By Matthew Vokes
Leyburn, Catterick and North Yorkshire hosted the Ilkley Jubilee Rally once more on September 8th. After some pre-event drama where it looked like the MoD wouldn’t play ball, Ian Mitchell and the rest of the Ilkley team had managed to secure Catterick Ranges once again. They would form a large part of the event, and the first section was particularly compact, all of it within 10 miles or so of the start in Leyburn. There was thirty miles or more of competitive action over the ranges, plus a compact 103-mile road route.
September can be a changeable month, and after a largely clear day on Saturday, grey skies, mist and rain greeted the 58 starters on Sunday morning. They included ten crews in the connected Targa rally, using the same route as the Interclub event but largely substituting marked map navigation instructions for the traditional plotting.
Scrutineering and documentation were efficiently completed on Saturday afternoon at Leyburn Livestock Auction Mart, with the start at 0901 back there on Sunday morning for car 1, the Escort of Matt Fowle and 2023 winner Ryan Pickering, which led crews away.
Scrutineering underway for the Ilkley on a dry(ish Saturday afternoon. Photo by Ken Binstead
After a short run out, the first regularity started in the mist high on Catterick ranges, using Jogularity instructions. It was a great introduction to the event, with the action starting immediately and several tales of early mishaps and incidents, not helped by the low-hanging mist that made spotting those junctions even more challenging than expected. Matt & Ryan put in the best performance on this reg, dropping just 19 seconds, but unfortunately, their good run was not to last – a broken trip meter sensor after the reg putting paid to their chances of a top result. Unfortunately, this regularity also caught out the 205 GTi of Mark Jones/Corey Powell-Jones, who ended up on the wrong side of a fence and had to be recovered with the help of the Army.
Three tests followed: Sheep Dip, Flat Wood and Black Plantation. James Griffiths and James Howell in Green Pea went off-roading on the first of these and got stuck, losing several minutes in the nettles as James H. had to push, while several crews struggled with the code boards. Penalties for these were later scrubbed as the side-on number plates did not have advance stamp boards up, which made them difficult to see – this was rectified for the afternoon loop. John Haygarth/Martyn Taylor in the rapid orange Kadett Rallye were quickest on Tests 1 & 3 (where 13 crews managed to beat the bogey on the latter), while the 205 GTi of Ali & Lyndsey Procter took the honours on Test 2. These two crews would contest ‘best on tests’ honours all day.
John Haygarth and Martyn Taylor (Opel Kadett) fastest on tests 1 and 3.
The ambition of the organisers to provide route instructions at MTC1 and a complementary set of NAMs at the regularity start having fallen over on both counts, a sizeable delay at the start of Reg 2 whilst the handouts were located gave a chance to regroup. The regularity itself soon made up for that – the first few miles were on the public road, but it looped back around the forest at the north of the ranges for two fast-paced final controls and a code board. Darrell Staniforth/Martin Pitt were best here in the Cooper S. Already out were Phil B. Wood/Kelvin Phipps (924S), a broken driveshaft the last in a series of woes that began with a search for somewhere to issue an MOT late on Saturday and took in some novel route-finding.
The front runners awaiting details of reg 2 as the rain came down. Photo by Ken Binstead
A shortened coffee halt at the welcoming Bolton Arms in Downholme showed Haygarth/Taylor leading by almost 30 seconds from the Procters and leading Expert crew Russell Smith/Dan Harrison, starting a fine run in their 205.
Regularity 3 should have given everyone some great views over Swaledale. Sadly the low cloud and mist made the scenery invisible, as well as making the 28 mph average somewhat more challenging to maintain than it might have been otherwise. Ian Crammond / Matthew Vokes (280SL) put in the best performance here despite being held up by a Maserati… this was a rare occurrence as the wet weather did seem to have generally discouraged people from coming out, and there were very few reports of people getting held up on the public road regularities.
