Escorts dominate the RAC Rally

It sounds like a historic line. In the original RAC Rally, it took 5 years since its debut until the Ford Escort could beat the Saab 96s and Lancia Fulvias on its home rally, the RAC. But when Roger Albert Clark won the RAC in 1972 in historic Mk1 Escort LVX 942J, it was the 1^st of 8 Escort victories in a row. Since the WRC edition of the RAC has become a joke, the original event was revived as a historic rally in 2004 and since 6 years the Ford Escort is again unbeaten in this event.

 

 

The Lombard RAC Rally as a traditional WRC season final used to be a rally going through all the country, usually around 70 stages, rarely repeated, all through English stately homes, Scotland and Wales. Today the WRC qualifier is an event consisting of 8 stages run twice over 3 dragging days. The 2009 Roger Albert Clark Rally had a total of 27 stages, but several of them being repeats also. Still better than the forthcoming IRC RAC Scottish event with 11 stages total. But we have the WRC event around Cardiff in Wales, the IRC event between Perth and Stirling in Scotland and the Roger Albert Clark Rally based in Pikering in Yorkshire and stretching over famous Kielder Forest, South Scotland and Lake District. So all this is possible, what a shame we don’t have a traditional RAC Rally any more. The Roger Albert Clark Rally however is closest to the traditional RAC.

 

 

A traditional RAC, the Sunday stately homes were often dubbed as Mickey Mouse, short stages where you couldn’t win anything but lose everything. But they were set in stunning scenery and mud and ice on narrow asphalt tracks, this were, even if short, the trickiest conditions of the event, which is what a rally challenge is about, and the sceneries they were set in made sure of huge publicity with memorable photos in all media and truely bringing the rally to the people. Something that seems talked about and not done today with ISC, superspecials, etc pp. A traditional RAC would then move into Wales, Scotland and the English areas Yorkshire and Lake District (Cumbria). Not to forget the Kielder Forest, situated just south of the Scottish border it was a perfect link between Yorkshire, Scotland and Lake District. But it was more than that. Kielder is a huge man made forest complex and traditionally run in the dark, it was spooky, rally cars could get lost for hours, it was near every year the decider of the RAC Rally and even the World Championship.

 

 

It makes perfect sense naming the rally after Roger Albert Clark, not only because the initials are so well fitting. To most he was known as Roger Clark and he was awarded the MBE title by the Queen for his rally achievements meant something to the whole nation! Although he picked up rallying much earlier in 1956, and to most his name is synonymous to Ford, Roger Clark’s first international rally only was the Monte Carlo 1965 in which he finished an amazing 6^th overall in a Rover 3500 P6. Still in the same year he virtually forced himself onto Ford when he aquired a private Ford Lotus Cortina for a BRC (British Championship) program and proved faster than Ford’s own foreign world class works drivers. But even as a Ford works driver Roger Clark’s successes outside UK read slimmer than does him justice. He won the 1968 Acropolis Rally and lead the London-Sydney marathon the same year until Australia, when a rear axle problem slowed him, both in a works Ford Lotus Cortina. In 1972 he won the RAC Rally, the first RAC victory for a Ford Escort, a success Roger would repeat in 1976. He was also leading the Safari 1977 by a huge margin until a small problem sidelined him. Clark stayed with works Escorts until Ford ended this program. For 1980 Roger Clark moved to a works Triumph TR7 V8, a car that always seemed to let him down in the worst moments. On the RAC 1980 for example he was fighting Hannu Mikkola for 2^nd place overall when in SS67 out of 70 his engine let go! His last top10 result at WRC level came on the RAC 1981, where he drove a fully private, outdated Escort. This all did not help him finding another works seat for the WRC. Roger Clark MBE was the first and only British driver to ever win WRC events until Colin McRae and Richard Burns came along many years later. Roger died of what could be described illnesses of old age in January 1998, though he was only 59 years old then, way too early. He is absolutely worthy an icon to deliver the name of this event.

