Goodyear equipped Ford Ranger setting out the course

4x4 Festival of Wales           27th & 28th May 2001

Apparently its not always wet in Wales on Bank Holiday weekends although sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking it was!

The week leading up to the 4x4 Festival of Wales laid on by Selwyn Kendrick and his team from the new Goodyear British Off Road Championship was beautifully clear and hot, but by the time the first of the 65 competitors had started rolling in through the extensive foot-and-mouth precautions at the gate on Saturday, the sky had clouded over and the drizzle had set in.

Selwyn's man on the spot, Brian Hippsley had an explanation. "Someone has stolen the plug for the lake," he exclaimed and the "rain is automatically bringing the lake back up to level."

Brian did claim to have found a replacement plug for Monday morning, but it can't have been a very good fit as the rain continued to pour.

Although the "festival" atmosphere was dampened somewhat by the weather, the presence of Burtonshaw's excellent catering wagon, a cheerfully staffed bar, and trade stands from both Goodyear and Ford helped make the event more than just a comp safari. Ford had also leant the organisers a pair of British Championship liveried, Goodyear Wrangler MT/R equipped Ford Ranger crew cabs for official duties during the weekend.

Clerk of Course, Peter Head and his team had devised an 11.5 mile test, which was to be attempted 12 times over the two days. The event was to be good value for money in terms of mileage per pound if nothing else, with nearly 140 miles for just eighty pounds.

Sunday dawned wet, and the rain did not stop from then until close of play on Monday afternoon. The already testing course was made increasingly treacherous by the rain. The weather had an impact on the usually durable tracks of the Seven Sister's complex. Within a few laps punctures were becoming increasingly evident. The rain was washing the surface from the tracks and revealing the many large and sharp rocks below.

Pete Rowe was one of the first to succumb to punctures and by the end of the first day he needed to send home for a further supply. Despite this Pete declared that he was not trying hard enough, because his shock absorbers were not nearly as hot as he would have expected them to be.

Unfortunately a burst pipe was followed by an over heating engine on one of Pete's last laps dropping him from contention.

Tim Marsh and Doug Devonald-Batt were others who were struggling straight out of the box, a loose plug lead was diagnosed as the fault, but the slippery tracks were causing problems too!

David Eggington brought out his immaculate new Simmbugghini and was another who had early problems with a burnt out wiper motor and later throttle cable problems.

With such a long a rocky course it was amazing how many competitors were not carrying spare wheels. It became a common sight to see a pair of wet and bedraggled crew members lugging a spare out into the course to be reunited with their vehicle.

It was good to see a varied selection of production and modified production vehicles competing, despite the fact that the much publicised Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin was in attendance on display duties only. Rumour has it will be out for the next "Festival".

Old stager Colin Cowley and his long suffering co-driver Andy Moffat were flying in the little Daihatsu Sportrak and looked well placed for an overall placing as well as a class win only to have the bottom hose let go and the radiator break free from its mountings on their penultimate run.

Also showing well in the early stages were the matching mod. prod. Discoverys of Richard Hopkins and the double driven entry of Keiran Jones and Robert Griffiths. Richard had introduced a new navigator into the sport for this event, who he subsequently blamed for his accident. Richard slid the Discovery into the undergrowth, ripping a gaping hole in the bodywork and tearing the rear axle from its mountings on only his second lap. He later admitted that it may have had something to do with driving too fast!

Production class honour was upheld by Owen Timms in his V8 Land Rover 110. Owen had no major trouble all weekend except for having worn out his shockers by the end, and this despite choosing to run on a less aggressive All Terrain pattern tyre.

Owen was one of a number of competitors who could not wait to get his teeth into the Goodyear British Off Road Championship when it finally starts.

Roland Lytton was fast from the start in his now supercharged Tigwell 4x4. With pre event favourites Tim Marsh and Doug Devonald-Batt beset with early problems and Tim Phelps still struggling to get to grips with his new sequential gear change and facing wiper problems, the only people to regularly match Roland were Chris and Ryan Cooke (Land Rover), Julian Mendelsohn (TMC) and Ben Gott (Warrior).

A puncture for Roland promoted Julian to the overnight lead. Julian's new Bowler was still receiving its finishing touches, so the Henley-on-Thames based record producer was campaigning his "for sale" TMC and was chuffed to bits with the overall lead.

Chris and Ryan in the Trinity Motors Land Rover were second overnight followed by Dave Miles in the Safari Engineering TMC. Dave Miles was the first to disappear, he was not to restart on Monday morning as he had mysteriously departed the previous night.

Tim Marsh and Doug Devonald-Batt's resurgence was the next to fail with Tim "doing an Ikea" by flat packing the supercharged TMC in a dramatic roll a matter of yards from the start of the first Monday run.

Julian hit a rock damaging his bottom pulley, which put him out of contention and Ben Gott struggled through most of Monday with no power steering until what his navigator described as as a "Thud, thud, thud, stop!" moment, which required a winch recovery at the end of the event.

Roland Lytton's win was finally guaranteed when Chris and Ryan Cooke stopped out on the course with fuel problems.

Roland and navigators Gwen Adair and Brendan Frost were followed into second by a thrilled Michael Pallett in his family team's Motorpro Racing Land Rover. Just to show that there is more than one top racer builder based in the South West.

Brian Dyke brought the Swindon Trailers Warrior in third and Martin Nicolls and Paul Griffin upheld local honours by taking fourth in their 3.5 Land Rover special.

After a tough event only eight of the original starters completed all 12 runs, a legacy of the length of the competition and the effect of the weather.

Results

1. Roland Lytton/ Gwen Adair/ Brendon Frost  Tigwell 4x4 04h40m53s

2. Michael J Pallett Motorpro LR 05h01m11s

3. Brian Dyke Warrior 4x4 05.15.12

4. Martin Nicholls/ Paul Griffin Land Rover 3.5 05h36m54s

5. Andrew Crook Mattserati 05h40m08s

6. Tom Rimell Range rover 3.9 05h45m07s

7. Neil Davey Chenowth 4.6 2wd 06h25m42s

8. Owen Timms Land Rover 110 06h56m06s