Cambrian Rally
One of the oldest and most popular rallies in Wales was cancelled after just one stage on the weekend due to treacherous road conditions
The event which was due to start and finish on Llandudno promenade and which would have taken in some very testing stretches across the forests of North Wales was called off by the organisers, the North Wales Car Club because of the heavy snow that fell most of the day.
This was not the outcome that Subaru driver Tom Cave, co-driver James Morgan, or indeed all of the 108 competitors and everyone involved had expected, but the significant overnight fall of snow and sub-zero temperatures gave the organisers little choice.
Cave who came into this rally on the back of a big season with the Llandysul based Spencer Sport team in 2016 tested the McKinstry Motorsport WRC Subaru Impreza on Friday morning. After a few small tweaks to the suspension and with the DMACK tyres working extremely well, Tom felt comfortable in the car and ready to challenge for his first Cambrian Rally victory.
But, when cave and James arrived at the start of the opening stage they were surprised to encounter a road that was completely covered in compacted snow and ice. Running ahead of the rest of the field, there were no tyre tracks or indeed any sign of gravel showing through the white carpet that lay ahead of them.
A cautious approach was definitely the order of service and, with very little grip to be had, and the pair were extremely relieved to make it to the finish of the stage, having stayed on the road and setting third-fastest overall time after a masterly display of car control. However, any measure of performance was somewhat irrelevant, as it was clear from a competitor’s perspective that the rally could go no further.
“It wasn’t quite the event that we and the organisers of the Cambrian Rally were expecting. While our WRC counterparts are driving on snow and ice in Rally Sweden this weekend, we really didn’t think we would be doing the same in North Wales!
“But for us, it was without studded tyres. We only did the first stage then came news that organisers had cancelled the remaining five stages and subsequently instructed crews to return to the service area, where said Cave:
“James and I only completed the first stage – a 6.35-mile run through Alwen Forest – before the organisers cancelled the remaining five stages on the grounds of safety, bearing in mind the treacherous conditions.
” As first car on the road, there were no tyre tracks, just continuous compacted snow on top of ice and I must admit that we were relieved to get to the end of the stage and to have stayed on the road. We set third-fastest time, although that was fairly irrelevant in the end.
“It was absolutely the right decision to cancel the rest of the event. It was crazy carrying on in those conditions. I feel sorry for the organisers and marshals, as I appreciate just how much work goes into a rally like this. But it was better to take this course of action than to take any risks in conditions that were more in keeping with the Swedish Rally that’s also taking place this weekend.”
Cave and Morgan in action. Video by MadBobMedia-MBM
Clerk of the course Alyn Edwards said :”Unfortunately the weather beat us and the snow and sheet ice prevented us from achieving our goals and enabling us to run the stages.
“The decision to abandon the event was not an easy one and one that was not taken lightly, but with a lot of sadness.
“It became clear that we had problems when it was reported that marshals could not reach their locations in Aberhirnant, options to cut were looked at and even to run it only in the afternoon, but the snow was still falling heavily.”
Pics: Richard Simpson
