rallyroots.com results@rallyroots.com
rallyroots.com
rallyroots.com

rally results service


Unless otherwise clearly indicated, results on this site have been declared final and are therefore not subject to query or protest

Great Western Vintage & Classic Rally

Bath Motor Club

17th August 2025


Great Western Vintage & Classic Rally 2025
Winners: John King/Mike Cochrane (Lotus Elan Plus 2)
Photograph: © M&H Photography

Organiser: Bath Motor Club

Date: 17th August 2025

Clerk of the Course: Bernard Northmore

Tests: 145 Miles (6 Tests, 4 Regularities)

Base: Walcot Rugby Club

Starters: 68


The second running of the Great Western Vintage and Classic Rally attracted a near maximum entry, with 68 cars taking the start at Walcot Rugby Club, just north of Bath. One car that wasn't amongst the starters was the Rover 2000tc of Roger Cooke/Adam Race, the car developed engine problems on the way to the event.

Competitors faced four regularities and six tests in Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire and Wiltshire, in a 145 mile route.

There was an early casualty when the Triumph TR4 of Nigel Woof/Sally Woof started to overheat on the run out to the first regularity and the pair retired.

Regularity 1, a Jogularity section, started to the north of Chipping Sodbury and ended, ten miles later, between Cromhall and Tytherington. There were three timing points. Summer Trial winners, Malcolm Dunderdale/Anita Wickins (Triumph TR8), were best on the section, hitting every control exactly on time. Christopher Day/Claire Day (Mini Cooper S), runners up on the Summer Trial, were just one second behind after the section.

A Route Check after the reg caused a number of crews to pick up a 5 minute penalty for getting the answer wrong. The check asked for the name of the school and there were two educational establishments close together, so precise attention to the trip distance was needed to get the correct answer.

Two tests were then tackled at the Severn View Service Area. The first proved to be easily cleanable, with 50 cars beating the bogey; Day/Day were fastest, stopping the clock 12 seconds under the bogey. With the Class Improvement system being used to score the tests, with zero penalties for the fastest in a class, there were 50 cars with nothing added to their score sheet here.

Test 2 was a Jacob's Ladder test, where crews could pick their own route through a grid formed by five pairs of cones - competitors had to cross all the lines between the cones, but only once. Both Dunderdale/Wickins and Day/Day were fastest in their respective classes, so the former left the test venue with their clean sheet maintained, while Day/Day were still only a second behind.

After crossing the Severn Bridge, a seven mile regularity, using a speed table, was next on the agenda. It started in Chepstow Woods and ran via Devauden, Newchurch and Gaerllwyd, before finishing near the lunch halt at Mynydd Bach. There were two timing points.

Robert Smith/Matthew Bright in their glorious Volvo P1800E hit both controls exactly and picked up zero penalties on the reg, however they were still only in 29th position having been, like a number of others, over the test maximum on Test 2; this gave them a 30 second penalty.

In the battle for the lead, both Dunderdale/Wickins and Day/Day dropped three seconds on the reg and so arrived at the Huntsman Hotel lunch halt still a second apart. Andrew Parr/Bob Duck (Mini Cooper S) were in third, three seconds off first place.

Surprisingly near the bottom of the positions table were Simon Arscott/Emily Anderson (Porsche 911); they had missed that there would be code boards on the regularities and had therefore not noted the three codes down, resulting in a total of fifteen minutes in penalties.

Great Western Classic Rally 2025

Traffic, both motor and pedal powered, had been an issue for many crews. There were two Jokers available during the day, one covering the morning regs and the second the afternoon sections. These reduced a crew's largest lateness penalty to 15 seconds. However, in such a tight contest, this was still a massive disadvantage.

Paul Dyas/Martyn Taylor were using the Great Western as a trial of their new Mark One Cortina, in preparation for the Rally of the Tests in November. They were delayed by cyclists on Reg 1 and, despite using the Joker, they were in nineteenth place at Lunch.

After the break the route headed back into England and two tests, repeats of Test 1 and 2, at Severn View. Despite the test being tightened slightly, all bar three crews managed to beat the bogey on Test 3. All the leading runners were fastest in their respective classes on Test 4, so the overall positions remained the same as prior to the lunch halt.

Reg 3, at just under 18 miles, was the longest of the event. It started at Leighterton, and, after passing through Knockdown, Lasborough and Chavenage Green, finished near Rodmarton. There were five timing points. Three crews dropped just one second over the section, these were Smith/Bright, Dyas/Taylor and Ken Binstead/Sarah Binstead (Austin Healey 3000). Dunderdale/Wickins still led at this point, but now had John King/Mike Cochrane (Lotus Elan Plus Two) in second place, two seconds off the lead, while Day/Day had dropped to third, one second behind King/Cochrane.

The final two tests of the event were at Kemble Airfield; the same test tackled twice. Dunderdale/Wickins were only third fastest in their class on Test 5 and fourth quickest on Test 6, this added nine seconds to their total and they dropped from first to fourth. Both King/Cochrane and Day/Day were quickest in their classes on both tests and remained one second apart, but now in first and second place.

There remained one regularity to tackle, this ran from Easton Grey to Upper Wraxall and was 13 miles in length, with four timing points. King/Cochrane sealed their victory by putting in the best performance on the reg, meaning that they finished the event with a victory margin of ten seconds over Day/Day. Dunderdale/Wickins recovered to claim third place, on a tie break, from Mark Lillington/Mark Bramall (MG B). Parr/Duck completed the top five, sixteen seconds off first place.

There was an award for the most consistent crew across the six tests, this was decided by comparing the total times on Tests 1, 2 and 5, with the total for Tests 3, 4 and 6, these two sets were identical. The winners, with a time difference of a second, were Simon Ayris/Alistair Leckie (Ford Escort), who finished in sixth place overall. One place further back were Binstead/Binstead, who secured the best placed Bath Motor Club crew.


RESULTS