Mewla Rally

Just under 60 crews took the start of the Mewla Rally and it proved to be a dominant win for Damian Cole & Paul Morris (Fiesta WRC). Their winning margin was almost 3 minutes from Paul Kirtley & David Jones (Impreza WRC) with Philip Turner & Simon Anthony (Evo IX) a minute further back, completing the podium. 4th overall and first 2WD crew home were Len Jones & Don James (Escort MkII) who took 22 seconds out of Terry Brown & Den Golding (Escort MkII) on the final stage, to move ahead and secure the place by 18 seconds.

AWDC Walters

It should have been a trip to Sweet Lamb but a change saw round 6 of the AWDC Safari championship return to Walters Arena. Adrian Marfell was excellent value all day eventually came out on top with the only average time of below 9 minutes, at 8:49. Greg Clement managed to complete 2 of the scheduled 9 runs under the 9 minute mark but averaged 9:07, to take 2nd place. The podium was completed by Mike Moran who averaged 9:14 after starting the day late for his first run.

HSCC – Plashes Farm

Another deviation from our usual form of motorsport as we dived in to our 2nd ever HSCC Historic Sporting Trial, this time held at Plashes Farm, Hertfordshire. The atmosphere was excellent once again with all crews enjoying the days sport and sharing some friendly banter. Mark Howse (Facsimile) cleared all of the tests we witnessed with ease as did Steve Courts (Facsimile), showing his 51 years experience as a sporting trialist.

VSCC – Mallory Park

With August usually being light on the rallying front we decided to take in the VSCC meeting at Mallory Park and were pleasantly surprised. The quality of racing was generally good and the commitment was full on. The Mallory Park circuit lends itself to the old style of racing with drafting to the fore. There was everything from Edwardian cars, through pre-War cars and then on to Formula 500 and the very entertaining Morgans.

Tyneside Stages Rally

On what will be our only visit to Otterburn this year, Peter Taylor & Andrew Roughead (Fiesta WRC) took a dominant win by over a minute. A total of 9 fastest stage times sealed the victory but after the first loop of 3 stages it was Rory Young & Allan Cathers (Fiesta R5) who were leading, courtesy of fastest times on stages 2 & 3. Young steadily drifted back through the rest of the rally, as expected in an R5 up against a WRC machine. He was caught up in an intense battle with another Fiesta WRC, this one driven by Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson.