The special award winners from the fourth round of the 2018 FUCHS LUBRICANTS MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Red Kite Stages (24 June), have been announced.
Ken Graham and Rory McCann collected the award for the ‘Best Improvement on Seeding’, which is a set of axle brake pads from Mintex. They took their class C2 Hillman Avenger to an impressive 16th overall in the historic results as they battled for class victory. Ultimately, the Northern Ireland/Isle of Man crew missed a class win by just three seconds.
The ‘Spirit of the Rally’ product award from Fuchs Lubricants went to Barry Stevenson-Wheeler who had worked flat out to repair his Ford Escort Mk2 after an off on the Carlisle Stages two weekends earlier. Barry and his team worked tirelessly to get the car ready for the Red Kite but were dealt another blow when he had stop and change a puncture on the opening stage. They battled on and set three top 10 times in the remaining four stages.
Finally, Paul Barrett won the ‘Hard Charger’ award of a 20-litre jerry can from Green Valley Industrial Supplies. Despite two punctures in the first three stages, he fought back to grab victory on the final stage and get his title bid back on track after a non-finish on the Carlisle Stages.
Barrett bounces back to top Red Kite
Posted: November 14, 2018 3:23 AM
Paul Barrett and new co-driver Will Rogers fought back from early delays to scoop maximum points in round four of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Red Kite Stages (24 June).
As the event took rallying back into the forests of South Wales for the first time in four years, a fabulous battle raged for BHRC points behind rally winner Osian Pryce. Just 42s covered the top seven championship finishers and Barrett/Rogers scythed ahead of Simon Webster/Jez Rogers to score a last stage victory. In a dramatic finish, Steve Bennett/Osian Owen edged Webster back to fourth by a single second, while only one second down on Bennett was another Escort Mk2 in the hands of Ryan Barrett/Paul McCann.
Category victories went to Chris Skill/Tom Murphy (Ford Escort Mk1) and Malcolm Rich/Arwel Blainey (Ford Anglia) on a day when high speed stages and hanging dust made conditions challenging. However, the little used stages drew rave reviews from the crews, many of whom were tackling these forests for the first time.
As well as being the fourth of eight BHRC rounds, the Red Kite Stages was also the fourth round of the BHRC Forest Challenge, supported by Rally and Competition Equipment, and was the fourth event for the new BHRC2, supported by Sherwood Engines.
Barrett and Webster opened their battle by setting the same time in the first Crynant stage, but it changed in stage two in Resolven when Barrett collected a front puncture and drove out on it, losing about 20s. Rudi Lancaster/Guy Weaver also punctured, but up into contention came Bennett/Owen and Ryan Barrett/Paul McCann.
After service came a single run at nine miles in Margam and Bennett was a strong second as punctures struck Webster, who lost at least 20s, and both Barretts. After a second visit to service, Barrett went on the attack for the re-run of the first two stages.
Starting the deciding Glyn Castle stage, three seconds covered the top trio and Barrett continued his attack to grab maximum BHRC points from Bennett and Webster as 10 seconds decided the BHRC top three. Ryan Barrett joined the party by getting to within a second of Webster.
It was an important result for Paul Barrett in the championship after a non-finish on the previous rally. “We’ve had so much help to get here after the fire on Carlisle,” he said of the work to rebuild the Escort after an engine fire two weeks earlier. Bennett delivered a superb drive and Webster drew equal praise for running at the very head of the pace.
Lancaster deserved more than points for fifth after a puncture and late clutch issue, and he was chased home by the leading two Pinto-powered Escort Mk2s from class D3. Despite the driver feeling unwell, Stuart Egglestone and Brian Hodgson did it again but this time it was very close as Ben Friend and Cliffy Simmons were just 7s adrift after a mighty day-long scrap. Friend capped his day with third fastest time in Bryn but sadly off the road in the morning went class contender Josh Browne and Jane Edgington.
While Barrett/Rogers topped the Rally and Competition Equipment Category 3, it was Chris Skill and Tom Murphy who took a great win in the Skipton Ford Category 2 with a performance that took them inside the top 10 overall. However, Skill was relieved to make the finish with an ailing diff. Skill’s main category rivals were delayed by punctures and so into a fine second in Category 2 went the class C3-winning Hillman Avenger of Baz Jordan/Paul Wakely as Avengers packed out the top of the category.
BHRC2 supported by Sherwood Engines
The Red Kite Stages was the fourth round of the new BHRC2, supported by Sherwood Engines, which has been created to turn the spotlight on the REIS Category 1 (pre-1968) cars and all other up to 1600cc cars in the championship.
The value and status of BHRC2 was ably demonstrated as the top three cars were covered by just 11 seconds after a glorious battle at the head of class C2. Eliot Retallick and Tim Tugwell (Hillman Avenger) badly wanted a finish and battled back from a cautious start to grab the class over the similar car of Ken Graham/Rory McCann and the Escort Mk1 of Robin Shuttleworth/Ronnie Roughead. But any one of the three crews could have been on top after a fantastic contest.
The result of Category 1 changed within sight of the end of the final stage when Rikki Proffitt and Graham Wild were nearly a minute ahead until a damaged ball joint allowed a front wheel to work loose. With just three corners of the final stage to go, their rally was over.
Instead, Malcolm Rich and Arwel Blainey swept by to win Category 1 after an attacking drive in the Ford Anglia. Bob Bean and Miles Cartwright (Lotus Cortina) were half a minute adrift after a slightly off-colour rally, but still clear of the Volvo Amazon of Ken Davies/Alun Jones.
The wraps have come off the 2018 Red Kite Stages and entries have now opened for the Amman and District Motor Club event, which will run in the forests of South Wales on Sunday 24 June.
