Our Club

We are based in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire amidst a breathaking landscape of rolling wooded valleys nestling betwixt the Rivers Severn and Wye.

Founded over 40 years ago, we have now grown to over 200 members.
We have some of the finest forests in the UK and each year run the Wyedean rally which is the first BTRDA round of the season.

We meet up every fortnight in the Parkend club which is located in an idyllic village in the heart of the forest, Map ref SO 616 080
We have a wide range of activities which keeps the club vibrant, if you would like to join or just pop in for a chat then check out the dates listed on our club page, you are assured of a warm welcome.

Severn Valley Historic Rally

Graham Waite & co-driver Gill Cotton stormed to Historic Victory in the Volvo Amazon on last weekends Severn Valley Historic Rally.
Waite had a great battle with the Sunbeam Tiger of Jonathon Gale over the 5 Stages that made up the 45 competitive miles in the Mid-Wales Forests.
Going into the final 16 mile stage in Radnor Forest just 3 seconds separated Gale & Waite but the Tiger overshot an hairpin & this gave Waite a comfortable winner in category 1 Historic class.  "It's been exciting at times but I'm over the moon to win" laughed Waite at the end.

Cliff Simmons and Simon Tyson

Cliff Simmons co-drove Simon Tyson to a fine 5th overall in the classic category.
A big spin on stage 2 in Crychan & being on the wrong tyres cost them some time "we went out on to soft a tyre, but a lot of others did the same, & they are down to  the canvas, 16 miles in Radnor to go, we've got to put harder tyres on now &we'll push hard" said Cliff at service.
The 16 mile Radnor stage went well apart from a heavy landing on a big jump & they pulled up from 7th to 5th over the last stage.

Fellow Forest of Dean Motor Club Members Nick Elliot / Dave Price in the Ex Pete Fear Escort RS had a very frustrating morning taking the fight to leaders Gwyndaf Evans & Julian Reynolds.  "I've been off or spun on every stage this morning, not good I can't make any in-roads into the front two" said Nick at service.
3rd fastest on the final stage in Radnor saw them finish 3rd overall &put them right back in the mix for the Historic Title.

In the Severn Valley National Rally the latest round both Pirelli MSA Gravel & EVO Challenge offered 7 stages& 65 miles.
Elsmore got off to a bad start with suspension problems, leaving the car very tail happy causing an 80 mph spin on stage 3, cost them 15 seconds arriving at service 6th & 3rdEVO.

Nic Elsmore and Craig Drew.

With the suspension stiffened up Elsmore set about his rivals Danial Barry & Simon Hughes in the Hydrex backed car, setting fastest EVO times on the next 2 tests.  Leaving just the 16 mile Radnor test remaining.
But yet another blistering time for Elsmore took 7.2 seconds off Barry & a massive 13.9 off Hughes to leave the duo just 0.7 seconds off 2nd EVO & 8 seconds behind EVO winner Barry, they arrived back at the Builth Wells finish 5th overall & 3rd EVO.  "Its been a bad morning but a great afternoon we are pleased to be back on the pace & can now take the fight to them" said Craig.

In the Severn Valley Clubman Rally Karen Watts teamed up with talented young Welshman Tom Watson in a Fiesta ST for the first time.
This was only the Ammanford driver's fifth event having been a very successful motorcross rider.
They lost time on the opening test by catching a car & getting stuck in the dust, losing time.  But the next 3 stages went very well setting fastest time in their class on stage 3 to arrive at service 20th overall 4th in class. 
The 16 mile Radnor Stage remained, again a bit of a moment over the big jump was their only problem & they arrived back at Builth 18th overall, 4th in class.
To finish was priority at the start of the day to allow Tom to upgrade his licence.  "I've enjoyed today, Tom is very talented & has a great future in the sport.  It was important for him to finish.  It's been very hot & dusty but a very good event" said Karen.

Another new pairing saw Will Rogers team up with David Segal in a MK1 2 litre Escort.  The duo dropped a minute on stage 1 when they went off in the dust but apart from that they had a trouble free run to 24th overall 7th in class.

Many thanks to Chris Huish for the photographs.

Our Club Activities.

We have a varied and active social calendar with club meetings every two weeks, navigational exercises, driving tests, Quizzes and for the more athletic, cycle rides. Many of these activities are rounded off with a superb BBQ laid on by Ernie our Equipment officer.

Our main event of the year is the Wyedean rally, which has now celebrated its 30th birthday. This event has grown over the years and is now one of the premier events in the rallying calendar, regularly attracting the maximum of 180 entries.

The logistics of this event is staggering, running 8 or 9 stages, each with its complement of Marshals, medical and rescue staff, recovery crews and vehicles, timing crews and each with a stage commander and safety officer, not forgetting a small army of people in the HQ offices. The number we require for this single day is fast approaching 1,000.
The planning for this event starts in the autumn of the previous year.

We have very close ties with other motor clubs and often attend their venues to help in the organisation and provide marshals.
This help is reciprocated with the Wyedean Rally, which would not run without the help of all our friends from these other clubs.

We have for the past three years ran a successful Autocross which forms a round of the South West Association Championship.
We are also planning Autotests and PCT's in the coming season. These events are ideal for members as young as 14 to learn the skills needed for safe competitive driving and a platform which they could use to move on to other events.

We take health and safety very seriously and are planning additional Marshals training sessions, which will also include basic first aid and fire fighting. These skills could prove lifesaving when a situation arises on a rally stage.

We have about 150 members, half of which are fairly local, the rest are scattered around the country.Our meetings are held every fortnight in a local pub (see club page for details) and we would always welcome new faces.

A little of our history.

The Forest of Dean Motor Club was formed in July 1967, and affiliated to the Royal Automobile Club later that year.
After a few busy years organising numerous Autocross meetings during the heyday of that branch of motorsport, the club organised a couple of small road rallies with a view to getting restricted status for future events.
Eventually the temptation of being based in the middle of some of the best forestry in the country proved too much and in 1975 the club organised it's first stage rally.
So the first Wyedean was held on the 12th October 1975 and offered entrants 54 stage miles for an entry fee of £27.00

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