WORDS BY ANDREW SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPY BY ANDREW SCOTT, NIGEL PRATT, AND CHARLIE FOX
A crisp and cold late November morning would, by mid-afternoon, descend into a brisk but heavy snow shower. The Carmarthen weather heralding the start of the 2025 Roger Albert Clark Rally. The chaotic weather set the tone for the next 5 days of fierce competition and organisational challenges on this bi-annual feast of rallying.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Now into its third decade and looking to capitalise on the success of the 2023 event, 2025 did feel a slight come down on a star-studded 2023 entry. The absence of the rumoured Solberg participation and other high-profile competitors, however, by no means detracted from what we did see entered this year.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Among the usual Ford Escort contingent, we would see international crews and British Champions – both of the British Historic Rally Championship kind and of the contemporary British Rally Championship Kind – including three-time champion Matt Edwards again pitted against arch rival Osian Pryce in what was expected to be a battle royale for the win.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Much-needed variety and very much sight for sore eyes amongst the escorts were two more former BRC champions. Two-time champion Johnny Milner in a Peugeot 306 and three-time British champion Mark Higgins driving the David Appleby prepared Triumph TR7. His 2024 British Historic rally championship title rival Seb Perez swapping, as in 2023, his BHRC Porsche for perhaps the most exotic car on the event – the family’s Lancia Stratos.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Perhaps, you say? Absolutely. As absurd as it may seem, the Stratos was trumped by four-time previous winner Marty McCormack rocking up in a BMW M3 with number one on the door. In only its fourth outing, speed was assured but reliability not so, let’s not mention the rumoured 12 gearboxes his RSC Dom Buckley team brought for the event..!
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Another car vying for top-trump status was Neil Weaver’s gorgeous replica Peugeot 306 Maxi, evoking memories of 1990s WRC kit car rallying, even if the original did not compete on gravel. Further memories were stirred by the slow creep of the now eligible group A machinery into historic Rallying. Talking of 90s F2, Mark McCulloch also brought his Vauxhall Astra F2 replica, resplendant in works livery and newly built for the event.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Despite former BHRC champion Matthew ‘Robbo’ Robinson pulling out of the event at the eleventh hour, we still had one works-liveried Subaru Legacy entered in the form of the Martin/ Hurst Rothmans car and 2 Sierra Cosworths for Jonny Greer and Kevin Proctor respectively.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND NIGEL PRATT
Other notable entries included 2 new Lancia Ypsilon Rally4s making their UK debut in the hands of Hoelbling/ Grassi and Taddei/ Gaspari. There was a Group B Talbot Samba for Matthew and Daniel Evans in the under 1600L field alongside WRC rally star graduate Max Smart competing in an MG ZR – A car he had never heard of before the event! (Doesn’t that make you feel old…!).
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND NIGEL PRATT
It is also worth an honourable mention for the Czech father and son Skoda team of Oldřich Kovařík in an original 60s Octavia, and son Oldřich Kovaříkin, another group A period machine, the Favorit. Also driving a Favorit was perennial Skoda driver (and dealer) Bob Morgan, swapping his modern Fabia R5 for historical machinery. Kovařík was to have an eventful rally, an off on the first day requiring refabrication of a front wing in order for the crew to resume on the northern leg.
Also among the Scandinavian entries were several big buses (Volvos), and the Rådström team would make quite a statement, managing to mix it with the Escorts, eventually finishing in the top ten. But, apart from the big orange Volvo, could any of these cars match the consistency and speed of the Escort on its home turf?
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND CHARLIE FOX
With only four Porsches (Ryan Champion’s Porsche taking overall victory in 2021) and questions over the reliability of the M3, Stratos, and the long-term gravel prowess of the TR7, we all headed into the forests anticipating a great week of rallying, wondering if any of these could take it to the Escort boys.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
Starting with two days in South and Mid Wales, the rally opened with classic tests in Crychan and Ceri punctuated by back-to-back runs of a stage in the tradition of the RAC Sunday spectator stages, Pembrey circuit, on the south Wales coast.
Friday saw the event creep north, starting with one run in the wind farm, punctuated Myherin, two runs of spectator-friendly Sweetlamb/ Hafren, complete with jumps and watersplash. There was A single early afternoon test in the Sarnau forest, and two runs of Dyfnant would round out a day that saw the rally base move north from Carmarthen to the livestock market in Welshpool, ready to decamp to Carlisle for the weekend stages.
