Steven Ormond-Smith and Dafydd Evans leap to a fine result on the Argyll (afmotorsportmedia)

Once again it has been a busy couple of weeks for Lampeter and district motor club with action taking place all over the United kingdom and Ireland. The first event being the Donegal International rally, an incredibly famous event that attracts a vast number of competitors from all over the globe that took place on the 16th to the 18th of June. This three day event would include twenty special stages giving competitors over 270 kilometres of competitive motoring and would include many famous stages such as Knockolla and Atlantic drive. 

Andy Davies was once again accompanied by Michael GIlbey and they had entered the rally in Andy’s R5 specification Ford fiesta, they had been seeded at car 59 and were hoping to get some good seat time in the car and increase their tarmac rallying experience. Sadly it would not be a successful outing for the pair, as on the opening stage of the event, Donegal Bay, the car would suffer with braking issues and a loss of feeling on the brake pedal. Andy decided to hold back a little in the hope that the brakes of the car would cool down ready for the next stages, but sadly it was not to be as on the second stage they would lose all brake pressure and would be forced into retirement, a great shame for them as they have the potential for some big things with the car.

On the 23rd and 24th of June the Dunoon Presents Argyll rally took place on the lanes of Scotland. This two day, fourteen stage event would see a total of just over 105 kilometres of competition for competitors over the course of the two days. Club Chairman Dafydd Evans would again be navigating for Steven Ormond Smith in a Mitsubishi Lancer evo 9. They were seeded at car 60. 

The opening day of the event consisted of two short stages around the town of Dunoon before six further stages that would take part in the dark. They had a great start to the event although the diff pump failed on the first stage making slowing down and coming out of tight corners a little tricky, as well as this the engine’s anti lag system was not working so they would be at a disadvantage to the other turbocharged cars. Even so they ended the first day in a very respectable twenty-eighth overall, a great position, even with losing one of the stages (stage 4, kinlochruel) which they were going to use to help make up for lost time.

The second day of the event consisted of eight further stages, and the mornings stages were made tricker by rain which had begun to fall. Even so both Steven and Dafydd continued to push, sadly this resulted in them sliding off the road on stage eight (Bealach Maim 1) which cost them over a minute and a half. This dropped them down the leaderboard to forty ninth overall. 

They would have a clean run from then on in, and would set some excellent times on the remaining stages of the rally. This saw them climb up the leaderboard to finish the event in a very respectable thirty first overall and ninth in class. Their total stage time was 1 hour 5 minutes and 3 seconds. 

The final event would be the Bala and District motor club organised PK memorial road rally. This event was making a welcome return to the rallying calendar after a 5 year break and would make up the fourth round of the welsh road rally championship. Starting from Corwen and taking place on OS maps 116 and 125 a 85 mile route was laid on for competitors, with some 45 miles making up the first half. Among the 90 entrants were members of Lampeter and district, with the first being Cadog Davies who was once again navigating for George Williams in George’s Mk2 ford escort. They were seeded at car 4 and hoping for a strong result in their Welsh championship campaign. At 9 was Arwel Evans in his Mk2 Ford escort, he had Richard “Ty-Capel” Williams sat with him. Declan Mason took the number 27 slot in another Mk2 Ford escort, he would have Rhiannon Sim on map duties. At 64 were Osian Jones and LLyr Davies in Osian’s Nissan micra. Sion Busson was at 75 with Ryan Dabner navigating for him, they would be using a Ford fiesta. 

Sadly it would be an event that would see a number of retirements, with the escort of Arwel and Richard retiring with a broken track control arm, Sion and Ryan’s fiesta had its clutch break and Declan and Rhiannon would also feature on the retirements list. Those that were still running would see a handful of tight sections in the opening half, although the top seeds of the event did manage to pass through some of these without gaining any penalties. This included George and Cadog that didn’t gain any penalties until Section 3 finish where they gained nineteen seconds. For everyone else it was section 2 finish where they lost their clean sheet, this included Osian and Llyr who did very well with twenty-one seconds gained, they would also do very well at section finish three with twenty seconds gained. 

For George and Cadog it would be section finish 5 before they gained any more penalties where they stopped the clocks on thirty four seconds. Here Osian and Llyr would manage 2 minutes and 59 seconds. They also gathered a couple of fails that would unfortunately see them drop down the leaderboard. 

At the halfway halt George and Cadog held joint eighth with 53 seconds of penalties gained. Osian and LLyr held seventy-second due to gathering 2 fails, they had a penalty count of 4 minutes and 44 seconds. 

The second half wasn’t quite as tight as the first but still provided a challenge for those running. George and Cadog would only gain 1 second of penalties throughout the second half of the event, which they gained at Time control 7C, and would climb a few places with their performance. Osian and LLyr would manage 22 seconds at this Time control but unfortunately also gained 3 minutes at Time control 7B, hampering their performance.

At the end of the very enjoyable rally George Williams and Cadog Davies finished the event in an excellent fifth overall, gaining some valuable points for their Welsh championship campaign in the process. Osian Jones and Llyr Williams finished in sixty-fourth overall after gaining the two fails. They had a penalty count of 9 minutes and 41 seconds.

Thanks must go to AFmotorsportmedia for the use of their image in this report.