Competitors arrived in Yorkshire for the HERO Challenge 3 Interclub, round 6 of the Championship. The event was based at a relatively new venue, The Motorist near Sherburn-in-Elmet. Whereas on Friday I struggled to see the business model for this investment, by Saturday and the finish it was clear many petrol heads were clamouring from the rafters, a regular situation according to the staff. Unfortunately, Miles Fieldhouse could not make the start so Emily Anderson was drafted in on the maps for Martin Payton in the always quick PV544. Darell Staniforth made a welcome return in his mighty Corolla. Ken and Sarah Binstead were out in their new acquisition, a Datsun 240Z. That would be fun getting round the hairpins!

Emily Anderson pointing the way towards the Drivers Championship with Martin Payton in the Volvo PV544.  Photo by Will Broadhead Photography.

Saturday arrived and the field of just 29 cars was led off by Mick Valentine and Ryan Pickering in the Escort to the first 2 tests. Test 1 was very well marked out with a couple of bumps and a care sign about half way around, it was a good start to the Rally. Then Test 2, Hagg End, another excellent test, not too many bumps and decent gaps between the cones.

Reg 1 was a handout at the Start, just 2 spot heights so no stress … Oh, yes there is, what’s a public access point for the speed changes. That had many a navigator rummaging for their map legends. 5 speed changes in 10miles caught a few, but not Emily Anderson nor James Howell who each lost 1 second on the whole Reg!

James’s Griffiths and Howell (1275GT) lost just 1 second on reg 1.  What is a public access point by the way? Photo by Will Broadhead Photograpy.

Test 3, Acaster Maze was another flowing test, but approaching D, not wanting to lose too much momentum, we felt a bump and looked out of the mirror to see there was a cone tipped over. On test 4, Doug’s Spot, we clipped something in the narrow bit just after the start and at the lunch halt found some blue paint on the sill and door, a bit of T-Cut on Sunday morning sorted that out. Test 5, Down the Mart, was an ‘around the buildings’ test which took us to coffee.

Reg 2 was straightforward enough, crossing gridlines, however it straggled 2 maps so a certain amount of dexterity, or even origami was needed! Henry Carr with Darell Staniforth was best on just 5 seconds. Reg 3 followed pretty much immediately, again pre-plot using map features but this time shuffling 3 maps. Not sure how navigators in the Mini’s managed? Henry Carr was class of the field again with Graham Presswell impressing, just 2 seconds back.

Darell Staniforth and Henry Carr (he’s the one looking a bit taken aback) Toyota Corolla.  Class of the field on reg 3 and managed 3rd overall.  Photo by Will Broadhead Photography.

Test 6, Driftin Along, and I could get the Big T moving on the straights. There was a code board to be picked up on the driver’s side this time. On to Test 7, Alamein, a good test with Passage Controls where you must wait for a signature. It takes the same time for everyone and is a good way of slowing everyone down. Test 8 Eastburn View, was our undoing. It should have been 90 right through G but we missed it, enjoying the test too much, and had to turn around and come back.

A final Reg before lunch was Jogularity and contained a trick. The gist was a LWR, turn right into a farm, control. Simples. Not really, a lot lost time and others missed the control all together. A bit of a Woodcock special! Paul Dyas / Martyn Taylor were best on 8 seconds with Ken and Sarah Binstead just 1 second back, maybe a 240Z can hustle.

Paul Dyas and Martyn Taylor (Ford Cortina) on one of the early tests.  A good performance on reg 4 put them in contention and they were holding 2nd at lunch.  Photo by Will Broadhead Photography.

An excellent lunch at Bishop Burton College had Valentine/Pickering from Dyas/Taylor and Staniforth/Carr. The experts were led by Kitchen/Rutherford in the MGB and the novices by Clayton/Bentley in the RS2000.

Tests 9, 10 and 11 were repeats of earlier tests, but on Test 11 I thought that I would nail it as we got it slightly wrong last time, so it was left of D then I thought 90 right into G? Wrong! Got shouted at by Martin.

Rob Kitchen and Ed Rutherford (MGB) were leading the Experts at lunch and finished 9 overall, their best result of the season so far.  Photo by Will Broadhead Photography.

Reg 5, map references with a not so difficult farm in the middle was emphatically won by Paul and Sandra Heaney in the TR6. They dropped just 3 seconds with 8 speed changes. Reg 6, a pre-plot mainly identified by Electricity lines contained a tricky-ish white that had me for one hoping that the road through the farm was actually right. Ali and Lindsey Procter in their 205 GTi took the spoils on just 2 seconds dropped.

Finally, Reg 7 had a route defined by Farms passed, I still have the “Old Rectory” entrance highlighted from the 2013 North Yorkshire. The Procters won again dropping just 3 seconds.

At the finish it was 2 on the bounce for Valentine/Pickering, and though the driver’s championship is decided in favour of Martin Payton, the navigator’s will go down to the wire. At the end the top 5 remained as it had been at lunch.

Mick Valentine and Ryan Pickering  (Ford Escort) making it 2 from 2.  Photo By Will Broadhead Photography

Martin Phaff and Colin Evans