Report from Old Stager of December 2003

Bulldog Historic Rally

Words and pictures by Mike Hally

Hard to beat a glorious day in the mid-Wales forests, especially on an event run superbly as usual by the Bulldog organisers - a fine setting for the final act of this year’s championship. Steve Perez/Jonty Bolsover needed only two points to see off Richard Hill/Stephen Montoto’s challenge, but if they didn’t finish and Hill/Montoto combined a top three finish with the class win they would snatch the title. Would the VK Porsche potter round collecting a few safe points?

Historic Overall

Any thoughts that Perez/Bolsover were going to play it safe were blown away with fastest time over the first stage - already Perez was playing to the crowds, putting the blue 911 extra sideways whenever spectators were sighted. With Bolsover relaxing his usual restraining role, they simply reeled off fastest times on every single stage to wrap up the championship in the best possible manner - they made a clean sweep of the five forestry events in the series. Their winning time was only bettered by the top three post-histories. Two previous Bulldog winners, John Keatley/John McKeffry and Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride did their best to challenge Perez/Bolsover in their 911s, but could never quite match the leaders’ pace. Behind the top three was a terrific scrap between Gordon Boyd/Fred Bell, Francis Tuthill/Katy Tuthill and Chris Green/Hilary Green, Tuthill’s Porsche the meat in a Lotus Cortina sandwich where they finished. James Stait/Marcus Cartwright made a welcome return after missing two events, beaten only by the leading Porsche trio over Sweet Lamb 1 and 2. However, an awkward bump on the next bounced the Midget heavily into a tree-stump, which probably saved a bigger off but after a moment teetering on the edge they slipped down a slope and beyond immediate recovery (with no spectators to be seen).

Richard Tuthill hadn’t rallied a Porsche for six years, nor any rallying at all for two years, but Tuthill senior offered him the blue Porsche usually seen in Stuart Rolt/Richard Pomfret’s hands “to show that a Porsche can beat the Escorts in the forests”. With a co-driver, Kevin Plunkett, he had only met the day before and some powerful and well-driven RS 1600s around that might have seemed optimistic. Second fastest by just two-tenths of a second to the Stokes on the first stage showed the Escorts had a fight on their hands. Despite niggling problems on every stage, Tuthill/Plunkett went on to set fastest time on every one of them, even on Dyfi where the driver had to stop, get out and re-attach the throttle cable. They quickly opened up a lead that stretched to a minute and a half at the end, while runners-up Stokes/Stokes were happy in the end to get another finish after four retirements in the year. The latter had few problems other than a brief delay behind a crippled Cortina in mid-event and a couple of alarming two-wheeled moments on Dyfnant.

Steven Smith/John Nichols confirmed their improving pace by holding second overall after three stages, but then swiped a bank and rolled the RS2000, oddly missing the roof, but putting some big dents in two corners. The car’s quite straightenable, but a broken wrist put the driver in plaster for eight weeks. Richard Gower/Mark Crisp took advantage of their retirement to pull ahead of the Stokeses, but they too crashed out, though merely beached at the side of the Dyfi track, rather than doing any great damage. Ernie Graham/Robin Kellard’s RS1600’s loss of clutch adjustment troubling their progress to third overall.
With no entries in Cl, the C2s were the smallest post-historic class, and with rather fewer starters than usual - regulars like Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes having gone into hibernation already. John Worthing/John Cadwallader set off in their Mexico determined to put the Avengers in their place, and did just that. An intermittent misfire that’s plagued them all season had been traced to a broken earth strap and the engine sounded perfect. Only a near­stranding up a bank in Dyfi worried them but they got out okay. Phil Atkinson, co-driven by Simon Coates for a change, was in mechanical trouble almost from the start and never challenged, while Tony Shields/Graham Whitaker were outpaced by Worthing/Cadwallader who won the class by over a minute.

