RallyRoots Rally Results Service - 1st Lombard Revival Rally

1st Lombard Revival Rally

Endurance Rally Association

25th-27th November 2004

Rally Director: Philip Young

Clerk of the Course: Martin Clark

Start: York

Finish: Cheltenham

Starters: 110

Photographs: M&H Photography

Winners: Matt Fowle/Peter Joy (Peugeot 106 Rallye)

The Revival Rally 2004 was designed to re-create the challenge of RAC Rallies of the 1950s and 1960s, to add to this feel the organisers had included items within the format which would link their event with by gone RACs - the start was in York, the Finish was in Cheltenham, many of the test venues had been used on Britain's premier rally 20 to 30 years ago and, the icing on the cake, they had secured the approval of Lombard to use the company's logo on the rally plates.

Winners: Matt Fowle/Peter Joy (Peugeot 106 Rallye)

On Thursday 25th November 110 starters eagerly awaited the off. Ahead of them on Day One lay 14 hours of competition in Northern England, including 17 selectifs.

One of the main talking point at the Start was how the works built MG ZRs would fare, ex-British Rally Champion Gwyndaf Evans and BTCC drivers Anthony Reid and Colin Turkington were handling the cars. It soon became apparent that, although the early selectifs used such venues as Wass, Boltby and Oliver's Mount, the Revival had more in common with road rallies than stage events.

When crews arrived at Carlisle it was the road rally drivers and navigators who were to the fore and it was no surprise that Owen Turner/Andrew Dadswell held the lead. Gwyndaf Evans, who had the highly experienced Pauline Gullick navigating, was second just seven seconds behind. Jamie Turner/Graham Raeburn had led initially, taking fastest time on the first three selectifs, however rear brake problems saw them fall down the order to 19th place at Carlisle.

A regularity section on Thursday night through Keilder caused problems, only eight crews found TC20 - an erroneous tulip was later given as the reason for this control being scrubbed. Notable amongst the retirements on the first day were Tony Fall/Willy Cave (broken steering arm after an off) and Iain Freestone/Rod Maclean (broken differential).

Top Ten Positions after Leg One: 1 Turner/Dadswell (Metro) 50m42s; 2 Evans/Gullick (MG ZR) 50m49s; 3 Biss/Woodman (Holden Barina) 50m57s; 4 Whitehurst/Atherton (Peugeot 106) 51m01s; 5 Fowle/Joy (Peugeot 106) 51m13s; 6 Day/Chalmers (Mini) 51m42s; 7 Hawkins/Tullie (Peugeot 106) 51m47s; 8 Parkinson/Duerden (Astra) 52m25s; 9 Brown/Petit (Nova) 52m37s; 10 Cotton/Cotton (Citreon AX) 52m41s.

Day 2 Leaders: Gwyndaf Evans/Pauline Gullick (MG ZR)

Day Two took competitors from Carlisle to Chester via 16 selectifs.

Evans/Gullick took the lead on the first test of the day, Sleetbeck; third fastest overall, they took 32 seconds off Turner/Dadswell. Their lead would last until the eleventh selectif, the first attempt at the Leyland Test Track, there they were penalised for a wrong test and given a maximum penalty, this put them ten minutes off the lead. Things had also got worse for Turner/Dadswell, they went off the road in Warcop, the fourth test of the leg; they would have been out of the rally but for the assistance of Owen’s brother Jamie, he stopped and pulled his sibling's car back onto terra firma - Jamie dropped a minute, Owen took a maximum but was still in the event.

The lead now passed to Mike Biss/Cath Woodman in their Holden Barina - an Australian Corsa, they took four selectif wins in the day and retained the top spot until the night halt at Chester. Only two seconds behind was the Mini of Chris Day/Ric Chalmers, who had taken the fastest time on the Leyland Test Track.

