Plains Rally

A superb day and a close battle at the top saw the 2013 Plains Rally go the way of Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (Focus WRC). The winning margin was only 3 seconds from Connor McCloskey & Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) with Charlie Payne & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) a further 10 seconds back. McCloskey was the fastest out of the blocks and took the opening stage by 7 seconds from Payne. He then backed this up on stage 2 before Payne went fastest time on SS3 to maintain the gap. Thorburn then took his first stage win after service to close in but it was on Gartheiniog where he took a staggering 16 seconds out of McCloskey to take the lead by 7 seconds. On the final stage Stephen Petch & Ian Windress (Focus WRC) were fastest with McCloskey taking 4 seconds out of Thorburn to make it a close finish.

Manx National Rally

The 2013 Manx National started in windy but dry conditions and with just 23 miles on the opening night, the first 8 stages would not see anyone win the rally but they could lose it. Melvyn Evans & Mark Glennerster (Impreza WRC) seized the initiative over the first pair of stages before Damian Cole & Darren Garrod (Focus WRC) took three fastest stage times through the 2 special stages in Ramsey and the following stage out of Ramsey through the Gooseneck. Paul Bird & Aled Davies (Focus WRC) was second overall however as he was 2nd fastest through the first 4 stages and then 3rd fastest on the fifth stage. Evans led Bird by 1.8s with Cole a further 6.1s back in 3rd overall. Trouble then struck Evans through the 2nd Glen Roy stage as Bird snatched the lead with his 1st fastest stage time. Evans went fastest through stage 7 to close the gap to 1 second and that is where the crews finished the opening leg after stage 8 was scrubbed.

Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally

A subtle change in format along with a new event co-sponsor, in the shape of the Richard Burns Foundation, saw the BRC finally get its season up and running. In the BRC Jukka Korhonen & Marko Salminen (DS3 R3T) took the lead over the slightly longer first day and held on through the second day. Thankfully for them they had enough of a cushion whilst Alastair Fisher & Gordon Noble (DS3 R3T) came from third overnight to pass Tom Cave & Ieuan Thomas (DS3 R3T) for the 2nd spot. In the BRC classes Steve Rokland & Jame Aldridge (Fiesta R2) dominated the R2 category whilst Harry Threlfall & Andy Bull (Twingo) were the only finishers in R1.

Tour of Hamsterley

Our first trip to Hamsterley and apart from being liberally sprayed by showers throughout the day, the Tour of Hamsterley provided a full days motorsport action. The overall winner came from the modern field but as this was round 2 of the West Wales RAC Championship our initial focus will be there. Martin McCormack & Phil Clarke (Escort MkII) stamped their authority on the event from stage 1, setting fastest stage times on 5 of the 7 stages. Ultimately they won by 45 seconds from Steve Bannister & Louise Sutherland (Escort MkII). What perhaps was the larger shock was that Bannister only clinched 2nd place on the final stage when a puncture for Ryan Barrett & Barry Ferris (Escort MkII) saw them slip down to 5th Historic crew.

Somerset Stages Rally

The first really warm weekend of Spring saw a welcome return to the Somerset Stages. The top two dominated the event and in the end Connor McCloskey & Francis Regan took their Impreza WRC to victory over the Focus WRC of Charlie Payne & Paul Spooner by just 13 seconds. Despite their lack of experience on this rally they were best of 2 minutes ahead of the final podium place as Kevin Rowledge & Andrew Bargery (Impreza WRC) took a fine 3rd overall, their first together in the BTRDA. They just edged out top group N finishers Patrick Naylor & Ian Lawrence (Evo IX) on the final stage of the event.

Tour of Epynt

In the end it all came down to who was fastest first on the 2013 Tour of Epynt. Steve Simpson & Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) almost threw away a 24 second lead they had steadily built up through the opening 3 loops of stages. On the penultimate loop Damien Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC) equaled the time of Simpson and then an indiscretion on the final stage almost changed the rally on the final stage. Simpson held on and denied Cole a first ever Tour of Epynt victory. Paul Bird & Aled Davies (Focus WRC) had dramas of their own dropping half a minute mid event but held on to clinch the final podium place.

Mid Wales Stages

There was a chill wind blowing on Pikes Peak and through Myherin as the Mid Wales Stages saw the start of the British Historic rallying season. A truly epic battle saw Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) take victory over Martin McCormack & Phil Clarke (Escort MkII) by just over 3 seconds. Both times we saw the crews McCormack was up and on the final stage it was clear to us there was a battle on from the pace of the top crews. Ryan Barrett & Barry Ferris (Escort MkII) completed the top 3, just over a minute further back. This was the RAC Rally Championship and back in the BHRC Championship David Stokes & Guy Weaver (Escort MkI) took a comfortable victory, also taking category 2. 2nd were Gareth James & Steffan Evans (Escort MkII) taking category 3 from Shawn Rayner & Declan Dear (Escort MkII). In category 1 Rikki Proffitt & Phill Harrison were victorious in their Porsche 911.

Malcolm Wilson Rally

Another long day up in the Lakes following the Malcolm Wilson Rally, (with camera issues for the 2nd year running too!). With a stunning WR car entry, dominated by Fords, it was difficult to pick a winner. In the end it was Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (Focus WRC) who came out victorious after a superb pair of stage times through Grizedale. Paul Bird & Carl Williamson had led up to the end of stage 3 in their considerably newer Focus WRC, but Grizedale was their undoing and whilst they went fastest through the final two stage, the damage had been done. Connor McCloskey & Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) completed the podium after losing 3rd place on stage 3 to Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC). Hunter then duly retired before stage 4 and WRC Crew Mark Cronje & Robin Houghton (Fiesta WRC) briefly held 3rd before McCloskey regained it after the pair of Grizedale stages.

Race Retro

The 10th International Historic Motorsport Show, aka Race Retro, was once again held at the NAC Stoneleigh. We did our usual mix of the show on the Friday, including the auction and the subject of our adoration the Valvoline Lola T70 MkIIIB, before catching the live action over the weekend. The show this year celebrated Lotus and Renault Alpine, who were both well represented on the feature stands in halls 1 & 2. On the rally stage we had a new stage layout, more cars on stage at one time and a greater number and diversity of rally cars then ever before.

Riponian Stages Rally

On only our 2nd visit to the Riponian we witnessed Charlie Payne & Craig Thorley (Focus WRC) return to form. After a slow start to the Wyedean last weekend they set fastest time on the opening 5 stages and joint fastest on the 6th stage to hold a comfortable lead at service. The afternoon saw the top 4 exchange fastest stage times but the damage had been done and Payne took a 55 second victory from Ian Joel & Graeme Wood (Escort Cosworth). Peter Stephenson & Ian Windress (Focus WRC) completed the podium ahead of Kevin Proctor & David Bellerby (Impreza WRC) who had lost ground in the first half of the rally.