Club Members Out and About.

Oregon Trail rally,.

12th May 2012.

Reigning American rally champions David Higgins/Craig Drew took another convincing victory on last weekends Oregon Trail rally,and extend their championship lead,but it wasn't without its problems.

The 3 day event was based in the small town of Defur near Portland Oregon,lying in the shadow of the snow capped peaks of Mount Hood . Friday nights first leg consisted of 4 mixed surface stages at the near by raceway,the Team Subaru USA duo got off to a good start in the factory backed Impreza,to hold a slender 9 second overnight lead from series rival Antoine L'Estage in the Rockstar Energy Lancer Evo 10.

Saturday,s leg consisted of 7 tests,and soon saw Higgins into the groove with a string of fastest times,their championship aspirations received a boost on stage 7 with the retirement of AntoineL'Estage when the Lancer ground to a halt with gearbox failure,then It was Higgins turn to hit trouble when he got caught out on one particular slippery fast corner,the Impreza leaving the road at high speed hitting two trees,damaging a rear arm,breaking two wheels and causing considerable panel damage,they managed to limp out of the stage and thankfully to service,the incident costing them just 40 seconds.

"I thought we were done for,but the boys have done a fantastic job to get us back out their."Said a somewhat relieved Higgins. With the car refettled and the lead still in tact,he set about setting yet more fastest times to lead by 2minutes 56 seconds going into Sundays final leg.

Just 5 stages on Sunday stood between Higgins and a record breaking 4th win in Oregon, but Higgins continued to push hard over the final leg to increase his winning margin to 4 minutes 26 seconds,over "Crazy Leo Urilchich and Carl Williamson in another Impreza.

"Delighted to have won,this as got to be the best event I have ever done,and after what happened on Saturday,this is for the team,as without them,we wouldn't be here on the top step of the podium,they were fantastic as always."Said a delighted Craig Drew

Their next event is in just 2 weeks time with the Susquehannock Trail Rally.

Wells Masonry Services Corinium Stages.

6th May 2012.

Bob Morgan and Ade Williams took top local honours on Cirencester car clubs, Wells Masonry Services Corinium Stages at Down Ampney last weekend.

55 crews lined up for the 10 special stages totalling 50 miles at the old airfield, where conditions were surprisingly dry.

Morgan/ Williams got off to a good start consistently setting top 10 ten times in the Winner Garage Impreza, a big spin on stage 6 cost them some time, but after that they had a trouble free run to 6th overall and 2nd in class.

"The event ran like clockwork credit to the organisers,the spin probably cost us at least one place, but overall well pleased with how today as gone". Said Williams

Jason Gardner had fellow driver Jason Morgan in the "hot seat" for the day, in the Brecon View Plumbing historic Escort RS2000

despite a few scrapes with straw bales and cones, and a flat battery they stormed to a fine 18th overall and a class win.

Jason Worgan,co-driven by Mark Wheeler in the Samurai Signs Impreza had a somewhat short event retiring with gearbox problems after stage 2.

The final Down Ampney event this year, will be the EMCOS Stages taking place on May 26th, hopefully this won't be the final ever rally at the old airfield where so many drivers have cut their teeth over the decades.

Hassington Stages.

7th May 2012.

Graham Waite co-driven by Mike Reynolds took an excellent 11th overall 1st in class on last Sundays Hassington Stages.

100 miles of fast tarmac roads were on offer,for Waite who was at the wheel of yet another car in the form of a Colt Lancer Turbo which was made famous by the likes of Pentti Airikkala and Anders Kullang in the early eighties.

Apart from a blowing manifold and binding brakes on the final 17 mile test the Lancer performed faultlessly.

STOP PRESS

David Higgins/Craig Drew have won the Oregan Trail Rally,round 3 of the American rally championship,in the Team Subaru USA/Puma Subaru Impreza by a massive 4minutes 25 seconds,to increase their series lead.

Get It Sideways.

28th April 2012.

Submitted by Kevin Watkins

I was at Down Ampney on Saturday with Ross Leach and Becca Goatman in their 205.
 It was Ross's first event since our retirement on the first stage of last year's Wyedean and Becca's first ever event.

They had quite an eventful day running on worn gravel tyres all day.

Seeded at 66 they were 18th quickest on the first stage!
On stage 2 they lost the exhaust, which was returned by the recovery truck and refitted by the service crew, only to fall off again in stage 3. By this time they had also managed to lose both door mirrors on chicanes and smash the rear side window, on the navigator's side of course.
Forced to miss stage 4 due to the lack of exhaust, it was later returned by the Clerk of the Course so that they could continue later in the day.

With the car re-scrutineered, they completed stages 7-10, setting 12th quickest time on stage 9 before losing all the water on the stop line of the last stage.

They were awarded the Spirit of the Rally award due to Ross's sideways driving and for refusing to give up!

Butlin's Somerset Stages.

21st April 2012.

Last weekends Butlin,s Somerset Stages provided a mixed bag of results for local crews.

Round 3 of the REIS/Get Connected and Millers Oils 1400 championships headed for the west country and Minehead,for 44 miles of high speed action in the Brendon Hills.

Heavy rain had left conditions extremely slippery for the capacity 150 car entry.

