Chairman's Chat

May kicked off with the RDP Welsh Rally on Epynt. It was a cold but dry day on the ranges and Peter Lloyd enjoyed the conditions to take victory in his Subaru Impreza. James Tout and Graham Hicks had a good day and finished in the top 20. Well done to both crews. Thanks to those who marshalled on the day.

The Plains rally took place on 15th May. Sherryn Roberts was co-driving for Rebecca Kirvan and finished 5th in class. Sherryn also took part in the Severn Valley Clubman Stages alongside Roger Platt, they finished 16th overall.

The Camsport 1000 Lanes Road Rally Took Place on 29th/30th May. This is always a popular event for our members and a number of club crews took part, the best result was by C.J. Taylor who was navigating for Neil Holverson. They finished 30th overall and 1st in class. Well done to them. I went along on the night leg and managed to take a few pictures. I have posted the best one below.

The Mini Epynt Stages is a new event this year, and pulled a good entry. Peter Lloyd had entered his new Subaru Impreza but was forced to withdraw due to technical issues. This left James Tout to fly the flag for the club, and he flew it well by finishing 10th overall. Well done to him and Dan Holley. Will and Gavin Johnson struggled with the Micra's lack of power but had a steady run to finish 7th in class.

June 20th saw the regular running of the Midsummer Caerwent Stages. Peter Lloyd once again gave his new car a debut victory on the tight and unforgiving roads of the training area. James Tout was also on the pace, he and Graham Hicks finished 8th overall and 3rd in class. Thanks to those who marshalled on the day.

The 'Tour of Epynt' ran on Sunday 14th March, on a dry but very cold day. We were running stage starts and finishes just off Dixies, and had a good view of the cars leaving the start line. Peter Lloyd and Graham Handley would once again triumph on this event, Well done to them. Other club members had mixed fortunes. It was DNF for Alan 'Gof' Williams/Jordan Jones and James Tout/Dan Holley, a 'minor excursion' caused Alan's demise while James Tout had gearbox problems. Richard 'Zed' Green has recently 'reappeared' and had a good day sitting next to Earnie Beamish, they finished 43rd overall and 2nd in class. For full club results, see 'Recent Results'.

The Tour of Caerwent took place on Sunday 28th March. I did not attend this event as it clashed with my holiday. We had a few club members competing, best class result was Mark Powell who finished 2nd in class. Well done to him. Thanks to those who marshalled on the day.

The Bob Shaw Memorial Rally took place at Talbenny airfield on 11th April. Kevin and Sharron Davies took club honours by finishing 6th overall and 2nd in class. Well done to them both. C.J Taylor had a good day co-driving for Martin Harries in a 205, they finished 10th overall and 1st in class. Well done to them. See 'Recent Results' for more information.

April saw the re-scheduled Red Kite Stages take place in the Brechfa and Caio forests. The warm dry weather was a welcome change from the 'Big Freeze' conditions which the rally should have encountered back in January. The rally organisers have worked extremely hard to re-schedule and survey/plan new stages in just 3 months. Congratulations to the team, and Thanks to everyone that supported the 2010 Red KIte Stages. We couldn't do it without you.

The Ordnance Survey have recently released full UK maps to download for free. The 'Rasta' versions aren't as detailed as the 1:50000 versions used in rallying, but they ideal for general route planning etc. Visit: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/opendata/

The recent cold weather has caused much disruption this winter, and continued to cause problems well into February. The Rali Bro Caron found itself at the mercy of the snow on the 20th/21st February. The first selective was cancelled and then the later sections were cancelled because of the difficult conditions. We did not have any club members take part in this event but several attended as spectators on this very popular rally.

James Tout and Jordan Jones took part in the Smeathorp Stages on Saturday 20th February, giving James' newly acquired Mitsubishi Lancer its debut. The venue was very slippery and they had a few early incidents - caught on the onboard video camera. An early impact with a large hay bale caused much panic in the car. The link to the video is posted here - CAUTION - contains a lot of swearing (Bleeped now)!! They unfortunately failed to finish due to gearbox problems but had set some impressive stage times during the day. I'm looking forward to seeing them out on local rallies in the coming months.

The Rali Cwm Gwendraeth took place on Sunday 21st. We were blessed with a dry, but not too cold day, Club members Barry and Seyyan John had entered in their Subaru, but this time it was Seyyan who was at the wheel driving her first rally. She had a good day and finished 36th overall and 5th in class. Husband Barry didn't seem to mind being passenger, giving me a big thumbs up as they passed us on the straight. Will and Gavin Johnson were out in their recently acquired Class 1 Nissan Micra. They had a trouble free run to 37th overall and 4th in class. Cerith Davies and Matthew Wood-Griffiths would not fare so well, suffering damage to the Escort's bodywork and breaking the exhaust system thus causing them to retire. Better luck at Talbenny guys! Alan 'Gof' Williams and Paul Williams would also retire when the front differential broke on their Sierra Cosworth. Thanks to those that marshalled on the day. Our next Marshalling outing - Tour of Epynt, 14th March.

January 2010 has been dominated by the very extreme weather which has affected much of the country. These events caused our reluctant postponement of the 2010 Red KIte Stages, which have now been rescheduled to the 18th April. I feel that the new date will benefit the event. Warmer weather plus the ability to use new stages will hopefully bring an increase in entries and give competitors a fresh challenge. We are all disappointed that the rally did not go ahead on the original date. My best wishes to Gareth and his team at this time, I'm sure we can still make 2010 the best 'Kite' yet.

Our annual Presentation Dinner took place on Saturday 16th at the Glyn Clydach Hotel. I was concerned that the weather would disrupt this event too, but the bad weather eased for this weekend. Our attendance was down on previous years, with 40 or so guests attending., Some feel that the recession was to blame, but I've heard a number of people say that January is not the best time for such an event anyway. There seems to be two clear opinions on this matter:

In recent months, a new campaign has begun to reintroduce the Rali Mynydd Du, our much missed road rally. Committee member Dai John has 'bit the bullet' and taken up the role of Clerk of the Course - well done, Dai! He has already had offers of help which comes as no surprise given the popularity of this event. Our submitted date is 25th/26th September. If you would like to get involved and take up a role for this rally, please contact Dai John.

Note: the monthly Chairman's Chat reports for 2009 have been moved to the Archive - see side panel.