DENBIGHSHIRE group members hit top gear at their latest get-together!

Members of the Denbigh and District Probus Club welcomed one of their members Mr Ian Glass to their February meeting in the Oriel Hotel, St Asaph, to speak about classic car rallying and touring.

Ian, who was born in Nigeria and spent his early childhood years there, started his love of cars and speed on a solid-tyred tricycle.

This was soon replaced when he was five by a bright red Austin J40 pedal car complete with working headlights, horn, pneumatic tyres and a bonnet that opened to reveal an imitation engine! At that point, he believed he was a fully fledged racing driver!

With five of his young friends, he took it for a spin down a steep hill to see how fast it could go and ended up with it embedded into the wing of a police Landover!

Following many incidents and scrapes and the confiscation of the car, it was assumed that Ian’s thirst for speed and the love of all things mechanical would have been dampened – how wrong they were!

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Back in Wales he bought his first car - an Austin 7 in appalling condition - aged nine to drive around his grandfather's field.

Ian ran a transport business for 30 years and for the last 20 years has been organising classic car tours throughout the UK and Europe.

He got hooked after his first competitive classic car rally in 1993 and his numerous events since include completing six Monte Carlos!

He explained how classic car rallying works and the rules and regulations with the details peppered with anecdotes of rule breakers, close shaves and scrapes!

The cars never go over 30 miles per hour and the driver does as he is told as the navigator is most important. More people are killed in classic car rallying and vintage racing than any of the other motor sports due to the cars not being as safe.

In most of his rallies, he raises money for charity including for pancreatic cancer during the Monte Carlo Clasique and for a children’s hospice during the 20th version of Le Jog – Land’s End to John O’ Groats.

He has an eclectic collection of older vehicles which he can regularly be seen driving in and around Llandyrnog as well as all over the UK and abroad.

Denbigh and District Probus Club welcomes new members for monthly meetings at the Oriel Hotel, St Asaph, where they enjoy lunch, friendship and a talk from a guest speaker.

For further information, go to denbighprobus.com or contact membership officer Gareth Williams via julmwilliams1974@gmail.com or 07881 783735.