G3RS Rally Sprint 2009 Ludlow Castle Motor Club (LCMC) organized the seventh running of the G3RS Rally Sprint on Saturday, 17th January. The day was fine and cold, but the stages were extremely slippery after the very heavy rain from the previous night. The single venue time trial, sponsored once again by Gary Scott of G3RS, was held in the Haye park complex in Mortimer forest near Ludlow, and attracted nearly 40 drivers in both two and four wheel drive road and stage rally cars.

The event had four timed runs over a set distance on the forest gravel roads, two runs in the morning and two in the opposite direction in the afternoon.

The difference between this and normal forest rallies was the fact that the drivers had to do it all on their own, no pace notes, maps or navigators. They did however have a practice run in both directions first, then it was flat out against the clock. Henri Grehan and Joe Price in the two Voodoo Escorts were entertaining as always. Henri was giving his newly built Ford Escort its very first run on gravel, and his very first drive in the car after only a few miles on the local main roads. He was using the gravel sprint as a test day in readiness for the Red Kite stages the following day. The car seemed to be on the pace all day, but Henri did express concerns of how fierce the power was coming in, which would cause the car to spin out on corners. In spite of this, Henri seemed to control the car and power very well finishing 5th overall and second in class.

Joe Price in the other Voodoo Escort suffered spark plug problems all day, causing him to drop three minutes on one run, but he still managed 14th overall and 3rd in class, and he picked up the prize for maximum attack. This prize is voted for by the marshals who they think has been the most committed driver on the day. Neil Weaver in the Weaver motor sport Vauxhall Corsa finished the day in 7th overall and first in class.

G3RS Gravel Sprint sponsor Gary Scott brought the same Vauxhall Corsa home in 13th place overall and 2nd in class. Other LCMC members who entered but had to retire were Alex Allingham in his Subaru Impreza, he had put in good times all day looking to finish in second place only to run out of fuel. Michael Kinsey in the M and M Motor sport Sunbeam retired after the second run with a broken gearbox.

Herefordshire farmer and rally fans favourite Andrew Burton in the awesome Peugeot 306 Cosworth was leading the event by nine seconds, only to break a drive shaft on the last run of the day. This opened the door for Shaun Gardener in the TNT Tyres Mitsubishi Evo 5.9 to win the event overall, after putting in good times on all four runs, including fastest time of the day. Ludlow Castle Motor Club would like to thank the event sponsor G3RS, marshals, and all those involved in putting on another very well organised event.

By Russell Kenhard & Keith Gluyas