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Rali Bro Caron 1996
Sponsored by Tuf Treads
Lampeter & District Motor Club
24th/25th February 1996
Clerk of the Course: Aneurin James
Route: 140 Miles
Maps: 146
Starters: 89
Winners: Richard Lewis/Philip Pugh (Toyota Corolla)
Richard Lewis/Philip Pugh confirmed their status as pre-season favourites for the Welsh Championship by taking their Toyota Corolla to victory on Lampeter & District Motor Club's Rali Bro Caron. However it wasn't a clear cut victory as less than twenty seconds covered the top three places and other crews, who could have been in with a shout, fell foul of the event's only passage board.
The 140 mile route consisted of just two competitive sections, one of 75 miles prior to the petrol halt and the other of 43 miles taking crews to the finish. Each section had a number of Intermediate Time Controls, five of which were timed to the second. The complete route card was issued as cars left the start line and, with a very generous time allowance for the short run out, the majority of crews had all the route plotted before the competition started in anger.
The organisers were relying on the nature and intricacy of the route to gain a result. There were many complex controls and a substantial amount of unmetalled roads were used. By these methods the feel of the classic road rallies of the seventies and early eighties was successfully recreated.
To underline the popularity of road rallying in the area, the 90 strong entry was full almost three weeks before the event. The organisers felt that they had had enough enquiries to suggest that they could have run 130 cars if it had been possible. The Welsh Championship, with its simplified single tier structure for 1996, had also attracted a great deal of interest with over fifty competitors being registered prior to the start of the Bro Caron.
Eighty-nine cars took the start after Jonathan Gwilym/Byron Jones had the brake calipers on their Escort fail as they travelled to Lampeter. This left a space at Number 3.
After the start from under the arch at the Black Lion on Lampeter's main street, competitive motoring got underway at Glan-Denys. The first half looped to the north of the rally's base before moving to the east and ending back at Lampeter for Petrol.
Although the half was an unbroken succession of standard sections, there was just one six minute section that bothered the leading runners; this was from ITC5M (651.50/471) to ITC6S (633.25/487.50). The fastest crew to ITC6S were Gary Davies/Neil Spiers dropping just 59 seconds, however they had failed to pick up the code board at PCR and had a fail added to their total. They were not alone, 29 other crews made the same error, these included Wayne Evans/Chris Ware, Baron Glaze/Dave Pitchford and Paul Holmberg/Maurice Leach.
The leader after ITC6S was Glyn Evans in his Ford Sierra. He held a lead of six seconds, but didn't get much further as the car suffered a clutch failure at the next time control.
This meant that Richie Lewis/Phil Pugh (Toyota Corolla) now led, they were on 1m 25s, 24 seconds ahead of Graham Evans/Ian Mills (Opel Manta). Top seeds and 1995 winners, Michael Pedley/David Pedley (Hillman Avenger), were on 2m 00s in third. Tony Davies/Rob Richardson (Toyota Corolla) were nine seconds further back. These crews cleaned the reaminder of the first half and so these were the top four positions at Petrol.
All this excitement was of no interest to Wyn Jones/Phil Clark, who had teamed up for an assault on the Welsh Championship, they hit the ford just after ITC5M and broke their Escort's radiator; they went no further. Also on the retirement list were Ewen Davies/Carl Jones (Opel Manta), who crashed out, while Dai 'Dot' Davies/Alun Ginn (Ford Capri) and Huw James/Deian Rees (Ford Sierra) also failed to make Petrol.
After Petrol it was the four leading crews that battled for the win. All dropped time at the two Time Controls after the restart and then cleaned the remainder to the Finish. The section started on the white to the east of Llanybyther; there was four minutes to get to ITC11S (554.75/439.75), then six minutes to ITC12S (585/422).
Michael Pedley/David Pedley wrong slotted and then broke a shock absorber. Graham Evans/Ian Mills had been on the reserve list before the start and ended up running at Number 48, this meant that they suffered by being baulked by slower cars, a problem particulary prevalent when there were so few non-competitive sections. Significantly they were held up as they approahed ITC12S. In contrast to their two rivals' problems, Tony Davies/Rob Richardson were fastest of the four leading crews to both the critical controls and jumped from fourth to second, just one second ahead of Evans/Mills.
Richie Lewis/Phil Pugh had dropped a total of 23 seconds to Davies/Richardson at the two crucial controls, but still held an advantage of 18 seconds and, with the remainder of the route being cleaned, they held on for their first win of the year.
Gary Davies/Neil Spiers had been the quickest crew over the second half, being fastest of all competitors at ITC11S and cleaning ITC12S. However, the fail from missing PCR meant that they finished in 25th place.
The Semi-Expert class and sixth overall was taken by Clive Davies/Hefin Thomas (Toyota Corolla). They had had a close battle with the local crew of Nick Evans/Alan Hands, unfortunately this latter pair were yet another crew to miss PCR's passage board. Simon Stock/Patrick Walsh won the Novice Class by a comfortable margin of nine minutes in their Ford Sierra and moved straight from the Novice class to that of the Experts as they finished 8th overall.
