lwni border

The 22nd and 23rd of April saw club members head up to Llanfynllin to compete on the Border 100 road rally, an event organised by the Welsh border car club. The event would be taking place in and around the lanes of Llanfynllin, all on OS maps 125 and 126. The area is an excellent place to be holding road rallies, as it remains rural and features a maze of roads giving plenty of potential for an excellent rally, where accurate map reading is crucial for anyone wanting to get a good result. The rally reputation for being a tough but enjoyable event so it is no surprise that many non-locals, including members of Lampeter and district motor club, venture north to compete on it.

                First club members on the entry list were at car 6, Daniel “Lwni” Jones, who had once again teamed up with Gerwyn Barry, they were out in Dan’s Mk2 Ford Escort. Next club member was Cadog Davies, who was driving in his Proton Satira (although down as being in a ford escort on the entry list) at car 12 with Meredith Roberts navigating, Cadog was originally meant to be navigating but later changed to driving when the head gasket went on the car he was to be navigating in. Rounding off club entries were Anthony Lichfield and Llion “tractor” Williams at 22 in another Proton Satira.

                It was to be a tough event straight from the word go with crews headed into the twisty lanes of the area, and it wasn’t too long before time penalties were being picked up at controls, with TC1A being the first. Daniel “Lwni” began his rally having a good run, even with the ignition light did coming on in the car, was best amongst club members, setting a time that saw him well within the top ten with six seconds of penalties gathered. Anthony and Llion were next best amongst club members with twenty-two seconds gathered. Cadog and Meredith achieved 1 minute and twenty-eight seconds. Daniel “Lwni” remained clean for the remaining of the first selective, where he had the opportunity to pull over to check under the car’s bonnet to investigate why the light had come on. With everything appearing to be OK he jumped back into the car to continue with the rally. Elsewhere both Anthony and Llion, and Cadog did pick up some additional penalties on the remaining section of the first selective, but continued to do well and did managed respectable times.

                Daniel “Lwni” then managed to clean the second selective so was now battling for the outright lead in amongst the local golfs that were also competing. Cadog picked up twenty-one seconds in the second selective and Anthony and Llion had twelve. The remaining miles of the first half were just as tight and twisty, and mostly on tarmac with the odd “white” road and farmyard thrown in for good measure. The first half included seven selectives, and petrol was a good welcome break after many hard-fought miles.

                It was in the third selective that drama happened for Daniel “Lwni”, as when he went to investigate under the bonnet of the car, he must not have replaced the bonnet clips on the car correctly, so the bonnet began to open on the car mid-way through the section.  He found a place to stop, so then got out of the car to sort the bonnet out and make sure that the bonnet was shut correctly, before setting off again trying to make sure he lost as little time as possible. This cost him 30 seconds at the next time control, whereas the events winner, Dale Furniss, only had 10 seconds in penalties.

At the half way fuel halt which was in Guilsford it was Daniel “Lwni” Jones who was beat among club members, who was lying in fourth overall, with a penalty count of forty-three seconds, only down twenty-four seconds on the event leader, in fact the six cars at the half way stage were all within a minute of each other so there was everything to play for going into the second half. Anthony Lichfield and Llion “Tractor” Williams were at twelfth overall with four minutes and fifty-two seconds gathered. Cadog was in eighteenth with a penalty count of seven minutes.

                There was still four more selectives to be ran so it was still anybody’s for the taking and plenty of tight section still to be ran, so it was back into the lanes to decide the outcome.

                The first selective of the second half (selective 8) was straight forward enough with many crews not picking up any penalties over it, but the following selective was a different story where everyone picked up penalties at the end of it. Daniel “Lwni” set the quickest time over this selective with an excellent twenty-four seconds picked up, this was sixteen seconds quicker than anyone else, a great time indeed! Cadog had a great second half and set better times in the second half, with two minutes and seven seconds gained at the end of the ninth selective.

                Unfortunately, Anthony and Llion retired in the second half which was a shame as they had been doing very well in the Proton.

                As it turned out this was the only tight section of the second half, and although Daniel “Lwni” managed an excellent time on it, there were no more tight sections to make up the time lost earlier.

With the final couple of selectives ran crews headed back to the finish venue for a well-earned breakfast. It was Daniel “Lwni” Jones that did best from Lampeter and district motor club, who with his navigator Gerwyn Barry finished an excellent second overall, only four seconds behind the winning car, and with a penalty count of 1 minute and seven seconds. Cadog Davies manged a very respectful thirteenth overall with his navigator Meredith Roberts in Cadog’s Proton.

Daniel “Lwni” added: “Really enjoyed the rally, some excellent roads up there and first time for me to do the border.  Really enjoyed it and congrats to Dale on a good win” which seemed to sum up the event for who had enjoyed the challenge.

                The Border 100 was not the only event to be held on that weekend, as Caernarfon and Anglesey car club held the valentine road rally, a closed to club event of some 75 miles on the isle of Anglesey. Club member Gari Evans was navigating on this event, for Nia Hughes in a Peugeot 306 GTI. They managed to finish the rally in a very respectful twelfth in class and twenty-fifth overall.

                The next round of Lampeter and District motor club’s road rally championship is the Pacemaker rally that takes places later in the Summer.

Thank’s must go to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his image and Daniel “Lwni” Jones for providing information for this report.