Curtain Up on the 2026 Hero Challenge Championship

The curtain will rise in Taunton on Saturday 11th April for the eagerly anticipated start of the ultra competitive HERO Challenge One, the first part of the 2026 trilogy of challenges. An impressive entry of 100 rally cars have endorsed the attraction of the one day competition format with such a massive entry.  

There couldn’t be a better setting for the first round than the South West and the base of Taunton which will launch crews out into the great Somerset and Devon border roads. With eight tests and seven regularities over a 120 mile route, crews will not have time for any Devon Teas, but they will sample some fabulous venues such as Bridwell Park and the prestigious Wiscombe Park Hillclimb. The airfield tests will be quick and exacting as the competition hots up during the day.   

George Mullins, Clerk of the Course, HERO Challenge One; 

 “I'm really chuffed to bits that it's coming to my homeland of Somerset and Devon, the two counties I've lived in all my life. It will be great to get everybody down here with such an incredible 100 car entry which is absolutely amazing! We've got some real unique stuff going on, for instance, scrutineering and noise check is at a Somerset boatyard, which is an operation that runs canal boats, and you can even have a Fish and Chip Tour out of there if you wanted to, so maybe some of the competitors will do that once they're queuing up for the scrutineering! 

“We're trying to do something for everyone, and the best way of doing that is to come up with something that I would enjoy. So we've got a compact route, lots of tests, long tests as well. We've managed to open up an old rally venue for one of the tests, which is absolutely fantastic news, an old listening station up on the Blackdown Hills. And another treat, we're going to Wiscombe Park Hillclimb, a prestigious and absolutely gorgeous location as well.” 

“It's very compact. We've got seven regularities, the shortest one being about seven miles and the longest one being about 13 miles. We have eight tests and one of those is very long which will see the drivers getting a bit of a sweat on, then two really attractive rest halts at Honey Farm and Bridwell Park, a small Country Park where we're having lunch. 

“Hopefully they'll not find the navigating too challenging, but there'll be one or two little twists in there to sort out the unwary.” 

Many expect the 2026 HERO Challenge Championship to be as closely fought as 2025 which culminated in a three-way fight in a tense rally based at Chepstow. James Holt won that final round and with it took the HERO Challenge Driver’s Championship in his BMW. He was quick to attribute the win to the expert navigation of Alistair Leckie, himself a former double HC Driver’s Champion who has switched successfully to the navigator’s seat. They are back for more and clearly the favourites.

The man who won the 2025 HC Navigator’s title after six years of hard work to take himself up the ranks, was Mike Cochrane. He is paired with one of the fastest drivers in regularity rallying, Nick Bloxham in his yellow Ford Escort. They are potential winners along with John King, RAC Rally of the Tests winner who has the 2025 Bob Rutherford Scholarship winner Miles Fieldhouse alongside him. Likewise, we have double HERO-ERA Cup Drivers Champion Dick Baines and former Golden Roamer Champion Harry Baines navigating in their Mini Cooper S, who will be up there. There are so many potential winners in the field, including current Golden Roamer winner Pete Johnson with multi driver’s champion Paul Crosby navigating, then it is good to welcome back winners Anita Wickins and Malcolm Dunderdale in their fabulous Renault 8 Gordini.  

George Mullins has his own ideas as to who may be in with a shout of success. “We've got Simon Mellings and Henry Carr in their Toyota running at number 12, and then John Lomas, a very competitive driver, has one of best and most decorated navigators with him, Ryan Pickering. Ryan, we know his prowess when it comes to navigating, so they'll be starting as my favourites. But here's my underdog tip, who I think could do well on this event is car 99 Nigel and Sally Woof in their TR4. It's a good class to be in, and for the class based system that we run on the tests, also Sally has become really good at the regularities recently. So there's my dark horse duo!” 

Whoever wins the tight contest over a fun packed and compact route designed to test the best, will have earned it. With championship points at stake, many of the crews will be aiming to make a strong start to be able to launch them into the second round. The Somerset and Devon lanes are ready for might of the HERO Challenge contestants, but we won’t see who has been the best prepared crews until they take the plaudits on Saturday evening at the finish in Taunton.