WELSH RALLY RETRO 24/25th APRIL 1999

The 1999 Welsh Rally Retro was held over the weekend of 24/25th April. For the second year running the event started from the excellent venue of Gelli Aur Country Park near Llandeilo.

The day leg stayed on map 159, looping south and west from Llandeilo to take in Llanelli, Pembrey and Carmarthen, with four pre-plotted regularity sections and 16 special tests.

At the end of the day leg, back at Gelli Aur, the leaders were Geoff Twigg and Graham Carter, from Dick and Mark Appleton, both Mini Cooper S crews.

After a four hour break the rally moved NE to Llandovery for the restart on a really tough night section. Split into 3 legs, the first and last used the same area of private roads in Halfway Forest, Crychan Forest and Eppynt, navigation being by marked maps. The middle leg used the classic roads up to Abergwesyn and Llyn Briane, all pre-plotted from the roadbook. Between each leg there was a run back to Llandovery for a quick "splash and dash" petrol stop and time card collection, keeping the pressure on all night.

The toughness of the night section took its toll on crews and cars. Colin Evans and Nigel Raeburn spun backwards into a Crychan ditch in their MGBGT, where they stayed for 20 minutes until another competitor kindly towed them out. Adam Wiseberg and Richard Dix had to retire their Cooper S with a flat battery after the water in an unexpectedly deep ford damaged their alternator. Dick and Mark Appleton suffered two punctures and lost time until they managed to fit a spare wheel borrowed from Peter Horsburgh & Dave Wilson's Cooper S which retired soon afterwards with broken front suspension.

Otherwise most crews found difficulty in finding the correct route through the forests where there are so many "not as map" junctions and new roads not properly mapped, resulting in missed controls & passage checks and wrong approaches. Day section leaders Geoff Twigg & Graham Carter were one of the crews to suffer from these penalties. However one crew that had very little difficulty was last year's winners Peter and Michael Valentine, in their Mini Cooper S, which only dropped 3 minutes all night, and that all from an early wrong slot into a quarry in Halfway Forest which caught out almost everybody.

As is usual with the Welsh Retro, it was the night section performance that had the overwhelming contribution to the overall results, Peter and Michael Valentine therefore winning the event outright for the second year running. Second was the Saab of Ian Meakin & Allan Evans and third the Volvo Amazon of David Hughes & Andy Gibson by only 6 seconds from 4th placed Dick and Mark Appleton.

The concensus from the leading crews was that the 1999 Welsh Rally Retro was a suitably challenging and very well organised event. The total man hours incurred in recceeing and planning must have been immense, not to mention all the meticulous paperwork which the organising team had undertaken, just to provide an event for just 36 competitors. Well done Dennis Cardell and the organising team and a big thank you to all those Marshals.

Top 10 Results

1 Peter Valentine Mike Valentine Mini Cooper S 00:25:19
2 Ian Meakin Allan Evans Saab 00:45:18
3 David Hughes Andy Gibson Volvo 121 00:49:01
4 Dick Appleton Mark Appleton Mini Cooper S 00:49:07
5 Geoff Twigg Graham Carter Mini Cooper S 00:52:49
6 Colin Evans Nigel Raeburn MGB 00:57:44
7 David McRobert Peter Blackett Mini Cooper S 00:58:43
8 Tony Brookes Ian Young Saab 96 01:04:45
9 Kevin Holley Dan Holley Avenger 01:09:27
10 Keith Grant Cliff England Volvo 122S 01:11:06

Order of Championship Crews

No Driver Navigator Score
1 (Peter Valentine) Mike Valentine 00:25:19
9 David Hughes (Andy Gibson) 00:49:01
2 Dick Appleton Mark Appleton 00:49:07
5 Geoff Twigg Graham Carter 00:52:49
6 Colin Evans Nigel Raeburn 00:57:44
16 David McRobert Peter Blackett 00:58:43
22 Ian White Tony Widdowson 02:03:55
28 Ernest Calvert Brian Smith 04:12:52
19 Ted Howles Judy Howles 04:43:47
38 Michael Watkins Jaqueline Salter 07:35:25
33 Mark Hinchley David North 10:12:00
35 Martin Pratt Patricia Pratt 23:40:04
10 Adam Wiseberg Richard Dix Ret
11 Peter Horsburgh Dave Wilson Ret
23 Colin Hewitt Andrew Swann Ret
27 Andrew Davies Jonathan Davies Ret
37 Mike Spindle David Schon Ret
40 Marcus Jennings Thomas Sadd Ret