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The Stevo Johnson Tour (19/10/2026)

A Tour starting at the Click Em Inn in memory of Stevo Johnson an avid  local motorsport enthusiast.

The club was represented by Mike & Stuart Popperwell (1275 GT Mini), George Haxby and Mike Rands (Escort Mexico). Colin Jebson was unable to attend as he was competeing on the Ilkley Jubilee along with Graham Richardson and Keith Storer.. However, Colin was represented by Son Andrew and Grandson Noah (Porsche Cayman).

 HERO Challenge 3 – (18th & 19th October 2025) 

Chepstow by Mike Rands

This years Hero Challenge 3 also included a round of the HRCR championship and while local teams Colin Jebson/Mike Rands (Volvo Amazon 122S) and Pete Dalton/Mick Smith(Lotus Cortina Mk2) were doing Saturdays HC3 final round Graham Richardson/Keith Storer did the HRCR round. The event was based at Chepstow Racecourse and after the long trip down we went into scrutineering alongside the 40 crews on the HRCR round. All went well and we picked up our road book and set off to Newport to dissect the route instructions also hoping the heavy rain would stop before we returned to the racecourse in the morning for 2 flat out tests. Meanwhile Graham and Keith in the Green machine (Escort 1600 Mk1) set off into the darkness on the Friday night for some extra activities.

The first 2 tests went smoothly, no cones hit and all the codeboards hiding behind red stamp boards carefully recorded and no need to skip over the jumps on the racecourse! A short run north up past Devauden took us to Reg 1/1, a 10 mile route defined by a descriptive table, we dropped a total 20 seconds over 3 controls. Reg1/2 started just north of Monmouth and was called Daffaluke(no idea why!) and was a speed table with junctions built in, fairly straightforward to navigate, but the roads were tricky. There were 3 controls on this 10mile section and the marshals’ clock on the middle control was out as we were very close to time due but the clock said we were 17seconds late. Fortunately the organisers corrected this and our total time lost for the section was only 8 seconds, we were improving.

A coffee stop at the Red Lion at Winters Cross was fitted in before 2 tests at the Ross-on-Wye  cattle market car park. The 2^nd test had to be shortened and amended, it seems the organisers had not closed the venue early enough to prevent the public using the car park! Some neat driving saw us drop 4seconds on the first test and 7 seconds on the 2^nd compared to the fastest in our class.

Reg 1/3 started near Orcop, or should have done according to the OS map extract we were given. The instructions were to Depart A to the NNW and Approach B from the NNW, simple enough you would have thought, but the start of the Reg marked on the map was not were the self start control board was positioned and I did not notice this as we followed the road section tulip instructions. Not long after the start we wrong slotted down a junction left instead of forking left 2/10ths further on and lost a minute getting back on route only to be baulked following the largest tractor in Wales unable to get past. When we finally got past we did another minor wrong slot, as did the Baines from S.Lincolnshire in their Cooper S, another minute penalty for us as we were unable to make up time before the next control. Serious penalties here 2minutes and 2 seconds after using our joker to reduce the time lost. Lunch was provided at the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club (Nicky Grist is Captain at the moment) This lovelyvenue was once the childhood home of Henry Rolls of Rolls  Royce fame.

Reg1/4 was a jogularity section with landmarks, interim distance and time due at each one, we were 4 seconds early at the 1^st control but were baulked by a delivery van on a narrow twisty section and unable to catch up time losing 30seconds in total.

Test 5 was called Billy’s blast and used a smooth parkland drive with 3 codeboards to collect. No penalties here for most cars unless they did a wrong Test.

Reg1/5 was a speed table with description of the route alongside. After 2 controls we had dropped 4 seconds and then disaster as we overshot a junction, a late call by the navigator, and lost time reversing up which again was just before a control and another 56 seconds was lost. Reg1/6 was the sting in the tale a 15 minute section in a speed table with junctions on very tricky roads. Time to concentrate hard and give clear instructions. We lost 24 seconds over 5 controls, better than Pete and  Mick who lost 100seconds on this one!

We finished with 4m 21s of penalties 47^th overall and 7^th in class, Pete and Mick were on 3m 46s of penalties 43^rd overall and 5^th in class.

Graham and Keith on the much tougher Inter Club event finished with 35m41s of penalties in 27^th overall.

The Summer Trial was based in Shrewsbury this year with an entry of 85 cars. Scrutineering and noise checks opening at 08:30 am on the Friday morning meant that many crews arrived the day before.There were 3 local crews taking part Pete Dalton & Mick Smith in Pete’s Lotus Cortina, Colin Jebson & Derek Brader in Colin’s Volvo and Mike Rands& Keith Storer in Mike’s Mexico.

Competition started on Friday afternoon with a run of 72 miles including 4 regularities and 3 tests, 2 of these on Rednal Kart track and the third on what was left of an old airfield perimeter road . Pete & Mick overshooting a 90 right between 2 cones.

