NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPION WINS 'E&S' EVENT
"Express and Star" motoring correspondent
THE 225 miles of hard overnight motoring which went into the "Express and Star" national rally on Saturday-Sunday night produced what all rally organisers strive for - a decision on the road, without recourse to special tests.
Winner of the rally, organised by the Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Car Club as a British national event for the first time, was Tony Gold, of Stoke-on-Trent, the reigning British rally champion.
Gold. driving one of the smaller cars in the rally, an Austin Healey Sprite hardtop, was only four minutes late at the end of the night over the arduous timed course with its 31 controls spread over the 225 mile distance.
Those four minutes lost him 40 marks and with that low total he took the. Express and Star trophy and £25, while his expert navigator, Stuart Turner, won the Raybould Smith trophy and £15.
Gold said afterwards: "It was a first-class rally. We had a thoroughly good time over a very good course"
WOMEN SECOND
An all woman crew, Mrs: P.Mayman, of Birmingham, whose navigator was Miss Val Domleo, from Sutton Coldfield, were placed second in the general classification in a Morgan. They were nine minutes late over the night and lost 90 marks. A tie for third place in the general classification was resolved by the time taken by the two competitors on tbe special test, a twisty downhill dash in the Elan Valley. This test gave the third place to last year's' winner, Bill, bengry, from Hereford, who with navigator Peter Roberts, was 10 minutes late with the Simca saloon to lose 100 marks. Those two had tied on the road section with E. Malkin and G. A. Robson whose Sunbeam Rapier was also ten minutes late.
117 STARTERS
Out of 125 entrants from all parts, of the country, 117 cars finally started in this rally from Wolverhampton, Oxford, Liverpool, Nottingham and Hereford. After an equal-distance main road route they all converged shortly before midnight on the Radnorshire town of Knighton, designated "Control X." It was not until shortly before their actual time of starting that navigators were handed Ordnance Sheet 128, on which we marked the positions of 31 control points manned by marshals at each of which they had to report and between which they had to average 30 m.p.h.
OVER MINOR ROADS
Although they knew the position of the controls it was for navigators to work out the best route between them. The vast majority of the mileage was over very minor roads. Between some controls there appeared to be alternative routes. It was for the, navigators to decide, without prior knowledge of the area, unless they were lucky enough to have been there before which was the best route.
For instance No. 1 control was only seven minutes away from the start but there were, on the map, three possible routes. Only one of these went through. Some 20 competitors who tried the wrong roads never reached the control at all or were very late.
For the volunteer marshals it, was a cold night. Many 'of them had equipped themselves with bags of coke and improvised braziers.
OTHER RESULTS
Other results were:
First class awards: Over 1300 c.c. closed: E. Malkin (Sunbeam Rapier) lost 100: open: Brian Harper (Morgan) lost 120. Under 1300c.c. open: A.P.Bridge (Healey Sprite) lost 400; closed: A. T. Fisher (Austin Seven) 110.
Team awards: 1. Denary and Fisher. lost 210; 2. Fisher and Harper. lost 230.
Women's teams: 1. Mrs. Mayman and Miss Domleo lost 90; 2. Miss Rosemary Seers and Miss Sprinzel (Healey Sprite) lost 9010.
Best performance by a member of Wolverhampton and South Staffs Car Club, S. W. Flecher memorial trophy: Brian Harper, whose navigator, Ron Crellin won the Ron Moore, memorial trophy.
Special awards: Billingham trophy (presented by B. Billingham. Ltd.) best performance by a Ford car: K. Chambers (Anglia) lost 230. F.C. Bishop cup (presented by Wolverhampton Motor Services). best performance by a Rootes group car: E. Malkin (Sunbeam Rapier) lost 100, Norman Dawkins cup (presented by West Central Garage Ltd.) best Standard-Triumph performance: G. D. Grimshaw (Triumph TR3) lost 180. Bradburn and Wedge trophy (presented by Bradburn and Wedge Ltd.) best performance by Nuffield Group: M. Sutcliffe (Minor 1000) lost 140. Charles Clark trophy (presented by Charles Clark and Son Ltd) best performance by Austin Car: T. A. Gold. J. R. Gibbon trophy (presented by Nash Motors (Wolverhampton), best performance by a continental car: Bill Bengry (Simca).