RAC Rally of the Tests 2025, Day 2 Blackburn to Yarnfield

The Lotus Elan Plus Two of John King and Matthew Vokes continues to defy the technical odds as the crew and sportscar, an unlikely rally car, are still holding the lead and in fact have extended it. However, that’s also partly due to a late night dash by John King to Uttoxeter as he explained;

“I only got back around 2.30 am this morning as I had a to dash to Uttoxeter for some wheels and tyres. Yesterday in Warcop, John Dunning was doing well but then they had an off, then I went off as well, but we kept the momentum, although we didn't realise we had a flat tyre, so we had to do a full test with a deflating tyre. I had no spare then, so I went down to Uttoxeter last night because I had a guy down there at work, who had a couple of spare wheels for me. So I got back in the early hours of this morning, I was a bit tired, but it was worth it!

“But I think we've maintained a gap. We'd build a bit of a cushion, but its good to try and hang on to it, although I think everybody's had slight issues on the road. I found out that the Lotus boat doesn't float, especially in the Ford, not this fiberglass boat anyway, once we got into the water Matthew directed me off the river and back onto the road.”

Paul Dyas and Martyn Taylor are third after another Lotus engined Cortina took second from them later in the afternoon. Paul said; “The last regularity was a good run for us, especially as it was tough, a long one, but we really enjoyed. It. So it wasn't too unfriendly to us. I think we've all had a few mishaps, but nothing major, so we're still in the fight, there's only a few seconds between us and Kurt, but it's all very, very close, the competition is also tough as the opposition are good, but Kurt and Bjorn are not too far away!”

Belgians Kurt Vanderspinnen and Bjorn Vanoverschelde have moved back into second place after being in that position overnight, but losing it this morning to Dyas and Taylor, so does Kurt think he can maintain the pace and maybe have a crack at the lead?; Kurt; “Well, the leading team is maybe a little bit far away, but it's still very, very close between two, three and fourth place, I think so? Anyhow, it's all Lotuses in the front, so that's good.

“We are second overall with Paul very close behind us. I think we took a little bit bigger gap tonight, because we gained about 12 to 14, seconds compared to them. So we have a little bit more comfort tomorrow, but we will see, it’s still a long way to go on Sunday. So the night regularities wasn't too unfriendly to us.”

Day two was the longest day of the 2025 RAC Rally of the Tests, running well into the night with 10 tests and 9 regularities. The biggest climbers of the day, up to fifth, were Amy Henchoz and driver Callum Guy in the throaty V8 Sunbeam Tiger. Their car is not just fast and entertaining, but so far it is proving reliable.

The pace and relentless nature of this, HERO-ERA’s most competitive rally on their calendar and the 23^rd iteration, proved to be too much for five cars which had to retire.

Joe Deacon and Michael Dundon had to retire their Volvo Amazon with a broken steering rack, whilst officials were still trying to find out what happened to Philipp and Alex Leibundgut’s gorgeous AC Aceca as it was parked up. Christopher Woodhead and Rob Walker nearly retired but then the sweeps fixed their brakes on the Healey!

Tomasz Dzitko, a previous Temple Rally winner and HERO Champion Navigator and winner of the Golden Roamer, Rolf Pellini, had a broken gearbox whilst Irishmen James O’Mahony and Frank Hussey suffered a broken half shaft. Whilst talking of big winners, New Zealand Classic and South American Rally winners, Belgians Filip Engelen and Ann Gillis are also out with their Alfa Romeo.

The day started in drizzle then rain which added to the pleasure of the drivers as they headed to the first muddy test in a Blackburn Park, with a nice little crest just before the finish. Steve Head and Oli Waldock who were now in the rally just for fun, having to swop from the broken Volvo to Steve’s Escort RS2000, and they certainly showed off their skids in spectacular fashion, Oli shouting to the cameraman at the finish line. ‘I hope you got some good pictures of that?’

The drizzle became rain then a climb over the twisty moors roads for the first regularity and more fun over very slippy roads that broke out across a reservoir. Through Wigan, through Cheshire and the rich farmlands and fabled views of the Cheshire Plain, before taking to the Cheshire Showground tracks. Rikki Proffitt and Graham Wild clearly enjoyed themselves there as they were sideways on every corner in their Porsche 911.

Oulton Park, the Spa race track of the north, was the venue for two more tests where the Hillman Imp of Mike Dent and Mark Gilmour was the favourite of the large crowd, not just for  noise, but for the way it darted all over the track. Richard Heggie, and particularly driver Tristan Judge of the Datsun 240 Z, was beaming after the fun runs; “That was hilarious, we got the car to some crazy angles, it was so much fun!” Tristan and Richard had also been having fun in Warcop Forest the day before but went off the road for a while……

Crews enjoyed a break before heading right into the next regularity which started at the entrance to Oulton Park. Not content with just the tricky roads, Competition Director Guy Woodcock threw in a couple of farmyards to be negotiated as well, teams had to suddenly veer off the road onto slurry slick cobbles around barns, only to find a Timing Point waiting for them!

If the Cheshire Showground and Oulton Park were highlights, as the rally headed east of Congleton and the sun started to shine, then the four tests around another farm were top of the table. They wound their way around the lip of the big grass bowl of farm land and climbed a concrete path that then dropped down a stony track and through narrow forest tracks. It was difficult to gain traction at times, especially off the line uphill for the start of test 9 and 10, the aptly named Farmyard Frolics. Christopher Day commented through the open door of his Cooper S on the slippy slope just before start; “All you will see will be spinning wheels, it’s hard to get any traction here!” He was right, how the transmission took the punishment we will never know!  

The day turned to night, a chill was in the air as crews were now in Derbyshire and the Peak District. Regularity seven, before the supper stop, Rissington, was another cracker which included a lengthy Ford with quite a depth of water to float through. Crews could either opt to go hard or take a more measured approach, fourth place Martyn Payton and Mile Fieldhouse chose the full throttle version in their Volvo PV544 and made quite a splash in the camera lights, to the extent that Videographer Gary Williams, got absolutely drenched and his camera too, but it started working again later!

There are close battles for class and overall awards with one day to go, although Dick and Harry Baines are leading the Lite division by quite a margin in their Cooper S, but there will be no let up. The rally goes straight into two airfield tests from Yarnfield and finishes on the Great Orme, although there will be a halt for two minutes as it is Remembrance Sunday, as we think of those who gave their tomorrow so we could have our today.