 

 

The Roger Albert Clark Rally was first held in 2004, when arguably this rally had the best entry to date. Stig Blomqvist won in Ford Escort MLD 999P (of which we speak later) beating old rival Hannu Mikkola in another Escort. Ford Escorts won the event every year since. Last year the event was dominated by Ford works team characters Malcolm Wilson and John Millington in a Stobart sponsored Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800.

 

 

Now to the 2009 event, which finished last Monday.

 

 

Leg1

 

 

The 2009 edition Roger Albert Clark Rally is a 4 day event, but started easily with only 3 stages on Friday the 13^th. And those 3 stages were 2 runs over a stage called “Showground”, at 0.8km kind of a superspecial. The Showground stage however sandwiched SS2 Langdale, a 12km blast through one of the legendary Yorkshire RAC stages. All stages were held in the evening hours in complete darkness.

 

 

This may have been an easy warm up start, but a start with a bang already! Friday 13^th seemed to be an unlucky date for anybody but Ford! The short Showground stage can nearly be ignored, i.e. Stig Blomqvist is listed in 19^th place only 4sec off the pace.

 

 

However the main Friday 13^th stage, SS2 Langdale, provided plenty of drama already. The entry list was packed with Escorts, but until the event started this did not guarantee an Escort victory. The two most interesting non-Escort entries are British historic rallying regular (also known for odd Focus WRC starts) Steve Perez in his immaculate Udo Sparwald prepared Lancia Stratos, and also Phil Collins’ Opel Ascona 400, co-driven by Nicky Grist, formerly guiding Colin McRae and Juha Kankkunen to altogether 21 WRC victories.

 

 

The Stratos always may have been a difficult car for the RAC. The RAC is about one of the only events the Stratos never won. In the late 70s/early 80s it was noteworthy that Fiat driver Markku Alen always tried to get time off to end his season with a Stratos RAC drive, a love that regularly ended in crashes. For Steve Perez it was however gearbox problems in the long SS2 that dropped him way down the order. Not much better fared Phil Collins/Nicky Grist, who went off for 8 minutes and found themselves down in 46^th place!

 

 

By the end of leg1, the top10 were all Ford Escorts! Though not as boring as it sounds, Gwyndaf Evans’ lead over Steve Bannister was just 5 secs!

 

 

Leg2

 

 

Leg2 started off with 2 short blasts round Oliver’s Mount in the coastal town of Scarborough. Tempting to say easy stage, but in fact it was incredibly greasy and slippy. Gwyndaf Evans made best use of this stage, only to fall foul of a ditch in the day’s first forest stage Harwood Dale, where he dropped near a minute. This handed the lead to Steve Bannister, while Rob Smith broke into the Ford phalanx, driving his Vauxhall Chevette HSR into 6^th place.

 

 

Although Martin McCormack was not too far behind in 3^rd, Gwyndaf Evans’ early stage times would indicate that the main fight for the lead is between him and Steve Bannister. Steve Bannister is a Bristish historic Ford Escort regular and winner of this rally in 2006. He is codriven my Kevin Rae, who will co-drive Scottish Champ David Bogie in a Mitsubishi Lancer this same week in the IRC RAC Rally. Could Kevin Rae become the first man with 2 top RAC results in the same week? Gwyndaf Evans meanwhile does not have an Escort with a historic background, but he is co-driven by John Millington, a Ford WRC team manager and winner of the Roger Albert Clark Rally alongside Malcolm Wilson already last year. Further could Petter Solberg be beaten by his navigator? Petter Solberg of course founded his own rally team. So did Phil Mills! And Gwyndaf Evans’ Escort MK2 RS1800 is Phil Mills’ car, could Phil beat Petter to the first victory as team owner?

