he Red Flag Act of 1865 required a person waving a red flag to walk 60 yards ahead of an oncoming mechanically propelled vehicle. Well that wasn't very good so a few of the time ripped the flag up & that started what we have today. Representing Loughborough car club in the run was Andrew Duerden.
Traveling marshals Neil Dodd's & Val Thompson. Check point marshals Wendy & David Smith.

The event included around 50 miles of Regularity Sections on public roads, with crews having to maintain the required average speeds — up to 30mph — and hit their timings to the second. Sounds simple enough… until you throw in tractors, pickup trucks, horses and the occasional sheep wandering into the equation! 😂

To be fair, everyone did remarkably well and, as far as we know, nobody managed to get completely lost.

Although, in a slightly worrying start to proceedings, Clive & Paul — supposedly two of our “experts” — managed to get it wrong before they had even properly started! 🤣

Apart from that little hiccup, everything seemed to go very smoothly and it was great to see all the crews getting stuck into what is a very different sort of rallying. The provisional results at 4.00pm on Saturday 26th September saw Chris Bravington & Richard Lumb take the honours in the Expert class, while Simon Phillips & Thomas Horst were the leading Novice crew.

A great day's marshalling, some interesting roads, plenty of concentration from the crews and, thankfully, no major disasters. Just the way we like it! 👍

These are some pictures from Loughborough car club members who took part in the wander. They set off from New Lodge Farm & then on to East Carlton Country Park & then Foxton Locks for lunch & then finished off at Dairy Barn Cafe just south of Melton Mowbray.

Class A winner Oliver Michaels
Class B winner Tim Hodgkiss
Class C winner David Coggan
Fastest of the night. Tim Hodgkiss.

A cracking round of the championship, packed with action from start to finish. Fans lined the fences to watch the country’s top drivers push their machines — and themselves — right to the edge. They came for excitement, and they absolutely got it.

We had to select two people for our scholarship year of racing on grass & tarmac.

The Welland Valley Wander is a classic car tour organised by Loughborough Car Club every year. This is a collection of images taken by David Cram over the years.