THE ONLY WAY IS EPYNT

In 12 years of trying, John Indri has notched up plenty of strong results on Epynt but his first outright victory still eludes him. So what keeps drawing the Darrian driver back from the South East of England to the roads of the Mid Wales military ranges?

In this issue: What keeps bringing John Indri back to Wales? Rallycross is on the up but is it the right sport for a young competitor? The word scrutineer can make some competitors tremble. Are they getting it wrong? All the latest WAMC Championship news Upcoming Events: Rockingham Stages Dec 7/8 Ammanford Road Rally Dec 7/8 Le Jog Dec 7/10

At first he seems unsure of its lure, commenting, God knows what the appeal of Epynt is. Ive always said if I could win an Epynt rally Id actually retire from this stupid sport. He quickly gets into his stride, however, adding, Ive got a love hate relationship with the place. Really in the UK, if you cant go rallying in Ireland this is the next best thing. Theyre real roads up here. Its just iconic. There are so many names that have done this, there are the massive crashes that people have had here, it all adds to the legend of it. So who are the masters of this iconic venue? John has no doubts who have been the pick of the bunch, I would say its John Price and Melvyn. Pricey I think was always the guy, Melvyn is untouchable, yes hes in the best car, an S12B is the best car, but youve still got to grab hold of it and youve still got to drive it. He does do that. You cant beat him.

Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship

Looking beyond the top 2, he adds, Dalton is not shy. Then, maybe a little bit behind them are Lloydy and Pritchard, before quipping, Not that Ive got many good words to say about him, Mr [Damian] Cole is no mug up here. He really does put in the effort. He believe he knows the reason why these drivers have the edge too, adding, Its because they live in this part of the world. We were doing club events at Longcross and Millbrook and they were doing these as their club events. He also says that one thing sets Epynt apart from the UKs other major tarmac military rally venue, Youve got five to ten specialists and they are in real top cars as well. You dont get that at Otterburn. Youve got specialists but theyre not in the top cars so that evens it out a bit but here youve got the best guys in the best cars and they are hard to beat. Simmo [Steve Simpson] is one whos done it. Hes got one of the best cars but hes from Manchester. Hes had to work at it I bet you. So that begs the question, if you do work hard enough can you learn Epynt? As ever, John has an answer, John Price told me that you can learn it but you need to come up a lot of times. The Welsh boys, theyre probably a hundred times up here. I would say after about five times, if you do your work on the videos and the pace notes youre pretty much there but what happens is, and we found this out when we went to Otterburn just the other week, as you go another three or five miles an hour faster that jump on that corner just skips you out a little bit wider. As you go around on the recce you know where it goes but this isnt good enough you just have to keep coming up here at race pace. Its race track fast up here. Weve had guys come up here over the years, Irish guys and that and they dont get blown away but they are a long way back from what they think. I dont think you can ever truly learn it but you learn something every time. What, then, are the spots on the ranges that are always guaranteed to make you take a sharp intake of breath? There are various places you hold your breath, John recalls, If you start at the end of the New Road or finish at the end of the New Road. I think its called the farm. Its square rightish, square leftish then its ever a crest and then its a double. And coming down from the Telephone Exchange between the trees. There was a boy, Kevin Evans about a million years ago he was in a little black Darrian, a 1600 or something like that. He gave me my first notes and he told me if I ever lifted through the trees there hed bat me over the head but my gearing is slightly down now, about 132. We could go about 140 if we put the bigger gearing in but 132 is fast enough. Every time there it goes light before it and you think Oh Gawd. Weve got little winglets on the front of the car and it can lift up a little bit there. Other places can remain in the memory for the wrong reasons, as he explains, Coming down from Bamfords triangle and then youve got a series of crests and then theres a jump. In the 6R4, theres a lay-by miles

With a bumper number of registrations, the Pirelli MSA Welsh Rally title, along with many of the class honours, went all the way to the final round, the Cambrian Rally in October. Northern Irelands Connor McCloskey and co-driver Francis Regan took outright honours in their Impreza and are already looking to defend their title in 2014.
In Car Services Welsh Clubmans 2WD Forest Rally Championship

Following the final round, the Cambrian Rally, Dylan Davies has taken the overall title with overall co-driver honours going to Llion TRACTOR Williams. Dylan Davies also takes the under 25 driver award with the co-driver award going to Chris Davies. Senior driver and co-driver honours go to Terry Brown and Don James respectively.