 

Next was Langdale again. Slow times by Stig Blomqvist and Gwyndaf Evans, but 6^th fastest for Phil Collins’ Ascona 400, who lost 8 minutes just here the day before. At the top this means Gwyndaf now dropped to 3^rd, 38secs behind leader Bannister. Martin McCormack was the meat in the sandwich in 2^nd place.

 

 

A repeat of the morning loop provided the next drama, even though it was a repeat of the two runs over Oliver’s Mount, followed by shortish forest stage Harwood Dale. Martin McCormack retired from his just earned 2^nd place with engine problems on the first run of Oliver’s Mount (well, Oliver’s Mount 3). So nearly he could have had time to attend his engine problem, for it was just 1 car behind him, entry #5 Darren Moon’s Mk2 Escort, that crashed so heavily that both Oliver’s Mount 3 & 4 had to be cancelled. Yet for McCormack the damage was done and Evans was back in 2^nd. Steve Bannister won SS9 Harwood Dale and the gap was back to 38 seconds.

 

 

Only now the rally left Yorkshire for a road section into the Kielder Forest complex, where 4 stages in darkness waited for the teams. It is still leg2, the night now.

 

 

The first loop through the longer stages Shepherdshield and Chirdonhead (both names die hard rally fans around the globe will well remember) for sure provided drama. Shepherdshield everything looked alright, but Chirdonhead proved to be a rough ride for Steve Bannister and all the sudden Gwyndaf Evans’ 38s deficit turned into a 40s lead! And it was not Bannister’s Mk2 in 2^nd, he dropped to 4^th, in 2^nd now we had the Escort Mk1 RS1600 of Jeremy Easson (also a former “real” RAC regular). Also hopes for some change from Escorts were rising. Tim Mason (no relation to Tony) posted top6 stage times in his Porsche 911, Phil Collins in the Ascona 400 was 4^th quickest through Chirdonhead.

 

 

Incredibly for Shepherdshield2 Steve Bannister was back, only 4s slower than Evans on this long stage. Rob Smith 5^th quickest in the Vauxhall Chevette, Collins in the Opel 6^th. However we were about to lose the Opel for good.

 

 

SS13 Shepherdshield 2 was won by Gwyndaf Evans, who increased his lead over Easson to 57s now. 3^rd now Steve Bannister, overtaking Paul Griffith on the last stage, both in Mk2s. Rob Smith as the best non-Escort moved his Vauxhall Chevette HSR into 5^th. Stig Blomqvist established himself in 8^th place.

 

 

The big news was that SS14 Chirdonhead saw the end for Phil Collins/Nicky Grist’s Opel Ascona 400. With some brilliant stage times they moved from 46^th up to 26^th place, only for now finding their oil pump to fail and damaging the engine beyond repair. Steve Perez’s Stratos could never fully recover from gearbox dramas and is listed 32^nd at mid rally point and the overnight stop in Carlisle.

 

 

Leg3

 

 

Leg3 starts in style, crossing the border to Scotland and 2 larger forest stages in Holehouse Hill and Ae. Ae? Funny short name, but a well famous old RAC stage, in the same forest complex we also find the famous Twiglees and Castle O’Er stages, but not run this year.

 

 

Surprisingly little drama happened in the Scottish stages. While Evans is not miles ahead of the rest, Easson only manages 5^th fastest stage times and the lead is nearly doubling. Stig Blomqvist meanwhile also sets strong times to pass Tim Mason’s Porsche for 7^th in Ae1.

 

 

A mid day service in Heathhall is followed by a Heathhall show stage, Holehouse2, Ae2 and Heathhall2 before another Heathall service. Belgian Stefan Stouf in his Escort Mk1 wins Heathhall1. Paul Griffith overtakes Bannister again in Holehouse Hill2 for 3^rd. Rally legend Stig Blomqvist likes Ae Forest, he is 2^nd fastest in Ae2, only 3sec slower than Gwyndaf Evans. The overall positions however stay solid throughout the Scottish loop. This however changes immediately the moment the rally moves back across the border into England’s Lake District.

