Rally community raises over £100,000 for Dai Roberts’ family

In just over 24 hours, over £100,000 has been raised to support the late Dai Roberts' loved ones

Photography by Motorsport UK

Words by Luke Barry

The rallying community has clubbed together to raise over £100,000 for the late Dai Roberts’ family.

Roberts, 39, lost his life in an accident at the Jim Clark Rally on Saturday, competing alongside James Williams.

A JustGiving page – set up by competitors John Stone and Damian Cole – was established on Tuesday to help Dai’s family with funeral costs and the future.

In a little over 24 hours, over 1500 people (and counting) donated and raised a total in excess of £100,000.

Donors varied from local businesses, car clubs and competitors to World Rally stars including Elfyn (and Gwyndaf) Evans, Scott Martin, Aaron Johnston, Josh McErlean and Richard Millener.

In a statement supplied to DirtFish, Stone and Cole emphasised their gratitude to the rally community for coming together so strongly.

“We admired Dai as a co-driver and fellow competitor but also for his work with the Jaffa fund, and felt this was the least we could do,” they said.

“Our goal was £10,000 but as ever the rally community does what it always does best and came together brilliantly.

“The money is sadly not going to bring Dai back but we hope it will help his family over the coming years and relieve any financial worries they might’ve had.

“It’s a fantastic response from people in and around the sport, we are truly grateful.”

The Roberts family has experienced a number of rally-related tragedies over the years, as Gareth ‘Jaffa’ Roberts was also killed in a rallying accident in 2012 while sitting with Craig Breen, who passed in 2023.

Dai himself later survived an accident that fatally injured Timothy Cathcart in 2014.