past the jump and I swear we landed in that and ever since that day Ive always lifted there because I took that absolutely flat and it was like Oh my word, were going to land in the German village.
Brian Dennis Motorsport Welsh Historic Rally Championship

Two leading drivers had a hectic two weeks with the Peter Lloyd Stages and the final round the Cambrian only a week apart. Roger Matthews and David Lloyd Roberts both took maximum scores on the Peter Lloyd giving them equal score to go to the Cambrian so all to play for. At the end of stage 9 the testing tarmac twists of the Great Orme and with dropped scores coming into play it was Roger Matthews and his new co driver for 2013 Paul Morris who were the Welsh Historic Rally Champions for 2013 this being Rogers consecutive win Top 3 Overall Drivers 1st Roger Matthews 2nd David Lloyd Roberts 3rd Terry Brown Top 3 Overall Co-Drivers 1st Paul Morris 2nd Alan Jones 3rd Dei Jones

And then the other one, I was the next car on the scene after one of Lyndon Bartons many accidents up here. I think Lyn Jenkins was the codriver. They were both OK but at the time Lyn was unconscious. His arm was out of the car. Thats focussed my attention on that jump over the years. John says experiences like that have informed his approach to the Ranges over the years, What Ive done up here is Ive chosen to creep up on the speed because if you go at it bull at a gate it will bite you and you will go off. Despite still searching for that elusive first he win says that approach has brought its rewards, Weve set some fast times up here and when you do that you think yeah youre not mucking about., adding, Hopefully my best moment is yet to come. There is one other factor that John believes should never be forgotten when competing on Epynt, The social life is good. We do have a few beers in Builth Wells the night before and Brecon is always humorous to watch some of the things that go on there. You dont need to get involved; you can just sit and watch. Its like a spectator sport. When it comes to being involved with the rallying, it seems John is intent on doing so for the foreseeable future with reports that the trusty Darrian is to make way for a new, four wheel drive car for the 2014 season. That brings us back to our opening question about the lure of the Ranges, Why do we keep coming here, were not completely stupid. We must enjoy it because its a long way from Essex over here. The question remains then, could 2014 be the year that John breaks his Epynt duck?

HOWLIN SUCCESS
Lets deal with a widely held myth first. Rallycross was not invented when the 1967 RAC Rally was cancelled due to foot and mouth disease. The first event had in fact taken place some nine months earlier, in February of that year. It was dreamt up, initially as a one off event, by Robert Reed, producer of ABC televisions World of Sport programme and run for the TV company at Lydden Hill by the 750 Motor Club. In the intervening years the sport has enjoyed its ups and downs, both in Britain and further afield. Currently the European Championship is enjoying resurgence under the management of IMG Motorsports, part of a global sports, media and fashion company, while the FIA has approved a World Rallycross Championship, starting in 2014.

Steve Harkness Competition Tyres Welsh Tarmacadam Rally Championship

The Glyn Memorial Stages at Anglesey was the final round of the Championship and the outright title went to longtime championship supporter Bob Fowden while another series stalwart, Kath Curzon, took the co-driver award along with the ladies award. Top under 25 driver was Dale Clatworthy. The top three overall were as follows: Driver 1 Bob Fowden 2 Richard Merriman 3 Ian Kenvin Co-Driver 1 Kath Curzon 2 Ian Meakin 3 Jenny Evans The Haverfordwest drivers introduction to motorsport came at what can truly be called the grass roots as he explains, First of all I started in Autograss and then I decided I wanted something a bit better away from the muddy side of Autograss so I moved to Rallycross about 25 years ago. He describes the lure of the sport in simple terms, It was the buzz of running on tarmac after being in Autograss for so long. Mike has been a long term competitor in the category now known as the Supernational class mainly on economic grounds, Ive always been in this class since I started because the supercars are just out of my price range. This is relatively cheap compared to the Supercars. He says that the technical regulations for the car are fairly free, You can do anything so long as its just two wheel drive. Put what engine you want in it providing its got the same amount of cylinders as the car was originally built with. You can put any shell on it, its just fabricating it to suit. The British Championship, organised by Lydden Hill Motorsports Club, also looks to be on the up at the moment while the infant Retro Rallycross series has added a whiff of nostalgia to Championship meetings. Over the years, a number of Welsh venues have played host to the sport, including Anglesey Circuit, Talbenny in Pembrokeshire and Llandow Circuit near Cowbridge but the only rallycross venue currently active in Wales is Pembrey. The Carmarthenshire circuit hosted a round of the European Rallycross Championship in 1997 and 1998. It resumed its role a venue for a round of the British series in 2012 following a short break. Welsh rallycross drivers have not exactly been plentiful but some have enjoyed significant success in the sport, among them Mike Manning from Carmarthen and Neaths George Warren while Mike Howlin remains active in the sport today, 25 years after first taking it up.

