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Since 1955, the North Wales Car Club has been getting its hands dirty in National motorsport, and its flagship stage rally, the Cambrian, would return to the forest of North Wales this year in celebration of the club’s 70th year of organizing motorsport events.
The Woodpecker Rally is now firmly settled into its new Mid Wales base after last year’s move from Ludlow. The switch has opened up some of the sport’s most famous gravel stages, with around 45 competitive miles on offer through Hafren and the rarely used Tarenig – stages that have shaped rallying history for decades.
Saturday 12th July 2025 marked a landmark occasion in British rallying as the iconic Nicky Grist Stages returned for its 40th consecutive year as part of the BTRDA Forest Rally Championship. Hosted once again by the experienced hands of Quinton Motor Club, the award-winning event drew more than 140 crews to the picturesque town of Builth Wells for the one-day gravel showcase.
Organised by the Quinten Motor Cub and Sponsored by the world-famous co-driver and his motorsports equipment business since 2011 the Nicky Grist stages is based in the Market town of Builth Wells with its picturesque service area on the rugby pitch and overlooking the river Wye. The battleground would be the range of familiar stages in the Halfway, monument Crychan and Lyn Login areas of the Epynt military ranges to the south of Builth Wells.
The 2024 Pirelli Welsh Championship kicked off with the Get Jerky Rally North Wales, centered in Welshpool and featured 45 miles of iconic Welsh stages. The planned route comprised of Gartheiniog, Big Ray (Dyfi), and Dyfnant, divided into east and west sections, with each stage scheduled to run twice.
The third Saturday of November had a distinctly autumnal feel on the Gloucestershire/ Wales border as the curtain came down on the 2023 Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship on the forty fifth Wyedean Stages Rally. The Forest of Dean motor club ran event was once again based out of Forest Hills Golf club in Coleford and included 7 stages spread across the historic Forest of Dean.
The fifth round of the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championships was filled with drama from before a competitive wheel had even turned, right down to the final stage of the event. The Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages Rally would take place in hot and demanding conditions for the Welsh National crews over some tough and challenging stages which stretched across the Anglo-Welsh borders.
After a short break in proceedings, the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship returned into action for Round 4 of its 2023 season at the Quinton Motor Club organised Nicky Grist Stages. From Builth Wells, the Championship reached the mid-point in the season with eight gravel tests (four of repeated) covering approx 44 competitive stage miles, over stages in the Crychan and Halfway Forest complexes.