Race Retro – Rally Stage

After the show on Friday we returned to visit the rally stage on Sunday. Whilst we inevitably lost some cars that ran on the Saturday we still had plenty to savour and got our first view of a Lancia Delta S4 on UK soil since the RAC Rally in 1986. There were several highlights but right up there at the top was the Mazda RX7 of Dave Paveley. Once the exhaust system got warmed up the flames it spat out after accelerating were all a petrol head needs to put a smile on their face. Another good day at Stoneleigh and roll on 2015…

Race Retro – The Show

Now in its 11th year Race Retro returned to Stoneleigh for all things Historic motorsport. The headline this year is McLaren and they provided some superb cars from their illustrious history, especially the iconic McLaren M23 of James Hunt. The other anniversary being celebrated was the 30th anniversary of the Metro 6R4. As a favourite rally car of all time this had not gone unnoticed and with the rally stage to come in a separate gallery from Sunday, expect to see more of them later…

Wyedean Forest Rally

After a wet Winter and windy week which saw many trees fall in the Forest of Dean, it was a minor miracle that the event ran all 7 stages as planned. One thing was for certain, with no previous winners of the rally starting the event there would be a new name on the winners list. With a dominant 7 fastest stage times from a possible 7, David Bogie & Kevin Rae (Focus WRC) won by just over a minute from Paul Bird & Aled Davies (Focus WRC). Making a fine start in the B13 class and taking 3rd overall were Luke Francis & John Roberts (Evo IX) two a half minutes behind Bogie.

Red Kite Stages

This may well have been event number three of 2014 for us but this felt like the first event of the year as we returned to the woods for the Red Kite Stages. The Historics were the main focus and the final top two in the event came from this field but it should have been the top three. Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) were leading by almost half a minute going into the final stage but a roll near the end, in wet conditions, saw them exit from the rally. Richard Hill & Pat Cooper were on the first event in their new Escort MkII and had kept Elliott honest all day and were there to pick up the pieces.