A man originally from Aberdyfi has seen a car he built and designed win one of the world’s toughest rallies.

Glyn Hall, who lived in Aberdyfi and was educated at Tywyn school in the 1970s, saw a Toyota Hilux race car that he had designed, built and developed with his company, Hallspeed, win one of the world’s toughest motorsport events – the Dakar Rally.

Glyn’s brother Bob Hall, who still lives in Aberdyfi, said: “We are all immensely proud of Glyn. He has always been very passionate about motorsport so this is a great honour for him. “

After leaving Ysgol Uwchradd Tywyn, Glyn joined the Chrysler motor company as a student apprentice where his passion for motorsport developed. He began not only attending races but also building motorsport vehicles and prototypes.

“Glyn was friendly with British rally driver Tony Pond,” Bob said. “Pond was competing at that time in certain rounds of the South African Rally Championship and when an opportunity arose, Glyn left Chrysler to take up a position with the motorsport division of General Motors in South Africa.”

In 1983, Hall joined the Volkswagen/Audi Motorsport Team in South Africa, not only building rally cars, but also racing them.

In 1990 he won the SA Rally Championship in a car that was backed by the VW dealers but built in the workshop of his newly formed company, Hallspeed.

This achievement was acknowledged by the awarding of national colours.

“Hallspeed steadily grew into a force to be reckoned with,” said Bob.

“Glyn still has strong connections with Aberdyfi,” added Bob.

“All his family and friends have been following his progress over the years and we are very pleased that Glyn’s passion and hard work have resulted in such great success in 2019.”

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