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Festival Targa Rally

Sponsored by Yellow Box

Bath Motor Club

14th February 2026


Bath Festival Targa Rally 2026
Winners: John Davies/Nick Bloxham (Ford Puma)
Photograph: © M&H Photography

Organiser: Bath Motor Club

Date: 14th February 2026

Clerk of the Course: Dave Whittock

Tests: 12 (35 Test Miles)

Base: Castle Combe

Starters: 89


For 2026 the Bath Motor Club's Festival Targa Rally was once again based at the Castle Combe Race Circuit; there were four tests at the Wiltshire venue and eight others at various locations, including Charlton Park and Kemble Airbase.

After weeks of persistent rain, the Festival was run in dry, and at times sunny conditions. However the preceding wet weather left the tests in slippery conditions.

There was a capacity 90 car entry for Round 2 of the BTRDA Gold Star series, although one no-show reduced the number of starters to 89. In fact, only 88 cars lined up for Test 1 as the Toyota MR2 of David Bevan/Paul Bevan had its starter motor fail after Signing On closed.

Castle Combe was used for the opening two tests, with Test 1 taking in the outer service roads, while Test 2, was largely, on the circuit itself.

John Davies/Nick Bloxham had won the Festival Targa three times in succession, only being stopped making that four wins by an engine failure while in the lead in 2025. They started the 2026 event in attack mode and were fastest by 14 seconds over the two mile Chippenham Road Test. The Subaru Impreza of Alun Tudur Morris/Dylan Sion Richards was second quickest, two seconds ahead of Tom Brooks/Suze Rogers (Toyota MR2). These three crews were to be the class of the field throughout the day.

Less fortunate were Jason Davies/Aled Richards, the Teifi Valley MC pair had a half shaft break on their Escort roughly halfway through the test and they were out. Also in trouble on the test was the Escort of Graham Dance/Lizzie Pope, the first outing in the driving seat for Dance in twelve years, sticking brakes meant that the car couldn't reach the finish line. With the intent of gaining some experience, as they embarked on a Gold Star series campaign, Dance/Pope rejoined the fray at Charlton Park and completed the event in 42nd position.

Davies/Bloxham shared fastest time with Brooks/Rogers on Test 2, however they were amongst 33 cars to beat the bogey so all received the bogey time, therefore the top positions remained the same as the crews left Castle Combe.

Steve Knibbs/Gerwyn Barry weren't among those to leave the circuit, their Puma suffering a fuel pump failure on Test 2. Paul Davies/Sean Davies struggled to the end of the test with a very sick engine in their Corsa; they withdrew immediately afterwards.

The survivors moved to the north of Melksham for a half mile, mostly gravel, test on a farm track. Davies/Bloxham extended their lead as they shared quickest time here with Gary White/Paul Nelson (Ford Fiesta), the latter pair temporarily displacing Brooks/Rogers for third place.

The lead changed on Test 4, a challenging muddy 1.8 miler, just south of Keevil Airfield. The Impreza of Morris/Richards was the perfect vehicle for the conditions and they were fastest by 21 seconds, putting them into a five second lead over Davies/Bloxham, who had been second quickest.

Dan Morris/Geth Johnson had been penalised 30 seconds for a jump start on Test 1. They had fought back to be in eighth place after Test 3, but on the following test their Puma's gearbox cried "Enough!" and they were added to the Retirement List.

Test 5 was a repeat of Test 3 and Morris/Richards pulled further ahead as they were faster by six seconds than Davies/Bloxham, who, once again, were second quickest.

Test 6 was the first of two visits to the familiar Charlton Park, the test having to be altered prior the event due to flooding. Davies/Bloxham cut their deficit to the leaders by four seconds here. This was as far as the Escort of Howard Price/Carl Williamson got, a severe misfire, whose cause could not be easily located, led to the pair withdrawing at this point.

Also out on the test was Car 5, the Escort of Jonathan Davies/Jordan Burrow, which suffered locking brakes. Their struggle through Charlton Park, held up a number of cars; those affected were given a nominal time based on the slowest car before them to complete the test. This was the fairest method of solving the problem for the delayed cars, although Car 28 Bleddyn Thomas/Sam Weller (Ford Escort) probably rightly felt that they would have been faster, as they were in seventh place after Test 5. However, it was unlikely to have affected their final eighth place position.

Bath Festival Targa Rally 2026

Crews returned to Castle Combe for the final test before the late lunch break, a re-run of Test 1 over the Rally School roads. Morris/Richards extended their advantage over the field to 14 seconds after the test; Davies/Bloxham shared second fastest time with Brooks/Rogers.

Also on the retirement list by the lunch break was the Escort of Joseph Thomas/Aled Jones, which suffered a gearbox/clutch breakage, similar problems also stopped Chris Smith/Rebecca Smith in their Mazda MX5. Meanwhile a loss of oil pressure was the cause of Anthony Bailey/Alfie Elemant withdrawing their Escort.

Battle recommenced with a run around the Castle Combe Circuit, where Morris/Richards struggled to match the pace of their challengers, they were only twelfth fastest, 17 seconds slower than Davies/Bloxham; this allowed the Puma back into a narrow lead. Brooks/Rogers were quickest, the only crew to beat the bogey.

A jumped start penalty on Test 2 had blunted the challenge of Huw Morris/Dan Johnson, but they were just outside the top ten when their rally came to end on Test 8 when a brake cylinder broke on their Ford Focus. This meant that four of the top seven starters were now out.

The event left Castle Combe and took in two attempts at a test at Kemble Airfield and a second visit to Charlton Park. Brooks/Rogers continued their charge; they were fastest on Test 9 and matched Davies/Bloxham on Test 10. This pushed them past Morris/Richards into second place; at this point the MR2 was 32 second behind the Puma.

On Charlton Park 2, the penultimate test, Morris/Richards were quickest and this pulled them level pegging with Brooks/Rogers; the two crews were sharing second place, 25 seconds off first, with the final test, a four and a half miler around Castle Combe, remaining. And the leaders had a problem - the power steering on their Puma had failed at Charlton Park and Davies was having to fight his way around.

It was Brooks/Rogers who took up the challenge; they were visibly quicker by far than any other crew on Test 12 and stopped the clock 21 seconds ahead of anyone else. Most importantly, they were 24 seconds faster than the struggling Davies/Bloxham, who, despite their problems, were fourth fastest. Remarkably this left the top two crews separated by just one second at the Finish, with Davies/Bloxham securing their fourth win in five Festival Targas. Morris/Richards completed the podium, ending 26 seconds off first place.

The Club Rally, which ran alongside the main event, was led from Test 2 by Lewis Ayris/Matt Outhwaite (BMW Compact); they finished 35 second ahead of Josh Clarkey/Bob Clarkey (Renault Clio), giving Ayris his second Festival Club Rally in succession.


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