Ilkley Jubilee Historic Rally 2025

It was back to Otley, the home of the Ilkley Jubilee for 2025 which attracted many of the top crews hoping to score points for the championship in the penultimate event of the season, writes Brian Dwelly. The new developing format for the Clubman’s Championship of a short evening section before the main event encouraged the Ilkley team to put on a similar event, with Saturday night taking in two regularities and a Time Control section around the Bramham Estate, a challenging and favourite for many competitors.

Scrutineering was located in the spacious surrounds of Otley Mills before the documentation and issue of the test book and one regularity, entitled Monster, to plot for Sunday afternoon. This was in a herring bone format which required a close inspection of the map to pinpoint some difficult to find “bones” (two partially hidden under a church symbol) followed by 51 green dots, which could only be accomplished by incorporating a short loop in the middle to achieve the exact number and which caused some head scratching.

A ceremonial start in the Market Square on Saturday evening had been planned and the Square was thronged with people of all ages trying to get as close as possible to the spectacle of rally cars they were too young to have known, some remembering them as the family car, and others wishing they were taking part. It certainly set the scene for what was to come.

The 58 crews were handed the route for the evening section 45 minutes before their start time which included 2 regularities to be plotted and a 1:15000 highlighted route map of Bramham Estate and instructed to drive to the Market Square to line up and plot in the car. There was a temptation to engage with the crowds but many navigators preferred to keep the windows closed whilst wading through 9 spot heights, two Not As Maps (NAM`s) and then some twenty grid lines using all roads (AR) with a black spot tagged on at the end. If this was not enough for those in the Master Classes, then nine speed changes were added to the mix. A challenging start for the evening.

The first regularity started just a couple of miles out of Otley and incorporated the NAM`s before and after Fewston and Swinsty Reservoirs before winding its way down the Washburn Valley to finish to the south-west of Harrogate. A wrong slot, almost missing the white to be used as part of the AR instructions, caused us to drop a maximum minute on one of the 6 timing points (TP`s). So not such a great start. Leading the field at the end were Dan Willan/Niall Frost and expert crew Lewis Ayris/Matt Outhwaite on 9 second penalties dropped over 24 miles.

Dan Willan and Niall Frost in Steve Head’s Escort RS 2000.  Ovlov was helping Steve to work up for Rally of the Tests. Photo by Gary Plimer

This was followed by a short link to regularity 2, which was an easier affair over to Wetherby, with Lewis and Matt taking the honours this time joined by Dave Alcock/Baz Green in the impressive Datsun 280Z both on a 1 second penalty. Then it was on to the highlight of the evening, namely, Bramham Park.

For those not familiar with this venue it consists of nearly 900 acres of rolling countryside with numerous gravel tracks criss-crossing the grounds. This makes for excellent rallying and whilst there are some sections where care is needed it is generally smooth and can be tackled with gusto! This was being used as a Time Control section, timed to the minute, recording 10 code boards en route and visiting 8 controls. We tried to judge the distances between junctions using the scale bar on the map supplied to find the correct route. This worked well until a crew coming the wrong way towards us, with lights blazing, meant we under shot the correct junction by 30 metres and missed a code board. Back on top again were Dan and Niall with a penalty of only 9 seconds over a total of 18 controls and code boards and which also meant they led the field after the end of Saturday night on just 23 second penalties.

After the last Championship event 2 weeks previously, with a night section held in torrential rain of Storm Amy, this evening was a welcome respite on the dry tracks of Bramham Park and appeared to be thoroughly enjoyed by most crews and was topped off by pie and peas at the finish.

The restart on Sunday morning from the Days Inn at Wetherby Services allowed a choice of venues for breakfast – most welcome before a rally. There appeared to be just two retirements from Saturday night, one of which were the HRCR regular competitors Derek & Susan Skinner whose Cortina GT was seen parked at one of the exit gates to Bramham. Currently in second place in the Expert Championship, Andrew Parr and Bob Duck were pressing on albeit with the Mini not performing to its full potential. So 56 crews restarted with the prospect of a wet afternoon to come. A route book was handed out 30 minutes before your due start time which included four more regularities. There was discussion about an extra green dot missing from the instructions on Regularity 3 but a bulletin suggested that a later map should have been used. From my checks on the OS website it did not show any later edition or reprint for map 99 since January 2018 so further investigation is required with OS as to why a section of road showed 2 dots on one printing and 3 on many others.

