Gari Evans with Richard "Ty-capel" Williams on their way to third overall on the Pacemaker (Joseph John Gilbertson)
The past couple of weeks have been very busy in the rallying calendar with events taking part throughout the country with the season now in full swing, meaning competitors are spoilt for choice with events to compete on. Needless to say, Lampeter and district motor club members found themselves on the entry lists, with the first event being the Bob Shaw memorial Brawdy stages held on the 7th of July. It is a tarmac venue in South Wales and is very popular among club members. On the entry list at car 6 were Emyr Morgan and Paul Jones in Emyr’s recently purchased Darrian T9 GTR. At car 18 were another Darrian crew of Rhys Wyn Davies and Dafydd Evans in a T90 model. Andrew Davies was navigating in car 34, a Chrysler Sunbeam for Dafydd Williams. In car 56 were Osian Jones and Owen McConochie in Osian’s Peugeot 106. Rounding off club members at 70 were Kevin Davies and Owen Rowcliffe, in another Peugeot, this one being a 206 model.
The rally consisted of six stages giving approximately 50 miles of competition. On the opening stage of the day it was Rhys Wyn Davies and Dafydd Evans that took the best time among club members with an excellent time of 9 minutes. Emyr Morgan and Paul Jones began their day with a time of 9 minutes and 52 seconds. Osian Jones and Owen McConochie had a time of 10minutes and 18 seconds, whilst Kevin Davies and Owen Rowcliffe achieved 10 minutes and 51 seconds. Rounding off club members on the opening stage were Dafydd Williams and Andrew Davies with 14 minutes and 9 seconds. Sadly, that was to be the only stage that Osian and Owen managed as they retired from the event on the second stage.
On the second stage of the day Rhys Wyn and Dafydd continued the incredible pace with a time of 8 minutes and 46 seconds in their Darrian, putting them well inside the top 5. Emyr Morgan and Paul Jones were another pair with an excellent time of 9 minutes here. Kevin and Owen were pushing their little Peugeot hard and achieved a very respectable time of 10 minutes and 8 seconds here. Dafydd and Andrew managed a time of 11 minutes and 4 seconds. Unfortunately, the retirements list grew again and Dafydd and Andrew retired at the end of the second stage.
The third stage of the day once again saw Rhys Wyn and Dafydd putting in another excellent time as they stopped the clocks on 9 minutes and 7 seconds. Kevin and Owen achieved 10 minutes and 21 seconds. Emyr and Paul had problems so received a maximum stage time for this stage and stage 4 of 30 minutes on both.
For stage 4 it was business as usual for Rhys Wyn and Dafydd as they once again set a blistering pace on the stage with 8 minutes and 57 seconds. They were well on their way to an excellent result in the little Darrian with times that were better than many more experienced crews. Kevin and Owen were still doing very well with a time of 10 minutes and 24 seconds.
Stage 5 was to be the last stage for Emyr and Paul as they set a very good time of 9 minutes and 17 seconds on it, sadly they would go no further and join the retirements sheet, a great shame as they had been doing very well. Things were better for Rhys Wyn and Dafydd as they once again set an excellent time of 9 minutes and 10 seconds. Kevin and Owen achieved another strong time of 10 minutes and 16 seconds.
On the sixth and final stage of the day Rhys Wyn and rounded off an excellent day’s performance with a time of 9 minutes and 2 seconds. This meant that they finished the day in an excellent third overall first in class, an excellent result for them. Their total time was 54 minutes and 2 seconds. Kevin and Owen finished their day with a time of 9 minutes and 52 seconds, this meant that they finished in thirty third overall and second in class. Their total time was 1 hour 1 minute and 52 seconds.
