Rally Archive
Radnor Pacemaker Road Rally
Knighton Motor Club
12th/13th October 2024
Winners: George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Adrian Convery Photography
Organiser: Knighton Motor Club
Date: 12th/13th October 2024
Clerk of the Course: Steve Price & Simon Naughton
Route: 180 Miles (Maps 136, 137, 147 & 148)
Base: Knighton
Starters: 57
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pacemaker Rally, Knighton Motor Club put on a 180 mile contest, using the best lanes in the environs of the club's home town.
Once again, the rally was under the control of Clerks Steve Price and Simon Naughton, the former taking his seventeenth turn at the helm, leading a surprisingly small team for such a giant of an event.
They had laid out the mammoth route that ran in a roughly clockwise loop starting and finishing in Knighton, with two petrol halts, one at Crossgates and the second at Churchstoke.
Fifty-seven crews took the start; a significant non-starter was the Escort of Gareth Edwards/Andrew Lowe, the car's engine not having had its rebuild completed in time for the Pacemaker.
From the Knighton base the first two sections headed southwards, passing Norton, Old Radnor and Gladestry. They didn't cause any of the leading runners to drop time. However, the third sector saw everyone pick up penalties. This test ran over Glascwm and then into the lanes to the south of Cregrina.
All crews were late at both TC3B and the following SF3. Mark Lennox/Ian Beamond (Ford Escort) were one second quicker than Mark 'GT' Roberts/Dylan Jenkins (VW Golf GTi) to TC3B, with George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort) tying with Iwan Roberts Jnr/Moi Williams (Toyota Corolla), ten seconds off the lead.
These positions were reversed at SF3, where Williams/Davies were quickest, two seconds ahead of Roberts/Williams, while Lennox/Beamond dropped over a minute, this was 26 seconds behind Williams/Davies, who now led.
Already out at this stage was Car 2, the Escort of Kevin Kerr/Kieran Price, they crashed having overshot a junction.
The fourth section ran north from Hundred House to Llandegley, it had three TCs, plus the finish control, but was cleaned by both Williams/Davies and Roberts/Williams, while Roberts/Jenkins and Lennox/Beamond dropped a handful of seconds.
This meant that at the first petrol halt, taken at Crossgates, Williams/Davies led Roberts/Williams by two seconds, while Roberts/Jenkins were eleven seconds off the lead in third, with Lennox/Beamond 13 seconds further back.
The two-time Pacemaker winning team of Richard Jerman/Alan James (Ford Escort) had had a bad start, being only fifteenth fastest to TC3B, the first significant control. They had recovered and cleaned the fourth section and were now in fifth, 40 seconds off first place.
The fuel halt was only a short respite as the MC in and MC out were separated by fifteen minutes. Competitive motoring recommenced not far away at Pen-y-Bont Station. The fifth section moved to the north through Heartsease, Llwynpentre Bank and Crossways, before finishing at Lower House Farm. The top twenty crews made all three TCs on time.
There then followed the longest section of the night, which took over an hour to complete. It was in classic Pacemaker country, the mass of lanes around Clun Forest. There were six TCs, plus SF6, with the target for TC6D and TC6E, both timed to the second, being 32 minutes.
The leaders were the fastest through the section, adding 14 seconds to their total. Meanwhile Roberts/Williams fell back as their Corolla's handbrake started to stick; they lost a minute at TC6B, and were 18 seconds late at TC6D and then forgot to carry those 18 seconds over at the easily cleanable TC6E - with double penalties for early arrival, this added 36 seconds to their total. Jerman/James made the same error, although they had only been 1 second late at TC6D, so their TC6E penalty was just two seconds, however this was to be significant at the Finish.
These developments meant that when the crews arrived at the Churchstoke petrol halt, Williams/Davies held a 33 second lead over Roberts/Jenkins, who in turn were 12 seconds in front of Lennox/Beamond and Jerman/James. Roberts/Williams were almost two minutes off the lead in fifth.
Jamie Crump/Clive Jones (Ford Escort) were never far off the pace of the leading crews and were now in sixth place and were at the front of the Expert Class. One place, and a minute, behind them were the second placed Expert crew, Elliott Stafford/Jamie Mills (Mazda MX5).
The section between the two petrol halts saw the demise of Arwel Evans/Dylan John Williams, who had been in eighth place; they put their Escort through a fence.
The seventh section used the Linley Wood area and everyone dropped some time here. Williams/Davies were best again, more significantly, Jerman/James were second best and were 12 seconds better than Roberts/Jenkins, putting the two crews level on penalties and sharing second place.
The penultimate section was in the lanes between Churchtown and Newcastle. Williams/Davies were quickest, but only two seconds better than Daniel Jones/Gerwyn Barry, who were putting in a late charge that took them into the top ten at the Finish. The tie for second place was not resolved on the sector as Jerman/James and Roberts/Jenkins posted exactly the same time.
The final piece of competition was a 25 minute section to the north of Knighton. It started at Clunton and ran around Black Hill, past Rockhill, before crossing Offa's Dyke and finishing at Knucklas. Part of the section, including two TCs had to be cancelled after part of the route became impassable for the second half of the field.
Williams/Davies only dropped time at the first timing point and were quickest over the section, coming home with a victory margin of over a minute and a half. This was their third successive triumph on a Welsh Championship round, leaving both crew members still in contention for the series win.
Remarkably, Jerman/James and Roberts/Jenkins were both 35 seconds late at TC9A and remained tied at the end of the 180 mile contest; the matter having to be decided on the furthest clean principal, where their times at TC3B came into play - Roberts/Jenkins had been fastest there and so claimed the runner up spot.
A minute further back in the standings, Lennox/Beamond finished in fourth, while Crump/Jones moved up to fifth place and a clear win in the Expert Class. Roberts Jnr/Williams completed the top six, this allowed the navigator to maintain his lead in the Welsh Championship. Williams also won the Mike Hart Memorial Trophy for the best performance on the Pacemaker by a young navigator.
Ashley Rice/Trevor Disney (Mini Cooper) came through to win the Semi-Expert Class win after long time category leaders, Al Gwilliam/Lucy Wilding (Subaru Impreza) hit problems in the latter sections; they dropped to fourth in class at the Finish.
It was a tough contest for Novices, but Noel Vance/Osian Richards (VW Golf) came through to take a clear class win.
All 39 crews who reached the second petrol halt also made it to the Finish, although this included Lewis Davies/Richard James (Peugeot 206 GTi), who had to cut between those two locations due to a broken exhaust, missing all the final competitive sections. They scrapped in having visited one control over the required two-thirds and collected valuable Championship points.
The small Knighton Motor Club team had set themselves a gigantic task with the 2024 Pacemaker, but they pulled it off with aplomb, receiving great praise from competitors for the rallying challenge that they had put on.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions at First Petrol
- Overall Positions at Second Petrol
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters
- Unofficial WAMC Points