With the heavy snow which hit the West Country last Thursday night it was not an easy decision for the rally organisers as to whether it would be safe to run the Wyedean Rally through the Forest of Dean the following day. A decision to go ahead with the rally was made on Friday afternoon. With both Severn Bridges closed it was not an easy journey for the 180 competitors to reach the start and rally headquarters at Chepstow Racecourse for scrutineering on Friday evening in preparation for the Saturday morning start.

This was the first round of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Championship and the first outing for the Insurantz Ford Focus’ crewed by Andrew Barnes / Guy Simmons and John Lloyd / Adrian Cavengah. BTR had prepared the cars to an immaculate standard and both drivers were wondering in what shape the cars would return to the service area at the end of the day as even the start area was an ice rink. The 1400cc cars were having difficulty getting to the start line.

Andrew Barnes said, “I can’t believe that we survived the rally and there are no marks on the car. After the second stage I was wondering why we were there, on the third stage I caught the car in front that started the stage on the previous minute. It was only at the end of the day I discovered we were third fastest on that stage and had finished 9th overall and third in class. It was the first time I had driven competitively on snow and ice and by the end of the day I was enjoying the driving. Several years ago I attended an Ice Driving School in Norway and that experience did help me on the first stage. Our only mechanical problem was the replacement of the fly by wire motor that affected the throttle and was replaced by our experienced mechanics within minutes at the auxiliary service between stages two and three. Guy and I are thrilled with our result, as we did not think we were doing so well in the artic conditions. I am now looking forward to the next round of the championship, the Malcolm Wilson Rally on 7th March which is based in Cockermouth.” Andrew is now lying in 6th place in the national championship.

John Lloyd was pleased that he had started the rally as it was a round of the BTRDA Championship however he did not enjoy the treacherous conditions and said that he would rather bury the day’s performance. John was fifth fastest on the fifth stage and finished 9th in class and 16th in the championship.

Nik Elsmore took his second victory on his home event driving a lesser powered Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9.