BUSY Ludlow Castle Motor Club member Phil Clarke has enjoyed a fruitful couple of weeks behind the wheel.

First he tasted the victory champagne in the Manx National Rally, run over 110 miles of some of the best tarmac rally roads in the United Kingdom.

Teamed up once more with Jason Pritchard from Builth Wells, this time in Pritchard’s Ford Focus WRC as opposed to the usual historic Ford Escort, the number one seeds repeated their success from the 2014 event.

Then Clarke joined Sussex driver Tony Robinson to win the prestigious three-day Tour of Ireland.

Starting and finishing in Llandudno, the tour is designed for historic cars and includes a mixture of rally stages and races, including the picturesque Wicklow Mountains.

Clarke and Robinson beat main rival John Spiers by nine seconds in their Porsche 911.

Ludlow Castle MC is 65 years old this year they have extended an open invitation to all past members, friends, and anyone who has a passion for cars and motorsport to the Ludlow Brewing Company this Sunday, between midday and 4pm, to help them celebrate their birthday.

As well as the fine products produced at the venue, there will be a display of rally cars from the past and the present, including the ex-Ari Vatanen Rothmans Escort RS1800 now owed and rallied by Ludlow’s Richard Gough, plus Richard Hill’s ex-RAC Championship winning Escort MkI, now in the hands of Gary Smith. Joe Price will be bringing along his rapid Historic MkII Escort and Shaun Gardner will be there with the BTRDA Championship-winning Mitsubishi Lancer.

For past members, the club has trawled its archives to find videos and DVDs of some early events, plus there will be lots of club memorabilia on display.

Call Ben Innes on 07773 365365 for more details.