Stage Rally Cadwell Park
Motor Sport News Rally Championship Round 2
Cadwell Park
Well, the last public track event has come and gone at Cadwell Park for another year. The North Humberside Motor Club hosted the Motor Sport News Rally Championship Round 2. This Stage Rally is traditionally the last event held at the Lincolnshire track and for me and the rest of the PistonClick team it kicks off the winter photography programme.
This involves me getting out my waterproof camera cover, big coat, fingerless gloves and capturing muddy, as opposed to, shiny motor vehicles in challenging light conditions.
Suitably attired we were out in force for this event with five of us around the circuit capturing the action as we did last year. However, the on track action was a little more intermittent than 12 months ago as there were a few incidents.
Quite a few of the cars decided to inspect the Cadwell shrubbery at the back of Hall Bends and test the impact resistance of the tyre walls just about everywhere else. This is not to be unexpected, it's rallying and the same happened last year, although this year they did a better job of it.
Part of the problem was the weather. It was very cold and wet compared to last year's sunshine. This resulted in the inevitable loss of traction which isn't generally a problem for the seasoned rally driver.
Some of the power slides at the bottom of the mountain were breath-takingly good, but as we all know in motorsport, it's all about the winning and there is a fine line between control and a crash and even the most experienced can bin it when pushing for the win.
One very bad accident involving car 30, the Subaru driven by Adam Williams and Rachel Atherton, caused quite a delay. Calder Rescue and Omega Rescue who together worked as one team to rescue and attend to both the driver and navigator, treating the crew and recovered a very second hand looking car from the start finish line.
The rally cars will use all of the available tarmac areas around the circuit when competing in these track competitions. This keeps it challenging for the crews and interesting for the spectators.
The stages can then be set out so that the crews will drive in the opposite direction to normal around the track. Williams and Atherton were heading in the wrong (but correct for the stage) direction along the straight at high speed when it all went wrong.
Having different stages on during the day did cause us a few problems as none of us had purchased a programme. Last year the stages were all explained in the programme, allowing us to work out where to be to capture the action.
Quite a few times we were looking at each other going "any idea what direction they are coming from now?"
My advice, don’t be a cheapskate and purchase a programme. It will help you out no end. In our defence we were in the right place 90% of the time as this isn't our first rodeo.
So let's look at the action, and if you are not familiar with the Rallying, we will chat a little bit about part of the sports history and the cars competing at the event. When I approach an event that I don't follow all year, as in this case, I will search online for a competitor list. Why?
Well when you go and watch any sport you generally support a team or an individual so you have someone to root for, which makes the day interesting. As an independent observer for this event I was looking for people I know or interesting cars to photograph
The box was ticked well and truly by Dan Ellmore's Metro 6R4 (6-cylinder, Rally, 4-wheel drive). Although he is not in my Facebook friends list, he is a local guy who I've chatted to on line and he is also a member of a some of the car clubs I patronise.
So being an avid consumer of Social Media I had been prewarned this was Dan's first run out in a Rally with his newly refurbished mad Group B Metro, so I was keen to see this iconic car in action.
Back in 1983 the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA or FISA) had a bit of a moment. When I say a bit, I mean a massive must have been down the pub all day moment ,when they came up with the Group B rally regulations.
These rules were very loose to the point that the manufacturers of the day could do just about what they wanted in regards to producing a car to go as fast as possible down a forest track.
There were four classes in Group B, named B9 to 12. B9 cars had an engine displacement of 1299cc or less increasing to the B12 which were 2000cc and over. However, this was the era of the turbo so there was a bit of maths involved to make it fair for all the teams. So a small light engine car with a couple of big turbos could end up in a much higher class.
This resulted in some of the most iconic rally cars ever produced. The list of great cars that were produced to take part in Group B is instantly recognisable to any petrol head. The Audi Quattro, Ford RS200, Renault 5 Turbo, Lancia Delta, Opel Manta 400 and of course the Metro 6R4 to name a few.
These cars were only in competition for a few years before the class was dropped, mainly due to the number of accidents that these rocket ships were involved in. This was the original group of death!
These days World Rally Cars are a lot safer, restricted to 380bhp with clever electronics to keep them shiny side up they are still entertaining to watch. But compared to the Group B concept of slap 4 wheel drive on a short wheelbase car with a 600bhp turbo charged engine and send it, they are like chalk and cheese.
During the lunch break a few cars from the golden era that were not taking part in the Rally did a few demo laps, keeping the crowd entertained.
So let's look at some of the seventy competitors who took part in Round 2 of the Motor Sport News Rally Championship. There are seven classes eligible for this event, however I didn’t see any of the GT cars out on track.
Basically, the Classes start at A for small cubic capacity cars, moving up to the D1 class cars that are 2001cc and up to 3000cc, with the D2 being the same capacity but 4 wheel drive.
In car #1 Ian Woodhouse and Paul Rowland showed there is still life in the Ford Escort Mk2 as they came out as the D1 and overall stage winners. Woodhouse is not unfamiliar with winning as he was the was the Motorsport News Circuit Rally champion in 2016 - 17.
In second was Mike Taylor and Martin Haggett in the #5 Talbot Sunbeam Lotus followed in for the last podium by Dan Corner and Mark Regan in the nimble #97 Peugeot 205.
The C Class winners which are 1601cc to 200cc cars were Mike English and Andy Robinson in car #7 the Ford Escort Mk2 RS. Runners up in the #11 car, another Escort were Rob Cox and Joe Graham. It wasn’t a Ford lockout for the podiums #19 Cathy Stewart and Colin Stephens in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus took the final podium.
In the D2 4WD Class it was Lee Allen in his trusty #10 Mitsubishi Evo 3, followed in by a brace of Subaru Impreza #10 Philip Megginson and Paul Turner and in third #31 Jonathan Lightbody andTom Homan.
The Cadwell Stages is not just about the on track rallying. There was an excellent display of historic rally cars, funfair rides for the kids and the end of season fireworks display. We didn’t stay for the fireworks, it was cold and wet and we have seen fireworks before. So all in all a good day out with some good track action.
However, In my view it wasn’t better than last year for the spectator photographer due to the safety features being laid out in a different way. The hay bails at the top of the mountain restricted your view especially for the children, last years tyre wall was spot on. There were also a few breaks in the track action that couldn’t be helped, the safety of the competitors always comes first.
Lots of tyres were placed on the apex of corners, preventing the cars from driving over the grass like they did last year, but they cluttered the pictures. We want to see rally cars kicking up a bit of dirt don't we? And grass grows back.
The stage markers were placed so they got in the way of a good shot, do you need that many out? Isn't that what the co-driver supposed to do, direct the driver?
Mind you, the drivers knocked most of them down in short order. The team and I do like a challenge and we still managed to pick up some nice action shots between all of the stage furniture.
If you want to capture some rally action and missed out on this event, don’t worry, the Motor Sport News Rally Championship will be back at Cadwell for the Alan Healy Memorial Cadwell Park Stages on the second of February 2020.
You can find out when the next Motor Sport News Rally and other automotive events are happening near you by checking out the PistonClick motorsport calendar.
I would like to thank the PistonClick team for braving the elements, listening to me ramble on and capturing the images which are from Graham Taylor Images and Simon Kirman from West Lincs Auto Photography. You can see more of their work below.
David Harbey will be producing a separate report focusing on one team. Check back soon to see which team it was.
West Lincs Auto Photography
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