The weekend of the 20th/21st of July saw Knighton motor club hold their rally in the calendar, the very popular Pacemaker rally, a 95-mile-long event that took place on the borders of Wales and England on OS maps 126 and 137. This year’s event would make up the fifth round of the welsh road rally championship as well as being the seventh round of Lampeter and district motor club’s own road rally championship. Starting from Norbury Village hall where 75 competitors gathered, including members of Lampeter and district motor club. Seeded at 4 was Cadog Davies who once again partnered with George Williams in George’s Mk2 ford escort. They were hoping for a change of luck after having a difficult start to their season. Right behind them at 5 was another regular navigator from club, Dafydd Evans who again was with regular driver Kevin “Penclawdd” Jones. They have been having some excellent results together this year and were looking to achieve the same thing here. Gari Evans was at 19 in his regular Mk2 ford escort, for this event he had Richard “Ty-capel” Williams taking care of map duties. Daniel Williams was at 21 in his regular BMW 318Ti with regular navigator Shaun Richards, Dan and Shaun are a very consistent crew always finishing in a respectable position on ever rally they compete and were again hoping to do the same on this event. Rounding off club members navigating in car 50 was Christian Coleman who was once again partnered with Robert Price in Robert’s MG ZR.
It was an all go affair with many tight sections along the route giving little rest time for any competitors they had to stay focused all night. The first of the tight sections was at Time control 3 where the first penalties were picked up. George and Cadog began their rally with 11 seconds gained here, this was matched by Kevin and Dafydd in their Toyota. Gari and Richard had 20 seconds and Daniel and Shaun received 34 seconds. Robert and Christian managed 1 minute. The next tight section soon followed, that being at Time control 5. Here again most competitors received penalties. George and Cadog received 22 seconds, whilst Kevin and Dafydd pushed very hard over here and achieved an excellent time of only 3 seconds gained. Gari and Richard were one of the few competitors that managed to pass this section penalty free, great going by them. Daniel and Shaun also did well and 11 seconds was the reward for their efforts. Rob and Christian managed 42 seconds here.
More tight sections followed, including Time Control 7 and Section finish 8, although some of the front runners managed to pass through Section finish 8 without picking up a penalty. At the Half way petrol halt best among club members were Kevin and Dafydd Evans that held second overall with a count of 2 minutes and 11 seconds. Gari Evans and Richard were next in third overall, four seconds down on Kevin and Dafydd with 2 minutes and 15 seconds. George and Cadog were in twelfth with 4 minutes and 27 seconds, and Daniel Williams and Shaun held sixteenth with 4 minutes and 50 seconds. Rob and Christian Coleman were in thirty-third with 10 minutes and 40 seconds.
With all tanks brimmed it was back into the lanes for the second half of action. There were more tight sections in the second half with one of which being at Time Control 21. Here it was Gari and Richard that did best among club members where they picked up 48 seconds of penalties here. Next up were George and Cadog with 1 minute gained. Daniel and Shaun were next 1 minute and 6 seconds followed by Kevin and Dafydd on 1 minute and 13 seconds. Rounding off club members were Robert and Christian on 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
Time control 24 then followed, which was another section where penalties were picked up. Kevin and Dafydd achieved a count of 3 seconds here, which was good enough for joint best time here. George and Cadog weren’t far off with 6 seconds gained, this was matched by Gari and Richard who were having an excellent run. Daniel and Shaun had problems so their penalty count was 5 minutes and 57 seconds. Robert and Christian were another crew coming to difficulties so they cut the route and limped to the finish from here.
There were a couple of tight section left, which were Time control 26 and Section finish 29. Here again penalties were gathered and was the last opportunity for competitors to push for a result. Come the end of a challenging but enjoyable event Gari Evans and Richard “Ty-capel” Williams finished in an excellent third overall and first in class with a penalty count of 4 minutes and 26 seconds. An excellent and well-deserved result. Kevin “Penclawdd” Jones and Dafydd Evans were right behind them in fourth overall and second in class with 4 minutes and 39 seconds, an excellent result that could have been even better as they lost time stuck on a tight harpin bend in the second half of the event. George Williams and Cadog Davies bought their escort home in sixth overall and third in class with 7 minutes of penalties. Daniel Williams and Shaun Richards finished in thirty-first overall and nineteenth in class after picking up a fail. They had a penalty count of 18 minutes and 1 second. Managing to cover enough route to qualify as finishers were Robert Price and Christian Coleman who had 21 fails so finished in forty-ninth overall and twenty-sixth in class. They’re penalty count was 13 minutes and 20 seconds.
The next round of the welsh and Lampeter and district motor club’s own championship is the Barcud, taking lace in Tregaron it is a good local event where no doubt there will be a strong representation from Lampeter on it.
Thanks must go to Joseph John Gilbertson for the use of his image in this report.