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Rally of the Tests 2024

HERO-ERA

7th-10th November 2024


Rally of the Tests 2024
Winners: Dan Willan/Niall Frost (Volvo PV544)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

Organiser: HERO-ERA

Date: 7th-10th November 2024

Clerk of the Course: Andy Pullan

Route: 724 Miles (34 Tests, 24 Regularities, 2 TC Sections

Start: Darlington

Finish: Windemere

Starters: 87


The 2024 Rally of the Tests started at Darlington and, after a run through southern Scotland and the Lake District, ended four days later on the edge of Windemere. The 724 mile route contained 34 tests, 24 regularities and 2 TC sections.

There was a healthy entry of 87 cars; 59 were contesting the whole event, while 18 were tackling the Lite Rally, which avoided the trickier night sections and had easier navigation.

As usual the rally opened with a short 53 mile Prologue on Thursday evening. The winners for the last two years, Dan Willan/Niall Frost led the field away from Redworth Hall in their Volvo PV544. On the opening regularity, which ran past the edge of Hamsterley Forest, they laid down the gauntlet to anyone who wished to deny them a hat trick of wins, by putting in the best performance over the reg, dropping just two seconds.

Two tests, split by a second regularity, completed the evening's competition. Paul Bloxidge/Ian Canavan (VW Golf GTi) were fastest on Test P/1, while John King/Oli Waldock (Toyota MR2) shared top honours with Thomas Koerner/Udo Schauss (Porsche 911) on Test P/2.

All crews survived the extremely slippery and, at times, foggy conditions, and returned to Redworth for the overnight halt. Willan/Frost now held a lead of seven seconds, having dropped just seven seconds themselves. Second on the leader board was the BMW 2002tii of Andy Lane/Iain Tullie, although, being a post 1968 car, they weren't eligible for overall awards. Third on the board was the Ford Cortina of Angus McQueen/Mike Cochrane, who were therefore in second place overall.

Doug Carmichael/John Gearing had a bad start when, due to a faulty stalk, they lost all their lighting. The sweeps managed to bypass the part, giving the MG enough light to get back to Redworth.

Rally of the Tests 2024
Runners Up: Paul Crosby/Ali Procter (Mini Cooper S)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

Day One, Friday 8th November, took the route north to an overnight halt at Dalmahoy Hotel. There were six regularities, a TC section at Stewartsheils and ten tests; two of the tests, due to being short were scored on scratch times, rather than the usual class improvement system. Test 1/4 and Test 1/5 were the same test and the latter was scored as a consistency test, where crews were penalised for however many seconds their time differed from their first attempt at the test.

The opening two tests of the day were at the Eastgate cement works, there then followed two regularities, the first in Weardale and the second in Allendale.

The leading Volvo had problems during this section when the car lost almost all its brakes. This was fixed by the sweeps at the Hexham coffee halt. Despite this scare, Willan/Frost still led. Lane/Tullie were still in second place, while John King/Oli Waldock had moved into third; they were pushing on and side swiped a tree on the first test.

Dave Maryon/Andy Ballantyne became the first retirement of the event when their MG B Roadster dropped a valve on the run down to the halt.

A regularity and a test took the route to the TC Section through the Stewartshiels Plantation, site of the most recent Shaw Trophy rallies. There were five timing points, the first four were timed to the minute, while the last was timed to the second. Paul Dyas/Martyn Taylor (Volvo PV544) were best through the section, they were one second ahead of Willan/Frost, while King/Waldock and Callum Guy/Amy Henchoz (Sunbeam Tiger) were a further second back. These four crews were only late at the final TC, no other crew avoided dropping a minute at the timed-to-the-minute controls.

Ted Gaffney/Lynsey Procter (Morris Mini) were delayed in Stewartshiels after a wire to the fuel pump melted and they had to stop to fix the problem. More seriously, Adam Davis/Rupert Barker were forced on to the retirement list when their MG B suffered a broken shock absorber, which led to the exhaust being damaged.

Lunch was taken at Eshott Hall, where Willan/Frost had extended their lead to 31 seconds, with King/Waldock now in second place, just ahead of Guy/Henchoz. Lane/Tullie had fallen to fourth, but were soon to retire with a broken rear arm stopping their BMW. In the Lite Rally, Dick Baines/Harry Baines (Mini Cooper S) had already built up a comfortable lead, which they were to retain until the Finish.

Paul O'Kane/Henry Carr (VW Golf GTi) were maintaining their top ten placing, but had to contend with a broken gear linkage at one point and the constant coolant leak throughout the event.

By the evening halt at Paxton House, near Berwick, Willan/Frost still led, but were being kept in check by King/Waldock, who had only lost a few seconds to the leading Volvo through the afternoon. Guy/Henchoz had established themselves in third, while Paul Crosby/Ali Procter (Mini Cooper S) were in a tight battle for fourth with Dyas/Taylor, the two crews were separated by just three seconds.

The Lite Rally missed out two regularities in the dark and finished their day, like the main field with a test near Dunbar. Baines/Baines now had a lead of almost three minutes over Dave Smith/Phil Cottam (Austin Maestro).