Lawrence Green/Andy Rowe setting some cracking times and survived a time-consuming ‘off’ in the Mexico along the way to third. Jim Francis/Ray Deacon also put their Mexico Estate off into a ditch but finished after losing around 15 minutes and it looks like they’ve wrapped up the Mexico Challenge Cup. Kevin Broadhurst/Rowand Prentice had a series of problems - including faulty back brakes, cracked exhaust, non-starting starter, sickly co-driver - and eventually retired at service. Nigel Kelsall/Peter Davies provided welcome variety with a Fiat 124 Special T, but went OTL. The 2-litre C3 class also had a smaller entry than usual, reduced further when Andrew Street/Jez Mason lost the gears on their Saab 99 just two miles into the very first stage. They’d fitted a standard gearbox after blowing the competition one on the Trackrod and the selector scroll pin sheared. Ian Drummond/Bradley Magnus holed their radiator in Taliesin, while Allan Clews/Graham Lewis’s Saab 96 joined Smith/Nichols in retirement in Dyfi, leaving Hill/Montoto to take the class along with fifth overall, ahead of Jesse Shakespeare/Adrian Jay.
Tuthill/Plunkett took the over 2-litre class ahead of Dominic Frattaroli/Tim Hobbs’ Datsun 240Z, ahead of Peter Cave/Wayne Allen in a Tuthill hire Porsche 911. Frattaroli/Hobbs would have held onto fourth overall but for a puncture on the last stage. Graham Wilson/Steve Dear brought their hastily-repaired Porsche to the start, after rolling out of the Trackrod, but sadly went out on the first stage with “the most stupid mistake in 20 years rallying, going off on a triple caution!” Steering damage meant instant retirement, but no bad thing for a co-driver suffering severe food poisoning.

The usual big entry of RS 1600s turned up for C5, Stokes/Stokes winning it ahead of Graham/Kellard, while Ray Bellm/Marc Jones took third, followed by Simon Glover/Russ Langthorne and Anthony Ward/Mark Solloway. Drexel Gillespie/Gill Cotton finished sixth in John Keatley’s RS 1600, the driver unusually restrained as he didn’t want to land himself with another rebuild on top of the work he’d already doing to re-shell his long-suffering Lotus Cortina. Terry Nowlan/Nick Barrington were last finishers. Joining Gower/Crisp in retirement were Jim Clark winners Rikki Proffitt/Phill Harrison.

Historic Classes

With the Smith’s Mini Cooper engine too badly damaged on the Trackrod to repair for this event, only John Morris/Chris Flavell in their 1040 Imp (allowable as a 1-litre entry) appeared in the 1-litre class. Although amalgamated with the 1300 class on the day, they remained in B1 as far as BHRC points were concerned.
Stait/Cartwright were out of sight in the B2s as usual until they went off. Clive King/Bob Ward broke a drive-shaft in Dyfi and Graeme Godfrey/Alan Hudson were slowed on the second stage by a rear puncture on their Cooper ‘S’, which in classic Mini style they only noticed when a stage finish marshal commented on it. It didn’t stop them taking the points for first in class (though Morris/Flavell beat them by nine seconds to win the event’s amalgamated class). Gordon Cameron/Sheila Grimshaw brought their 1300 S home second, comfortably ahead of Mike Barratt/Michelle Calvert.

In the 1600 (Anglia and Cortina GT) class Graham Gale made a welcome return to the co-driver’s seat, alongside son Jonathan, for this last event of the series, after his illness on the very first event of the year. Peter Scott/Simon Bentley led early on, despite an overnight gearbox change when their rebuilt unit failed after just 10 road miles. However, Gale/Gale took the lead after Gartheiniog and Ronnie Roughead/Ian Canavan bumped Scott/Bentley down to third on the last following a huge spin that nearly left the Tor Sale’ Scott car rather unsaleable. Neil White/Tolly’ took fourth, with Tim Beall/Pete Dalton fifth and the sole Anglia of Martin Pratt/David North sixth.
Peter Quinton/Andrew Turner survived a rather troubled run, in particular on Dyfnant when the engine on their Mk2 Cortina simply died, several minutes ticking away before a coil swap revived it. Keith Reed/Terry Wilson’s engine problem on the penultimate stage provedterminal. Mini Cooper-less Philip and Barbara Smith brought their Cortina out instead but they were yet another Dyfi victim, going off and bending the steering then losing the exhaust while being pulled out.
Boyd/Bell took the 2-litre-plus Lotus Cortinas class, just four seconds clear of the Greens, with Jim Clark/Roger Sutcliffe rather further back in third place and Bob Francis/Paul Jones fourth.
The over-2-litre class featured a pair of Nutts among the finishers, Nutt/McBride taking BHRC points for second with brother Chris, co­driven by Maurice Beckett in yet another John Keatley car, grabbed fourth. Perez/Bolsover naturally won the class, with Francis and Katy Tuthill third.

