April fool’s day saw 67 Historic crews descend on the Hawkhills emergency planning facility near Easingwold for York Motor Clubs North Yorkshire Classic Rally 2023 (NYC23). The event had secured generous support from both D&F Propshafts of Leeds and City & County Graphics. The 13th running of this event, in York MC’s 120th anniversary year promised a few changes compared to previous years. A new CofC in the form of experienced navigator Ian Canavan took over from Roger Burkill who remained in attendance as assistant CofC. The entry was short of last year’s winners Dan Willan and Ryan Pickering, Dan having recently competed on, and won the 3 Legs of Mann he decided to miss this year’s event.

Noise and scrutineering were a relatively straightforward affair for most, giving crews the opportunity to catch up and chat before the serious business of plotting started. The rest of Saturday evening saw competitors checking routes and refuelling themselves in preparation for Sunday’s main event.

Sunday morning dawned with a chill in the air, at 08.31 prompt Car 1 of Powley/Goff departed the start leading the field away. The first expert crew away were Car 11 Darkin/Darkin, with Car 26 Woof/Woof the first novice crew to head out.

The action started from the get-go, MTC1 was also the start of Reg 1 (Yorkshirelarity). The meat of Reg 1 was two loops round Eastmoor airfield, this involved ignoring certain cones and route-checks on lap 1, which would then come into play on lap 2. TP1C saw every crew drop time as they hesitated at some of the cones not in play for lap 1. Car 8 Rogers/Endean and Car 9 O’Kane/Tullie were the best performers here both arriving 10s late of their due time. A puncture on lap 1 cost Powley/Goff a minute penalty at TP1D, as this was on private land they were not able to use their joker.

Leigh Powley and Brian Goff (Toyota Corolla) suffered a puncture losing several places as a result.  Photo by Chicane Media

Reg 2 was a relatively straightforward affair, crossing the river Rye and positioning crews at the events first test. Wombleton was a slippery, intricate affair with some tight cones resulting in a shunt or two for some and a fair few wrong test faults for others. Car 4 Procter/Procter were fastest stopping the clock on 1.57.

By the time crews reached the Kirbymoorside coffee halt the much fancied pair of Car 2 Haygarth/Taylor headed the leader board on 2.30. The first experts at this point were Car 29 Heaney/Heaney 9th O/A on 3.27 and an excellent performance by Car 55 Beaven/Pera-Guerra saw them climb to 14th O/A and first novice crew with a time of 3.57.

The event then headed to Spauton Quarry for 4 gravel tests. In order to avoid disturbing a pair of nesting Peregrine falcons crews had to slowly descend a steep slope and traverse a soggy field to reach the start of test 2.

Spauton saw the retirement of Car 6 King/Bloxham with a failed head gasket, others with problems here were the lead novice crew of Beaven/Pera-Guerra who retired on test 2 and O’Kane/Tullie who stalled in test 6 and when the car refused to re-start the navigator was seen to be out and pushing in order to bump start the Golf.

The end of test 6 was also the start of Reg 3. This took crews via 5 timing points and 7 route-checks to Barton-Le-Forest with the last of the timing points located off road on the edge of a farm yard, before crews headed to the lunch halt in Terrington.

Situated on the Howardian Hills ANOB, Yorkshire Lavender provided excellent fayre for lunch, whist the warm April weather allowed crews to chat and take in the view across the valley towards Flaxton.

Haygarth/Taylor were still topping the leader board on 8.11, whilst the expert pairing of Darkin/Darkin jumping up the leader board to 4th O/A on 9.45. The novice crews were now headed by Woof/Woof 15th O/A on 10.52.

John Haygarth and Martyn Taylor (Opel Kadett Rallye) leading at coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.  Could they hold on until the end?  Photo by Chicane Media.

As for others, Car 12 McQueen/Cochrane in the familiar black BMW’s last outing at 7th O/A. Car 20 Wood/Phipps were debuting a new Porsche 924 and lay 20th O/A. Whist in the honour of being ‘best navigator in family’ between Car 19 Malins/Barker and Car 62 Grove/Barker was being headed by Car 19 at 19th O/A on 11.31 just ahead of Car 62 who were 21st O/A on 11.53. Tyler Barker in Car 62 would later go on to beat his mum at the finish by 1 place and 5 seconds.

Reg 4 consisted of another 5 timing points and numerous, now familiar orange route checks boards kindly provided by Car 35 Dunderdale/Wickins. It took crews from lunch to Marton-In-The-Forest. A short drive followed to afternoon tea, in a Yurt.

At tea it was still Haygarth/Taylor in the overall lead, but the margin had been halved to just 12 secs by Procter/Procter, it would be all to play for on the final plot and bash Reg 5.

The expert class was still being headed by Darkin/Darkin in 4th O/A. They would retain this position at the finish. We had another new leader in the novice class, this time it was Car 36 Sly/Green in 15th O/A. By the finish they had climbed to 14th O/A and remained the first novice crew home.

Dan and Nick Darkin (Mazda MX5) First Experts and 4th Overall.  Photo by Chicane Media.

Crews left the afternoon tea halt with part of the information required to navigate the 4 timing points, 1 pc and the last hard to find route check of Reg 5, the remaining information would be given out on-route. The first instructions were to take the shortest route avoiding spot heights. The second handout was a Whitbylarity, with a fishy tail to end.

As crews turned right onto the perimeter roads of Tholthorpe airfield for the final two-timing points of the Reg, it was the route to the final timing point which proved to be a challenge for many.

A difficult to find right slot onto gravel leading to the events only PC proved difficult to locate, reports of crews facing not one, but two NO boards and cars spinning round to retrace their steps were common. Route check 44 also proved difficult to find and at least a dozen crews didn’t manage too.

At the final timing point of Reg 5 Procter/Procter were best, dropping just 12secs, 23secs better than Haygarth/ Taylor. Enough to put them into the lead of the event with just 4 tests remaining.

The first of these four remaining tests, Test 9 resulted in a wrong test for Procter/Procter the penalty was enough knock them off the top spot and promote Haygarth/Taylor back into a lead that they would retain until the end.

A short drive back to the finish at Easingwold Market Square finish saw a large crowd of excited onlookers assemble to see a huge variety of cars finish the event. The final results demonstrated this variety as the top 10 places were filled with 10 different models of car.

Hawkhills was the final stop, with crews enjoying a hearty Sunday Roast as they exchanged tails of excitement and woe in equal measure before departing for home.

Results

Overall Winners John Haygarth and Martyn Taylor       18:12

2nd Overall          Ali Procter and Lynsey Procter             18:31

3rd Overall           Jon Dunning and Henry Carr               20:44

First Experts Dan and Nick Darkin 4th Overall               20:45

First HRCR Novice Nigel and Sally Woof 16th Overall  23:05

All Photos in gallery by kind permission of Tony North