3rd Rally for the Ages is going to be a family affair

With a great family-oriented entry of 60 cars, 32 of the entry sharing the same surname, the third edition of the Rally for the Ages based at Bicester Motion promises to be real family affair as they immerse themselves in the spirit of historic motoring, some for the very first time.

The collective youth, some as young as 12, will be sharing the cars driven by relatives, whilst other pairings of brothers and sisters will be at Bicester Motion on Sunday 13^th July all keen to experience  a great day’s motor sport. Many will be very competitive as they look to claim the honours or for some, they just want to bring the car home in this ‘For the Young for Free’ event. The rally will become just that, free to enter, if the combined age of the crew is under 70, then the entry fee is refunded.  

There are even international crews making the trip from both Switzerland and Germany, keen to experience the baseline fun that has helped young people become more involved in the sport, and some to take it up as their chosen hobby. The German crew of Florian Schürenkrämer and Fabian Ebbers will be looking to hang out in their 1942 Willys MB Jeep, whilst the experienced Swiss Philipp Leibundgut will be looking to further induct Marianne, another Leibungut family member, into the sport.

However, the Willys MB Jeep will not be the oldest vehicle in the rally, that honour belongs to another family team, James and Lorcan Portway in their 1922 Vauxhall 30/98, then the 1957 Triumph TR3 of Gareth and William Drew and the 1959 Aston Martin DB4 of Nigel and Suzanne Knighton. Clearly these families are going to also enjoy stretching the legs of their classic cars around the tests of Bicester Motion Airfield and over the picturesque lanes of Oxfordshire.

There will be four tests and four regularities for the teams to savour on the 80 mile route.

Last year’s winners, Jonathan and Imogen Shepherd are not entered in their BMW, but there are plenty of other potential winners such as Harry Sherrard with Sophie Rugg alongside him in his 80 Quattro or the family of regular HERO Challenge competitor John Dickson, Amber and Kathryn in John’s potent Lancia Monte Carlo.

The HERO-ERA Competition Director Guy Woodcock outlined the ethos of the Rally for the Ages and what the format will be.

Guy: “ Rally for the Ages forms an important part of our youth policy. I think the year has been going quite well as we've already seen a lot of young navigators and a few young drivers in our other rallies such as A Novice Trial and HERO Challenges where our Bob Rutherford Scholarship winner Miles Fieldhouse enjoyed a couple of podiums, including the top step!

“On this rally we will also see the welcome return of a finalist for the 2024 Bob Rutherford Scholarship for Young Navigators, Jack Harvey. Jack won the first ever Rally of the Ages with his father in a VW. This time he will be navigating one of the regular HERO-ERA competitors, Tim Sawyer in his Ford Escort Mexico who was third last year with another youngster alongside him then, Jack Love.

“This is another real chance to bring new people into sport as the previous Rally for the Ages have done, but in an even more concentrated way.

“It's great, because we've got a lot of fathers and daughters, fathers, sons, and grandparents, meaning we have many youngsters coming in. It's really good in terms of the growing numbers wanting to compete, as we find the youngsters are actually picking it up very quickly. They start to understand the navigation and the sport in general because sometimes you just need a young brain as they say! And we've got a good balance between total newbies and some with a degree of experience. .

“There are some people coming out who were on the Bob Rutherford Scholarship like Jack Harvey, whereas the experienced Piers Barclay is bringing in another family member in the form of Nicholas Barclay following the successful outings with his daughter Beatrice, including when they were fourth in the 2023 RftA in their 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulieta Sprint Veloce.

“We have a great programme lined up for them too. We start off in the morning with the scrutineering process and then a general briefing before the cars are away at midday. The rally starts with two tests near our headquarters here at Bicester Motion on the airfield side, then out on the road for a couple of regularities.

“After a coffee break at the Heroics Café at Bicester Motion we return to tackle the two tests airfield side again. It should be fun, but then the final two regularities back out on the Oxfordshire lanes will be a little bit more of a challenge as we've sort of upped the ante a little bit, making it more challenging on the navigation with a bit more thinking for them.

“I think we'll have some good results, it'll be interesting to see. In the past, we've had people who've done the event for the first time and been on the top on the podium, I think that's the basis of the event, the great mixes of experience but with predominantly new people. Then there are the lines of rally champions who come along to encourage their next generation.  Nick Bloxham is bringing his daughter who has just turned 12. So, you know, she could be the next one in the Bloxham dynasty to really get involved.

“In Rally for the Ages, things like that happen as well as many other youth stories, but it is all really positive for the future of historic motorsport which is why we do it.”