Paul Tod and Iestyn ap Dafydd scored an excellent second place in the 1st round of the 205 Scholarship on this weekend's Malcolm Wilson Rally in Cumbria's Lake District. The pair had been invited to take part in the first round by Cup Organisers, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to grips with the sometimes difficult conditions on their return to 205 rallying.
Saturday morning greeted the competitors with bright sunshine reflecting off the snow covered mountains. Paul had only driven the Gwent Garden Designs supported 205 for 20 miles or so on tarmac before the start of the event, so stage 1, Comb, above Picturesque Winlastter pass, was all about learning the handling characteristics of the car.
"I soon found out that the car set up wasn’t the best for my style of driving," he says. "The suspension was a bit softer than my 205 of 2 years ago, and I had to adapt quickly, or we could have had a big off! There was no pressure to be massively quick 'out of the box' though, because we had already said that we'd be happy with a top five finish."
Be that as it may - Paul went on to score a fastest time on stage 2, the 12 mile Grizedale South stage to take the lead, but Grizedale North held a nasty twist for them - a front puncture two miles from the end cost them about 25 seconds as the car needed real coaxing to turn right at all!
"That's our Grizedale luck," Paul quipped, referring to the 3 punctures which had marred the 2003 Grizedale stages, their last outing in a 205 Challenge car.
At the service halt, they were pleased to find themselves still in 3rd place, behind 2003 champion Matt Barker with the exciting young Alex Evans in the lead.
Stage 4, Greystoke was new to the event, and had deteriorated quite badly in places under the onslaught of 4 wheel drive cars. Paul pushed where he could, but admitted to a cautious drive, opting to preserve the car rather than any heroics. A 'moment' over a fast crest on stage 5, when the 205 characteristic rear suspension 'double bounce' nearly threw them into the trees, and a broken driver's door mirror - " Well, you've got to cut some bends quite tightly," says Paul - showed the commitment on the last three stages, and it was enough to wrest second place from Barker.
"We are really pleased with this result," says Paul. "We would have been happy with a top five finish, we are extremely happy with this! I have never driven on the Malcolm Wilson Rally before, so to come second is great. The stages were good, even after the recent snow and storms, and the weather was a whole lot better than I was expecting. The special 205 atmosphere was exactly what I expected, though, and we were treated like long lost brothers!
"After the expense of last year, we relied entirely on the generous support of Gwent Garden Designs and JP Tod Commercials to complete this round. We will be back for the second round in North Wales in April, but will have to make a decision on the rest of the year's motorsport after that. The Scholarship looks like it should be hugely competitive this year, with any of the top ten contenders capable of winning it, and 20 contenders eager to take advantage of any slip-ups!
"This is competitive, affordable motorsport as we remember it from the 205 Challenge, and we can only applaud the organisers for the high standard that their 205 series has set. "
The Panaround Rally, based in Dolgellau, North Wales, is on the 26th April.