Road Rally Championship supported by the Basic Roamer Company

Despite running on a smaller budget than many of his rivals, Mike has enjoyed his share of success over the years, I have come 7th overall in the championship and Ive come second in class and Ive won the Irish championship in class. Rallycross has its own junior class, in the form of the Junior Swift Rallycross Championship organised by Peter Gwynne Motorsport. Mike believes that rallycross can be a good starting point for a young newcomer to motorsport, If they are young its a good place to start in the junior class of rallycross because you get good publicity. I think thats the way Id go if I was young. Maybe if you get a good sponsor you can work your way up then. Look at Andrew Jordan; he started in juniors and look at where he is now. Andrew, of course, won the 2013 British Touring Car Championship, having started his motorsport career in Junior Minicross, working his way up to a Supercar before switching to the race circuits. Mike also contends that, in the context of motorsport as a whole, rallycross can be relatively inexpensive, Once youve bought the car the travelling side is the most expensive and then there are the tyres. If you want to be really competitive you have to buy four tyres every meeting which is a grand. As to the best venue at which to compete, Mike has slightly divided loyalties, Pembrey is good, but Lydden is the best one. Its fast and its good for spectators, its the home of rallycross. There is just one downside to the Kent circuit, Its a six hour drive and its bloody murder coming home! Mike will be back in rallycross in 2014 in his Fiesta with a difference, Its got a 2.5 Millington Cosworth producing 320hp and a Six speed sequential gearbox with a fully floating Atlas axle on the back more or less based on a Mark II Escort. Theres just one downside to his car having all that power, When they wet the course with my car being rear wheel drive its bloody murder. His plans for developing the car for the new season are modest, If the car goes well, Ill try and make it a bit lighter and it should go a bit better then. If you are inspired to try your hand at rallycross, meanwhile, Mike puts his advice in equally simple terms, Keep it clean and stay away from trouble. You dont want to be working on the car all the time. You can find out more about the sport of rallycross at http://rallycrossuk.com/ and about the Suzuki Swift Junior and Senior Championships at http://www.swiftrallycross.com/.

Meirion Evans is the 2013 Champion driver and Iwan Jones is Champion co-driver. Among the other leading awards: 1st Over 1800 Driver Mark GT Roberts 1st Over 1800 Navigator Gwawr Hughes 1st 1400-1800 Driver Stefan Davies 1st 1400-1800 Navigator Dafydd Evans 1st Under 1400 Driver Andrew Lane 1st Under 1400 Navigator Jason Murphy 1st Expert Driver Ian Dude Roberts 1st Expert Navigator Dylan Jenkins 1st Semi-Expert Driver William Mains 1st Semi Expert Navigator Cadog Davies Best Lady Competitor Gwawr Hughes

A MOTORSPORT ROLE UNDER SCRUTINY

For many motorsport competitors, the most stressful time at any event is not lining up on the grid, the start-line of the first stage or the first run on the sprint or hill-climb course. It is facing pre-event scrutineering. So who are these ogres, the scrutineers? What is their role in the sport and are they just there to get us?

Trident Engineering (Llanelli) Welsh Speed and Hillclimb Championship

The Trident Engineering (Llanelli) Welsh Sprint & Hillclimb Championship has come to a dramatic conclusion, unfortunately with all the drama off the track! Roger Turner from Tenby has won the championship for the second year running in his Austin 7 Sports. Elen Worthington from Tumble (Llanelli), in her first year in the championship finished a close second in her Lotus Elise. Andrew Meek from Swansea, in his Subara Impreza once again finished in the top three, beating the 2010 Champion, Tony Barber from Ammanford, by 0.16 points, equivalent to .16 of a second on track! Several drivers, including Elen were hoping to better their positions at the final round of the championship at Mallory Park in November. The ongoing problems at Mallory, however, meant the event was cancelled. Class wins go to Tony Barber (Modified Production - Golf), Mark Jago (Road Going Kit Dutton), Gordon Hick (Road Going Kit - Fisher Fury),

