Riponian Stages Rally

There aren’t many finer places than the North Yorkshire moors and the crews tackled them on a crisp late Winters day. Charlie Payne & Carl Williamson (Fiesta) blew the others away on stage 1, going 11 seconds faster than their nearest rivals over the 4.4 mile stage. It was the Satria S2000 crew of Ollie Mellors & Ian Windress who were 2nd thanks to fastest stage times on SS3 & SS4 bringing the gap down to 3 seconds, at the mid event service.

Race Retro – Rally Stage

A glorious crisp late Winter morning bathed Stoneleigh for the Rallying with Group B rally stage, at Race Retro. There was a wide selection of cars and crews with some star drivers too. Dai Llewellin stood out in the Subaru Impreza whilst the Opel Mantas were driven by Russell Brookes & Chris Ingram. The stand out for noise was Mick Strafford once again, in the Firenza Chevrolet. There were many more from Mini Coopers to the Lancia Delta S4 to keep the crowd entertained.

Race Retro – The Show

13th time not unlucky as we made our annual visit to the International Historic Motorsport Show, aka Race Retro. Friday is all about the halls and sneaking a peak in the auction rooms. The main feature this year is Damon Hill and Williams and with 4 of his past cars at the centrepiece, there is a real slice of significant F1 history. Throughout the rest of the show the Group B rally cars were well represented and Norton amongst the bikes. With some nice motors up for sale in the auction we could only dream, (especially that Murciélago).

Red Kite Stages

Red Kite Stages….

Cambrian Rally

Barely 4 months after the last Cambrian Rally, the 2016 edition started the BTRDA season. Charlie Payne & Carl Williamson (Fiesta) were fastest on the opening stage with Luke Francis & John Roberts (Lancer IX) fastest on stage 2. The 3rd stage saw Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (208 T16 R5) head the time sheets but Payne still held the lead by a single second from Thorburn. A large time loss for Thorburn on the 4th stage saw him drop down to 7th overall whilst Connor McCloskey & Damien Duffin (Mini Cooper WRC) went fastest and moved in to the top 3.

Cotswold Clouds

Three trials in 2016 already, this is getting serious! We paid a visit to Dursley & Stroud for our first visit to the Cotswold Clouds in 3 years. A bumper field and decent crowds were entertained by the 80+ crews on Crooked Mustard, with the best part of 10 crews making it up the challenging section. Merv’s Swerve proved harder and Dan Partington & Sam Phillips (DP Wasp) were one of the only crews to clear both sections we watched. Another great day trialing.