There’s a slight, but noticeable chill as the car door’s opened just after daybreak. Down the road, the first colors of fall are starting to show. Driving to Wales at this time of the year feels right. It has done for the entirety of my professional life.
But this time was different. This time I wasn’t bound for Cardiff on the south coast or Llandudno to the north. This time it was the middle and, even weirder, Haydon Paddon’s Hyundai i20 N Rally2 was sitting on slicks when I got there. I can’t be at this week’s Rali Ceredigion, but the chance to catch up with the reigning European Rally champion on the eve of what he’s admitted could be his last ever rally in this part of the world was an opportunity not to be missed.
Even better, it meant plotting a course down some of the roads less travelled in the last five years. It didn’t set out that way, but last Wednesday’s journey to record a very special SPIN, The Rally Pod (coming soon) with New Zealand’s most successful driver ever became a day-long run down memory lane.
It wasn’t just me. Paddon was the same. And so was Alister McRae, with his son Max testing at the same venue. The A44 and Sweet Lamb was a predictable talking point.
“When we came past there,” McRae said, “I was telling Max about the hotel we used to stay in when we were testing there. I couldn’t remember the name of it, it was about 10 miles down the road – but I remember it was supposed to be haunted. I was telling him all the stories, then when we came past it, it was all boarded up and closed down!
Rali Ceredigion may be a fresh event but it's held in an area bursting with rally memories
“There are so many memories from this part of the world.”
One of my earliest from Sweet Lamb involved Alasdair himself. In 1998, he joined the Subaru team for Rally GB. As part of his test program, he would tackle the one-day Bulldog Rally, a national event based around the mid-Wales stages, including Sweet Lamb. Alister slaughtered the opposition to win by six minutes in a super-cool, plain blue factory Impreza WRC98. Now, I knew it could rain in Wales, but that was the first time I took a genuine hosing with my notepad in hand. Good as gold, big Al opened the door to talk to me, surrendering himself and co-driver David Senior to an early shower.
South from there and the names just keep on coming – some of them more familiar than others. Dyfi is an obvious one, but winding down the A487 takes you through Esgairgeiliog – a stage name not to be forgotten. A mile or so on and there’s the hamlet of Pantperthog, once a ripper of a stage and now more famous for being the home of the Atherton family’s Dyfi Bike Park.
Using Dyfi more recently generally meant a remote service at the Corris café and deli, which was attached to some sort of King Arthur attraction. It was always closed, which meant the car park was always open for Rally GB business. It was here that we talked, early on a Saturday morning, to a shocked and stunned Sébastien Ogier in 2015. The Frenchman hadn’t slept the previous night, watching in horror as the terror attacks unfolded in Paris.
Ogier's victory in 2015 was dampened by the horrible events unfolding in Paris
A year on and Mads Østberg’s co-driver Øla Fløene was bitten by a snake in the same car park.
Into Machynlleth and the clock has to be wound back a good bit further before… there, just there at that side road on the left before the entrance to the railway station. That was the first time I ever actually saw Juha Kankkunen. It was 1992, back in the days when the cars were being serviced at the side of the road. Dad and I parked on the garage forecourt opposite and I just stood and stared at this Martini-liveried Lancia Delta HF Integrale on axle stands with tire-warmers on.
Kankkunen sat in the driving seat, pretending he couldn’t see me at his side window. Eventually, he raised a red-gloved hand and waved. It should come as no surprise that I asked for red Nomex gloves and a moustache for Christmas that year.
Heading east and there’s the roundabout in Llanidloes signposted ‘Staylittle B4518’ for so many that means one thing: the start (or finish depending on the direction) of Hafren. Devil’s Bridge? The Arch and the way in or out of Myherin – or a million and one road rally stories. And, of course, fast forwarding to this week, a stage on Rali Ceredigion.
Juha Kankkunen and his Delta Integrale left a huge impression on David Evans back in 1992
Wales will always have a special place in the heart of any British rally fan. It’s where both of our world champions were crowned (OK, Colin McRae was in Chester, but celebrations started in Clocaenog…) and it’s a place steeped, from top to bottom, in the history of our sport.
Earlier this week, as verdant green gave way to early amber hues, it was resplendent in the rain. The only thing missing? The delicious aroma of mud baking beautifully on a hot exhaust. Sadly, there won’t be much of that this week. Britain’s biggest rally of the season will, no doubt, be a great event. But it won’t quite match the fervour of a full five-mile car park assembling to watch the woods come alive.
News of another kind rekindled the perfect soundtrack for my trip this week.
Take me to the place where you go… But don’t look back in anger, I heard you say.
Amen to that.
