Herefordshire race aces gear up for Wyedean Forest rally challenge (From Hereford Times)

Herefordshire race aces gear up for Wyedean Forest rally challenge

12:30pm Friday 3rd February 2012 in Other By Ian Morgan

HEREFORDSHIRE aces will be lining up for next week’s Team GMF Motor Factors Wyedean Forest Rally and it’s the battle of man against machine — not simply winning — which drives many of them on.

Roger Matthews, from St Weonards, has been rallying for 38 years and has spent thousands of pounds on his hobby.

He’s finished second in the historic rally car class for the past two years but expects a hard challenge to achieve another runner-up spot in his Mk 1 Escort RS.

Roger and co-driver Mike Jode, from Ross-on-Wye, have been racing together for two years.

“They usually split the Mk 1 from the Mk 2 even though we have the same engines, gearboxes and back axles,” explained Roger, who has lived all his life in St Weonards.

“You have to have the same suspension now as they used 40 years ago. But the Mk 2 are 10 years newer and they are better. But this year, they’ve stuck us in with the Mk 2. It’s going to be harder to try to improve on second place.”

The Wyedean Forest Rally starts on February 11 and uses the classic forest stages of the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley.

Roger, who is a member of the Forest of Dean and Ross and District Motor Clubs, first got bitten by the rally bug when he was just 16 years old.

He has raced all over Europe, including Ireland, Belgium and near the Luxembourg border.

Roger bought his first Mini Cooper when he was 17 years old.

His maiden race win was on the Dursley Stages and that remains his sweetest victory.

“The historic rally cars are quite good fun to drive,” said Roger, who expects to reach speeds of up to 112 mph.

“There’s no speed-o in my car but I know where we are when we’ve got the gear changes.

“When you drive these — you’re sideways — you don’t go in a straight line because they drift. For 40-year-old technology, they just pick their feet up and go.

“Motorsport becomes a way of life and accidents are part of the sport. When you are driving a rally car, you’re almost challenging it to beat you. My car is not capable of winning outright — this sort of car would have won 40 years ago. It’s such an adrenaline rush — I can’t just leave it alone. Even if I wasn’t competing I would still want to be involved. I find it expensive but I can’t leave it alone.

“I just want to be the first Mk 1 home — that’s my target.”

Whitchurch’s Paul Gunter took up rallying in 2005 after watching the Wyedean event as a child.

Racing in the Wyedean Rally was one of the things he wanted to do before he reached 40.

“It was a one-off thing that turned into something more regular,” said Paul, who will be 47 in June and races in Escort RS with Den Golding.

“I only do three or four events a year because work has to come first. I have always been a fan of Mk 2 Escort Rally cars.

“Some people are natural-born drivers but we do it for fun.”

Paul said it was very easy to have an accident when racing.

“We hit a deer at 70mph on the Woodpecker event in Ludlow and it made a nasty mess of the car. By the time we had come to rest there was £4,000 damage to the car. We were fine but, sadly, the deer wasn’t.”