Rally Archive
Rally of the Tests
HERO-ERA
6th-9th November 2025
Winners: John King/Matthew Vokes (Lotus Elan)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA
Lite Rally Winners: Dick Baines/Harry Baines (Mini Cooper S)
Photograph: © Paul Freeman Photography
Organiser: HERO-ERA
Date: 6th-9th November 2025
Clerk of the Course: Guy Woodcock
Tests: 692 Miles (37 Tests, 22 Regularities)
Start: Kendal
Finish: Llandudno
Starters: 74
The Rally of the Tests continued its circuit of the country by starting in the Lake District, last year's finish location, and ending in Llandudno. The event lived up to its title with a total of 37 tests being contested over the four days, along with 22 demanding regularities.
Seventy-four cars lined up at the Castle Green Hotel, Kendal on Thursday evening ready to tackle the 45 mile two hour Prologue. This warm up consisted of two tests and two regularities. The entry was split between 64 cars who were taking part in the main event, while eleven were signed up for the Lite rally, which used fewer of the night time sections and had easier navigation.
There was drama before the start for Andrew Boland/Tony Brooks. On the way to the start, a day early, they had taken a trip into the lanes to limber up and found that there was an unexpected noise from the rear axle of their Escort. Phil Mills' Viking Motorsport came to the rescue and after taking the car to their workshop in Mid Wales, investigating the problem throughout the night, they replaced the rear axle, delivering the car back to Kendal in time for it to take the flag on schedule.
Callum Guy/Amy Henchoz (Sunbeam Tiger) and Jon Dunning/Pete Johnson (Ford Escort) shared honours for fastest time on the first test at the Westmorland Showground. Dunning/Johnson also dropped least time on the opening regularity, sharing honours here with Paul Dyas/Martyn Taylor (Ford Lotus Cortina) and Boland/Brooks.
Kurt Vanderspinnen/Bjorn Vanoverschelde (Ford Lotus Cortina) were the best by three seconds on Reg P/2. Dyas/Taylor were second best on the reg and then took fastest time on the second test, which was at Gilthwaiterigg Farm, just outside Kendal. This meant that the pair arrived back at Castle Green with a lead of three seconds over Dunning/Johnson. However, things were not well with the Cortina, its gearbox was playing up. Fortunately, Dyas had a spare available and this was fitted by the sweeps.
In more serious trouble was the Porsche 911S of Paul O'Kane/Henry Carr, a fuel pump relay failed and, after being fixed, failed again. The crew withdrew.
Runners Up: Paul Dyas/Martyn Taylor (Ford Lotus Cortina)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA
The first full day of the event was a mammoth with 239 miles to cover, plus 15 tests and 6 regularities to be tackled. There were halts at Tebay, Appleby, Wray and Garstang, before the overnight halt at Blackburn was reached.
During the morning sections - eight tests and three regularities - Dyas/Taylor had extended their lead, arriving at Appleby with a 16 second lead over Dunning/Johnson. Four of the tests had been on the Warcop Ranges and a number of competitors had ended up in ditches here; worst affected were Martin Payton/Miles Fieldhouse and Mark Lillington/Mark Bramall, both had taken test maximums on Test 1/4 after having to wait to be towed out.
Filip Engelen/Ann Gillis became the second retirement of the rally when their Alfa Romeo, which had been suffering from a low end misfire, started to lose its gears. Paul Heaney/Sandra Heaney had missed most of the morning due to fuel feed problems with their Triumph TR6; they had hoped to get going again, but eventually had to accept defeat.
Steve Head/Oli Waldock had been using the Volvo PV544 that had won the Rally of the Tests for the last three years in the hands of Dan Willan. They were in fourth place overall when a shaft broke and the car was out, however Head then got his regular Escort and the pair rejoined on Leg 2, running as a competitive course car.
Only pre-1968 cars were eligible for overall awards, so Dunning/Johnson were only battling for class placings. Therefore, second place overall was held at this point by Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde, who had overtaken John King/Matthew Vokes for the position during the morning.
