By Paul Evans

A charity event set up by the 2003 World Rally Champion Phil Mills has raised a staggering total of £113,400.

The Mid-Wales Rally Forum was created in 2004 as a one-off night of motorsport fun by Phil, fellow top Welsh co-driver Howard Davies, and garage owner John Whittall Williams.

That one night became two, became three and so on – and using Phil’s big book of motorsport contacts, an A-list of rallying stars from around the world have since turned up at the Welshpool Community Theatre, all only too happy to help their friend raise money for good causes and raise the roof with rally banter.

The 10th and final rally forum (they’ve missed the odd year) took place on Saturday night in front of a sell-out 550 strong audience at The Hafren in Newtown.

You couldn’t even get tickets on StubHub for this final show, which had on stage Wales Rally GB winner and Ford driver Elfyn Evans, his father, former British Rally Champion Gwyndaf, MSA Chairman and Prodrive founder David Richards CBE, and a host of other rallying luminaries – all kept in line by the larger than life MC, Howard Davies himself.

“It all started as a one off event in 2004, one night of fun for rally fans, and it’s just snowballed from there,” says Mills, who co-drove Petter Solberg to the 2003 World Rally Championship title with Subaru and who now owns historic rally car preparations firm Viking Motorsport.

“Everyone really enjoyed it, so we did it a second and then a third time and the money we were raising was becoming quite a significant amount. When we got to around sixty or seventy thousand pounds, it was only then that we set ourselves a target to raise one hundred thousands pounds.

“We finished last year’s event on ninety-nine thousand, so we had to do one last event! Advanced tickets sales alone for this year raised six thousand pounds, so we’re absolutely delighted with that we’ve achieved over the ten events.

“The money raised has gone to charity. Some has been donated to local cancer charities, and the main recipients have been the Welsh Air Ambulance.

“It’s a service that’s on call during every rally, and it’s been called out to evacuate competitors who have been unfortunate enough to suffer a major accident. The Welsh Air Ambulance service is always there for rallying, and it’s nice for rallying to show its appreciation and put something back into the pot.

“I’d really like to thank all the competitors who have given up their time completely free of charge to come to the Mid-Wales Rally Forum over the years, and to all the rally fans who have attended and given so generously.”