Tag Archives: Forest

Lost Luck Of The Irish – Wyedean Forest Rally

Following last weeks blog on the 40th Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally today’s blog features the remaining prize winners on the event who did not get a mention.

Peugeot 106, Matthew Davis, Ryan Taylor, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally

The Rex Paddock Memorial Trophy for the best prepared car entered by a Forest of Dean Motor Club member went to the 1400 C class #251 Peugeot 106 that Matthew Davis and Ryan Taylor drove to a 91st place overall finish.

Subaru Impreza, Nigel Drew, Pauline Nash, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally

The Lionel Ward Trophy for best finish by a Forest of Dean Motor Club Crew was awarded to Nigel Drew and Pauline Nash who drove their #29 Subaru Impreza to a 22nd place finish overall.

Nissan Micra, Nigel Jenkins, Kirsty Walby, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally,

Nigel Jenkins and Kirsty Walby driving the RF1.4 #239 Nissan Micra won the Finishing Touches Hair and Beauty Cup for finishing 98th overall and last of the Forest of Dean Motor Club entered crews.

Peugeot 106 Rallye 2, Rachel Patterson, Tom Wood, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Forest Rally,

The Bob Brain Trophy for highest placed lady driver was won by Rachel Patterson who along with co driver Tom Wood brought their 1400C class #246 Peugeot 106 Rallye 2 home in 105th place overall.

Subaru Impreza WRC, David Weston, Kirsty Riddick, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Forest Rally

Kirsty Riddick who navigated David Weston’s #2 Subaru Impreza WRC to a second place finish overall won the Lilian Turley Trophy for best placed lady co-driver.

Ford Focus WRC 05, Damian Cole, Jack Moreton, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally

Jack Moreton navigated Damian Cole’s #6 Ford Focus WRC 05 to a 6th place finish and earned himself the Michael ‘Beef’ Park Trophy for highest placed under 22 co-driver.

Mitsubishi EVO X, Gunnar Karl Johannesson, George Gwynn, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Forest Rally

The Forest of Green District Youth Cup for the highest placed under 22 driver was won by Gunnar Karl Johannesson who with George Gwynn finished 29th overall in their class N4 #51 Mitsubishi Evo X.

Land Rover Freelander M Sport, Spence Price, Chris Hands, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally

There was only one off road vehicle in the event namely the #105 Land Rover Freelander M Sport driven by Spence Price and Chris Hands to a 96th place finish overall and the B G Landrovers Ross on Wye Trophy for highest place off road 4×4.

Citroën C2 VTR, Dan Moss, Sam Allen, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally,

The Gwynne Speed Rally Championship honours for best Citroën C2 finishers went to the #110 Citroën C2 VTR crew of Dan Moss and Sam Allen who finished 94th overall.

Lancia Stratos, Steve Perez, Paul Spooner, Blaze Bailey, Wyedean Forest Rally,

I’ll add a couple Psychoontyres awards of my own first for best sounding car to make it past the last corner on the opening Blaze Bailey Stage was the Ferrari Dino V6 powered #44 Lancia Stratos crewed by Steve Perez and Paul Spooner, which unfortunately retired with suspension problems after finishing stage 2.

Volkswagen Lupo Sport, Danny O'Reilly, Karen Phelps, Mailscot, Wyedean Forest Rally,

Finally the Psychoontyres best sense of Humour award goes to the #264 Volkswagen Lupo Sport crew of Danny O’Reilly and Karen Phelps who posted their retirement as “Lost luck of the Irish after SS6”.

Thanks for joining me on this “Lost Luck Of the Irish” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1969 NASCAR contender. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Perfect car for a wedding #1 – Citroen Traction Avant

I don’t propose to post photos of cars used at Weddings every Saturday but I thought I’d give today’s blog a topical theme, though I suspect the summer wedding season is probably already over.

Most of the photo’s I have taken of cars used at weddings are not even taken on a Saturday, this is because just down the row of buildings from my city centre bank is an old court house that has been rebranded as a Registry Office. The City centre location is of course used for weddings 6 days a week though as can be seen from these photo’s the location is not without a few ‘parking issues’.

The Citroen Traction Avant is probably most famous as being the car that the cartoon detective Tintin used in the, now deemed less than politically correct, series of stories by Belgian artist Georges Rémi who published his work under the nom de plume Hergé.

The Citroen Traction Avant Garde was a revolutionary vehicle for it’s time, which spanned 1934 -1957, it was the worlds first front wheel drive steel monocoque production car, setting a trend that is almost ubiquitous for passenger vehicles 76 years later.

The construction without the hitherto universal separate chassis was available with a variety of 4 and 6 cylinder engines from 1.3 litres / 79.5 CUI up to 2.9 litres / 176 CUI which sit behind the gearbox driving the front wheels, optimising the weight distribution on the independently sprung wheels.

There were plans to build a 3.8 litre / 231 CUI V8 version of the Traction Avant featuring an automatic transmission with a torque converter, similar to that later employed in the GM Dynaflow transmission, however after 20 prototypes had been built Citroen had gone bankrupt and Michelin who bought the company to primarily test its tyre and other rubber products cancelled the project.

In 1954 a Traction Avant was used to test the self levelling hydropneumatic suspension of the later equally revolutionary Citroen DS which would eventually replace the Traction Avant series in 1955. 759,111 of these vehicles were built in Paris (France), Forest (Belgium), Cologne (Germany) and Slough (England)

Best wishes to anyone who is getting married to day, hope you have enjoyed my first week as a blogger as much as I have, I look forward to to hearing from you all, ‘y’all come back now ! Hear !.’

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