Traffic, on three separate occasions, caused Dyas/Taylor to drop time and this allowed Dunning/Johnson to head the leader board, and Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde to hold the overall lead, at the early evening halt at Wray.
Their tenure at the top didn't last long for Dunning/Johnson; they missed a slot on the final regularity of the day and fell to third on the leader board at the end of the leg. It was King/Vokes who now led having put in the best performance of Leg One. They were 19 seconds in front of Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde, who had moved from tenth place after the Prologue to second at Blackburn as they dropped just one second more on than the day than the leaders.
Despite their lead, King/Vokes had a problem, they had had a puncture and now no longer had a spare. King therefore, after reaching the overnight halt, drove to Uttoxeter to collect two replacements. He arrived back in Blackburn at 02:30.
Dunning/Johnson and Dyas/Taylor completed the top four at Blackburn; they were separated by a total of 28 seconds, but there was then a minute gap to Paul Crosby/Ali Procter in fifth.
Third Placed: Kurt Vanderspinnen/Bjorn Vanoverschelde (Ford Lotus Cortina)
Photograph: © HERO-ERA
Leg Two, Saturday, was another long one; it comprised ten tests and nine regularities within its 244 miles. It finished at Yarnfield, near Stone in Staffordshire. There were halts at Lymm, Oulton Park, Rushton and Winkhill.
The main features of the day were that Vokes/King extended their lead to almost a minute after again putting in the best performance of the day. In the battle of the Lotus Cortinas, Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde and Dyas/Taylor swapped second place a couple of times, but it was the Belgian pair that was 31 seconds ahead at Yarnfield.
Martin Payton/Miles Fieldhouse and Callum Guy/Amy Henchoz both had good days and held fourth and fifth places at the day end.
Less fortunate were Crosby/Procter who got rearended by a speeding member of the public while they waited at a time control; the damage was too extensive for them to continue. A broken wheel hub stopped the AC Aceca Coupe of Philipp Leibundgut/Alex Leibundgut later on during the day.
The final day was 164 miles long, with five regularities and ten tests, the final three being on the Great Orme at Llandudno. The regularities included numerous tricky controls hidden in farmyards.
King/Vokes continued as they had been performing over the previous two days. By the lunch halt, which was taken at Llandderfel, they had increased their lead to almost a minute and a half. However, it was Dyas/Taylor who had put in the best performance up to that point, closing to within a second of Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde in the battle for the runner up spot.
The fight for fourth place was also close, with Guy/Henchoz cutting their deficit to Payton/Fieldhouse to eleven seconds.
King/Vokes completed the day and the event with a commanding lead; they finished 1m 21s ahead of the field. Their Lotus Elan Plus 2 hadn't been expected to survive the gruelling course, but it did and collected its third win since August.
The battle for second was decided by two factors - Dyas/Taylor put in the best performance of the day, five seconds better than the winners, and Vanderspinnen/Vanoverschelde got held up on the final regularity behind a van. As a result Dyas/Taylor finished eight seconds ahead of their rivals.
Payton/Fieldhouse withstood the pressure from behind and pulled out the gap between them and Guy/Henchoz to secure fourth place, an excellent result for the Bob Rutherford Scholarship winning navigator.
Remarkably, it was a Lotus filled podium with the Elan Plus 2 leading home two Lotus Cortinas.
The Lite Rally was dominated by Dick Baines/Harry Baines in their Mini Cooper S; they finished almost 20 minutes ahead of the field in their event.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Lite Rally - Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Team Competition
- Marques Team Competition
- Nations Cup Competition
- Time Penalty Details
- Time Penalty Details
- All Test Penalties
- All Test Scratch Times
- Top Fifty Positions At Each Day End
- Overall Positions After Prologue
- Overall Positions At The End of Leg One
- Overall Positions At The End of Leg Two
- Lite Rally - Overall Positions After Prologue
- Lite Rally - Overall Positions At The End of Leg One
- Lite Rally - Overall Positions At The End of Leg Two
- Best Performances on Individual Regularities
- Best Performances on Individual Tests
- List of Starters
- Non-Finishers