Three local crews recently competed on what is arguably the toughest motor sport event in the United Kingdom at this time, writes Mark Griffin.

The Roger Albert Clark Rally ran for five days and was scheduled to visit forests in England, Scotland and Wales. Unfortunately part of this plan was scuppered by Storm Arwen which wreaked havoc across a lot of the country.

Some crews were trapped in Keilder forest on the second night when the storm hit with fallen trees making roads impassable.

As a result the rally lost the entire Scottish leg on the third day and also Gartheiniog forest in north Wales where the trail of destruction could not be cleared in time.

The three local crews were headed by Jason Pritchard from Builth Wells who was partnered by Phil Clarke in a newly built Ford Escort RS1800 from Scott Williams Motor Sport.

Jason was expected to go well having led this bi-annual event in the past and didn’t disappoint taking a healthy lead into the Welsh stages.

Unfortunately a muddy section of Dyfi forest in the dark caught him out on day four and contact with a log pile put them out of the event, Jason’s record has been impeccable this year but the RAC seems to become his bogey event.

Tredomen resident Malcolm Rich suffered early disappointment on this event last time and along with St Clears co-driver Ryland James had every intention of putting it right this time in the oldest car on the rally, a Ford Anglia 105e.

They got off to a great start and were leading the whole category after the first day putting much more powerful cars to shame.

That lead was maintained through to the finish in Carmarthen on the final day where they were classified as 26th overall which was a tremendous achievement. There were some concerns on the fourth day when the gearbox lost reverse gear but their service crew worked overnight to change it which eased the pressure on the closing stages.

After putting in a class driving performance himself, Malcolm was quick to acknowledge the team effort, saying: “Achieving such a great result on this wonderful rally has been magnificent, but it would not have been possible without the help and support of my co-driver Ryland James, our service crew; (Jez McWhirter, Adrian Leonard, Arwel Blainey and Bob Thirgood) and sponsors; B Jenkins & Sons Builders Merchant and Brecon Motor Club.”

Dai ‘Block’ Jones and Glyn Price from Abercrave and Pentrefelin respectively have rallied a yellow BMW 325 for many years but a new red version was built for this event and ran trouble free all the way through giving them a finish in 61st place overall.

The rally was eventually won by Yorkshiremen Ryan Champion and Craig Thorley in a historic specification Porsche 911. They were consistently sitting behind the leading Ford Escorts and when they fell by the wayside they were ready to fill the void and take a popular victory.

All the local crews were supported by Brecon Motor Club who in turn also prepared and ran a special stage in Glasfynydd forest not used for rallying since the RAC Rally in the early eighties.