Race Retro – Rally Stage

After the show on Saturday we are all about the live action rally stage on the Saturday. It may have been cold but it was dry and sunny which made the action all the more enjoyable. Dave Wright impressed in his ex Carlos Sainz Ford Focus WRC as did Roger Priestnall in his diminutive Proton Satria. The Cambrian Rally winning Proton Iriz R5 of Ollie Mellors was out too, to really reflect rallying through the ages and bringing it bang up to date. With three distinct fields it really does give a flavour of rallying history and is cracking entertainment to boot.

Race Retro – The Show

It would not be February for us without the visit to Race Retro. It remains a firm favourite and the best motorsport show we attend. The presence of Motor Sport enhances the show with some wonderful cars on display in hall 3. The mixture of F1, endurance racing and rally cars is perfect and the various displays dotted around the 4 halls are all very good. Throw in the Silverstone Auctions element to the show and you have a superb show for any motorsport enthusiast.

Cambrian Rally

After the snow and ice of 2017 sunny and largely pleasant conditions greeted the crews in North Wales. It was a rally of what might have been as Matt Edwards & Darren Garrod (Fiesta R5) would have won easily had it not been for knocking a wheel off on stage 2. Edwards was fastest by 16 seconds on the opening stage and then set fastest time on stages 4 to 7. So the battle was between Paul Bird & Jack Morton (Focus WRC) and Ollie Mellors & Max Freeman (Iriz R5). Mellors had been fastest on stage 1 then the pair tied on stage 2 before Mellors was fastest on stage 3 to lead by 8 seconds.

South Downs Stages

It may have been only our 2nd visit to the South Downs Stages, at Goodwood, but it witnessed a thrilling finale in challenging weather conditions. Lee Jones & Daniel Boshier (Ferrari 308 Michelotto) took victory by 7 seconds but had gone in to the final stage leading by only 1 second. Runners up were Ian & Oliver Hucklebridge (Escort MkII) with Dean Thomas & Mark Burt (DTR) just over a minute behind the winners.

Boucles de Bastogne

It has been a few years since we last attended, plus the rally has moved from Spa to Bastogne, but this fantastic rally has just got better with the two day format. The opening Saturday was long and it saw François Duval & André Leyh (Escort MkI) take the lead. With snow falling overnight the Sunday gravel stages were challenging, even if the amount of stage mileage was less. Bryan Bouffier & Jean-Luc Alnet (Escort MkII) moved up and ahead of Duval to take a fine win. Frédéric Caprasse & Geofffrey Razzi (Escort MkII) completed the podium places behind Duval.