dylan cambrian

Dylan Davies on his way to victory (Joseph John Gilbertson)

james cambrian

James Davies and Cadog Davies winning expert class (Joseph John Gilbertson)

               The rallying year of 2019 kicked off with the return of the Tregaron motor cub organised Cambrian road rally. A rally that hadn’t featured on the calendar since 2012 but made a welcome return this year. The rally this year included a test before some 70 miles of road sections on OS 135, starting in Pontrhydfendigaid Pavilion.

                Lampeter and district motor club were strongly represented on the entry list, With the first member being Steffan “DR” Davies who had Deian Rees navigating for him, although they non-started, they were seeded at 2. At 3 was newly crowned welsh forestry champion Dylan Davies who was making a return to the lanes in his newly built Mk2 ford escort, he had Richard “ty-capel” Williams navigating for him. Right behind them were James Davies and Cadog Davies in James’ Proton Compact GTI they were using this event as a warm up for the welsh road rally championship which kicks off at the beginning of February. At 6 were Wayne Jones and Dafydd Evans in a Peugeot 206 GTI. A couple of places behind them at 8 were Justin Jones and Edryd Evans who were taking out Justin’s new Vauxhall astra GTE for another spin. Right behind them at 9 making a return to the anes since his last event (that being last year’s Bro Preseli) were Gareth Evans and LLion Williams in Gareth’s Peugeot 206 cup car. Andrew Ling was navigating in car 14, a Vauxhall corsa, for Simon Jones. At 27 were Huw and Owen Rowcliffe who had got their Peugeot 206 out for this event. Rounding off club members navigating in car 28 was Andrew Davies for Bleddyn “bach” Jones in a Proton Satria GTI.  

The rally began with a test at Pontrhydfendigaid and immediately the pace setters were James and Cadog who had the best time with 5 minutes and 19 seconds. An excellent start to their event. 4 seconds behind them were all Lampeter pair that was Wayne Jones and Dafydd Evans that had a time of 5 minutes and 23 seconds. Dylan and Richard were next on 5 minutes and 28 seconds. Huw and Owen Rowcliffe were next in twentieth with 6 minutes and 19 seconds and just behind them were Bleddyn and Andrew were soon after on 6 minutes and 27 seconds, this saw them take twenty second. Justin and Edryd were in twenty-seventh after receiving a minute penalty for a wrong line. Simon and Andrew had thirty-third best time with after also having a penalty for a wrong line. Unfortunately, it was a very short rally for Gareth and LLion as they retired early on with ignition problems on the car.

With the test taken care of it was into the lanes for the heart of the rally. With a shorter route of 70 miles there were no petrol halts so the action would be nonstop. The first tight section of the night would be at TC5S, where Dylan and Richard were had picked up 2 seconds of penalties James and Cadog received a time of 30 seconds and Wayne and Dafydd had 38. Justin and Edryd managed a time of 46 seconds. Huw and Owen managed a very respectable time of a minute and 1 second here at TC5S. Unfortunately, there were more names on the retirements sheet with Simon and Andrew out as well as Bleddyn and Andrew, an unfortunate start to their years but I’m sure their luck will improve.

TC10s was the next tight section of the route, here Dylan and Richard managed a time of 38 seconds, hot on their heels were James and Cadog who were on a mission to make up some time, they achieved 41 seconds. Wayne and Dafydd were another crew doing very well and managed 1 minute and 2 seconds in their Peugeot. Justin and Edryd had 3 minutes and 34 seconds. There weren’t many other tight sections for the front running competitors, although the odd minute was dropped here and there with lower running crews.

At the finish it was Dylan Davies and Richard Williams that achieved a narrow victory with a time of 6 minutes and 8 seconds. Just behind and so close to his first win were James and Cadog who achieved an excellent second overall in the Proton with a time of 6 minutes and 30 seconds, giving James his best result to date and no doubt reaching the top step of the podium is only a matter of time away. Rounding off a top 3 for club members were Wayne Jones and Dafydd Evans who had an excellent run all night and were well deserving of their third overall finish with 7 minutes and 3 seconds. Justin and Edryd broke into the top ten with 13 minutes and 13 minutes and 4 seconds, and Huw and Owen Rowcliffe came very close to their first top ten with 13 minutes and 57 seconds which saw them twelfth, no doubt they will be joining expert class very soon with performances like this one.

Everyone agreed that it had been a very enjoyable event and hopefully the rally would feature on the calendar next year again.

Many thanks must go to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his images for this report.