Dan Willan and Niall Frost took a commanding victory on HERO-ERA’s Per Ardua Ad Infinitum [always arduous] rally in Wales on 10-11 February. The 1962 Volvo PV544-driving pair won from Kurt Vanderspinnen and Iain Tullie in a 1964 Ford Lotus Cortina, having started the final day in fifth place, and Jon Dunning and Henry Carr’s 1980 Ford Escort RS2000.
Willan and Frost may have dominated, but the coveted Test Pilot trophy went down to the wire and it was all to play for as the crews approached the final test-packed afternoon that started at Epynt.
The event was based around Llandrindod Wells and although unusually sunny was also as wet as expected making for especially slippery progress on the final tests at the Royal Welsh Showground.
At the end of the event Willan and Frost triumphed by an emphatic 2 mins 38 secs. ‘We’re over the moon’ said navigator Frost, who also won the Clock Watchers award for the best navigator’s performance. ‘The night section was the highlight, a great mix of being fast and technical and was everything we wanted it to be.’ Willan agreed: ‘The night section was amazing. The car was faultless again, it did brilliantly. To think that it is 62 years old and didn’t miss a beat.’
That all-important Test Pilot award, however, went to Ford Escort driving Mick Valentine.
