Black & Morris emerge victorious at the sodden Cambrian Rally
FUCHS LUBRICANTS 1400 rally championship Cambrian rally October 30th
The penultimate round of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS Bronze Star rally championship (cars up to 1400c.c.) took place in north Wales on the Visit Conwy Cambrian rally last Saturday. Held in conditions of driving rain variously described as grim, unrelenting, and horrible, the event was 18 crews contesting the 7 stages in the north Wales forest. From these contenders, Steve Black and Paul Morris emerges as the victors in their Suzuki Swift from Jonathon Davies (Nissan Micra) with co-driver Steve Row.
It was a tough day all round for the crews of these small two-wheel drive cars on the wet, slippery, and sometimes rough, stages, but 11 crews battled their way to the finish line and championship points.
The final round of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS championship takes place in two weeks’ time (November 13th, on the Rallynuts rally. This event had to be postponed in April, but the organising club have made a great effort to run this event in 2021. Based once again in Builth Wells, the rally takes in stages in Hafren, Sweet Lamb and Myherin. Further details are available on the event website www.rallynutsrally.co.uk
FUCHS supported drivers excel in poor conditions on Cambrian rally
Pat Naylor / Ian Lawrence in Pat’s Mitsubishi Evo 9 had a great run on the Cambrian rally to take the class N4 spoils after a mechanically faultless outing over the seven stages. The only minor fly in the day’s ointment was a malfunctioning intercom on the first two stages, but the crew were able to rectify the fault at first service – it meant that although Pat could hear Ian, Ian could not hear Pat - which didn’t seem to hinder their progress at all! Although only in a standard Mitsubishi, the pair were mixing it with the leading crews in their R5 cars, and scored both a fourth and a fifth fastest stage time.
The crew take their final outing of the season on the Rallynuts rally on November 13th, and are hoping to finish a difficult year on a high note.
FUCHS backed crew Ian Joel . Graeme Wood (Ford Escort Cosworth) were also competing on the Cambrian rally, and from a start position of 33rd on the road (on BTRDA rallies, the 1400 class cars run first on the road) they put in a drive of consistency and flair to finish 6th overall (from 112 starters in total) and take 3rd place in class B13. “On these gluey, sometimes slippery gravel roads, it’s not how much power you’ve got, it’s what you do with it” said Ian at the end of the day. The pair ended the day with a full house of top ten times on the seven stages, and were delighted with the performance of the car.
Ian and Graeme are also entered on the Rallynuts rally and are hoping for a good run on the famous mid Wales stages of Myherin, Sweet Lamb and Hafren to end a truncated season in fine style.