First, though, there was the business of the ceremonial start. The weather had relented (well, slightly) and the crowds lined the streets of Carmarthen to welcome 176 crews and give them a great send-off for five days of epic competition across three countries.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND CHARLIE FOX
WELSH LEG
DAY 1 – WALES
Quickest out of the box on Thursday Morning were Pryce/Furniss and McCormack/Mitchell, trading fastest stage times on the two morning stages in Crychan and Ceri. One second splitting the two as they headed to Pembrey at lunch time on Thursday.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND NIGEL PRATT
The Higgins/Williamson Triumph TR7 and the Edwards/ Williams Escort set joint fastest stage times on both runs at the South Wales venue. Edwards stole second place from the BMW, ending the day second, seventeen seconds behind Pryce/Furniss and two ahead of McCormack/Mitchell. Osian (Pryce) took the honours on both the second runs of Crychan and Ceri. This was as good as it got for the Triumph though, as Higgins/Williamson lost one minute twenty-three through that final run of Crychan.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT, CHARLIE FOX AND NIGEL PRATT
“A rather severe impact due to a concealed hole in a cut caused the car to spin and stall. The impact looks to have caused the alternator/water pump belt to come off, which meant the engine rather rapidly started to overheat.
Thankfully, Mark and Carl got to the end of the stage with over a minute lost before they managed to fit a new belt. We carry as a spare in the boot of the car, and they completed the next stage so we could carry out further repairs at the end of day service.”
David Appleby engineering, Facebook
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX
AFTER STAGE 6
DAY 2 – WALES
Day two dawned cold and icy, and conditions were to play a big part. The curtailed Myherin test saw only nineteen cars set competitive times. Extensive logging meant a revised route for this traditional Welsh test, where rough road conditions on the lesser-used parts of the stage would take their toll. It was here that very sadly saw the end of the Lancia Stratos. Perez/ Bowen(D), sliding wide and taking a rather heavy whack to the rear of the car (engine) on a quick left-hander towards the end of the stage.
The stage was eventually cancelled after Robert Gough and Jack Bowen also took a heavy hit ending nose-first in a small stream, Escort suitably battered. Their Viking Motorsport team worked Miracles to repair the car overnight, and on they went into rally 2 from the start of day three.
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX AND ANDREW SCOTT
Due to the weather conditions and issues in Myherin, the rest of the day would be subject to an hour-and-a-half delay. SS12 Dyfnant was cancelled as a result; the earlier run was shortened due to the aforementioned snow and ice.
Pryce started the day going nine seconds quicker than Edwards through Myherin, the BMW day one pace fading slightly as the Escorts grabbed the event by the scruff of the neck.
PHOTOS: NIGEL PRATT AND ANDREW SCOTT
This would be as close as it got to a battle royale between our previous British Rally Championship sparing partners, however. Edwards suffered a puncture and lost three minutes on SS8, with Barrett/Noble now taking up the mantle of main challenger to Pryce and Furniss.
“I don’t know. We did the first hairpin right round the triangle, and then came to the second one through the gate (that we always use on the test) and it felt like we had snapped a shaft…. Just a puncture, but it knocked the fuel sender off. It must have pushed it off the rim somewhere”
Matt Edwards
By the end of SS11, Pryce had increased his lead to twenty-nine seconds. However, this was now over Paul Barrett and Gordon Noble in their Similar Escort, with McCormack/Mitchell still sitting third but two minutes off the lead.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND NIGEL PRATT
Barrett took his first stage win of the event on that shortened run through Dyfnant. An honourable mention here for Arne Rådström and Kent-Ola Björklund who set their first top-three time of the event in the Volvo 262C on the same stage. Pryce and Barrett split the final two stages of the day through Cwmysgawen and a second run of Sweetlamb/Hafren where Pryce lost forty-three seconds to Barrett after a spin into a ditch.
“whoever was first was going to go off their to be honest. (We) Got stuck in a ditch for a minute. I let Paul past me at the hairpin, and he half spun, so I went ahead.”
Osian Pryce
PHOTOS: NIGEL PRATT AND CHARLIE FOX
AFTER STAGE 11
NORTHERN LEG
DAY 3 SCOTLAND AND KIELDER
Saturday morning saw the rally decamp to a new base at Carlisle airport, where, except for a remote service around Kielder Water on Monday, it would remain for the duration.
A curtailed Saturday saw the crews traverse the England/ Scotland border with tests starting in Tommy’s Fell and finishing in Kershope on the English side, sandwiching Riccarton and Hyndlee (on the Scottish side). Tommy’s Fell was a hastily added stage after Ash Park’s cancellation due to a road condition review less than two weeks before the event.
The BMW bit back on Saturday morning. McCormack set the fastest time through SS13 (Tommy’s fell) before the crews were met by snow and Ice in the Scottish borders and a slippery Riccarton. Second Place men Barrett and Nobile took forty-five seconds and the lead off Pryce and Furniss here as the Welsh pair struggled with some rear brake issues. However, their lead was to be short-lived, and by the end of the loop Pryce would be nearly a minute ahead of second-place man Barrett and three ahead of the BMW (McCormack).
