escort with David Mann on a local event at Sculthorpe, meaning that it did 160 stage miles in one day!Jonathan and Graham Gale had a trying weekend in their Lotus Cortina, which hinged around being locked out of their road car. That made them go OTL and so they ran in the Trophy Rally on Sunday instead.Bob Gibbons was glad to be back out in his Escort RS2000 after fearing that the car was a write-off after a freak accident on the Astra. They came round a quick corner in Clocaenog to find the Porsche 911 of Brian Bell rejoining the stage after an off. Gibbons couldn't avoid hitting the Porsche, but some hard work by T2 Motorsport had the Escort ready for a mighty class win on Epynt.The cancellation of SS3 on Saturday afternoon was down to an admin error on insurance cover. The cover that should have been arranged until 18.30, ended at 16.30 and so the event had to stop. The modern runners did worse than the historics and only did one of three planned stages on Saturday.Nick Whale and Sally Wood stopped 2km into the opening stage when a nipped brake pipe left them without brakes. They later limped out and went on to dominate the Trophy Rally on Sunday and learn more about Epynt.With commendable honesty, John Worthing and Bill Robertson queried their own stage time from SS1, knowing that it was a 30-second flier. They duly started Sunday wanting to win C2 on a fair result, but went out with clutch problems after setting a blistering pace.Sadly, Andrew Street's new Porsche 911 ended Saturday with a fair bit of damage after being caught out by dust on the section of gravel at Irish village. "The car is awesome," he said of the miles they did. "It's rebuildable," he added after returning to Irish village on Sunday morning. Part of the bridge parapet with pink paint on it could still be seen in the river below!
Quotes of the rally"It's seriously pink; we're going for the gay vote." Andrew Street on his new Porsche 911, which was very, very pink. But Porsche dealer Nick Whale reckoned that it was a genuine Porsche colour for that period, though not on the RS!"We've imported the masterful Den Golding for the weekend." Gareth Lloyd co-opted Den to co-drive as Ryland James was away preparing the route for a marathon event in Argentina. It worked out well as Lloyd/Golding dominated the Classics on their first rally together."I'm hoping not to be a hero." James Potter prepares for his first rally on Epynt and his first asphalt event for 10 years. Sadly, the car broke on Sunday morning."He thought he'd enjoy Epynt the scenic way." Rikki Proffitt enlists the services of John Roberts as co-driver; John normally sits in the Peugeot Cosworth of Andy Burton."I haven’t finished an event on Epynt since 1981." Philip Atkinson went on to finish second in the historic category after another mighty performance."We're going to take it a bit steady initially." A master of understatement is Clive King, who again won B2 after a fine battle with the MG Midget of James Stait."It was an experience!" Guy Weaver's first sight of Epynt was alongside David Stokes. According to David, the fact that Guy was still around on Sunday morning was an encouraging sign. "Obviously didn't go fast enough," added Stokes with a grin."That's a proper demolition job." One of Andrew Street's mechanics surveys the remains of the bridge parapet their Porsche hit on Saturday."How it didn't roll I just don't know." Russell Morgan survives a monster fourth gear moment on the last stage to secure second in C2. "That was the biggest off I've had for a long time!""I can understand why people love this place. It's totally mental over there!" Graham Wilson reflects on the Epynt experience.
PointsProvisional BHRC overall driver points after three rounds:1 Mark Solloway 912 Steven Smith 903 Philip Atkinson 844 Neil Calvert 795 Sean Lockyear 68= Dessie Nutt 687 Russell Morgan 598 Patrick Watts 589 Ken Forster 5710 Jimmy McRae 56Provisional HRCR Classic overall driver points after three rounds:1 Gareth Lloyd 932 Arwel Evans 673 Chris Shooter 534 Richard Lane 515 James Potter 446 Ian Rix 427 Dick Slaughter 408 Martin Freestone 349 Dave Cobb 2710 Stuart Clarke 26
Championship DVDHummingbird Productions will again be filming all rounds of the 2006 championship to compile unrivalled reports of the events. Copies of the 2005 DVDs are still available and include the hilarious 'out-take' footage that was showing at the Robin Hood.
The first of the 2006 editions will shortly be out and more details are available from Hummingbird on 01522 853587 or e-mail to: hummingbirdproduction@yahoo.co.uk
