WLE Rally Time Trial

The second running of this event and our first visit started with typical autumnal conditions in Sweet Lamb. The day improved though as the action continued, which saw Dan Humphreys & Jonny ‘Tad’ Evans (Evo VI) take victory by just 5 seconds. But as the day wore on Richard Hill & Patrick Cooper (Escort Cosworth) clawed back 17 seconds over the 3 runs in the afternoon to make the event a close run thing. A comfortable third were Bob Morgan & Martin George (Impreza).

Cheviot Keith Knox Rally

With the championship decided on the previous round and the Tour of Mull the previous weekend, anyone could forgive the Cheviot Keith Knox Rally for not having a great entry. 2011 Champions Damian Cole & James Morgan (Focus WRC) were out to gain more experience of stages they do not know very well, along with building on what had been a great result on the Tyneside. Steve Simpson & Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) set the initial pace from Michael Glendinning & Paul Hughes (Impreza) and remained the top two until the end of stage 7. Cole had started out steady and through stage 7 starting carving time out of the top two. Stage 8 saw Glendinning retire and Cole blasted past Simpson into a lead he would hold until the end. Simpson ultimately finished 21 seconds behind Cole. Having a good run a long way from home back in third were John Indri & Dave Engwell (Darrian T90 GTR).

Cambrian Rally

The 2011 BTRDA championship finale turned out to be a battle of two very different Mitsubishi Lancers. Pre-event attention was focused on the Peugeot Cosworth of Andrew Burton & Robin Kellard making its final appearance on a BTRDA rally but stage 2 saw the car succumb to an engine failure, whilst holding the joint lead of the event. Coming out of stage 2 it was co-leaders on stage 1 Shaun Gardener & Ben Innes (Evo 5.9) who took a one second lead from Tom Cave & Craig Parry (Lancer WRC). Stage 3 saw Cave take the lead from Gardener with Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC) going fastest and coming back into the reckoning. The next stage, Alwen, proved to be the pivotal one as Cave dropped 14 seconds to Gardener and Hunter hit a gate post retiring on the spot. Gardener & Cave exchanged times through the remaining 4 stages but Gardener kept the advantage stable to take a well deserved win. Completing the podium were Charlie Payne & Craig Thorley (Focus WRC).

Colin McRae Forest Stages

Our first visit to Aberfeldy for the Colin McRae Forest Stages was also the first visit for the BHRC crews and was also their championship finale. Conditions on the day of the rally were certainly challenging with heavy rain and fog blighting the stages. Unsurprisingly it was experience that shone through as Stig Blomqvist & Anna Goni (Escort MkII) took a comfortable victory from Simon Tysoe & Cliffy Simmons (Escort MkII) with David Stokes & Guy Weaver (Escort MkI) just behind in 3rd overall. However Stokes took the post Historic class victory and had done more than enough to secure back to back titles. His only challenger Rikki Proffitt, co-driven by Phill Harrison in his Porsche 911, broke a driveshaft on the final stage and retired from the event. They also needed to win their class and hope Stokes would slip up, neither of which happened.