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND CHARLIE FOX
Day 3 was supplemented with a running of the Mini Challenge and the debut of a famous name making her own way in rallying circles. Holly McRae, Co-driven by partner Jon Armstrong would meet there fate in a similar place to Chris Allen and Charles McElhinney on the particularly slippy spectator section of Riccarton.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
That was to be it for Saturday, a road traffic accident and unprecedented numbers of spectators in the Kershope/ Tommy’s fell complex curtailing the second loop.
After a testing couple of days for Clerk of the Course Colin Heppenstall and team, a more straightforward Sunday awaited.
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX
DAY 4 SCOTLAND
On Sunday, the stages moved fully north of the border, starting with tests in Ae forest north of Dumfries, gradually moving east, around the loch at Twiglees, over the top at Castle O’er, through the forest at Craik and back towards the English border in Newcastleton, the Scottish side of Kershope.
Pryce was to continue his domination, despite driving five miles with a puncture on Newcastleton. He set the fastest time on three of the day’s eventual nine stages (The final run of Newcastleton was cancelled due to road conditions), McCormack and Edwards taking the other stages.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND CHARLIE FOX
The exception of SS29 Craik, where open category runners Greg McKnight and Harry Marchbank took their first fastest time of the event. They ended the day in fourth, four minutes and forty-nine seconds off the lead.
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX
AFTER STAGE 29
Day 5 – Kielder
Monday. For the final day, we were back into the Kielder complex. This time to the east of the man-made forest and evocative stages of RACs past, such as Pundershaw, Hopehouse, Roughside and Shepherdshield. The rally culminating in the forty-mile (37-mile, shortened due to road conditions) ‘bigger one’ test, where 3 of the morning 4 stages were combined into one. The much-quoted mantra was that it was like doing a single-day national event all in one stage.
Osian Pryce went into Monday with a one-minute fifty-two-second lead over Paul Barrett’s Mk2 Escort, and two minutes twenty over the surprisingly reliable M3 of Marty McCormack in third.
After the first Loop of four stages, Pryce extended his lead to two minutes and twenty seconds over Barrett, with open category runner Greg McKnight now third. McCormack’s M3 gearbox finally gave up the ghost in Pundershaw.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT
That left just the “bigger one” to go after five days of intense competition. However, rather than “just getting through”, our new third-place crew of Greg McKnight and Harry Marchbank were to set down a marker, catching and passing Paul Barrett on stage. McKnight eventually set the second fastest time, only three seconds behind Matt Edwards. It wasn’t enough to usurp Barrett and Noble in the final reconning, despite setting a time one minute and forty seconds quicker than the Irish pair.
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX AND ANDREW SCOTT
Pryce and Furness, meanwhile, consolidated victory by mirroring the time of Barrett and Noble and returned to Carlisle airport the victors, Osian finally getting that RAC monkey off his back after 2 previous competitive outings.
PHOTO: ANDREW SCOTT
After trading times with Oliver Solberg, no less, in the 2023 edition, he was sitting just forty-four seconds behind going up north to Scotland, only to retire on SS17 as the crews headed into the Galloway stages. On his first attempt, retiring from second on the final morning (with stub axle failure) during the Storm Arwen curtailed 2021 edition.
There was to be no repeat of the bad luck this time, leading at the end of each leg to take a well-deserved and dominant victory.
“It’s four years in the making, really, (the) Monkeys off my back finally, and a big thank you to the Wales Motorsport team. This project came together about twelve months ago, and we both had the same bad luck in the past, but we’ve combined it, and we’ve made it happen. A big thanks to them, really. The only thing we’ve had to put in/on the car is fuel and brake pads, such a testament to the car”
“I’m a bit emotional to be honest. It has been a rollercoaster. We’ve had our ups, we’ve had our downs, but we never gave up, we persevered and we are here.”
Osian Pryce
“It was quite difficult to keep calling. When you are within a mile or two of the end, even if you have a puncture, you know you are ok. He (Barrett) hadn’t passed (us) or anything, so we knew we had got it. Over the Moon!”
Dale Furniss
PHOTO: CHARLIE FOX
PHOTOS: CHARLIE FOX
FINAL RESULTS
WRAP UP
On reflection, yet another terrific event put on by Clerk of the Course Colin Heppenstall and team. Serious challenges were overcome both prior to and during the event. Despite the cancelled stages, last-minute route changes, weather and unprecedented spectator numbers, the RAC once again delivered in spades.
A Rally harking back to classic days of the original “RAC” and the epoch of Roger Clark and the Mk2 Escort. It is clear that the desire for more traditional event formats is alive, both with Competitors and Spectators alike. Five days that most definitely lived up to its hype as one of the three top draw endurance stage rallies in the world (along with classic Safari and the Silver Fern in New Zealand). Bring on 2027.
