Sunday the 1st May saw the South Wales Automobile Club Ltd, P.A.R.C Garage Dixies Historic Challenge take place on the Military Ranges in the Brecon Beacons just outside Sennybridge.
The event was 40 plus stage miles with 12 stages taken two at the time with a quick service in between. With the weather forecast promising rain the 20 HRCR Mini crews just all made it through scrutineering just before the heavens opened.The persisting weather conditions of wind and rain for the rest of the day made the stages extremely slippery for the crews not being helped by oil being dropped on one of the stages by a preceding car. Many of the crews commenting on how greasy the surface was, after coming in to the first service.
The record 20 Minis entered on the day after a late entry for Paul Price / Steve Link. Everyone was struggling for tyre choices due to the weather conditions. Clive King / Anton Bird had an excellent result in the love:mini backed Mini being the first Historic Mini home taking 25th overall. Pushing all day long and finishing 6 places higher then second Mini Adrian Kermode / Maurice Beckett. Shane Gamble / Bob Ward came in joint third only 11 seconds behind finishing their first event of the season.
Jim Brindle having finished the R.A.C.E Motorsport car early in the week after extensive damage from the AGBO Stages with co driver Darren Meadows shared 3rd place. Eric Davies / Russell Joseph suffered wiper failure took 4th place Peter Horsborough / Graham Carter in the Mini Spares Mini suffered engine power issues all day with no top end speed and then discovering why it was handling badly once he got home due to the Hydrolastic suspension failing on the left hand side of the car. They took 5th place.
Peter Ellerby / Simon Boukt came home in 6th place 39th overall. Jonathan and Nigel Bennett were first open class mini home taking 40th overall. Ken Pryce / Don James were another crew to suffer a misfire during the day causing them considerable time lost having just fitted a 970cc engine. A change of distributor did not fix the issue and they had to limp through the last stages of the day. Investigation once home revealed a broken rocker.
Andrew O’Hanlon / Ryan Taylor event got off to a very bad start when their accelerator cable snapped on the first junction on the first stage after their temporary repaired failed. They managed to fix it, to carry on but a misfire thwarted their attempt to claim the lost time back ending up 46th overall.
Results
First Historic Mini Clive King / Anton Bird
First Open Class Jonathan / Nigel Bennett
The next event is the Red Dragon IT Stages, at Down Ampney on May 28th. This is a non spectator rally unfortunately with only competitors and service crews allowed on the site.
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