Bill Gwynne drives ex-works Fiat Abarth 124 on Carfax Stages

In his first competitive outing for three years, five times British Rally Champion Bill Gwynne was given the opportunity to drive an extremely rare and valuable rally car recently by its owner Mick Wood.

The Carfax Stages rally, held at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire proved the ideal introduction to the car for Gwynne, and for Gwynne and Wood as driver and co-driver.

A brake problem lost them a minute on the first stage but as they got used to each other and the car the experienced pairing clawed back time on every stage. Finishing 15th overall and first of the Historic cars entered was a commendable result, winning the best turned out car award justified recognition of Wood's preparation.

"I'm very grateful to Mick for giving me the opportunity to drive such a special car. Cars of this era don't have power steering and my shoulders felt like I'd ridden a really hard motocross at the end! As I got used to the balance of the car we were able to push on a bit which we thoroughly enjoyed."