dylan mark red kite

Dylan Davies and Mark Glennerster on route to victory on the Red Kite.

          The weekend of the 21st to the 23rd of June was a very busy weekend in the rallying calendar, with a tarmac, road rally and forest rally all taking part. All three events saw club members in action, with the first event being the Donegal international rally. The Donegal is a very famous rally which attracts entrants from all over the world. Included in the entry list from Lampeter and district motor club were Meirion Evans and Jonathon Jackson who were once again out in the R5 specification Hyundai i20. They were seeded at 17. Also joining them in the international rally were Andy Davies with regular navigator Michael Gilbey out in Andy’s group N specification Subaru Impreza. They were seeded at 64. In the historic rally Llion Williams was once again navigating for Duncan Williams in Duncan’s Mk2 Ford escort, they were at 3 in the historic event. The historic rally began on the Saturday and would include 2 days of competition.

                The rally would consist of three days of competition on some of the most famous and challenging tarmac stages in Ireland which are what are one of the things that attract competitors. Mouldy hill 1 was the rallies opening stage, at just over 12 kilometres in length it was an excellent test to start the rally. On this opening stage Meirion and Jonathon set an excellent time of 6 minutes and 54.6 seconds, which saw them the third quickest R5 specification car. Andy and Michael also good off to a good start in their Subaru with a time of 7 minutes 30.2 seconds. On the second stage of the day (Granian 1) Meirion and Jonathon lost some 20 seconds due to fuel pressure issues on the car but still recorded a very respectful time of 6 minutes and 58.6 seconds. Andy and Michael had a very good time of 7 minutes and 16 seconds.

                Dooish 1 was the third stage of the day, and following this the first three stages were then repeated to make up stages 4, 5 and 6 and the rest of the opening day. On this stage Meirion and Jonathon managed another excellent time of 7 minutes and 12.3 seconds. Andy and Michael were still going very strong and achieved 7 minutes and 43. 9 seconds.

                The stages were then repeated and both Lampeter crews pushed on hard as confidence grew on the demanding and twisty stages. Come the end of the first day Meirion and Jonathon sat in ninth overall in the International event. Andy and Michael lay in twenty-fourth overall at the end of the day.

                The second day began with Gartan 1 with a length of a whisker under 15 kilometres, and now the field were joined by the historic competitors who’s rally began on this stage. On this stage all competitors were given a time of 6 minutes and 54.8 seconds so the rally really began on stage 8, which was Glen 1. This stage was 12.82 kilometres in length and on it Meirion and Jonathon achieved a time of 6 minutes and 13.2 seconds. Andy and Michael achieved a time of 6 minutes and 38.4 seconds. Duncan and William began their day with a time of 7 minutes and 4.9 seconds in their historic specification escort.

                Following this it was back over Gartan and then another run over the Glen stage for stages 9 and 10. Here on stage ten disaster struck for Andy as he slid his Impreza off the road causing some light damage to the Subaru’s bodywork. That prematurely ended their day’s sport but re-joined the rally under super rally rules after missing 3 stages. Meirion and Jonathon were going very well until stage 12 where they lost some time which dropped them from seventh to ninth overall. In the historic rally Duncan and LLion were having an excellent run in the escort and once again found themselves in the battle for the lead in the historic rally. They finished the second day in third overall after and excellent performance over the stages.

                Day 3 began with Fanad Head 1 which was to be the longest stage of the rally at just under 20 kilometres. With Meirion now running on new tyres he looked to climb back up the leader board on the event’s final stages. Andy and Michael had re-joined the rally at the end of day 2 and with a patched-up Subaru they too also looked to climb back up the leader board. Duncan and Llion looked at once again battling for the outright victory. Unfortunately, due to a fatal accident the rally was prematurely halted. Meirion Evans and Jonathon Jackson finished in eighth overall and third in class at the end of the event. Andy and Michael finished in twenty-third overall second in group N. Duncan Williams and Llion Williams finished in an excellent third overall in the historic rally.

