HERO-ERA Awards 2024

HERO-ERA’s annual award ceremony took place within the historic walls of the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, on Friday evening (17^th Jan) to applaud the success of their competitors in 2024. The celebrated and historic venue is the traditional home of the awards, that offer an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of competitors in the previous calendar year and look ahead to the season to come.

During an on-stage interview with Classic Car Weekly’s Jesse Billington, HERO-ERA Chairman, Tomas de Vargas Machuca reflected on a hugely successful Peking to Paris, despite it not being quite so successful for himself and co-pilot Ben Cussons. Touching on the events recent Historic Motoring Award for Rally of the Year, and discussing the official book of the 2024 event, the subject of P2P would be a running theme for the evening. Continuing the endurance narrative, Tomas also spoke of the debut of the upcoming Gaucho Trail rally in South America. There was also time to talk about HERO-ERA’s initiatives to promote the involvement of young people in the sport, including the Bob Rutherford Scholarship and Rally for the Ages and a look at the evolution of HERO-ERA’s green initiatives.

The main focus of the awards is of course the winners of the HERO-ERA Cup for the best overall driver and Golden Roamer award for the best overall navigator, fought over the eligible HERO-ERA rallies across the season and always hotly contested. This year the HERO-ERA Cup went to popular Father and Son competitors Dick and Harry Baines, with their triumphant Austin Mini displayed in the clubs famous Rotunda. Dick is famously a man of few words, and in continuation with tradition left son Harry to speak on his behalf. There was a celebration of Dick’s motorsport history though, with a slideshow of photographs charting his journey from oval racing to rallying, including competing in the year 2000 London to Lisbon in the car that he and Harry still campaign, and indeed won the 2022 London to Lisbon in.

No doubt there was more joy for Dick, with his son Harry taking the Golden Roamer Award for best navigational performance across the year. Harry is one of the younger competitors, and it should also be noted that the pair only began their rallying journey together in 2021, and since their debut they have won the Scottish Malts and London to Lisbon rallies, amongst other accolades. Now with the Golden Roamer award safe in his grasp, Harry had these thoughts, “It is a fairytale, to think that there used to be this old Mini in the shed that me and my brother used to sit in and pretend we were rally drivers and now, it is downstairs, here in the Royal Automobile Club – it’s a dream come true for us. I’d like to thank everyone at HERO, and all of the competitors that make such a special atmosphere on events, that’s what we really come for.”

The top awards are, of course always the most coveted, but it is just as important to encourage those with less experience, and to that end, the HERO Challenge Championship was set up as a mini championship, for those involved in the one-day HERO Challenge events. These events are less of a demand on time, but no less enjoyable rallies and are contested only by those that have not yet attained Masters status, and since the format’s conception have provided close and exciting competition. The 2024 championship was no exception, with 2023’s runner up Simon Ayris achieving the driver win, and Matt Outhwaite claiming the navigators prize, for a record third time.

It wasn’t just success in the main HERO-ERA categories that was celebrated either, with 2024 seeing the hotly anticipated return of the Peking to Paris Rally, the bucket list behemoth that tests competitors like no other event can. Competitors from this rally won a slew of awards, including the rally winner Andy Buchan, who collected the Victory Merit Award after he and his Bentley’s Peking to Paris triumph. Andy’s winning Bentley was also displayed in the RAC Club’s Rotunda, adding to the cars already colourful history. Longtime endurance competitor Daniel Schlatter also scooped a unique special Chairmans Award, after taking the opportunity to drive the worlds coolest recovery truck on this year’s P2P, after expressing a desire to be part of the ‘dark side’ of the event, and Faith Douglas was awarded the Greatest Gain Award, after coming so close to being the winning Peking to Paris navigator, despite only competing in her first rally in 2022, bringing her infectious enthusiasm to the stage for her acceptance speech.

The biggest cheer of the endurance-based awards though, went to rallying brothers Mike and Tommy Dreelan, awarded the Spirit of Competition Award and collected their trophies to a standing ovation. The pair were competing separately on Peking to Paris, when their event was cut short after Mike suffered a serious and life-threatening accident in the early stages of the rally. Tommy never left Mike’s side and stayed with him in China whilst he recuperated from lifesaving surgery and began his fight back to health. Mikes recovery is an incredible story of determination, and just three months after the accident that so nearly cost him his life, he was enjoying driving in vintage cars again, and both brothers will be on the Pearl of India Rally in February – truly the Spirit of Competition.

These rallies were of course pioneered by the late great Philip Young, and so it is only fitting that the award for the best performance across these rallies should carry his name, and so it was that Jorge Perez Companc and Jose Luis Volta were announced as the winners of the Philip Young ERA Award for Best Performance 2024, after winning the Sahara Challenge 2024, adding to their 2023 Badawï Trail to the Last Oasis triumph. The Argentine pair are ever popular, but sadly the 2024 Sahara Challenge will be their last outing together, as driver Jorge will compete with his son in the future.

As an organisation that protects the past, HERO-ERA also looks to the future, and celebrates youth involvement within the sport, and several awards pointed to this fact. First up to receive the Young Star Achiever award was 19-year-old Oli Waldock, who since beginning rallying at the age of 14 has picked up trophies in various events and in 2024 celebrated a class win on the formidable Rally of the Tests. The Bob Rutherford Scholarship for Young Navigators, a Motorsport UK endorsed scheme launched to propel young navigating talent to the forefront of the sport, enjoyed its first year in 2024, with Danielle Pool competing in four rallies under its banner. In 2025, the scholarship will nurture 16-year-old Miles Fieldhouse, who has won a place on the program after a gruelling selection day at Bicester, ahead of four other applicants who made the finals.

There were further special awards handed out, with driver Dan Willan and navigator Niall Frost receiving the 2024 Award for Major Achievement, after the pair won the Rally of the Tests for an amazing third time, an incredible feat and popular winners, with Dans driving style always a thrilling spectacle out on the lanes.

So, a celebration of current champions with a firm nod to the future of the sport. We all look forward to 2025 and beyond.