Top Ten Positions after Leg Two: 1 Biss/Woodman (Holden Barina) 1h42m17s; 2 Day/Chalmers (Mini) 1h42m19s; 3 Whitehurst/Atherton (Peugeot 106) 1h43m35s; 4 Hawkins/Tullie (Peugeot 106) 1h44m25s; 5 Fowle/Joy (Peugeot 106) 1h44m40s; 6 Cotton/Cotton (Citreon AX) 1h46m01s; 7 Johnson/Hounslow (Proton Satria) 1h46m18s; 8 Winstanley/Metcalfe (MG ZR) 1h46m20s; 9 Parkinson/Duerden (Astra) 1h47m03s; 10 Wilson/Caunt (Citreon AX) 1h47m04s.

The third and final leg took crews on a major tour of Wales. From Chester the route went south and west, eventually reaching the Mid Wales Activity Centre, then it was south and east via Epynt and Caerwent to the official finish at Aust Services on the M4. It was to demonstrate what endurance rallying should be. For two days competitors had attempted to keep on the pace, now it was the point at which they would have to make a break - and rain was falling in bucketfuls.

It didn't take long for the first major development. On the first selectif of the day at Llandegla, over night leaders Biss/Woodman's had a massive spin and went off the road, they were pulled back on by Turner/Dadswell but this process took 26 minutes, they suffered a test maximum and all chances of a win were gone.

Day 3 Leaders: Christopher Day/Ric Chalmers (Mini Cooper)

Day/Chalmers now had there Mini at the front of the field. However they hit problems when a carburetor pipe broke between tests, they managed to fix it with assistance from the ever present Owen Turner and, in a magnificent spirit of sportsmanship, by their rival for the lead, Carl Hawkins. Despite this problem the Mini pairing maintained their lead until they ran out of fuel on the first Epynt test, Spencer Leach (Car 101, Astra) supplied them with petrol, but they lost a minute and first position.

RAC Rally veterans Don Whitehurst/Terry Atherton took not only the fastest time on the Mabion Forest selectif but also the lead, they were to keep it for just one test as they slide off the road at a junction and took a maximum. They fought back during the evening to secure third place at the Finish.

Pete Tyson/Neil Harrison were moving up through the field after they’d picked up a test maximum at the test Streatlam Camp on Day One; they had been in 26th position at Carlisle, but were inside the top ten when their Mini's clutch failed on Mabion Way, they cut to the Finish and were classified in 58th place. Gwyndaf Evans was in 21st place at Chester but took fastest time on eight of the Day Three selectifs, unfortunately a wrong test on Caerwent 2 meant that he dropped to 22nd at the end.

With Epynt behind them, crews headed for the final two tests in the maze of road within the Caerwent MOD base, Day/Chalmers were back at the front. The top five positions at that point were:

1 Day/Chalmers (Mini) 3h08m29s; 2 Hawkins/Tullie (106) 3h10m46s; 3 Whitehurst/Atherton (106) 3h12m12s; 4 Fowle/Joy (106) 3h12m19s; 5 Wilson/Caunt (AX) 3h15m50s.

Caerwent 1 was 10.65 miles long and their were 99 tulips for the navigators to interpret. Day/Chalmers struggled through the test, the Mini suffering with a severe misfire. At the end of this selectif the positions were:

1 Hawkins/Tullie (106) 3h32m42s; 2 Fowle/Joy (106) 3h33m07s; 3 Day/Chalmers (Mini) 3h34m46s; 4 Whitehurst/Atherton (106) 3h35m08s; 5 Wilson/Caunt (AX) 3h36m20s.

Caerwent 2 was slightly shorter but its 7.36 miles were defined by 68 tulip diagrams. Matt Fowle/Peter Joy, who had experienced Caerwent on a number of occasions previously, took fastest time and more importantly were one minute forty-two seconds faster than Hawkins/Tullie. With the last throw of the dice Fowle/Joy took the lead for the first time, there was no better time to hold it.

OVERALL RESULTS