Classic Stage Challenge at the Bulldog Rally

Seven Classic rally cars were entered for the Bulldog Rally, the sixth and final round of the HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge for rally cars built in the years 1975 to 1981, writes Simon Marks. The non-registered crew of Dick Slaughter and Geoff Dearing travelled from Kent and won the event in an ex-Roger Clark Ford Escort RS 1800. They were third after the first stage (in Sweet Lamb), but flew through the second Sweet Lamb test to be four seconds ahead of the field. At second service, after six stages, it looked to be all going their way as they were 13 seconds up on Richard Lepley and another one over Gareth Lloyd. Lloyd produced a stunning time through Dyfi Main to head for Dyfnant just 0.1 seconds to the good, but Slaughter and Dearing pulled out the stops over the last 11 miles of smooth, dry gravel to win by 3.5 seconds. This was a successful first foray into the world of Classic rallying (and marked their first ever overall win in over 20 years together!). They are to enter the Challenge for 2004.

Gareth Lloyd and Dilwyn Llewellyn arrived with but one thing on their minds - to add to their points tally to confirm Gareth as the inaugural HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge Champion driver. They were quickest out of the blocks, setting quickest time in Sweet Lamb and then all went to plan as they settled into second place behind the non-registered Slaughter and Dearing pairing. To be ahead going into the last test was a real surprise, but they took no chances through Dyfnant and it was ‘Mission Accomplished’ for the West Wales Rally Spares backed Ford Escort RS 1800 team.

Richard Lepley and Jon Atherton were late entries in the Bulldog Classic Rally. Once again, they brought out the ex-Tony Pond Vauxhall Chevette HSR and were to record their first finish in the three rounds that they have contested this season. They settled into third place in the class and held that position to the end. less than a second a mile adrift by close of play.
The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus pairing of Stephen Stringer and his daughter-in-law, Carrol Soanes, finished fourth Classic, never on the pace of the more powerful Ford Escort RS 1800s and Vauxhall Chevette - every time Stephen talked of trying to up the pace, Carrol reminded him that they needed to finish this time out!
The 1600cc Ford Escort of Malcolm Davies and Yan Griffiths arrived from South Wales looking to score enough points to keep Malcolm as runner up in the driver’s series and Yan as the leading co­driver. Their pace was well off that of the Class D5 cars (due in the main to having around lOObhp less than a BDA) but they had a trouble free day to finish as fourth registered crew - even having time to remark on how beautiful the scenery was on the way up to the Taliesin stage! With having a high points score to drop from earlier events, their positions were a little vulnerable, but Malcolm was getting back into forest driving once more (after a high speed roll on the Mid Wales Stages earlier in the year) and no mistakes netted the spoils.
Dave Cobb and Allen Craven brought their ex-works Toyota Corolla GT down from Yorkshire, determined to go ‘balls out’ as they still had a slight chance of overall victory. This would have meant the bigger, faster cars having to drop out but nothing ventured, nothing gained... they took a handful of seconds out of Davies and Griffiths (their first targets) on the two Sweet Lamb stages but on the following seven miles of Taliesin, it all went wrong. A front off-side tyre punctured just as they turned in to a fast left hand corner and off they went. They were stuck fast in a ditch, and though the course-closing car towed them out, they were out of time. Their non-finish meant they each dropped a place in the Challenge points tables.

The unluckiest crew on the Bulldog had to be Martin Jones and Kevin Owens. After spending most of the week in Ruithin, North Wales, rebuilding the engine that was on the verge of failure on the Trackrod, they arrived at the Newtown competitive start of the rally only for a wire to snag inside the distributor and it eat all the wiring loom around it!
By and large, this was an uneventful day for the classics - the main excitement being the fight for seconds at the head of the field. The contenders revelled in superb stages in equally superb condition. At the awards presentation at the Allbrighton Hall Hotel, the talk was turning towards next year and increased numbers of Classics coming to the Challenge.