PEAK REVS ROAD RALLY 2011

Ludlow Castle Motor Club organised its annual PEAK REVS Road Rally on the 26^th – 27^th of November.

75 crews started the 120 mile event, which began its route from LEOMINSTER CAR AUCTIONS.

Conditions for the early part of the rally were good and dry, but damp roads and the autumn fall left the roads and tracks very slippery and a challenge to all competitors.

The event was won over all by the Volkswagon Golf crew of Ian Roberts and Gwawr Hughes by just 2 seconds from Meirion Evans and Iwan Jones In the Escort MK2. Finishing off the top three just 60 seconds behind were Hywel Davies and Ceri Davies in another Escort MK2.

2010 winners Nic Morris and Martin Phasey in their Escort MK2 were hoping for a repeat of the good fortune from the last time the event ran, but a crucial timing error on the event put them into fourth place.

Leading LCMC members home was Simon Mellings navigated by Max Freeman in the newly acquired Ford Puma. They finished a respectable 9^th overall and 7^th in expert class.

Next of the club members home were the father and daughter crew of Phil and Becky Clarke in the Proton Compact. Having made a slight error which resulted in a 360 degree tour of a field early on in the event.  Then, Picking up a puncture in Bringewood just after TC14 meaning they had to stop and change the wheel on a competitive section dropping  a further ten minutes.

Becky said after the event “we missed a fallen code board in Wigmore, which we got a fail for, but all that aside we really enjoyed it, it was a good event”. They finished 44th and 5th novice

One place behind them was Jim Jones and Ben Nixon in the Skoda Felicia
It was Jim (and the cars) second event in as many weekends, a busy week leading up to the event having changed the suspension to cope better with the off road sections.
The event started well for the crew, having  cleaned a few sections and had a great run thru some farmyards and fields, and were looking forward to the forestry sections coming up, They started the Bringewood section which was very slippery, but still great fun to drive, Catching and passing a car in the first mile gave them a boost to push on for the finish.  However a short detour in the next off road section, following the directions of some spectators, and then missing the same code board in Wigmore meant they were close to being OTL at the halfway holt.
The second part of the event was going well for them, although the rain had set in making conditions a bit more tricky. Their joy was short lived when they hit a hole in the last selective causing damage to the suspension of the car, added to that was the small issue of the clutch starting to slip, so they settled for just nursing the car through the last three miles. Speaking at the finish Jones said” The wipers stopped working on the way to the finish control, so we were just glad to get back in one piece, have a drink and some breakfast. I am getting to old for this much lack of sleep!”  They finished 46^th overall with 1 fail and had a great night out.

Last of the club member’s home was up and coming co driver Dan Petrie, co driving for Ian Ross in the Rally Rides Subaru Impreza. They had a trouble free night finishing 55^th overall

Heading up the retirements from the club members was James Wozencroft and Chris Ridge in the RWD Subaru Impreza. The pair were setting times equivalent to the top ten cars. A broken rear differential forced them to pull out shortly after Passage Control P.

Brothers Martin and Simon Ridge were have a similar amount of luck. The car let all the water out of the engine just after the start, and then they were plagued with an engine misfire all night. Simon commented after the event “ The throttle cable broke after TC14, we fixed it but then the car wouldn’t pull away from controls so we called it a night before the halfway point”

Clerk of the Course Anthony Gluyas , speaking to LCMC Media after the event said” I would like to thank all involved for their help on the event, in particular all home and property owners on route, without their co operation this event and many like it would not happen”

REPORT BY LCMC MEDIA