Ludlow Castle out in force at forest

The Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally was the opening round of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Series, incorporating rounds of many championships.

The rally was once again sponsored by local business GMF Motor Factors and hosted by Forest of Dean Motor Club.

The Wyedean always proves a popular event, attracting top name drivers from all over the UK, and this year was no exception with a full entry of around 180 cars.

The event took place on Saturday, February 12 in the Forest of Dean area with Chepstow Race Course providing the hospitality. Among the strong entry were a good number of Ludlow Castle Motor club members.

The cars left the start line for action in the forests at 8am and taking an early lead was Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank in their Ford Focus WRC, with the awesome Peugeot Cosworth of Andy Burton down in third place. Roger Chilman/Andrew Sankey were the first LCMC members through the stage in their newly acquired Subaru Impreza WRC.

After their success of 2010 Chilman decided that he could not develop the old car any further, so to stay competitive WRC was the way forward. This was their first time out in the car, so a steady approach on the opening stage was in order and they finished eighth overall.

They were followed by Jon Scott,co-driving for Nigel Griffiths in the Presteigne Tyre Services/Button Bow.com Subaru Impreza lying 12th overall, with Alex Allingham/Mark Glennerster in 17th.

By Stage three, Speech House, Chilman/Sankey had stepped up the pace to gain sixth place with the pair clearly getting used to the new Haywood Engineering/Secure Com sponsored car. Griffiths/Scott were also settling in to the rally with a jump of four places to ninth, with Allingham/Glennerster in12th position

After overnight rain the stages were very slippery and remained wet all day, catching many competitors out bringing an end to their rally.

Positions stayed reasonably consistent for these three LCMC crews over the remaining stages with risk free, accurate driving paying off.

Andy Burton was the overall winner of the rally, taking the lead after Stage two and holding on to it all day, with the Peugeot Cosworth hybrid remaining reliable throughout the rally.

Chilman/Sankey finished fifth, with Griffiths/Scott ninth and Allingham/Glenerster 11th.

Other LCMC members competing were Joe Price/Chris Brooks in the powerful Mk 2 Escort and it was good to see them out again after a very quiet 2010 season. Price has had very little time in the car lately but still proved he has got what it takes to be very competitive, finishing fourth in class after a mixed fortune of stages. Chris Ridge, co-driving for Scott Partridge in a Subaru, finished third in their class.

Ludlow farmer Dave Brick, another very competitive driver, took his powerful Mk2 Escort down for a day's motorsport but ended up retiring after stage two with a broken half shaft.

Report and Photos Russell Kenhard (kentonphotografix-photography)