august/september 2007

ditton priors stages october 14th 2007

This event has been cancelled. Please see regs page.

peak revs rally november 10th/11th 2007

Regs & Entry form can be downloaded from our Regs page.

PLAINS RALLY 2007

Just over 120 cars started the Plains Rally from Welshpool to compete on the Plains Rally, the penultimate Round of the 2007 Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Series.
The competitors faced one run through the wood yard of Mick Jones just outside Welshpool town centre before heading off for a further 7 special stages in the Welsh forests, including Dyfi, Pantperthog and Gartheniog.
The very muddy and slippery 2 mile stage in the wood yard caught many competitors out with 6 cars rolling.
Ludlow Castle Motor Club’s Neil Weaver, co-driven by Nick Thornton, was one of the six.
Neil was out competitively for the first time in a 4-wheel car, a Subaru Impreza B13, and despite extensive body damage to the car he was able to carry on and finished in 27th place O/A.
The wood yard also caught out fellow club members Tom and Jon Scott who went off the road twice on this stage, once hitting a gate post.
In spite of this Tom and John maintained their 100% finishing record and brought the Vauxhall Nova home in 59th place O/A.
The Rally was won by Jon Ingram and Ian Allsop in their Subaru Impreza S1 WRC by 6 seconds, but all eyes were on the battle between Andrew Burton / Shelley Rogerson and Shaun Gardener / Ben Innes.
Andrew and Shaun had a close fight on the recent Woodpecker Stages Rally and both promised to continue the friendly rivalry on the Plains Rally.
As on the Woodpecker, Andrew’s awesome Peugeot Cosworth proved too powerful for Shaun and he took 2nd place O/A.
The TNT Tyres (Ludlow) Mitsubishi Evo 5.9 of LCMC’s Shaun and Ben crossed the finish line in 3rd place O/A, just under a minute behind Andrew Burton.
Three other LCMC crews finished in the top twenty:
Just outside the top ten was Alex Allingham in his Subaru Impreza in 12th place, with
Henri Grehan / Shane Bowen in the Plas Lime Ford Escort RS 14th O/A and 2nd two-wheel drive car.
Will Onions, with Telford’s Tim Hobbs, finished 3 places behind and 3rd two-wheel drive car in another Mark 2 Ford Escort.
Unfortunately, the other LCMC crews were forced to retire due to accidents.
Having survived the wood yard, the Mark 2 Ford Escort of Dave “The Flying Farmer” Brick and Rob Woodhouse hit a tree in the 2nd stage, Pantperthog, taking them out of the rally.
The second run through Dyfi forest claimed the Vauxhall Nova of Gary Scott and Mike Scrimgour when it hit a bank.
The final Round of the 2007 Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Series takes place in North Wales on November 3rd.

REPORT by KEITH GLUYAS

The Historic Tour of Flanders

John Worthing was the only Ludlow Castle Motor Club member to travel across the water to compete in Belgium on the 7th Round of the British Historic Rally Championship.

The Historic Tour of Flanders was a two day event with the stages consisting of very slippery tarmac in narrow lanes.

John’s JT Foam and Fibre Ford Escort Mexico ran with out major problems and despite an overshoot on the first stage and a spin on the following stage John had an excellent result.

Finishing 7th Post Historic Car, 1st 1600cc car and in 17th position O/A gave John very valuable points in the BHRC.

John now leads his class in the Championship by 7 points with only one Round left to go, the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire on 6th October.

REPORT by KEITH GLUYAS

WOODPECKER STAGES RALLY 2007

The Famous Woodpecker Stages Rally, one of the most popular events in the rallying calendar, was once again organised by Sixty & Worcestershire Motor Club.
The event was the 7th Round of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Series and also a Round of many other Championships.
As in recent years the event was based at Ludlow Racecourse and whilst the number of entries was comparatively low, the quality of the competitors certainly drew the spectators out to see the action.
Not only was Andy Burton (previous winner of the event 8 times) out in his awesome hybrid Peugeot Cosworth, but two BTRDA Series Gold Star Champion crews were also competing.
Both champion crews are locals, Shaun Gardener / Ben Innes (2006 Gold Star Champions) and Roger Chilman Jnr / Andrew Sankey (2005 Gold Star Champions).
Shaun and Ben were very lucky to get to the start of the event at all as the TNT Tyres Ludlow Mitsubishi Evo 6 had proved troublesome to prepare and was only ready on the evening of the rally.