                Everyone from Lampeter and district motor club would like to pass on their reards to the friends and family of Manus Kelly who sadly lost his life whilst competing on the event.

                The Red Kite stages also took place over Sunday the 23rd of June. There were a couple of Lampeter and district members out on this six-stage gravel event organised by Ammanford and district motor club. Navigating in car 35 was Rhys Jones who was sitting with Chris Lloyd in a Mk2 ford escort RS1800. Also competing and making a return to the woods after an eight-month layoff was current welsh forestry champion Dylan Davies who with Mark Glennerster would be out in an R5 specification Ford fiesta, with Dylan trying Hoosier tyres for this event to see how they were on gravel. They were number 401 (first of the four-wheel drive vehicles)

                The opening stage of the day was Margam, with 12.38 kilometres it was a great start to both club members day with Dylan and Mark setting quickest time of 6 minutes and 47 seconds, and immediately taking the rally lead in the process. Dylan quickly finding his rhythm in the new car and tyre setup. Chris and Rhys’ rally also got off to an excellent start, with an excellent time of 8 minutes and 30 seconds on the opening stage.

                The second stage of the day was Bryn, this was the shortest stage of the day with a length of 9.62 kilometres, once again Dylan and Mark were the pace setters with a time of 6 minutes and 16 seconds, extending their rally lead in the process. Chris and Rhys achieved a time of 7 minutes and 21 seconds on this stage, climbing up 10 places in the process and now sitting in twentieth overall.

                Stage 3 was Rheola South 1, and sadly this was the last stage for Chris and Rhys’ escort, which although set a highly respectable time of 8 minutes and 50 seconds the escort’s head gasket blew on the engine, forcing them into retirement, a great shame as they had been doing very well up to that point. Things were quite different for Dylan and Mark, who’s pace was simply awesome as they once again set the quickest time with 7 minutes and 25 seconds here.

Stage 4 was cancelled so it was Margam main that made up stage 5, this was the longest stage of the day measuring at 13.13 kilometres. Here Dylan once again extended his lead with a time 7 minutes and 49 seconds. On stage six, Rheola South 2,  they achieved the second best time, although this didn’t do anything to their lead and come the end of what was a very successful day they finished in an excellent first overall, with a total time of 36 minutes and 1 seconds, they had a commanding lead of 53 seconds. This was Dylan’s third victory in a row on this rally and another victory for Mark Glennerster, with 2 wins now n this rally.

Also occurring on this weekend was the Harlech and District motor club organised Bro Cader road rally, this was to be the fourth round in the welsh road rally championship and included a test at Trawsfynydd. Representing Lampeter and district motor club on this rally at 3 was Cadog Davies who was reunited with George Williams for this event, out once again in George’s Mk2 ford escort. Also navigating was Dafydd Evans at 8, he was once again with Kevin “Penclaw” Jones in Kevin’s Toyota Corolla. Gari Evans was at 10 in his immaculately prepared Mk2 ford escort, he had Richard “ty capel” Williams taking care of map duties. Alan Gaunt was at 19 in his Vauxhall astra, he was once again accompanied by Jordan Dziadulewicz. Rounding off club members was Daniel Williams who was once again out in his BMW 318ti, he once again had Shaun Richards with him in the passenger seat.

It was a challenging night with in difficult terrain, George and Cadog had a very good start to their event setting an excellent time on the test which put them in the battle for the lead, sadly they slid off the road into a ditch and got stuck, pushing them over time limit and out of the event. Kevin and Dafydd had a very good rally and set some excellent time among some stiff competition and achieved an excellent fifth overall in the Corolla. Gari Evans and Richard “ty-capel” Williams had and excellent run and finished comfortably inside the top ten in eighth overall in their escort. Daniel Williams and Shaun Jones finished in a very credible fifteenth overall in the BMW. Sadly, Alan Gaunt and Jordan Dziadulewicz retired. The next round of the welsh championship is the Pacemaker rally which takes place on the 20th/21st of July.

Many thanks must go to Mark Little of AutoAviaPhotographic for the use of his image used in this report.