Neil White has been a scrutineer for about 16 years now, having first been active in the sport as a competitor. When I used to compete I had a very good friend at the time called Joe Niemann, God rest his soul, Neil explains, and Joe just asked me because I was short of money and I wanted to get more involved and he just said why dont you come and scrutineer and since then I havent looked back. With all his experience of scrutineering, Neil is very clear that his role is to help the competitor not to hinder them. It is, he says, to make sure the car is safe and adheres to the regulations at all times. We make sure that the competitor is safe and he plays within the rules. Thats our basic job Controversially, perhaps, Neil suggests that there are two distinct responses to scrutineers when they find a problem. There are two types of competitors the rally competitor and a race competitor. He elaborates on this, With my experience, you will find a rally competitor will argue whereas a race competitor, if you find theres something wrong with the car, they will go away and sort it out. He also says, however, that there is a lot that the competitor can do in advance to avoid problems. If you look after the small points the big points will look after themselves. Its little things like youll have holes in the bulkheads. A hot topic at the moment is seatbelts, where theyve gone out of date and the next thing, next year is going to be seats. And scrutineers are always willing to offer their help and advice ahead of events, You can phone up your local scrutineer and they will help. When I used to compete with my car I used to hate going through scrutineering, I used to have sleepless nights but if you speak to a scrutineer, were not there to stop them, we are there to make sure they play safe so if we can help them its helping us at the end of the day because we dont want to do paperwork. Wed rather see a competitor playing safe and have a good days sport and go away laughing and joking. Thats all we want.

KevinCole (Sports Libre space frame Imp), Huw Turner (Road Going Production - Mini), Brian Jones (Modified Kit Westfield), Robert James (Standard Production - Focus), Nia Jones (Historic Rally Car Mini), Eifion Jones (Lotus - Lotus Excel) . Full results will be published soon. The 2014 Championship Regulations and dates will available soon on the WAMC website www.wamc.org.uk and the Championships Facebook page www.facebook.com/WSAHC Wales Rally GB Congratulations to all the officials and competitors from member clubs who played a part in making this years event such a success. It was great to see so many competitors from Association championships competing on the international and two national events. What a great way to round off the season.

So what makes a good scrutineer? According to Neil, you dont have to be the next Ross Brawn, You dont need any qualifications at all. He explains, "Its good if you got an insight into motorsport and its good if youve got an insight into the regulations and the car. Its not like having a car MOTd. Its a bit as if you were driving the car or you were in that car, would you feel safe? A lot of it is just common sense. Neil says the sport currently needs more scrutineers, None of us are getting any younger; we want the youngsters to come in. We are finding that we are short of youngsters at the moment. Anyone who thinks they might be interested in becoming a scrutineer can find out more about the role by following a trained scrutineer at an event, Neil explains, If theres a local event find out who the chief scrutineer is and speak to them and they will usually let you come along and observe. From there, if you decide you would like to train for the role, Speak to a local scrutineer if you know one and then speak to the MSA and the MSA will talk you through the system and they will appoint a mentor and they will take you through the system. What, then does that training system involve? When I started about 16 years ago, Neil recalls, it took me and [fellow scrutineer] Dave Newton two years to pass out. Now, the training is more structured, as he explains, You go through a modular system which the MSA have devised and it takes about two years. You go through all the aspects; you dont just do rallying, you dont just do race meetings, you have to do everything. You have to do truck racing, you have to do karting, you have to do the lot because you cant class yourself as a scrutineer. Theres no such thing as a rally scrutineer, theres no such thing as a race scrutineer. You are a scrutineer and thats it. If you think you might like to be a scrutineer, you can find out more about the process at http://www.gomotorsport.net/ and if you need advice either about your car or about becoming a scrutineer yourself you can find details of local officials at http://www.msauk.org/.

YOUR CHANCE TO HEAR FROM A MOTORSPORT GREAT

Guest Speaker at Brecon Motor Club's Annual Dinner on Friday December 6th is former BL and Ford Motorsport supremo Stuart Turner. Stuart's reputation as one of the most entertaining after dinner speakers in the UK extends well beyond rallying circles. The event takes place at Brecon Castle Hotel. Tickets, which include a three course dinner, are 20 each with a few still available at the time of publication. If you have never heard Stuart speak you shouldn't miss this opportunity and if you have heard him speak you still shouldn't miss it. For tickets contact Mark Weller on 07711 885388 or at ocsiddjay@aol.com.

Motorsport Wales is produced and published by Peter Hughes Media on behalf of the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs. Tel: 07768 095156. E-mail: peter@peterhughesmedia.com