After our return to rallying together after 40 years apart on the Plains Rally in April 2022 followed by a further foray into the Yorkshire Forests on the Malton Rally in November, Neil and I were off to attempt the iconic stages of the Rallynuts Rally (the former Severn Valley) in mid Wales on 15th April 2023. Our two previous events had been in BMW Mini’s but this time Neil wanted to have a go in a Mk 2 Escort so a suitable chariot was obtained from Tsalta Motorsport and we went over to Sweet Lamb on the Tuesday before the rally to get fitted for the car and have a test on a small gravel stage. Even though we ended up with a more powerful car than we expected, Neil did soon get the hang of rear wheel drive on gravel and was more confident of facing up to the demands of the stages we were to face on the rally.
After a 3 and a half hour drive from home, the afternoon of Friday the 14th saw us meet up at the Builth Wells (what an awkward place to get to) showground where the rally was based. The weather turned very wet and the Service Area turned into a bit of a quagmire but after getting the car through scrutineering and signing on we set off for our accommodation in a wooden lodge the other side of Builth Wells where we met up with Andy and Joanne who had come down to spectate after pulling his entry with Dave Welch.
Saturday was a complete contrast to Friday being very bright, sunny and warm. As car 93, our due start time was 09:59 and there is where things started to go astray. As we queued for MTC1, I could see 09:59 come and go on the big screen with still 3 cars in front of us. So when I got to the control I asked the marshal to change the time on my time card to the next minute and sign it. Unfortunately he refused and said my start time was still 09:59 so I made a note of the time on the clock and we set off for Stage 1 Myherin West. This was a nearly 30 mile road section that included the Elan Valley for which we had 1 hour to complete. The problem was that the good weather had brought out the Sunday drivers, push bikes and motor bikers which together with the speed restrictions and sheep made it difficult to achieve the required average speed of 29.25mph and we dropped into more of our permitted 15 minute lateness before starting Stage 1. We completed Stage 1 (Myherin West) and 2 (Myherin East) without too many issues other than me losing my place in the notes a few times before 10 mile road section to Stage 3 (Hafren Sweet Lamb).
We didn’t drop any more road time even though the road section through Sweet Lamb was a bit of a safari through the forest and we did have to push on where we could. After Stage 3 it was a 19 mile road section to Stage 4 (Cwmysgawen) through some beautiful scenery but again the road timing was tight when you are having to stop and back up after meeting DPD vans and tractors down narrow lanes. Stage 4 was a brilliant stage and I was getting better on the notes by now which contributes more to the enjoyment. It was then back to the showground for a 1 hour rest halt and refuel (crew and car in that order) before going out again to tackle the same stages but this time part of Myherin West was joined to Myherin East to make Myherin Main. Again the road time to Myherin was tight with only 5 minutes added for refuelling so we really had to push on to avoid dropping any more time and with all the Police about we were very nervous about the speeds we were doing on the road section. We did however complete the remaining three stages without dropping any more road time and we thoroughly enjoyed the stages.
We actually finished 95th O/A out of 101 but we had a great time and 18 others did not achieve a finish. Neil enjoyed his first time on gravel in a rear wheel drive car with a significant power increase over Mini’s. The stages were awesome apart from the big fresh air drops which were heavily highlighted in my notes I can tell you. I never thought I would ever compete on stages that I went to watch the Lombard RAC Rally through in the late seventies. Yes I am that old. Thanks go to Neil for the ride and keeping it on the road, Tsalta Motorsport and Sybille for looking after us, Andy and Jo for booking the accommodation and being the calming influence as usual.
Bob Draper