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Home to the annual AGBO Stages Rally and previously the base for Historic Rally Festival, Weston Park in Shropshire once again welcomed an assortment of historic rally cars to this once RAC Rally staple.
A crisp and cold late November morning would, by mid-afternoon, descend into a brisk but heavy snow shower. The Carmarthen weather heralding the start of the 2025 Roger Albert Clark Rally. The chaotic weather set the tone for the next 5 days of fierce competition and organisational challenges on this bi-annual feast of rallying.
Last weekend the British Stage rally season kicked off in earnest with the KT Green Riponian Stages Rally. Based out of the North Yorkshire town of Thirsk
Running for the second consecutive year, after a five-year hiatus, Saturday, the eighteenth of January saw Rallying return to Wales for the ME rally sport Showground Stages.
Organised by the Quinten Motor Cub and Sponsored by the world-famous co-driver and his motorsports equipment business since 2011 the Nicky Grist stages is based in the Market town of Builth Wells with its picturesque service area on the rugby pitch and overlooking the river Wye. The battleground would be the range of familiar stages in the Halfway, monument Crychan and Lyn Login areas of the Epynt military ranges to the south of Builth Wells.
Based out of the auction mart in Hexham, the former Pirelli (international) Rally, previously a classic staple of the Probite British Rally Championship calendar during the glory years of British rallying. The event can count a plethora of famous winners as diverse as Ari Vattinen or Russell Brookes to Richard Burns, Dai Llewellyn and Mark Higgins… As well as the full complement of McRaes (Alistair, Jimmy and Colin).
All set for a great days rallying across the 3 main Protyre BTRDA Gravel Championships the KFR would utilise 42 miles of prime gravel stages in the 155,000-acre Kielder forest complex, one of Europe’s largest man-made forests.
Saturday, the eleventh of May saw sixty-nine competitors head to Jedburgh in southern Scotland for the third round of the Protyre BTRDA Rally Series, the Border Counties Rally. Forming the first of two consecutive northern-based rounds for the BTRDA gravel series, followed by the Kielder forest Rally in the middle of June.
For the third round of the Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship, we travel 43 miles due south (on the A483) from Welshpool (RD2 Rally North Wales), to Builth Wells showground for the fiftieth running of the Severn Valley “Rallynuts” Stages.
Into their seventh year of sponsoring the Midland Manner Motorclub run event, a bumper entry would greet the Crews in Builth, with Rallynuts featuring on the Probite British Rally Championship roster for the first time along with three other major championships and perhaps the strongest loose surface entry list the UK had seen for a very long time. In BHRC terms, this was the first time since 2017 that it would form a round of the BHRC.
The third Saturday of March saw crews descend on the market town of Welshpool for the second round of the MotorsportUK Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship, Get Jerky Rally North Wales.
Mid-February had seen a very wet and soggy round 1 in Yorkshire, The Riponian, an event that left as many questions as it answered. George Lepley and Dale Bowen took the overall BHRC win in their Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 but were unable to score towards the overall championship in their recently homologated 4WD Grp A machine. Therefore, this left Yorkshire man Matthew Robinson and Northern Irishman Adrian Hetherington heading the championship standings from the returning (to BHRC) former champion Ben Friend in third.
Entering its 71st year, the 2024 Protyre BTRDA Gravel Rally series springs into life this coming weekend (8th/9th March) at its traditional season-opening round amongst the stunning “lakes and mountains” scenery of Keswick and Coniston in Cumbria.
A new championship season also brings a new sponsor, with Protyre extending their BTRDA Tarmac championship sponsorship of over 5 years to cover the Gravel series. With a 2-year agreement and the potential to add a further year the future of the series is secure.
The wider championship consists of 8 rounds, a choice of 6 of which are scoring in each of the main 3 categories, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Star along with Historic and Rally First awards.