Mike & Keith taking an early lead amongst our trio by the end of the day lying 13th o/all on 38 secs, Pete & Mick a close second in 18th with 43 secs penalties, Colin & Derek on their 1st event together encountering a few problems dropping 2m 34 secs in 51st place. 

Saturday saw the crews leaving in reverse seeding for 165 mls including 7 regularities and a reversal of the airfield test. Mike & Keith losing 20 secs when after a slight overshoot the car stalled and wouldn’t fire up again, sadly Colin & Derek continued their troubled run breaking an alternator mount in the process. Results at end of day 2 showed Pete & Mick in 15th with 2m penalties, Mike & Keith in 24 on 2m 24s and Colin & Derek in 52nd on 6m 31s. Both our leading crews being affected by delays due to farm vehicles particularly Mike & Keith when the MGB running a minute in front of them came reversing round the route being followed by 2 enormous tractors forcing both crews back to the previous control.

Sunday dawned overcast as crews set out on the final 82m consisting of 4 regularities and 3 tests. Colin had taken emergency repairs wedging a relay between the alternator and engine body, sadly this went missing on route but they carried on to finish the event in 48th place and gained a class award. Mick hadn’t used his joker yet as he kept telling everyone that is until a wrong slot on the last regularity cost them dearly finishing in 19th with 3m 43s penalties they also got a class and team award. Joining in the celebration was Mike and Keith who came equal 20th 6 seconds behind also getting a class award. 

A great weekend was had by all and a good haul of trophies to show for it. 

Keith 

The Three Castles Classic Rally
3rd to 6th June 2025   by Mike Rands

HERO Challenge 2 - Silverstone Area - 31st May

Members  Colin Jebson and Keith Storer tackled the 2nd HERO Challenge of the year. Based around the Silverstone area offering a mix of Tests and Regularities. They usedthe ex Chris Pearson 1966 Volvo Amazon 122s which had seen some major LSD, Gearbox and exhaust repairs following the previous Hero Challenge event.

Thing went wrong from the second junction of the event when a wrong slot resulted in a time loss which used up their Joker and resulted in further loss. Colin recalls the look of the Wedding Car driver meeting a Volvo coming towards him on the long drive of the local stately home.

They were lucky when Colin went the wrong side of a cone on one of the fast Bicester Motion tests. Lucky because it was so dusty the marshals never saw the mistake and no penalty was given :-)

Things started to click better between the pair in the afternoon but morning time penalties kept them well down the results. However the crew were still talking and smiling 

with a car that was still running well at the end., Result!

Gremlin Historic Rally - 10th May 2025

Club Members Graham Richardson & Keith Storer took on the daunting Epynt Military Ranges and challenging Welsh roads on this HRCR Road Rally Championship round.The event attracted a top class entry.

Keiths Report below :-

5:28 Saturday evening, it’s the start of Graham Richardson and my adventure on the Brecon MC’s Gremlin Rally 2025 starting from Talgarth Rugby Club.

2 regularities to complete a 10ml and secondly a 20ml run both based on map features with regularity 1 including all roads, fairly straightforward with Reg 1 having 8 speed changes and Reg 2 having 13. The evening finishing with a meal at the Llangorse activity centre.

Sunday morning in glorious sunshine( yes in Wales )battle commenced in earnest from the Old Railway Garden Centre in Three Cocks, the day would consist of 10 tests and 7 regularities based on and around the Epynt Ranges.

Reg. 3 started just 1.6 mls from the start on narrow Welsh lanes and finished 36mls later deep in the ranges, this was followed by 3 very fast flowing tests before coffee.

Reg 4 was somewhat unknown as only the 1st 4.6 mls of the 12ml route was preplot but this caused much chatter amongst the navigators as route instructions were basically any bodies guess. Use at least 2.3 mls of whites before entering forest at castle grid after 4.6mls. Pass through 2 not as map triangles and at least 2 SP’s. Eventually a route was decided upon and we all lined up, on starting we were given the route from the cattle grid which was tulip diagrams of not on map gravel forest roads.
Fabulous fun! 2 more tests brought us to lunch at Toyota in Builth Wells where we got the route for Reg 5.

Reg 5, 13 speed changes over 26mls back into the forest and ranges again based on passing through map features. This was closely followed by 3 tests before the next Reg.
There was a slight delay on one of the test as the army wanted to move some equipment through the test at least this allowed the dust to settle!

Reg 6 was 19ml run starting with a herringbone on whites of 10 junctions before continuing into the forests again on tulips. 2 more tests before the last Reg back to the finish at the garden centre.

Reg 7 was a 13 ml run with 8 speed changes based on up and down gradients with a couple of LWRT’s ( long way round triangle ) and a black spot.

The day concluded with a carvery and awards presentation. This was probably one of the best rallies that I have ever competed on both for organisation, choice of route and camararedie of both competitors and organisers. Well done !

Keith Storer