The Club was founded in 1952 and ran its first rally on March 8th 1958. There were 90 entries starting from five separate locations who all traveled to a single control which was the start point of 380 mile night navigation section. The local crew Tony Fisher and John Thomas won in their Austin A35 and received their prize of £25 in cash

The local Wolverhampton evening newspaper, the 'Express & Star' agreed to provide financial support, awards and cash prizes. It helped that the rally secretary was also the motoring correspondent of the newspaper.

The event was soon promoted into the top flight of British rallies. All the names of that golden era competed and many had their names engraved on the winner's trophy.

In 1966 the event became one of the first national rallies to include sections on gravel Forestry Commission roads. In the following years all the competitive sections of the rally were on these loose surface forest roads closed to other traffic and became known as 'special stages'.

By now the cars of choice for the winning crews were the Cortina and the Cooper S although the Escort Twin Cam with a Lotus engine had started to take the prizes.

1969 was to be the last year of the newspaper's involvement.

Initially the move into the forests had created some unexpected problems when the Forestry Commission failed to agree the costs of repairing the roads. As the organising team were denied the use of the roads whilst negotiations continued this lead to cancellations and changes in format for the rally. Despite being insured the resulting costs nearly forced the Club out of business. After many people dipped into their pockets the problems were all resolved and Castrol Oils stepped in as rally sponsor.

The format changed as British rallying changed and the rally became a one-day, forest special stage event based in the Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth. This location gave the organisers easy access to the classic mid-Wales stages in the large forests of the Cambrian mountains.

This was the golden age of British rallying with the Ford Escort BDAs and Vauxhall Chevettes in full cry. The entry lists contained many of the international teams and drivers of the age keen to try new cars and tyres on the iconic stages of Dyfi, Pantperthog, Ystwyth, Tarenig and Hafren.

To cap it all the event was the last round of the Castrol sponsored National Championship, which increased the tension as the Champion was not known until the rally results were announced.

As Castrol decided to leave the Audi Sport Team took up the title sponsorship and a new impetus was given to the rally. This led to international status being granted and inclusion in the British Rally Championship. With the new money come the rally super stars of the era to bolster the publicity the event offered. These rallies had the most stage mileage ever put on by the Club.

Included in the mileage were spectator influenced 'super specials' at different years at Loton Park Hill Climb venue and Town Park in Telford.

In line with the higher profile of the event the start and finishes were moved nearer to centres of population in Shrewsbury and Telford.

The sponsorship was to continue for seven more years and was much needed in those difficult economic times. Despite this, these were the years of the super rally cars culminating in the ferocious 'Group B' cars. The Ford Sierra Cosworth, Ford RS200, Metro 6R4 and the Toyota Celica were the cars seen winning in this era.

As the rally continued at international status in the British Open Championship there was a struggling to come to terms with the huge costs and falling entry levels involved. Even with the addition of entries from various one make championships the event would not have been viable without support of Audi Sport.

Just before the 1991 event it was announced that Audi would not be continuing with its sponsorship. This created uncertainty in the Championship and a big challenge for the Club and more uncertainty for the organising team.

The rally had to adjust to a dramatic change of fortunes as the Country's difficult economic outlook continued to hit motorsport hard. Things were difficult without a sponsor and no settled place in any championship it was a battle to fill the entry list. Innovations were needed, running jointly with other motor clubs, different rallies of different lengths and different costs on the same event and a return to Aberystwyth as a base were tried.

By 1995 things began to look up and Bulldog Security Products from nearby Much Wenlock became title sponsors in a deal that was to last for the next twelve years. Next the rally was invited to rejoin the National Championship.

Rally cars were evolving quickly, the Ford Escort Cosworth was giving way to the Subaru Impreza and the Mitsubishi Evo. Organisers route notes were introduced as a result of safety concerns from the increased speeds of these four wheel drive, turbo monsters.

Eventually the base for the event returned to Shrewsbury and later to Oswestry. The Mintex National Rally Championship had become the MSA Gravel Rally Championship.There were still one make series and rallies within the rally to suit all cars and drivers pockets.

And so it was up right up to the time the 50th anniversary event was run in 2008 as one day rally, with 65 stage miles set in the forests of Mid-Wales.

It was still not plain sailing as costs of Forestry roads rose it was getting harder to fill the entry list but the enthusiasm of the officials, the marshals, the sponsor (still Bulldog) and the spectators ensured the event was going to survive.