Rally of the Tests 2024
Lite Rally Winners: Dick Baines/Harry Baines (Mini Cooper S)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

During the evening, Willan/Frost managed to pull out a few more seconds from King/Waldock, who, in turn, were being reeled in by Guy/Henchoz. Crosby/Procter were also on the move, pulling clear of the field to end the day 16 seconds behind the Sunbeam Tiger.

The Porsche 924S of Karlheinz Schott, who had the reigning Golden Roamer Champion, Rolf Pellini, navigating, was forced out at this point with 'fatal engine problems'.

Competitors left Dalmahoy on Saturday morning to face a long day that included nine regularities and eleven tests; the Lite crews would miss out the final three regs and two tests of the day.

The opening regularity was the most northerly point of the route, it used the lanes between Bathgate and Linlithgow. The event then moved south into Galloway, with halts at Strathaven and Drumlanrig Castle.

After the opening regularity there was a series of four tests - two at Forrestburn and two at Larkhall. The latter venue saw trouble for the Crosby/Procter Mini; one of the four throttle cables broke and they crawled to the test finish, where a temporary repair was made. Meanwhile, Guy/Henchoz were having difficulties with their tripmeter.

By the time that the leading crews arrived at the Strathaven morning coffee halt, Willan/Frost had extended their lead to almost a minute, while Guy/Henchoz had narrowed the gap to second place King/Walkdock to ten seconds. Crosby/Procter were now a further 25 seconds behind.

Angus McQueen/Mike Cochrane were falling down the order as their Cortina started to develop problems with its gearbox. The box was drained of oil and some gear teeth, that had broken off, were removed. A replacement unit was offered by a local, but this proved not to fit and the crew were forced into retirement at the end of the day.

The afternoon and evening sections didn't alter the leading places, although King/Waldock did edge away from Guy/Henchoz. Up to this point during the leg, Willan/Frost had put in the best performance of the entire field, although King/Waldock were only eleven seconds behind. However, the second placed MR2 had a problem - the head gasket was starting to fail. They continued, only slackening their pace by a small margin.

David Watson/Nick Green rejoined the fray at the lunch halt having replaced a broken rocker on their MG B GT, which had put them out since Friday evening. They went on to complete the route and were presented with the Spirit of the Rally Award at the Finish.

It was on the regularity through Castle D'Or Forest that the Porsche 911 of Thomas Koerner/Udo Schauss came to a halt with electrical problems.

The Lite Rally completed their day near Langholm. By the end of the Leg, Baines/Baines had built up a lead of almost five minutes, while Smith/Cottam were only holding second place on a tie break from Malcolm Dunderdale/Anita Wickins (Mercedes 190), the two crews being on the same total penalty.

The main event continued and finished the Leg with three more regs and two tests, the final one of these being close to the overnight halt in Carlisle. During this session the main headlines were that Willan/Frost continued to extend their lead, as King/Waldock nursed their car. Despite at one point having the gear lever break, Crosby/Procter stormed through the darkness to move within one second of Guy/Henchoz by the day end. Dyas/Taylor were also chasing the final podium position as they were only 12 seconds behind Crosby/Procter.

Rally of the Tests 2024
Class 5 Winners: John King/Oli Waldock (Toyota MR2)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA/Will Broadhead

The final morning of the event dawned with the leaders seemingly comfortably ahead, while King/Waldock were just hoping that the Toyota would make it to the Finish. There was then the major battle for the second overall position, with three crews in contention.

Over the opening tests and regularities that took the route to a coffee halt at Greystoke Castle, it was Guy/Henchoz who put in the best performance, Willan/Frost being bettered for the first time in the rally. The Sunbeam Tiger continued its impressive progress and, once again, pulled clear of its two pursuers.

The event finished with a tough finale; it contained one regularity, five tests, plus a TC Section. The reg used the tracks of the Warcop Ranges. The latter was to prove critical in the battle for second place; Guy/Henchoz had difficulty finding the correct route at one point and were over three minutes late at the first timing point.

The result was that at the Windemere finish, Willan/Frost came home four minutes ahead of the field, to give themselves a unique Rally of the Tests hattrick of wins. To add to their glory, Willan took the Test Pilot Award, while Frost was the winner of the Clockwatchers Trophy.

Second place was taken by Crosby/Procter, who ended up twenty seconds ahead of Dyas/Taylor. Thus the top three overall finishers were the same as in 2022 and 2023, although Crosby/Procter were one place higher than on the two previous runnings of the event. Guy/Henchoz finished in fourth, three seconds behind Dyas/Taylor.

King/Waldock remarkably managed to get their MR2 to the Finish, ending up in third place on the leader board, having been passed by Crosby towards the end.

Baines/Baines won the Lite Rally, having dominated the event throughout. Dunderdale/Wickins matched their pace on the final day, to finish in a clear second place, while David Ward/Tim Sawyer (Lancia Fulvia 1600HF) came through to take third place, they also won the Spirit of the Rally Award, having kept smiling despite a number of mishaps and upsets.


RESULTS