The 1st OUMF Motor Club 12 Car Rally

The first ever OUMFMC 12 Car Rally was a long time in the planning…but was definitely worth the wait!

Informally named the OUMFMC ‘WRC Rally’, the weeks of organization, mainly by Dom Norman, Jimmy Allen and Rebecca Ridyard certainly paid off, and the 60 mile route they presented was an absolute scorcher!

Three OUMF crews entered the rally, as well as another 6 cars, bringing the total entrants to 9, and making for a competitive rally based mainly on the great roads between Oxford and around Witney. The OUMF crews were Zip Zerihan and Ding Boston in the OUMF TOYO Golf GTi, Jacob Atkinson-Simms and Yadash Suresh in the latter’s Panda 100HP, and Andrew Doyle and I (James) in my Corsa 1.0.

The route was a great countryside gallop, but also the clues were well-considered, especially for the high proportion of crews with little knowledge, and some very cunningly placed code boards kept the drivers down to the required pace - and on their toes!

Many bumpy single track roads near Bampton provided an extra challenge, where keeping a 30mph average was more of a test than ever, especially on one road in particular that was covered in small stones, causing some interesting handling characteristics for several of the drivers!

Zip and Ding in the OUMF Golf GTi finished in second place, with an impressive 2 points only lost (but suffering from unusual travel sickness, the unfortunate and stoic Zip also lost much of what he had eaten during the day!), while Andrew and James were in a more distant 6th, and Jacob and Yadash formed the rearguard of the OUMF teams, finishing in 8th place.

Thanks are due to the Red Lion pub in Yarnton where we started, and the staff of The Trout at Tadpole Bridge where we all gathered at the finish for some well-earned refreshment and the results / prize giving. Ahron Becquart’s ‘two crossed spanners on wooden plinth’ trophy went down very well with the winners. 

I am certainly looking forward to more like it, and can’t recommend these events too much. What a brilliant way to spend an evening! Our great thanks go to Zenya Heap and all the members of the Oxford Motor Club who helped make it go so smoothly, and all others who assisted in the organisation and marshalling of it.

James Martin