Just when it looked like Rob Smith co-driven by Ross Weir doing only his second event, in the Weir Laundry Equipment Subaru Impreza were odds on for a top 5 finish, after a superb drive having been seeded at a lowly 31, disaster struck halfway through the penultimate stage, when the Impreza first jammed between gears blocking the stage and then suffering a puncture costing nearly 6 minutes, they then suffered another on the final test plunging them down the leaderboard to a disappointing 53rd and 17th in class at the end.

"We had a superb run up till that point,but its part of rallying,for me to sit with somebody of Robs ability was a fantastic experience".said Ross

Dan Gray/Rob Tuckwell in the Monmouth Car Centre Peugeot 106 took their best ever BTRDA 1400 finish, with a superb 4th 1400 home and 48th overall, after a trouble free run in the slippery conditions including 4th fastest on the Porlock test.

Nigel Jenkins/Jack Walby in the Calico Interiors 16v Nova left Minehead with another bag of useful BTRDA points, despite a difficult morning which saw them spin twice and clipping a log loosing a fair chunk of time leaving them a distant 14th 1400 at service.
But a much better run in the afternoon saw the duo climb back to 8th 1400 and 56th overall and 6th in class.

Darren Pinchen/Karen Watts in the Gibsons Proton Satria held second placed 1400 for most of the morning loop, only for a broken driveshaft to bring their event to an end in Chargot Wood

Scott Partridge and Will Rogers in the RP Joinery Impreza were again poorly seeded at 81 they started very well climbing to 38th after stage 3 but a broken shaft on the first Porlock curtailed their progress.

Nick Painter/Tom Marrott in the BG Landrover's Escort RS were another crew to fall foul of Porlock with a broken oil pipe, but they too had started well holding 44th/2nd in class despite loosing 2nd gear on the first stage.

Nigel Dutson/Alison Lock took an excellent 29th overall 1st mc2 in his Mini GT on Cheltenham Motor Clubs Get it Sideways Stages at Down Ampney, but reigning mini cup champions Eric Davis/Russell Joseph in the Dennis Motorsport Mini GT retired on the opening test with engine problems.

Bulldog Historic and National rallies.

Will Rogers took his maiden rally victory on last Saturdays Bulldog National Rally.

Rogers teamed up with the very talented North Walian Matthew Edwards for the first time, in the Holton Homes/RP Joinery/Future Furniture Group Lancer Evo 9.

The National event offered 45 competitive miles in just 5 stages.
Warm sunny weather greeted crews although dust was a major worry.

The opening 8 mile Dyfi Main test, saw the duo have a scare within the first mile with a big 2 wheel moment, although they still set fastest time, next was 15 miles in Gartheniog where they increased their lead further to 8 seconds at service.

A short 5 mile Llangower stage was next, second fastest consolidated their lead,this was followed by 9miles of Penllyn, Edwards really attacked in there, reaching speeds of 120 mph in places yet another fastest time saw them take a comfortable lead.
Into the final 9 miles of Dyfnant forest, Edwards eased his pace slightly but their was last minute drama when their was problems with a right front wheel, but it cost them little time and they arrived back at the Welshpool finish victorious by 27 seconds from Thomas Naughton in a similar car.

"Absolutely over the moon, Matt is some driver, we had a big push this afternoon took a few risks, apart from a few problems with dust and the wheel it was problem free, its really nice to win my first event outright, also a big thanks to my sponsors". Said Rogers.

Also in the National rally were Daniel O'Brien and his Ross based co-driver Paul Morris took 8th overall/5th in class in the Willow Sign/Design Focus WRC.

Nigel Jenkins/Jack Walby in the Calico Interiors 1400 Nova finished 20th overall and 1st in class after a trouble free rally, and maximum Pirelli Welsh championship points.

Paul Butler/Kevin Watkins in the Flistick Subaru Impreza finished 16th overall/13th in class. for the first 3 stages Kevin was very ill, and a high speed off on the last stage cost them at least one place.
One place behind were Jason Morgan/Adrian Williams in the Winner Rally Team Impreza, who started steadily, but new tyres at service improved things, and they enjoyed the stages to take 17th overall/14th in class.

The Historic event, was round 2 of the British MSA Historic Championship, saw Graham Waite was going into the event looking to put his round one retirement behind him,together with Gill Cotton he was 4th fastest in Category one on the opening test by stage 3 Waite had taken the lead which he increased over the next 2 tests, but disaster struck on the final test, when a lead came loose in the engine of the Volvo Amazon, this was quickly rectified, but just 3 corners from the end of the stage, the gearstick came loose in Waite's hand, coming into a hairpin left, the Volvo rode the bank and rolled. Nearly 2 minutes were lost before they were on their way, but they still managed to salvage 3rd overall, 1st in class.

The Bulldog International Rally of North Wales round 2 of the British Rally Championship saw Craig Drew re-united with James Grint in a brand new Citroen DS 3 R3.

This was Grint's first ever event in a fwd car, although he had some testing in the car, he started steadily and built his pace up as the event unfolded, sadly 5 of the 11 planned stages were cancelled loosing a lot of mileage, but the duo soldiered on to finish 11th overall.
They plan is to do a couple of National events prior to The Pirelli end of April for extra mileage.

Navigation.

Places to Visit.

Affiliations.