THIS bank holiday weekend sees the annual running of the Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally organised by Epynt Motor Club.
The event begins on Saturday August 27 with scrutineering and signing-on from 3pm onwards. This will be held at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, where rally headquarters is based.
There are 11 stages providing over 75 competitive stage miles that will be run on the Epynt Ranges on Sunday August 28. The action will start with the first stage at 8.45am.
The rally is a qualifying round of the MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, BTRDA Mixed Surface Rally Challenge, J.D.Tyres Welsh National Tarmacadam Championship, Hirefit King of Epynt Challenge, Brian Dennis Motorsport Welsh Historic Championship, AWMMC Heart of England Rally Championship, and the DMack Tyres & Steve Blackham Motorsport ANWCC Stage Rally Championship.
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Leading the field away are last year’s winning crew of Steve Simpson with Patrick Walsh in a Subaru Impreza. They will be closely followed by Damian Cole with Jack Morton, in his Ford Fiesta WRC, who won the event in 2014 and will be looking to regain the title.
Peter Lloyd makes an exciting return to rallying on Epynt in his Subaru Impreza with Den Golding in Car 7, and will definitely be one to watch.
The provisional top ten is as follows:- 1: Stephen Simpson & Patrick Walsh/Subaru Impreza; 2. Damian Cole & Paul Morris / Ford Fiesta WRC; 3. Andy Fraser & Michael Calvert / Darrian T9V6; 4. Bob Fowden & Paul Wakely / Subaru Impreza WRC S11; 5. David Tinn A & Giles Dykes / MEM Proton Satria Nero; 6. Stephen Petch & Jack Morton / Ford Fiesta R5+; 7. Peter Lloyd& Den Golding / Subaru Impreza S12; 8. Richard Clews & Carl Williamson / Subaru Impreza Sti; 10. Gareth Richards & Ian Jones / Darrian T90.
The first of the historic class entries is Car 17 of Neil Williams and Peter James in a Ford Escort RS 1800.
Local competitors include Brecon crew James and Lisa Chapelle in Car 87 in their Morris Mini.
The full entry list and spectator information are available to download from the Epynt Motor Club website www.epyntmc.co.uk
There will be one main spectator entrance, which must be accessed from the A40 via Llywel to Dixies Corner.
From here spectators will be able to access a variety of stages with a choice of viewing points and action. There will be toilet and catering facilities available. There is a second spectator entrance, which can be accessed from the A483 via Llanwrtyd Wells and Tirabad.
The use of these spectator areas is strongly recommended by the organising committee for safe viewing and to avoid causing obstructions to the running of the event. Please follow all signage, safety information and marshals instructions.
Please note that there will be no access onto the Epynt Ranges via Sennybridge and the surrounding villages due to PR problems. Spectators will not be allowed into FIBUA (The German Village) by order of the military.
Spectator programmes will be sold for £10 per car to raise funds towards Llandovery Carnival, Sennybridge Junior Football Team and other local causes. Money raised from spectator donations on last year’s Mewla has been donated to Wales Air Ambulance, Llanwrtyd Wells Co-Responder Scheme and Ysgol Dolafon, Llanwrtyd Wells.
The event will finish at approximately 4.30pm at the Royal Welsh Showground where the awards presentation and champagne celebrations will be held.
The winning driver of the Road Rally Class on this year’s Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally will receive a free entry on the 2016 DG Jones Agri Ltd Powys Lanes Rally. The road rally event, which is also organised by Epynt Motor Club, will be held on November 5/6, also based in Builth Wells.