The sixth round of the HRCR Speedsport Design Championship, Ilkley and District motor club's Jubilee Historic rally, now in its seventh year and being supported by Classic Car Group had a entry of forty with thirty seven making the start on a cool but bright morning. The event had moved its start venue to Pool Mills as the usual start venue at Harry Ramsdens Guiseley had been taken over for the weekend by a brass band competition.
Test one in the mill grounds saw the Porsche of Peter Stoner/Joe Applegarth taking joint fastest time with the MG 1300 of the two Nigel's - messieurs Sykes and Bromley. Leading crews away from the start was last years winning Mini Cooper of Adam Wiseberg who had Peter Blackett next to him in the hot seat followed by the winners of the previous round the Quality Scotch - Julien Lucking/Richard Norbury Saab 96 who had already had problems on Test one with a loose exhaust.
The first regularity section took crews to the next test site at Scargill reservoir and was a short section defined by tulips and went via Leathley triangle and finished by going through Stainburn Forest, most of the top crews dropping a couple of seconds at the two controls, some of the later crews missing the forest entrance though.
The first visit to Scargill for Tests two and three saw the first major retirement as Lucking/Norbury Saab suffered with exhaust problems again on Test two and retired after visiting a ditch. The other crews survived the slippy conditions on Test three as the road went from the open moorland to under cover through the trees. Wiseberg/Blackett being quickest on Test two by four seconds from the Opel Kadett of newcomers Peter Leary/Susan McClean and the Porsche of Stoner/Applegath four seconds clear of Wiseberg/Blackett on Test three.
The second regularity's navigation started with spot heights, only three of them with the route going via Fewston and Blubberhouses to the next handout issued on Kex Gill moor which was gradient arrows and went down the narrow Storiths road which runs alongside the River Wharfe opposite Bolton Abbey this section finishing by going over Barden Moor with again most of the top crews dropping seconds at the four controls.
The next test at Skipton Ford saw the Cortina of David Marsden/Murray Foster using the rear wheel drive to good effect by powering around the 360 turns around the cones required by the test, a second ahead of Wiseberg/Blackett and Stoner/Applegath.
With the rally moving onto the quicker roads on Elslack Moor the navigation started with grid line tulips but subsequent handouts required a bit more thought as first the grid line numbers disappeared and then the tulips which were "as the map" were straightened, this caused problems for some crews who started dropping minutes rather than seconds with leading Speedsport crew John Hunt/Elaine Hunt Triumph Herald in trouble straight away by being thirteen minutes late at the first of the three intermediate control.
From Elslack the rally's pace was slowed by the continuing road works in Garagrave as crews headed to the traditional Lunch Halt at Coniston Hall and now familiar test which starts on the tarmac drive and ends on gravel near to the restaurant. Wiseberg/Blackett obviously were keen to get to the food first as they failed to stop at the test finish much to the surprise of the spectators who were positioned behind the fence at the end of the test. Quickest here was Leary/McClean followed by the Volvo PV544 of Chris Naylor/Nick Pullan which certainly seemed to be bouncing over the bumps towards the end of the test.
Most crews had time for lunch first before they started attending their vehicles the bonnets up on most cars, with Derek Skinner/Tony Pettie having to take the carburettor to pieces on their A35 after discovering that water and petrol don't mix. As expected the top crews were only separated by seconds and with consistent test and regularity times saw that the Mini Cooper of Pete Tyson/Neil Harrison had a seven second advantage over Dean Jackson/Dominic Barron who were giving their new Escort its first outing. Wiseberg/Blackett were the penalty they received at the end of Test five, just ten seconds behind the leaders, with Andrew Down/Richard Lambley MG Midget leading semi expert being only just over a minute down on the leaders and also ahead of over half the expert class.
From lunch the route moved onto the Dales roads a twenty six mile section defined by junctions colours taking the road past Gisburn Forest with its stubborn sheep and the wonderful views across to Inglebrough before dropping down to Settle, Jackson/Barron put the pressure on the leaders by dropping four seconds at the four controls to end up only a second behind Tyson/Harrison who dropped ten seconds on this section along with Wiseberg/Blackett. A top up with fuel was needed before another twenty six mile moorland section this time from the hairpins at Langcliffe over the top to Arncliffe and a run down Littondale and Wharfedale to Burnsall and on to the tea halt at Stump Cross Caverns.
Most crews encountered something even more stubborn than the sheep on the previous section - Sunday Dales traffic, the dry sunny start to the day bringing people out to enjoy the last day, or was it the first ! of the summers sun, the traffic slowing Jackson - Barron to allow the leaders Tyson/Harrison to turn the one second gap into eight seconds.Tests six and seven followed at Pioneer quarry with Wiseberg/Blackett quickest on both tests trying to take back the lead after dropping time on the last regularity.
The final handout was a number of grid squares defined by the text in the square which you had to visit Wiseberg/Blackett dropping only a second at each of the three controls, but this didn't alter the top three positions as neither Tyson/Harrison or Jackson/Barron had any problems on this section either. It was then back to Scargill for a repeat of the morning tests this time run in the opposite direction Wiseberg/Blackett second on Test eight to the two Nigel's and the positions then being reversed on Test nine.
Wiseberg/Blackett had shown they were quickest on the tests and finished third overall, Jackson/Barron dropped the least time on the regularity to finish second but the overall winners remained Tyson/Harrison with consistent times on both the regularities and the tests. Down/Lambley consolidated their position at the head of the semi experts finishing a very creditable fifth overall. The novices had their own battle during the day, this year Colin Valentine's Sunbeam Stiletto coming out in front of newcomers Colin and Andrew Thorpe Sunbeam Alpine.