Driver Andrew Lees and navigator Simon Lassam were the highest-placed Oxfordshire competitors in the Bullnose Endurance Rally from Burleigh Farm to Dix Pits.

Driving a Vauxhall Nova, they finished fourth in the Oxford Motor Club event.

Graham Dance and Charlottle Cooke, in a Vauxhall Corsa, grabbed the glory.

Jamie and Mike Turner were runners-up, with Richard McLachlan and Eddie Clough third, both driving Rover 214s. The route should have taken in Sutton, near Eynsham.

But the drivers were forced to go on a ten-mile detour because of a house fire.

Driving 1400cc cars, the 44 competitors tackled a road route of 140 miles, plus 48 miles of special tests on farm land.

That was followed by a 20-mile night run around Glympton and Rousham.

Result: 1 G Dance & C Cooke (Vauxhall Corsa), 2 J Turner & M Turner (Rover 214), 3 R McLachlan & E Clough (Rover 214), 4 A Lees & S Lassam (Vauxhall Nova), 5 O Turner & M Fowle (Rover Metro).