The third round of the 2008 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship will take crews to Wales for the first time this year for some classic mid-Wales stages during the Severn Valley Historic Rally next Saturday [May 31].
With two very long stages making up the meat of the 45 stage miles, it's going to be a challenging event for another excellent BHRC field.
Category 1
As usual, the oldest cars in category one (pre '68) will run first on the road and a double victory on the Robin Hood and Pirelli rallies has been the perfect start to the year for Patrick Watts and Elgan Davies in their Sunbeam Tiger. They'll be going all out for a hat-trick in Wales and will start as clear favourites.
Heading the Porsche challenge to the rumbling Tiger will be Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride in their familiar Porsche 911, but the long fast straights in Radnor should give the Tiger crew a flying start to the rally.
However, as well as chasing the Tiger, Nutt/McBride will be working hard to fend off the quickest of the Lotus Cortinas, notably those of Bob Bean/James Whitaker and Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson. With regular co-driver Malcolm Smithson away on holiday, 21-year old Whitaker will co-drive for 70-year old Bean for the first time. Chasing the Cortinas in class B4 will be the mighty Volvo Amazon of Graham Waite/Mike Reynolds.
Class B2 is likely to be a straight fight between the Mini Cooper S of defending class champions Terry Cree/Richard Shores and the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton, and it is Stait/Cotton who have taken two wins so far as Cree/Shores hit a whole range of problems. If both crews have a clear run, it could be quite a contest.
Three Hillman Imp variants contest class B1, including round one winners Gary and Jane Edington (Singer Chamois) and round two winners Geoff Taylor/Steve Greenhill (Imp Sport), while Mike Barratt/Jody Watson will be hoping that their Sunbeam Stiletto is ready to rally again after a disastrous engine failure just before the Pirelli.
Category 2
Steven Smith and John Nichols turned in a mighty performance to win category 2 on the Robin Hood and their Porsche 911RS could well be the car to beat once more. Smith will be keen to get his campaign back on track after falling victim to a dreaded Kielder ditch on the Pirelli.
