THE first Teifi Valley Motor Club Autotest of 2024 was held last Sunday at Ffynnongain, Clarbeston Road, where nearly forty competitors battled it out on muddy, slippery terrain with Aled Jones taking his third win on the trot.

Three challenging tests made the drivers and navigators work hard and the mud underfoot saw several cars slipping and sliding as they navigated cones, slaloms, figure of eights and garages.

“I was very pleased to have won and I’m really looking forward to the next event,” said a delighted Aled.

“It was great to see the Autotest so well attended and I’d like to thank everyone involved for their hard work.”

The top five positions were hotly contested with Aled triumphing by 13 points. He was closely followed by the ever-consistent Amy Owens with Gary Owens (Amy’s father) in third, Wyn Mathias in fourth and junior Henri Cynwyl in fifth.

The junior section saw Henri finish 23 points clear of Llyr Mathias in second. Dion James, taking part in his second event, posted improving times during the day.

Three new juniors also took part – Owen Hand (third Junior), Lucas Collins and Poppy Collins. Navigating for the first time was Harvey Jukes.

The Ladies had five competitors with Lowri Phillips winning the class, Anwen Francis in second and Katrina Davies third. Taking part for the first time was Jasmine Seton who had two good runs.

The Over 50s class was won by Gary Owens, with Alex Garton in second spot.

Clerk of the course Wyn Lewis said: “Personally, I didn’t know what to expect seeing as we’d moved to hosting an Autotest rather than a Gymkhana.

“It’s all been a bit of a blur and I really thought we would be back to eight-10 entries where people were put off and unsure what the competition entailed.

“But we had an overwhelming amount including new faces and this was great to see.

“I’d tried to make it more technical than before and from feedback everyone enjoyed.

“Our morning teething problems will be ironed out by the next one and hopefully we can get more runs completed.

“A huge thank you to everyone who entered, marshalled and to the Warlow family for letting us use their farm once again.”

TVMC chairman Peter Lewis was taken aback with the number of entries across the board.

“We not only had a lot of competitors, but also lots of junior entries and new faces,” he said.

“As a club we’d like to thank all landowners for their support and for allowing us to use their premises as without them we wouldn’t be able to host these events at grass-roots level.”

The TVMC would also like to thank Arjay Factors Ltd, Cardigan and Sue Davies and Katrina Davies. The next TVMC Autotest will be held on Sunday, May 12 at Rhosfach, Efailwen.