Mathewsons Motorsport: the Pickering auction family on the rally stages

Mathewsons Motorsport is the rallying side of the Mathewsons business. The motorsport hub on the Mathewsons website hosts a blog of rally news, links to the team's video playlist on YouTube, and a small range of motorsport merchandise in the Mathewsons online shop.

Most of the blog posts are by-lined Charlie Mathewson and filed under Rally News. They read as event reports: where the crew went, how the stages ran and where they finished. The team's homepage has also told visitors to follow the 2026 rally season, starting with the Riponian Rally Stages.

The motorsport social media page on the Mathewsons site links out to the clubs and championships the team has competed with. These include the F1000 Rally Club, the Historic Rally Car Register (HRCR), Dukeries Motor Club, Yorkshire Wolds Motor Club, Hartlepool & District Motor Club and Malton Motor Club. Malton Motor Club is especially relevant to readers here, because its rally is based in Dalby Forest just outside Thornton-le-Dale.

According to the Mathewsons Motorsport blog, Charlie Mathewson became English Junior Rally Champion in 2023, in his second season of competition. With co-driver Ian Bass alongside, he defended the title in 2024, making the pair two times English Junior Rally Champions. Both the British Rally Championship website and Beverley & District Motor Club have since described him as a double champion in the Formula 1000 (J1000) junior category, which gives an independent confirmation of the two titles.

The blog's review of the 2024 season sets out the scale of the campaign. Charlie and Ian contested the F1000 Rally Club Championship and Junior Rally Scotland (J1000). The team's blog reports 13 events, 13 podiums, 5 wins, 7 second places and 1 third, with 560 competitive stage miles and 6,128 miles travelled over the year.

The titles listed for 2024 were English Junior Rally Champions, Dukeries Motor Club Junior Rally Champion, and second overall in the Scottish Junior Rally Championship. The same post notes three years in the junior ranks.

Ian Bass, the co-driver for those seasons, runs his own YouTube channel, which the Mathewsons site links to.

One of the most detailed reports from 2024 covers the NHMC Cadwell junior rally, organised by North Humberside Motor Club at Cadwell Park near Louth. The team's blog reports that Charlie and Ian set the fastest time on stages one and three and won by 1 minute 27 seconds after eight stages, two of them run in darkness.

The provisional junior results published by the event organiser list Charlie Mathewson and Ian Bass in first place overall, in a VW up in Class J, which confirms the win from a second source. The winning margin comes from the blog report.

The 2025 season began with a move into senior events. The blog describes the Riponian Stages Rally in February 2025, run by Ripon Motor Sport Club, as Charlie's senior rally debut. The team's blog reports a finish of 29th overall from 74 starters and 4th in the over 2 litre class, in a car prepared by Paul Mathewson.

Next came the East Riding Stages Rally, organised by Beverley & District Motor Club around Beverley. The organiser confirms the event ran on Sunday 23 February 2025, and its preview named Charlie Mathewson and Ian Bass on the entry list. The blog calls it Charlie's first closed road event and reports a finish of 77th overall from 165 starters.

The Beverley event was free to watch from its town centre fan zone and its special stage across Beverley Westwood, according to the organiser.

For 2025 Charlie competed in the Mini Rally Challenge, a one make series for R53 Mini rally cars. The British Rally Championship website describes it as a highly competitive series and says it was his first season in senior rallying, with Ian Bass co-driving.

The blog followed the season round by round. Round 1 was the SMC Stages at Anglesey Circuit (Trac Mon), run by Stockport 061 Motor Club, where the team's blog reports a win in the R53 Mini Rally Challenge after pulling out 5 seconds on the final stage. Round 2, the Dixies Challenge at Epynt, organised by Forest of Dean Motor Club and Forresters Car Club, brought second place in the Mini Rally Challenge.

Round 3 at the Pendragon Stages ended with Charlie as the first Mini Rally Challenge competitor home and 26th overall from 96 starters. Round 4 at the Greystoke Stages was the crew's second gravel event, and the blog reports first Mini by 30 seconds, first in class, 12th overall and the first front wheel drive car.

At the Fairfield Merlin Stages at Pembrey Circuit, run by Carmarthen Motor Club, the team's blog reports first Mini Rally Challenge car, 20th overall and 4th in class. The Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally at Newtown in Wales, the second round of the Mini Rally Challenge Gravel Championship, was harder going: a broken front damper, with the crew 5th in the R53 Minis after the morning stages.

That same post looked ahead to the McRae Rally Challenge at Knockhill and then to Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, which the blog called an event on the team's back doorstep. By the end of the year, according to the British Rally Championship website, Charlie and Ian had taken the asphalt, gravel and overall Mini Rally Challenge titles, a clean sweep of the series.

The motorsport hub reports that for 2024 Jack Mathewson entered the Northern Historic Rally Championship, organised by the Historic Rally Car Register (HRCR). The HRCR website is linked from the Mathewsons motorsport pages for anyone who wants to read more about the championship.

The British Rally Championship website reports that for 2026 Charlie Mathewson moved up to the Junior British Rally Championship in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, with Josh Carr as co-driver. The article describes Ian Bass as his long time co-driver up to that point. Mathewsons' own homepage pointed fans to the 2026 season beginning at the Riponian Rally Stages.

We have not listed 2026 results on this page because we have not yet found them confirmed in two places. We will add them when they are published by the team and the championship.

Mathewsons Live, the firm's show event, includes a rally stage. The first Mathewsons Live already had one, and the Mathewsons website says Mathewsons Live 2027 will be held at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate in August.

The organiser describes a purpose built tarmac demonstration stage with historic and modern rally cars, morning and afternoon sessions on both Saturday and Sunday, live commentary and a Rally Village. The runs are demonstrations, not timed competition. Mathewsons says members of the family will be getting involved in the action, and the 2027 line up is still to be announced.

For the auction side of the business, and how the sales work, see our guide at https://www.thorntonledale.org/bangers-and-cash/mathewsons-auctions . If you are thinking of bidding, our page at https://www.thorntonledale.org/classic-cars/auction-bidding-strategy covers the basics.

Two forest rallies run within a short drive of Thornton-le-Dale. Trackrod Rally Yorkshire is organised by Trackrod Motor Club and uses the Dalby and Cropton forest complexes. Forestry England lists the event at Dalby Forest Visitor Centre, Low Dalby, and local radio coverage in 2024 and 2025 described a ceremonial start on the sea front at Filey, followed by stages in Dalby and Cropton forests.

The 2025 coverage noted that the Dalby spectator area is reached by the forest drive from Thornton-le-Dale. Forestry England says Dalby Forest is closed to the general public while the rally runs and that spectator tickets must be bought in advance.

Malton Motor Club, which the Mathewsons team links to, runs the Malton Forest Rally with Clitheroe and District Motor Club. Its 2024 regulations and results records place the rally headquarters at Adderstone Field in Dalby Forest, with special stages in the Cropton, Gale Rigg and Langdale forests.

If you go to watch, follow the organiser's spectator guidance, use only the official spectator areas, and do what marshals and officials tell you. Malton Motor Club's own spectator guide warns that a stage may be cancelled if spectators create a safety risk. We have not given dates for future events here; check the organisers' own websites for confirmed details.