 

 

The Sunday leg3 concludes with two runs over a 12km Greystoke stage. Greystoke is an interesting choice. This forest is owned by Ford, and M-Sport regularly uses this stage as their own, private test venue! Maybe this means John Millington knows this forest extremely well? It is here that Gwyndaf Evans is 25s and 19s faster than absolutely anybody else, digging out a lead so huge that only Gwyndaf himself can stop his own victory. Mind you, the last leg is through Killer Kielder again! Evans still leads all Escorts Easson (Mk1), Griffith & Bannister. In 5^th place still Rob Smith in the Chevette.

 

 

If Evans can keep this advantage, it would be probably his career best result, his most important outright win. Evans was a regular in Ford Sierra Cosworths. On the debut of the first 4x4 rally car for Ford, the Sapphire Cosworth 4x4, Gwyndaf led groupN on the cars first three starts, 1000 Seen, San Remo and RAC 1990. His biggest success curiosly is 7^th in the RAC 1994 and 6^th in the RAC 1995, the best WRC results an F2 car ever managed on gravel! And he did so in a less famous F2 car, the Escort MK5 RS2000. In the same car Evans became the British Rally Champion 1996.

 

 

Stig Blomqvist is the biggest talking point at this moment. He won’t visit Killer Kielder again in 2009. Stig never reached the Carlisle overnight halt after rolling his Escort in Ford owned Greystoke1. Just as he was firmly in 7^th place and looking very likely to move further up.

 

 

There is major history in this incident. Not only because Blomqvist is 63 by now. Stig Blomqvist won the RAC back in 1971 (that is 38 years ago!) in a Saab 96, the last non-Escort victory before Roger Clark opened the Escort domination in 1972! Blomqvist always looked good not only on the RAC. He came 2^nd in 1974 and 1976, both times in Saabs. On the Swedish in 1979 in a Saab 99 Stig became the first driver to win a WRC event in a turbo charged car! In his active days Stig never drove an Escort, but he drove a David Sutton prepared car when he won both the BRC title and the RAC Rally 1983 in an Audi Quattro. Stig Blomqvist also of course is the 1984 drivers World Rally Champion! And he won the inaugural Roger Albert Clark Rally 2004 in the same David Sutton Escort he now rolled in Greystoke.

 

 

This David Sutton Escort is MLD 999P, itself an absolute legend! Although Sutton was preparing Fords already in Cortina and Escort Mk1 days, London-Acton registered MLD 999P was the first of a range of extremely famous David Sutton Mk2 Escorts. It was this very car that brought Pentti Airikkala to the international limelight, giving him 2^nd place overall in the 1000 Lakes Rally 1976 as a privateer. Pentti also looked good in this car on the RAC 1976, before they were excluded. The car served a selection of drivers in the BRC 1977 & 1978, before Ari Vatanen rolled it spectacularly on the RAC 1978! The car was rebuilt, sold to Finland and later bought back by David Sutton. Stig Blomqvist drove MLD 999P for the first time on the Roger Albert Clark Rally 2004, where he won in this meanwhile 28 years old legendary Escort! Shame the car was rolled in Greystoke, but we are hearing she is repairable.

 

 

Leg4

 

 

Leg4 leads us to morning action in the huge Kielder complex. With service in Kielder itself, we run all long forest stages Hopehouse, famous Falstone (1 / SS24), Archy’s Rigg, Falstone (2 / SS26) and conclude the event with Samual Crag.

