RAC Rally of the Tests 2025, Kendal to Llandudno

It has been a classic start to the most competitive rally on the HERO-ERA calendar, the RAC rally of the Tests. All the ingredients are there for this relentless rally that puts pressure on the car and the crew.

Early mechanical dramas have afflicted leader Paul Dyas and Martyn Talyor’s new Cortina, fancied front runners Paul O’ Kane and Henry Carr’s Porsche 911, Philipp and Alex Leibengut’s lovely AC Aceca Coupe. Even former champions Paul Bloxidge and Ian Canavan arrived at the first regularity without a working trip meter!

However, the biggest drama occurred before the rally even started as Andrew Boland’s Ford RS2000 had a broken differential which turned into the need for a whole new back axle on Wednesday evening in Kendal, the start venue for 2025. Step in former World Champion Rally Co-driver Phil Mills and his Viking Motorsport company coming to the rescue. Locating parts in Wales, putting the whole new unit together in the car, tramping up and down the motorways of the UK, Phil personally delivered the car back to Kendal half an hour before the start! As a result, Andrew Boland and Tony Brooks are lying fifth overall after all the dramas.

With two tests and two regularities forming the Prologue over slippy, wet roads in the Lake District that have been subject to floods in parts, the first night was set to be a portent of things to come over the next three days before the finish in Llandudno on Sunday. With sump guards bashing the tarmac and spotlights flashing into the inky black sky, the rally had begun.

Leader Paul Dyas, standing in front of gearbox bits by his Ford Cortina with the Lotus Twin Cam engine, said after the Prologue; “That was very slippy, very muddy. I've got some issues with the Cortina’s gearbox as well. Synchro on first has gone and second is on its way out, so we're just trying to find some bits to fix it.

“The conditions were very slippery on the regularities, you would take a crest then it suddenly goes 90 left, and there's leaves on the road, but a good night. We lost a some time on the tests with the gearbox, but hopefully we'll find those bits and get it fixed.”

Paul O’ Kane and navigator Henry Carr enjoyed a good warm up event in Ilkley. Paul; “It went reasonably well there and the car went great. It was running great here, the tests were good. Things were going great this evening, but then at the end of the second regularity, the car just stopped and it wouldn't restart.

“Then we pushed it downhill, it restarted, and then it died about two minutes up the road, so it’s basically the fuel pump relay, that got fixed by Sweep Dave Alcock on the road, and that got us going. But now it won't start again, so two things at the same bloody time, ridiculous!”.

The youngest competitor in the rally, Bob Rutherford Scholarship winner Miles Fieldhouse has survived the first night, navigating his driver Martin Payton to ninth overall in their Volvo PV544. With the Prologue, teams have only just scratched the surface of the rally, a point Miles is aware of; “It has only just started really, but I think we made the best of a couple of kind of awkward situations, but we really enjoyed it, and I'm dead happy to have got through this with no problems. I think Martin's been ace. He's been really, really good. So yeah, on to the next day, and we'll see what happens. The dark adds another dimension because everything's not as obvious. I think if it's going to go wrong, it's most likely to go wrong in the dark, but it all adds to the excitement. Maybe a test is good in the dark, but a regularity, that's just more stress for the navigator.”

Guy Woodcock, the HERO-ERA Competition Director, who along with his team, has designed the event, was asked to comment on the fact that on paper, the 2025 RAC Rally of the Tests looks to be one of the hardest for sheer competition.

Guy said; “The weather has been particularly bad over the last few days before we got here, but we're in 15 degrees and it's dry at the moment, so that's a big bonus. But yes, it's going to be tough on people who haven't done many night rallies recently, they went straight into a two hour Prologue in the dark, so it was a case of who's got the skills and who was sharp tonight, certainly the top three!

“It is ultra competitive, the clue is in the name, there's 35 tests which is the most we've ever had on an event, from forest tracks, airfields, stately homes and kart tracks. So, from that point of view, it's about being consistently fast on the tests and doing well on the regularities. So over 35 tests, if you lose a chunk of time, it is hard to get it back on the regularities, that means big pressure on both sides of the car.

“In terms of the driver, it’s about not doing anything silly, not hitting a cone on a test or the navigator having to write the code boards down correctly, because there's penalties for those as well. There is big pressure on at the tests. The fact that Dan Willan and Niall Frost are not competing after their record score of wins, means there's probably half a dozen people who could be up there. I couldn't really pick a winner, but you certainly don't want to be taking the lead after the Prologue, because only two people have ever won after being in the lead after the Prologue in many years. But let's see, maybe Paul Dyas and Martyn Taylor could win it!”

John King who is lying third overall, and is looking good after his recent success in the HRCR events with Matthew Vokes navigating in the low slung Lotus Elan Plus 2, was asked if he could translate that success into Rally of the Tests success?

John; “I don't know. Everyone's got a bit of a book running in the background as to how long the Lotus it's going last!  But I think all things being equal, we'll be there or there abouts, like others in the top ten, you know, we've all got a chance.”

The last words on the challenge of the Rally of the Tests are left with Champion and winning driver Paul Crosby: “It's probably the hardest challenge that you're ever going to get in in this type of historic rallying. It's got a bit of everything. You know, we've got 36 tests, and I forget how many regularities, but it's just relentless, so you can't drop your guard or lack concentration for any time at all. You have just got to be concentrating the whole time, all the way through. So it's a massive challenge, and that's why so many people come back and do it time after time.”