Lampeter Club excel in Red Kite Rally
Lampeter and District Motor Club were well represented at the Annual Red Kite Stages and Red Kite historic stages rally with none better than the club combination of Dylan Davies and Llion Williams who were first home in the National B category in a Subaru Impreza.
This stage event run by the Amman & District Motor Club was based in the Llandovery area and featured six stages offering competitors forty-five miles of a very challenging surface.
Lampeter and district motor club were represented on the entry list in both the historic (National A rally) and modern (National B rally). Although they were effectively two separate rallies they shared the same entry list. Starting in the national A rally saw Melvyn Evans in a Mk2 Ford Escort with Mark Glennerster co driving.
There were more Lampeter club members in the National B rally, with the first being Dylan Davies and Llion Williams in Dylan’s Subaru Impreza, Dylan experimenting with a new turbo setup on his Impreza’s engine. Two places behind Dylan was BTRDA group N winner Andy Davies, who was partnered with Bro Caron winning navigator Dale Bowen, who had driven down straight after the Bro Caron to compete on the event.
They were out in Andy’s Impreza, which was now white and featured a striking blue livery, looking the part for sure. 2 More places behind at eight was Melvyn’s son Meirion Evans with regular co driver Jonathon Jackson, they were out in a Peugeot 208 R2 model. At fifty-eight were Owen McConochie and Rhodri Williams, who were out in a newly built Nissan Micra.
With the first stage beginning at approx. nine in the morning and being some eight and half miles in length all of club’s members began the day setting very good times, with Melvyn Evans posting the sixth fastest time in the national A rally.
In the National B rally Dylan and Llion got off to an excellent start, setting fastest time on the opening stage, with a time of nine minutes and seven seconds. Andy also did very well with the fourth fastest time of nine minutes and twenty-one seconds. Owen and Rhodri also got off to a good start with a time of twelve minutes and twenty-seven seconds.
It was to be a short day for Meirion and Jonathon though as they had a small off on the stage forcing them into retirement, although both crews were fine and the car had only very minor damage they were unable to regain the road so retirement was their only option, a shame as they had potential for a very good result.
Dylan and Llion continued overall quickest stage time on the next two stages! Excellent going for a crew that had a difficult 2016 it was great to see them get some times in which everyone knew they were capable of. Andy managed to set top 5 times on both of the following stages, showing Andy began the season as he finished the last, by posting excellent times! Owen and Rhodri continued to do well also seeing them in the top thirty overall and second in their class.
With the half of the day’s stages down and half left still to run the surviving club members continued to set excellent times, with Dylan and Llion setting second fastest time on the fourth stage of the day. Andy continued to set top five quickest times with fourth fastest time. Owen and Rhodri saw them continue to do well and were lying in twenty-eighth overall.
With two stages left to run Dylan and Llion set yet another fastest time on the fifth stage, with a time of 7 minutes and 11 seconds, Andy set a time of seven minutes and twenty-five seconds, which was the fourth quickest time, Owen and Rhodri managed a time of nine minutes and thirty-three seconds.
On the final stage of the day Andy set a third fastest stage time, and Dylan and Llion were fifth quickest. Owen and Rhodri were once again in the top thirty with twenty-eighth.
At the end of the day it was Dylan and Llion that pulled off a convincing win, setting four quickest times on the day’s stages, which saw them win the rally by twenty-four seconds.
An excellent start to the year for them. Andy manged to finish an excellent fourth overall and second in group N with the cars new livery, a great beginning to their year and giving Andy a great confidence boost for the up and coming BTRDA rounds. Owen and Rhodri achieved twenty-ninth overall in their little micra, an excellent result for this young crew.
In the National A rally, it was to be a short day for the sole club member competing in Melvyn Evans, as he went off on the second stage, forcing retirement.
The overall winner was Nick Elliot and co-driver Dave Price with Jason Tauber Pritchard and Phil Clarke in the runners up spot and Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver in third all driving Ford Escorts.
Photographs kindly supplied by Jack Reynolds.