 

 

Previous stage winner Stefan Stouf from Belgium already has a mixed event, being way down the order, he crashes out of Falstone1. Falstone also has problems for Tim Mason, losing 8 monutes and dropping the Porsche way out of the top10, while Rob Smith in the best non-Escort manages a 3^rd fastest stage time. Still, with the Porsche gone from 7^th, Smith’s Chevette is the only non-Escort in the top10. Andrew Haddon in another Porsche keeps posting 4 top6 stage times in a row this morning, but is too far off the top10 after earlier dramas. The hottest battles with 3 stages left to go (after Falstone1) is for 3^rd, where Steve Bannister is only 30s behind Paul Griffith and for 8^th Phil Squires is only 11s down on Simon Tysoe, all in Mk2 Escorts.

 

 

Archy’s Rigg sees no major change, but the main battles, Bannister reduces the gap to 20s, Squires to 8s. In Falstone 2 Bannitser repeats the trick, a stage win has him reduce the gap to 3^rd by another 10s, now down to exactly 10s. Squires passes Tysoe and is 2s ahead. Folstone2 again is drama for non Escorts. It now becomes clear that Rob Smith’s Vauxhall will remain the only non-Escort in the top10, when after a very consistant drive Steve Magson retires his Opel Ascona 400 with propshaft failure from 11^th place.

 

 

There is no last stage drama as such, although the event concludes with a long stage. Steve Bannister wins this stage yet again, but misses out on 3^rd place by as little as 3sec after 4 days and 27 stages! Simon Tysoe manages to respond in his battle and regains 8^th place that he just lost to Phil Squires by 9sec.

 

 

Outside the top10, Steve Perez Stratos at least managed to edge past the Lancia Fulvia again, that was for some time ahead of him, but throught the event he only manages to climb from 44^th to 20^th place after his day1 gearbox problems. David Watkins has a careful rally and finishes 32^nd, while Andrew Siddall even comes 11^th. Why mention them? Because these team mates drive real jewels! The team around Andrew Siddall managed to locate the entire Ford works team of the 1975 RAC! In the RAC 1975 the Ford main team was sponsored by Allied Polymer, the famous white and black colour scheme, and started with 2 brand new cars and came home 1-2!

 

 

LAR 800P – Roger Clark/Tony Mason, 2^nd overall. This car then was Roger Clark’s permanent 1976 BRC car before it was sold to New Zealand.

 

 

LAR 801P – Timo Mäkinen/Henry Liddon, winner. This car also won the British Championship 1976 with Ari Vatanen, before it was sold to Kenya.

 

 

Both cars have been relocated and restored by Siddall’s XS Racing team. Although originally both were in Allied Polymer colours, only the Mäkinen turn Watkins car has the original colour scheme. The Clark turn Siddall car has been painted in the 1976 RAC winning Cossack colour scheme, which is with very similar black stripes but on a red rather than white base. So this is real history:

 

 

MLD 999P – 2^nd 1000 Lakes 76 (Airikkala), excluded RAC 76 (Airikkala), crash RAC 78 (Vatanen) and winner RAC 2004 (Blomqvist) had a roll

 

 

LAR 800P – 2^nd RAC 1976 (Clark) plus BRC 1976 (Clark) is 11^th RAC 2009 (Siddall)

 

 

LAR 801P – winner RAC 1976 (Mäkinen) plus winner BRC 1976 (Vatanen) is 32^nd RAC 2009 (Watkins)

 

 

1^st – Gwyndaf Evans / Paul Millington – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800

2^nd – Jeremy Easson / Alun Cook – Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600, +4m02s

3^rd – Paul Griffith / Sam Collis – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +4m46s

4^th – Steve Bannister / Kevin Rae – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +4m49s

5^th – Rob Smith / Shaun O’Gorman – Vauxhall Chevette HSR, +7m50s

6^th – Steve Smith / Patrick Walsh – Ford Escort Mk1 L1600, +8m35s

7^th – Charly Taylor / Steve Bielby – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +11m34s

8^th – Simon Tysoe / Cliff Simmons – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +12m28s

9^th – Phil Squires / Mick Squires – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +12m37s

10^th – Frank Cunningham / Ryland James – Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800, +13m49s