“I really wanted him to be a good footballer, but it didn’t work out. There was absolutely no expectations whatsoever from my behalf, for him to ever become a professional driver. I’m very proud obviously, he’s surpassed my expectations many years ago and still going strong.”
The words are those of Gwyndaf Evans, who speaks with a beaming smile as he recounts how his son Elfyn has developed into Britain’s brightest hope to follow in the footsteps of world rally champions Colin McRae and Richard Burns.
The football career may not have panned out, but football’s loss is very much rallying’s gain. The younger Elfyn has so far chalked up eight World Rally Championship wins, and this year the factory Toyota driver is once again firmly in the fight to claim rallying’s ultimate prize.
Growing up in north-west Wales with a father that lit up the British rallying scene in the 1980s and 1990s, it was perhaps inevitable that Elfyn would get the rallying bug, despite Gwyndaf’s efforts to steer him away.
“It was never the target at all,” the 1996 British Rally Championship winner and runner-up on four further occasions explains to Motorsport.com at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. “But the more we got involved with him, the more he wanted to progress. Probably I was quite strict with him. I set some targets and he had to achieve targets before we would move further up or get further support.
“But ultimately it paid off, because he superseded my expectations and the level of commitment. As a family and with motorsport, we like to keep our feet on the ground. We like to be normal people and still do today.”
Gwyndaf Evans in his prime was one of Britain’s foremost rally drivers, and prior to winning the BRC title in 1996 finished fifth on the WRC’s RAC Rally in 1995
Photo by: Motorsport Images
It comes as no surprise that Elfyn’s earliest rally memories are of his father, who also ran a family garage and drove a school bus to make a living, grappling a Ford Escort RS2000 on Welsh gravel roads. But like many growing up in this era, it was a certain McRae that also made an impression.
“Obviously I followed Dad competing from the beginning,” says Elfyn. “I would say probably the first memory is spectating Rally GB. I remember being quite young and actually seeing Colin McRae. I was waiting to see Dad, but Colin was the first car that came into view with the Impreza at completely 90 degrees, the old…
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