Four tests at Washford Farm completed a short, quick-fire morning with plenty of action – no one ended up in the sludge tank, though several crews became confused in the quarry, losing their way on the test and dropping time. Chief among them were Paul Crosby/Mark Appleton (911) who were with the Peugeots and Peter Higton/Phil Savage (MX5) in the group chasing Haygarth/Taylor. The Kadett crew were quickest on Tests 4 & 5, Ken & Sarah Binstead’s MGB hit the front on Test 6 (though that time looks a little too good!), and the yellow RS2000 of Jon Dunning/Henry Carr was best on Test 7. David Mann/Ian Doble retired their MGC on test 6 after transmission failure at the start.
As crews enjoyed a simple sandwich lunch back at the Auction Mart, Haygarth/Taylor had extended their lead to 41 seconds. The leading four were unchanged here, and behind them Crosby/Appleton narrowly headed a chasing bunch now led by Crammond/Vokes from Fowle/Pickering, Dunning/Carr, Binstead/Binstead and Staniforth/Pitt, all six within a minute of each other but over a minute off the lead. As Ryan observed, there was surely more than a minute to be lost in the afternoon to come….
It was straight back onto the ranges after lunch with two fantastic but demanding regularities, not helped by the driving rain and deep puddles now covering the route. Reg 4 had to be shortened on the fly after the army was discovered to be training nearby – early runners struggled to see as they drove through dense smoke from smoke grenades, and later runners found their route blocked by a rifle-wielding squaddie….
Reg 5 caught many people out; cars 1 & 2 both missed the first IRTC, which was on a LWR triangle, Martin Pitt missed a junction later on, and there were many other stories from others not quite finding the intended route at the first time of asking! Even the CoC was not immune, his car drowning out in the deepest puddle and having to be recovered as he continued, “minus half of the stuff I needed” in the clock car. Dunning/Carr were best on Reg 4, with Russ Smith/Dan Harrison taking Reg 5.
Jon Dunning and Henry Carr (Ford Escort RS 2000) best on reg 4 and 5th overall.
Tests 8 – 10 were repeats of the first three morning tests on the ranges, the rain making the concrete and gravel roads even slipper than before. Sarah Binstead got out to help free their stuck car at the second cone on test 8, but fortunately for marital harmony Ken managed to drive it out. The Procters took test 8, Fowle/Pickering test 9 and Dunning / Carr test 10.
The event’s character now changed completely for the final section, with the last 3 public road regularities winding around the (rain-soaked) lanes. Reg 6 was plot n’ bash, with instructions handed out at each control; Crammond/Vokes mastered this best. Reg 7 and Reg 8 were both straightforward, including a couple of nice NAMs, and Reg 8 finished on a sensibly timed farm track. Crosby/Appleton were best by a second on Reg 7, whilst Reg 8 again saw Crammond/Vokes on top, dropping 14 seconds over the last three regs to come out Best on Regularities overall, with Haygarth/Taylor twenty seconds behind.
One final and slightly incongruous test brought the competitive action to a close in the car park at the Yorkshire Events Centre, usually the scene of car boot sales. Haygarth/Taylor were 7 seconds quicker than anyone else here and were Best on Tests overall by 8 seconds from a hard-charging Procter/Procter. From here, a short run back led to the finish at Catterick Golf Club and a pleasing carvery meal. Surprisingly, all bar five of the starters made it.
Final results credited Haygarth/Taylor with a well-deserved win, having led almost all the way through the event after a fine all-round performance, their margin 42 seconds from the impressive Best Experts Smith/Harrison with the Procters a further 41 seconds back in third and Crammond/Vokes fourth, just ten seconds away. Best Novices were the consistently excellent Jeff Wincott/Anne Tweddell, 18th overall in their A40, and Andrew Thompson/Joshua Bailey in an MX5 won the Targa event after long-time leaders Kevin Savage/Jayne Wignall in their Ignis stumbled near the end. Thompson/Bailey would have finished 17th overall in a combined event. A final, very popular touch was the impromptu award of a trophy in recognition of recent events to Suzanne Barker, who made a brave acceptance speech thanking the club and the broader rally community for its support.
More thanks must go to Ian and his Ilkley team, plus all their marshals, for overcoming the odd hiccup to give us a really good and challenging event, with some great tests and demanding regularities – let’s hope next year the sun is shining!