In a break with tradition, this popular forest event will run in the superb, and under-used, forests of South Wales and will be organised to the new Rally 2WD format, with all the two-wheel drive cars running first on the road. The 2WD event will run through the morning, with the 4WD event following as soon as possible afterwards.
The organisers are now inviting competitors to reserve a place on the entry list with a £50 deposit towards the full entry fee. All places secured with a deposit will be held until 24 May when the balance of the fee must be paid. All entries, including those reserved with a deposit, will be accepted in order of receipt.
Clerk of the Course Gareth Thomas said: “We recognise that many crews are planning to enter other events before the Red Kite. So we have introduced a deposit system to allow crews to show a commitment to our event, without having to outlay a full entry fee at this point.”
The event will start a maximum of 120 2WD cars and a maximum of 30 4WD cars for a route covering five special stages and 45 stage miles in a very compact route, taking in less than 70 road miles.
The mid-summer date should ensure that the superb stages are in perfect condition. Around 18 miles will be double-used and the start and central servicing will be on hard standing close to Neath town centre. Scrutineering will be on Saturday 23 June with the possibility of Sunday morning sessions for the four-wheel drive cars. The first 4WD car will start at 1pm on Sunday.
The route will include stages that have not been used since Wales Rally GB in 2012 and all of the stages will be in NRW forests, with no usage in Walters Arena. The event is supported by Harris Signs & Graphics Ltd in Swansea and the organisers are grateful for the support of all the event sponsors and partners.
Date change to Sunday 24 Jun 18
Posted: December 28, 2017 3:07 PM
Red Kite Stages: date change
There has been a slight date change for the 2018 Red Kite Stages, which will now run on Sunday 24 June and not as previously planned on the Saturday. This change is due to circumstances beyond the control of the event organisers.
Two Historic Reunions planned for 2018
Posted: October 22, 2017 5:33 AM
Two reunions for historic stage rally cars will be held next year, during Rally North Wales in March and the Red Kite Stages in June.
The pair of gravel rallies will run to the new Rally 2WD format and the team behind Rally 2WD is working to encourage as many historic crews as possible to support these Historic Reunion events in particular.
Rally North Wales (Saturday 24 March) and the Red Kite Stages (Saturday 23 June) will offer historic crews the best possible stage conditions by running all the two-wheel drive mileage ahead of the four-wheel drive cars and the plan is to build significant historic entries by making these two rallies a celebration of historic rallying on gravel.
As well as generating strong entries for the two rallies, the idea of the Historic Reunions is to bring back the atmosphere, camaraderie and fun that was always a key element of historic rallying. Unfortunately, the changes to event running order brought in on safety grounds have fragmented and decimated the historic entry.
“In 2014 there were 95 historic cars entered on the Mid Wales Stages and a total of 111 two-wheel drive cars,” said Simon Wallis from Rally 2WD. “Rally2WD is designed to encourage historic and all two-wheel drive cars back to the forests, but it needs everybody's support to make it work or one day we won't have any rallies left.
“We already have pledges from over 25 competitors to enter Rally North Wales in March, which will be the first event run to this new format. The idea behind the Historic Reunion is to ensure that this movement does not disappear with cars being left unused in garages and competitors finding other things to do with their time and money.”
Rally 2WD is a bold new initiative that has been launched in a bid to rekindle support for gravel rallying for modern and historic two-wheel drive cars. Rally 2WD events will put the entire two-wheel drive field through all stages first to complete their competitive mileage, followed as soon as possible by the four-wheel drive field. It has been created to try and reverse the alarming decline in the number of entries on many gravel rallies this season, a decline that is widely regarded as a key result of the change to running order on rallies.
New look for Red Kite Stages in 2018
Posted: September 27, 2017 6:13 AM
A new date, a new route and a partnership with Rally 2WD will give the Red Kite Stages a new look for 2018.
In a break with tradition, this popular forest event from Amman and District Motor Club will move to the forests of South Wales on Saturday 23 June and will run to the innovative new Rally 2WD format, with all the two-wheel drive cars running first on the road.
Clerk of the Course Gareth Thomas explained the changes. “After a route recce back in June and early July the route we're proposing to use includes stages in Resolven, Rheola and Margam. These are stages that have not been used since Wales Rally GB, four or five years ago.
“The stages have been driven in a modern road car with minimal ground clearance and are all in very good condition. The primary objective of Rally 2WD is to get competitors back out and we think our event will fit that concept very well.”
The mid-summer date should ensure that these superb stages are in perfect condition. Only around 15 miles of the 45 stage miles will be double-used and the organisers are planning the start and central servicing close to Neath town centre. Scrutineering will be on Friday 22 June with the possibility of Saturday morning sessions for the four-wheel drive cars.
“After running from a base in Llandovery for 20 years there is a lot of work involved in moving a complete event. Most of the key elements are now in place,” said Thomas. A town centre start for at least some competitors is under discussion.
Rally 2WD is a bold new initiative that has been launched in a bid to rekindle support for gravel rallying for modern and historic two-wheel drive cars. Rally 2WD events will put the entire two-wheel drive field through all stages first to complete their competitive mileage, followed as soon as possible by the four-wheel drive field. It has been created to try and reverse the alarming decline in the number of entries on many gravel rallies this season, a decline that is widely regarded as a key result of the change to running order on rallies.
On behalf of Rally 2WD, Simon Wallis said: “Gareth and the team at Amman and DMC have really embraced the R2WD concept and we are certain that the new route and date will prove very popular with competitors in both modern and historic two-wheel drive cars. We are delighted that the Red Kite will run to the R2WD format.”
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