Severn Valley Rally

The weather looked after us better in 2014 than it did in 2013 and with a bumper entry, plus vantage points for us on 4 of the 8 stages, it proved to be a good days motorsport. Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) looked fast every time we saw them so their victory came as no surprise to us but they only took the win by 13 seconds from Richard Hill & Steffan Evans (Escort MkII). Of the 4 times we saw Elliott he was fastest on 3 of those stages, the only 3 he won, but with 5 crews setting fastest stage times it just goes to show how competitive this championship really is. Ben Llewellin & Paul Williams (Escort MkII) completed the podium a further 9 seconds back on their WWRS championship debut in the Historic category.

World RallyX – Lydden Hill

Our first taste of World RallyX and was it good. With six cars with the best of 600bhp on tap each the starts and racing were electrifying and the final perhaps illustrated all of that. Championship leader Petter Solberg (Citroen DS3) took out Tanner Foust (VW Polo) on lap 2 as he desperately tried to make an early joker lap work, which then made it a race of 4. In the end Andreas Bakkerud (Ford Fiesta) who had also made an early joker lap call, took victory by just over half a second. Robin Larsson (Audi A1) was the man who kept Bakkerud honest and completing the podium was Andrew Jordan (Ford Fiesta) who made a stunning one off appearance.

Plains Rally

Barely a cloud in the sky and glorious sunshine bathed North Mid Wales for the Plains Rally. At the top of the time sheets and winners for the 2nd year in a row were Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (Focus WRC). The expected pressure from David Bogie & Kevin Rae (Focus WRC) along with Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) never really materialised as Bogie suffered multiple punctures in the 2nd half of the rally and retired whilst Perez appeared to have drive issues as he crabbed past us half a minute down, on the penultimate stage. Instead it was a superb drive from Dave Weston & Dave Robson (Impreza WRC) which kept Thorburn honest, just 8 seconds ahead along with Stephen Petch & Ian Windress (Focus WRC) who were only another 11 seconds back.

Manx National Rally

The Isle of Man is the place to rally in the British Isles, end of story. Another epic event and full of drama too as on the first stage of the 4th loop of stages, Paul Bird & Aled Davies (Focus WRC) saw an almost certain victory go with an uncharacteristic error from Bird. They had been coming under pressure and felt a push on the 12th of 14 stages would be enough to see them seal victory, instead Jason Prtichard & Phil Clarke (Focus WRC) took up the mantle and held on through the final two tests to win by just over 40 seconds. Arguably the drive of the event came from Ollie Mellors & Ian Windress as they took 2nd place in their Proton Millington Satria Neo with a faultless drive. Completing the podium were Steve Simpson & Pat Walsh (Impreza WRC) after a close battle with Damian Cole & Elliott Edmondson saw the Focus WRC pair retire on the penultimate stage.