Finally, we grab our first taste of some live motorsport in 2012! Our first hit came in the one form of competetive motorsport that thrives all year round and the risk of bad or adverse weather makes the whole event just that little bit more interesting, exciting and technical, of course all this only points to one thing, and that thing is Rallying! Now, unfortunately if you were expecting coverage from this weekends WRC event in Sweden then your going to be dissapointed, but hopefully the promise of a popular english event will fill the void as we headed out in the early hours to Chepstow Racecourse for the start of the 2012 BTRDA Rally season with the Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally.
Obviously the weather has a major part to play in the event and with 180 competitors down on the entry list it had every potential to be more of a skilled battle over the usual speed dominated event and with classes ranging from WRC machines down to the 2 wheel drive 1400′s and Historics, for Rally fans it really was the next best thing to 2 plane tickets to Sweden!
The conditions didnt favour all however, with a few of the drivers and teams electing not to run their cars in the rally either before the event had started or after the first couple of stages when many found that their tyre choice was maybe not the greatest of that they just simply couldnt get enough traction to be either competetive or safe enough to race withough the risk of car damage. For the drivers who did brave it, we found the timing sheets most amusing especially the retirements section with the reasons given in the comments box truely outstanding.Paul Gunter in his Historic Ford Escort RS was one of our favorites with ‘Not Talented Enough for Ice’ although Colin Webb’s BMW 325 went out on stage 4 with the reason; ‘Road Not Wide Enough’ and finally Boyd kershaw’s reasoning behind his Ford Escorts departure after Special Stage 2 of; ‘Bank Jumped Out At Us’ also amusing us highly!
Despite the 58 Cars that were retired, the rest ploughed on regardless over some deep snow, sheet ice, tricky ruts, hidden rocks and freezing temperatures to produce some really good battles in all the classes as well as a good few near misses and brown pant moments including some for some of the many Rally Fans who had made their way into some of the 45miles of Special stage to support the crews. With 2010 Winner; Steve Perez being one of the unlucky 58, and Last years winner Andy Burton missing from action it gave the golden opportunity for Charlie Payne and co-Driver; Craig Thorley to take the overall Rally win finishing the stages with over 3 minutes to spare from second place and nearly 5 mins until his closest class rival; Roger Chilman/Bryan Thomas in their Imperza. Shaun Gardner and Ben Innes were that second placed car and the Evo driving pair took the class B victory.
As far as giant killing goes it doesnt get much bigger than the third placed team who despite their being no fewer than 13 ex WRC spec entires and 70 Class B cars running, Julian Wilkes and Will Rutherford-Child managed to place their 1400cc FWD Vauxhall Nova third overall a mere 4mins and 3secs behind the lead driver! What and Epic Drive and a class win for the 4th year running.
David Bennett also put his 1400cc Vauxhall in the top ten overall at the end of the event, but this time; a Corsa. To find the third placed WR1 Driver you needed to head all the way down to 25th overall where Dave Nutt’s Focus was placed some 12mins off the pace after the 7 stages had been completed. For the Historics Peter Smith placed his Escort 52nd overall to become the quickest Historic car on the rally and when it came to the Championship that runs within the championship; MGZR Rally Challenge, it was the team of Marlon Roberts and Steve Deeley who came away at the top of the pile.
We love Rallying, sure we didnt have the latest manufacturer backed WRC cars thundering past us in the Snow, but as a alternative the snow covered Forest of Dean was right up there and goes to show that even in times of economic concern you can still run sucessful events with large numbers participating..even if the snow has threatened to make it even more challenging for everyone!
The Wyedean was the first of a 8 round event that takes in some of the most fantastic forests in the UK and miles of trecherous stages, if you just cant wait for your next Rallying fix then the 3rd of March see’s the BTRDA event head to cumbria for the Malcom Wilson Stages and for guarenteed Garage Awesome coverage then look out for us on the 9th of June as the Rally comes to us in the heart of garage Awesome Country; Sherwood Forest. For More information, rules, regulations, calendar dates and a full list of results including the stage times and retirements then point your browser towards www.btrdarally.com or for some local info; www.wyedeanrally.com
Words – Ollie // Pictures – Rich