It's interesting to note that although half the entry consisted of Ford Escorts, not one figured in the top ten. Instead manufacturer's honours went to Toyota, who not only took the top two places but had a further two of the marque in the top six.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Richard Lewis | Phil Pugh | Toyota Corolla | 3m 33s | |
| 2 | Tony Davies | Rob Richardson | Toyota Corolla | 3m 51s | |
| 3 | Graham Evans | Ian Mills | Opel Manta | 3m 52s | |
| 4 | Michael Pedley | David Pedley | Hillman Avenger | 4m 05s | |
| 5 | Geraint Davies | Emyr Jones | Toyota Corolla | 4m 39s | |
| 6 | Clive Davies | Hefin Thomas | Toyota Corolla | 4m 51s | |
| 7 | Lloyd Evans | Mike Roach | VW Golf | 5m 06s | |
| 8 | Simon Stock | Patrick Walsh | Ford Sierra | 5m 46s | |
| 9 | Manfred Kampschulte | Paul Jenkins | VW Golf | 6m 00s | |
| 10 | Chris Painter | Steve Quine | Vauxhall Nova | 6m 49s | |
| 11 | Gethin Thomas | Aled Jones | Ford Escort | 7m 09s | |
| 12 | Clive Greaves | John Hands | Vauxhall Chevette | 7m 52s | |
| 13 | Nigel Lloyd | Iestyn Leyshon | Ford Escort | 8m 22s | |
| 14 | Aled Eynon | Gary Robbins | Vauxhall Astra | 8m 59s | |
| 15 | Russell Eden | Sarah Preece | Vauxhall Nova | 10m 20s | |
| 16 | Nigel Thomas | Phil Stocking | Ford Escort | 10m 57s | |
| 17 | Mark Jukes | Jon Stobbs | Toyota Corolla | 11m 13s | |
| 18 | Karl Hancock | Damian Cole | Ford Escort XR3 | 11m 27s | |
| 19 | Colin Thomas | Andrew Thomson | Toyota Corolla | 12m 49s | |
| 20 | Jason Rees | Steve Durbin | Talbot Sunbeam | 12m 59s | |
| 21 | Johnny Warnet | Martin Griffiths | Ford Escort | 14m 28s | |
| 22 | Clive Wakely | Justin Davies | Ford Escort | 15m 12s | |
| 23 | Wayne Edwards | Sharon Jarvis | Ford Escort | 24m 06s | |
| 24 | Darren Pugh | Elgan Davies | VW Golf | 25m 46s | |
| 25 | Gary Davies | Neil Spiers | Ford Escort | 1F 2m 11s | |
| 26 | Baron Glaze | Dave Pitchford | Ford Escort | 1F 2m 37s | |
| 27 | Paul Holmberg | Maurice Leach | Ford Escort | 1F 4m 02s | |
| 28 | Nick Evans | Alan Hands | Ford Escort | 1F 4m 54s | |
| 29 | Des Phasey | Steve Price | Ford Escort | 1F 5m 17s | |
| 30 | Wayne Evans | Chris Ware | Ford Escort | 1F 5m 35s | |
| 31 | Gareth Evans | Dylan Evans | Ford Escort | 1F 5m 47s | |
| 32 | Mark Howell | Lyn Thomas | Ford Escort | 1F 6m 28s | |
| 33 | Chris Hughes | John Gilbey | Ford Escort | 1F 6m 30s | |
| 34 | Mark Price | Chris Read | Ford Escort | 1F 7m 06s | |
| 35 | Lliam Rees | Mark Lloyd | Ford Escort | 1F 7m 53s | |
| 36 | Toby Adams | Robin Davies | Ford Escort | 1F 18m 30s | |
| 37 | Jonathan Usher | Brian Usher | Ford Escort | 1F 19m 41s | |
| 38 | Paul Davies | Phil Ralphs | Ford Escort | 1F 28m 08s | |
| 39 | Dave Boucher | Steve Lomax | Austin Mini | 1F 28m 14s | |
| 40 | Stephen Williams | Ian Taylor | Talbot Sunbeam | 2F 7m 42s | |
| 41 | Huw Rowcliffe | Alan Jones | Ford Escort | 2F 9m 48s | |
| 42 | Chris Jones | Nigel Nelson | Ford Escort | 2F 14m 19s | |
| 43 | Richard Evans | Nigel Smith | Ford Escort | 2F 14m 52s | |
| 44 | Sion Jones | Alan Davies | Ford Escort | 2F 20m 35s | |
| 45 | Wayne Jarman | Terry Jones | Ford Escort XR3 | 2F 25m 22s | |
| 46 | Will Whitehurst | Kim Turk | Vauxhall Astra | 2F 30m 51s | |
| 47 | Eiros Edwards | Huw Phillips | Ford Escort | 2F 32m 50s | |
| 48 | Hefin Evans | Gary James | Ford Escort | 2F 44m 17s | |
| 49 | Nicholas Yates | Gerwyn Evans | Ford Escort | 2F 1h 1m 49s | |
| 50 | Gareth Jones | Andrew Perry | Toyota Corolla | 3F 5m 37s | |
| 51 | Gareth Owens | David Manning | Ford Escort | 3F 6m 06s | |
| 52 | Carl O'Grady | Gwyn Williams | VW Golf | 3F 17m 48s | |
| 53 | Brian Jones | Nigel Roberts | Ford Escort | 4F 14m 31s | |
| 54 | Brian Davies | Jayson Brown | Ford Escort | 4F 17m 24s | |
| 55 | Emyr Morgan | Carwyn Lloyd | Ford Escort XR3 | 4F 20m 29s | |
| 56 | Mark Daniel | Dai Lambert | Ford Escort | 4F 27m 29s | |
| 57 | Ian Powell | Mark Powell | Ford Escort | 4F 27m 42s | |
| 58 | Matthew Warner | Dylan Hughes | Opel Manta | 5F 13m 49s | |
| 59 | Mike Cartwright | Steve Cartwright | Ford Escort | 5F 16m 13s | |
| 60 | Tony Watkin | Medwyn Evans | Austin Mini | 7F 27m 50s | |
| 61 | Paul Davies | Peter Smith | Mazda 323 | 10F 15m 11s |