PUB DOWN THE WITH
DAI LLEWELLIN
Age: 57 Lives: Haverfordwest Welsh rally legend
He’s a Rally GB legend “I did Rally GB about 13 or 14 times. I remember the first one as I was in a Nissan 240RS and it was the days of what we called all the Mickey Mouse stages on the first Sunday. From Monday morning it was right through until Thursday afternoon. I’d only done national level one-day events at that point and it was a huge shock to me.”
It got him noticed “I think we finished about 12th and were in amongst the works Nissans so it was a big event for us and I think it helped to put me on the map. People started taking notice because Timo Salonen and Terry Kaby were driving the same cars and I was in with them.”
He led in 1989 “I remember quite clearly leading the event in 1989 in the Toyota Celica. We weren’t in a works car but we were driving for Toyota GB so leading the works cars was a very nice place to be. We led on the first day and were lying third at the end of day two when the turbo went. But we were 30s in front of Pentti Airikkala who ended up winning the event. It was my chance to win it and it could have been the one.”
That was a big blow “We tried to keep the car going but we ran out of oil. We got a spectator to go and get us some oil and we did struggle through the stage but we lost 17 minutes and that was the end of the rally. I was gutted, and still am!”
He remembers the ice
“I also remember a particularly icy one in 1987 and I did it in a twowheel-drive Sierra Cosworth. That wasn’t ideal for the ice! I’d driven four-wheel-drive cars for three or four years and being back in twowheel drive, oh boy, we had some big spins! That was very tricky.”
It was a favourite rally
“I love the event but it is tricky. It’s probably a bit easier now the date has moved forward a bit but back then it was ice and possibly fog. I didn’t mind the fog. I have great memories of the rally and my only regret is that I didn’t win it. I think my best result was fourth in 1988 in the Audi Coupe. It’s about the only rally in the UK I didn’t win, apart from the Isle of Man. Tony Pond kept me in second place about four times as he used to know it very well.”