It was back to Bramham for Tests 1&2 and the opportunity to see some of the slots crews may have made a mistake on the night before. Nick Bloxham and Emily Anderson kicked off with a win on the Test 1, whilst on Test 2 John Haygarth & Martyn Taylor were fastest and beat the bogey along with 20 other crews. Regularity 1 of the day continued in Bramham and was depicted by tulip junctions, some as close as 0.01mile, over the 8 miles, with 6 controls, one of which was missed by 14 cars who incurred a 2 minute 30 second penalty. Best on this section were Lewis & Matt with a penalty of just 6 seconds including zeros at 3 controls. However, this was the end for Matt Fowle & Ryan Pickering who retired with head gasket failure.

Lewis Ayris and Matt Outhwaite (Ford Escort), best on the first reg around Bramham Park on Sunday.  Photo by Gary Plimer

Regularity 2 was a short affair with Darell Staniforth & Henry Carr along with Belgian crew Kurt Vanderspinnen / Bjorn Vanoverschelde, on zero penalties. This led us onto Tests 3 and 4 at Rufforth airfield where Haygarth/Taylor and Bloxham/Anderson shared these, each winning one. Callum Guy and Amy Henchoz gave the tests a miss from here onwards after issues with the Sunbeam Tiger. Next was a run twice around a dusty farmyard as Tests 5 & 6 which resulted in four crews with the same time on 5 and two on 6. Still on top of the leader board and enjoying their outing in Steve Head’s Escort RS 2000 were Dan & Niall followed by Guy Woodcock & Mike Cochrane with John Haygarth & Martyn Taylor in third place.

A lunch of sandwiches and cake was held at Blacker Motorsport and signalled the arrival of the forecast rain as we moved on to Regularity 3. This included a NAM given at one junction and also a LWR in grid square 4362, in which 3 roads within the square formed a much longer triangle to be used. A route check on this regularity was missed by 6 crews including, uncharacteristically, John Haygarth and Martyn Taylor moving them down to fourth overall. Lewis & Matt were 5 seconds better than the rest but Dan & Niall continued to lead.

John Haygarth and Martin Taylor (Opel Kadett Rallye).  A missed codeboard on reg 3 would cost them dearly.  Photo by Gary Plimer

The Monster Regularity 4 followed but just as they turned into the start Jeff Wincott & Anne Tweddell’s event was over with a very sick sounding A40. With a suspected head gasket or valve problem they limped back to the trailer park. Disappointing for Anne who was leading the Novice Championship. There were no surprises on this regularity and all positions remained as before at the top of the leader board.

Test 7 was a blast around Pateley showground but caution was needed in the rain. Dan & Niall managed to match bogey to take their second test win of the day. Then it was on to an old favourite at Coldstones quarry where the cloud had descended, reduced visibility, and challenged the last of the late brakers in the fastest crews as they negotiated the three slaloms on Test 8 and repeated on Test 9. No crew beat the bogey with the smallest penalty being 14 seconds. No change at the top but could things change on the last two regularities?

A plot and bash handout at Regularity 5 used spot heights, map features, a black spot, LWR, cross a grid line three times, incorporate a white, had a code board to be recorded and had to be plotted on the move. Six seconds of penalties were the best here by Dan & Niall but Lewis & Matt had now moved up to second overall. Your scribes navigator was pleased to be in the top eight on this one with a penalty of 12 seconds to help secure her seat for 2026!

Finally Darrell Staniforth & Henry Carr were best on the jogularity of Regularity 6 on just 1 second penalty over three controls, easily the best to secure Highest Placed Ilkley & District MC Crew award. But it was disaster for Dan Willan & Niall Frost who had a trip issue which lead to them getting a wrong approach at the second control and receiving the maximum minute penalty which dropped them to third overall. Lewis Ayris & Matt Outhwaite secured second place and Guy Woodcock & Mike Cochrane, with less penalties over the three controls, moved up to win by just 3 seconds.

The finish at Otley Golf Club allowed us all to get out of the rain which had not stopped all afternoon and enjoy a delicious buffet. An array of awards were presented to the successful crews. This was a great event once again by Ilkley & DMC lead by Ian Mitchell and Andy Pullan and a credit to all those involved and thanks must be given to the marshals who stood out in the rain. Definitely one to return to next year.

As for the scribe, third in class and 33rd overall but more importantly did we enjoy ourselves? Yes we did!

Photos in the Gallery supplied by Gary Plimer