Cambrian Rally
17th October 2009

Rallying is a sport where a novice can compete against the best in the world in the same event. World championship leader Mikko Hirvonen was running car 0 and Carl Lumb and myself were running in car No.76 on the 2009 Cambrian Rally.

Scrutineering was on Friday which meant missing school.  No problem with the car, so we were ready for Saturday.  After the long run out from Llandudno we were greeted with a big smile by Gareth on first arrival in Clocaenog and we knew there would be a large contingent from Clwyd Vale marshalling, so no cock-ups!

SS1 was a mixture of very fast, slippery roads, with very tight hairpins made tighter with some bloody straw bales – but we came through unscathed.

By the end of SS2 I was getting used to the new notes and found them easier to use than the descriptive ones.

There was disappointment in Penmachno as SS3 was cancelled due to a serious accident.  SS4 was a bit rough which didn’t help with us running as one of the last cars of the rally. We were really looking forward to returning to Clocaenog as the last stage was a 17 miler.  We finished the stage in the dark, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We knew we wouldn’t be mixing with the big boys so it was nice to finish such a great event in 15th in class.

Thanks again to Carl for the opportunity to co-drive for him.  Thanks to Nigel for servicing on the top of Brenig.  Thanks also to Stuart Jones for borrowing me his overalls and helmet throughout the year.

My dad always said that the Cambrian is a big rally and it always was his ambition to compete on it.  So he was very jealous of me when I was given the opportunity to co-drive on it so young.

Dafydd Gwynedd.