HERO Challenge Three 2026 Rally Report

The HERO Challenge Three took place today, under the autumnal skies of Yorkshire. 7 regularities and 11 tests awaited the 56 crews who were participating in the rally, that was also the final round of the HERO Challenge Championship, as well as 29 other crews taking part in the penultimate round of the HRCR Championship that was running in tandem with the HC3 Clubman event.

The Motorist would serve as basecamp for the event, the incredible facility put together by rally man Simon Spinks, that hosts regular automotive meetings, and a good crowd had gathered this morning to see the cars off. John Lomas and Time Sawyer led the Clubman field away, in John’s 1936 Riley Sprite, the oldest car in the field and the only vintage machine entered into the rally. Both J-Lo and Tim were loosely in contention for the driver and navigator championships, on a day that was about two things; those that wanted to do well on the day, and those that had the bigger picture of the championship to think about.

Anyone who wanted to taste success, however, would need to have their head well in the game, as the difficulty level had been increased by route mastermind Guy Woodcock for the season finale. The Challenge series has always been aimed at developing crews for more difficult events, and as such each subsequent round of the championship gets progressively more involved, and today would see the introduction of speed tables, last minute handouts and some map-based work for the navigators.

One person who has spent the year on a navigational learning curve is Jocelyn Jones, this year’s Bob Rutherford Scholarship benefactor, a scheme to help young navigators into the sport. Today’s lessons may have been less about the navigational element of rallying, and more concerned with the resilience that is sometimes needed in motorsport, as she and driver Niall Frost had to deal with more than their fair share of mechanical gremlins in Niall’s Volvo 142. Before the event had even begun the engine in the Swedish machine suffered a blown head gasket, and then broken suspension during the rally, though the pair pushed on and completed the action-packed day.

Action-packed it was, too, with a pair of tests to kick things off, just a stone’s throw from the Motorist, on the site of a former colliery, that would leave nobody under any illusion of the level of the task at hand. The test route picked a careful path between the foundations and debris left behind after the demolition of the industry that once stood here, with plenty of hazards to punish any drivers that were too liberal with their choice of lines, on a surface that was greasy and treacherous to boot. Championship leader John King was tentative, carefully guiding his newly rebuilt Lotus Elan through the rubble, no doubt thinking about bringing the old girl home safe, though he was still fastest in class and in amongst the top times overall.

Tests would dominate the early part of the morning, with five in total before the morning control, with a reg in the middle of them to attenuate the tempo and calm the drivers down a touch. The usual suspects were making shapes, Chris Day was mostly sideways in his Mini, and Mike Dent was hustling his Imp around with seemingly little care for which way the wheels were facing – as long the car was travelling forwards. Young Archie Holt was also flying, dancing the BMW 325i between the cones with the fearlessness that can only be achieved with youth. Once the results team had crunched the numbers at coffee it was actually Archie’s father, James Holt, who was leading in his blue 911SC, with former Challenge Champion Alistair Leckie in the conductor’s seat. Second though was champion elect John King, despite his attempts to take it easy. Sitting alongside him was Mike Cochrane, who had half a chance of winning the navigators championship, if Harry Baines had a bad day at the races. As it was, Harry, and Father Dick, were in 22nd place after the early morning action, but things can change very quickly in rallying, and with three regularities and three more tests before the midpoint of the day there was plenty of scope for the tables to turn.

As it was, by the time the cars began to arrive at the lunch halt at Bishop Burton College, the Baines had leapt up the order, and would enter the afternoon section in second position, But it was King and Cochrane who were now leading, with a buffer of 19 seconds over the Mini. There was trouble for the Lotus though, with the car jacked up in the air and the mechanics working on the diff, that was, as John put it, ‘starting to fall apart’. Third place was held by Chris and Claire Day, who were having a good one in the Mini and in fourth were Mike and Liz Dixon, who have taken huge strides recently in the MG B GT.

After some frantic work the Lotus filed out of lunch under its own steam, with the man who would be King under instruction to just get the car home as the championship entered its final act. There were still three tests and three regs to fight over though, with nobody home and hosed yet, on a day were the action was relentless. The sun had made an appearance by now, but the tests were still just as slippery as they had been all day, a fact that needed to be remembered by those in control of the loud pedal.

Whilst the surfaces were difficult for the drivers, the regs were offering up traps for the navigators, and with a hat trick of regs to finish off the event concentration needed to be maintained to the last. Regardless of how their afternoon’s had gone, all would have been buoyed by the welcoming committee that had turned up at The Motorist to cheer the cars return, with a huge crowd enjoying a festival atmosphere at the site. But as the flag dropped on the final cars there was a nervous wait to find out who had triumphed on the day, and who had succeeded in the Championship.

Once the scores were totted up it became clear that the win on the day would be claimed by a jubilant John King and Mike Cochrane, with a total penalty of 1:20s, though the Elan had been pushed hard in the closing stages by a resurgent Dick and Harry Baines, who finished just 15 seconds adrift in the Mini in second. Third was claimed by Peter Higton and Oli Waldock, competing in Peters MX5, who had inched their way back up the leaderboard throughout the day, and adding another trophy to young Oli’s growing collection.

In the championship then it is likely that Harry Baines has done enough to take the navigators win, after finishing second overall with Father Dick, and taking the events Clock Watchers award for the best navigational performance, though there is a bit of number crunching needed to confirm it. There was no doubting our drivers champion though, with John King top of the pile after securing another event win, despite facing several mechanical issues during the days rally, and who was absolutely delighted with the day and the season.

Winning driver and Drivers Champion, John King – “We didn’t have an easy run, we’ve had lots of issues, our trip went before the final reg and at lunch we had the diff case of the car, but luckily the sweeps managed to fix it. Sometimes you just need the luck to run with you, and today it was our turn. I have to mention young Miles Fieldhouse, who has navigated for me before now. He’s really laid the foundations for me winning the championship, we’re all thinking of him this weekend and I just wanted to say thank you to him.”

Winning navigator, Mike Cochrane – “Thanks to John, I’ve tried to throw this away a few times today, but we don’t need to mention that! The rally was fantastic, for a Challenge event it was set really well, it’s been a nice little Challenge.”

The final round of the event has no doubt left us wanting more, and was a fitting finale, with some fantastic action and a leaderboard that chopped and changed all day. The day’s winners can now celebrate, and the drivers and navigators’ championships will be confirmed once points have been finalised, but there is no doubt that this has been another cracking Challenge season. Now we just have to count down the days until the start of the next one!

Ends