Shaun & Ben

Shaun would like to express his sincere thanks to Smudger and the rest of the team for working so hard on the car into the early hours of many mornings.
The stage was set for a very close battle for the lead right from the start, with last year’s winners, Shaun and Ben, keeping Andy Burton at bay on the very dusty runs through Bringewood, High Vinnals, Wigmore and Hopton forests.
The power of Andy Burton’s Peugeot Cosworth on the long straights in Radnor enabled him to eat away at Shaun and Ben’s lead and by the end of the last stage in Haye Park he had won the event by 21 seconds.
This was Andy’s 9th Woodpecker win, this time he was co-driven by his young son, Josh.

Ludlow Castle Motor Club members were out in force competing.
The highest placed LCMC members were Shaun and Ben who crossed the finish line in second place, unable repeat their 2006 success.

Roger & 'Maps'

4th place was claimed by Andrew Sankey, co-driving for Hereford’s Roger Chilman Jnr in the Subaru Impreza.

Simon Rogers

Simon Rogers, still getting to grips with the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, took 16th place and Will Onions, co-driven by Telford’s Tim Hobbs, brought the Mark 2 Escort home in 21st position.

Will Onions

Having survived a big accident on July’s Neath Valley Stages in the Subaru Impreza, Alex Allingham had a much better day and finished the event in 24th place.
Despite a slipping clutch in the Opel Manta, Adrian Allen and Michael Wilding kept going, finishing 56th O/A.
Rob Archer had a troubled day in the Ford Escort RS 1800 but managed to finish in 77th place.

Alex

Adrian & Mike

As is usual on BTRDA Series Rounds, the events host the Tesco 99 Octane 1400 Rally Championship.

This section of the Rally runs at the front of the Open Category and LCMC has provided the winner of this category many times in recent years in the shape of Neil Weaver.
Neil, with his usual co-driver Nick Thornton, took the lead of the 1400’s right from the start and was heading for what seemed to be another effortless win.
Unfortunately the gear box broke on the Proton Satria in Haye Park, the very last stage of the day, with the subsequent time loss dropping them to third position in the 1400’s and 40th O/A in the rally.

Neil & Nick

The other LCMC members competing in the 1400 section were:
Chris Brooks, co-driving for Nathan Crewe in the MG ZR, finished in 54th place, with
Gary Scott in his Vauxhall Nova finishing three places behind.
The budding youngsters Tom and Jon Scott continued their successful run of finishes by crossing the line in 67th place, despite a frightening 360 degree spin very close to a sharp drop in High Vinnals.

Unfortunately, the rest of the LCMC crews failed to finish due mainly to mechanical problems, apart from brothers Martin and Simon Ridge who rolled the Vauxhall Nova down the embankment where Tom and Jon had spun. They managed to drive out of the stage but with the car so badly damaged they had to call it a day and retire.
The other retirements were:
Dave Lewis, competing for the first time in a front wheel drive car broke down on the second stage of the day, as did the Ford Escort of Martin Wyles.
The gear box of Simon Mellings Alfasud Ti broke on the same stage as did the Ford Focus’s gear box of Mike Woolcock.
Andy Bowen’s Escort G3 broke a steering arm on the 4th stage.
Mark Kinsey, co-driving for Hereford’s Reg Davies went out on the 5th stage, Radnor, when the gear box broke in the Vauxhall Nova.
Radnor also claimed the Plas Lime Ford Escort RS of Henri Grehan and Shane Bowen when bolts broke causing the axle to part company from the car.
Exactly the same thing happened to the Mark 2 Escort of Joe Price and Phil Clarke in Haye Park, the very last stage of the day.

REPORT by KEITH GLUYAS

PHOTOS by RALLY ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY

COME ALONG TO THE VIDEO SOCIAL AT THE SALWEY ARMS ON WEDNESDAY, 12th SEPTEMBER.

VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE RECENT WOODPECKER STAGES WILL BE SHOWN ON THE BIG SCREEN STRAIGHT AFTER LUDLOW CASTLE MOTOR CLUB’S MONTHLY MEETING.

ADMITTANCE £1.00 PER PERSON
TO INCLUDE LIGHT REFRESHMENTS.

CONTACT KEITH ON 01584 781265
FOR FURTHER DETAILS.