After a titanic father and son battle over seven demanding tests, Bob Morgan together with Martin George gave his self-built Skoda Fabia S2000 Evolution outright victory on only its second outing, by pipping son Jason, who had Jack Walby alongside in the Winner Garage Lancer Evo 6, by just nine seconds on the Weir Laundry Equipment Rally Time Trial held in the Sweet Lamb motorsport complex in Mid-Wales.

The Forest of Dean Motor Club-organised event offered 30 competitive miles over the seven stages in difficult conditions, with driving rain making the stages extremely slippery for the near capacity entry.

Britain's top lady rally driver Sara Williams, co-driven by Patrick Walsh in her Subaru Impreza, stopped the clocks joint fastest on the opening test with Morgan/ George, with Morgan jnr third quickest.

Then the Brecon-based Williams started to set a string of fastest times to hold a 10-second lead after stage four from Jason Morgan, with Bob Morgan in a close third despite the Skoda suffering from a rear differential problem.

The lead was then extended to 20 seconds after stage five, only for Williams to slide off on stage six and out of the event.

This left the father and son duo swapping seconds and positions after every stage.

Going into the final test, Morgan jnr held a very slender one-second lead despite a time consuming spin on stage five, but Bob was not to be denied.

He rocketed through the final stage 10 seconds quicker than his son to take the winner's laurels.

"I am delighted to have won, it's been a great battle with Jase and Jack," said Bob.

"It's only the second event for the car, and a shakedown for Wales Rally GB national rally. Thanks to GJM and Martin, it's been a cracking event, well run and great fun to do."

Jason said: "We had a good run this morning, but the spin on stage five cost us dear in the end.

"I've had one eye on the Premier stages in a couple of weeks time, so didn't want to do anything daft, but dad and Martin beat us fair and square today, so congratulations to them."

Two other local crews were embroiled in their own terrific battle, the historic spec Escort RS1800s of Simon Tysoe with Cliff Simmons and Terry Brown with Ade McNally.

These two never gave an inch all day, swapping seconds to finish the day dead level on time, with Tysoe and Simmons taking a superb third overall, first in class on a tie-break, after 30 competitive miles.

Other locals who did well were Scott Partridge and Mike Jode who took 14th overall/ third in class after a trouble-free run in their Subaru Impreza

Parkend lady Natasha Morgan made her rallying debut in the co-driving seat of Paul Bonner's Peugeot 106 and co-drove him to an impressive 17th and second in class after a good run.

More rally debutants were the father and son team of Mike and Lee Truman. The Bream duo had a great day to finish 21st overall, fifth in class in the ME Damsell-backed Subaru Impreza.

Nigel Jenkins had one of his service crew alongside in the form of Daniel Jury, and despite a stage maximum on the third test he finished 22nd overall, second in class, in his 16v Nova.

Simon Pickering and Colin Jenkins in the historic spec Escort RS1600 dropped to 23rd overall, second in class after losing over five minutes on stage six.

Those not fortunate to see the finish included Geriant Mills and Kirsty Walby in the Evans Windows Opel Manta 400.

After a top 10 time on the opening test, the rear differential gave up the ghost on stage two.

Jason Gardner and Tom Marrott had a somewhat fraught day with clutch problems on the Brecon View Plumbing Escort RS2000 bringing their day to a premature end.

Sean Amos had the experienced Russell Joseph on board in his Fiesta but a gentle roll on stage two cost them a stage maximum, the damage was fairly light but eventually the duo retired later in the day.

The Forest of Dean Motor Club was widely praised for putting on a first class event, enjoyed by the competitors and worthy of its status. Next year will see it form part of a new one-make championship.