On a surprisingly mild morning in January, the rally season officially commenced at the Royal Welsh Showground based just outside the market town of Builth Wells. The North Road Garage Toyota Showground Stages would provide both UK rally fans & competitors with their first event of 2024. The event had been organised and reimagined by the Newton & District Automobile Club and proudly sponsored by the Pritchard family’s North Road Garage Toyota.
I have had an interest in Automotive and Motorsport-related stuff since the late nineties, but I would consider myself a bit of a latecomer to Rallying. It wasn’t until 2006 that I got my first taste of stage rallying and that event was the South of England Tempest rally based in the Aldershot region.
The 2023 Roger Albert Clark Rally marked the fifteenth edition of the event that set out to recreate the essence of the golden era of British Rallying. In the late seventies and eighties, the RAC Rally of Great Britain, as it was known back then, presented a distinctive challenge for the world’s top rally drivers. Spanning across England, Scotland, and Wales over multiple days, the rally encompassed visits to various stately homes, motorsport venues, and forestry roads. The RAC Rally has therefore always been renowned as one of the most demanding and iconic events in the world of rallying.
The FUCHS Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship arrived in Carlisle for the final round of its 2023 season. After some 300-plus competitive stage miles of rallying across 43 odd special stages on both gravel and tarmac surfaces, the title would be decided in and around the legendary Kielder Forest region of England and Scotland at the final rally of the 7 event calendar.
The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series arrived in North Yorkshire for the penultimate round of its 2023 season. From the seaside town of Filey, 5 Gravel tests in and around the Pickering area would feature on the route, with stages such as Dalby, Cropton, Gale Rigg, Langdale and Staindale all on the menu for this 45-stage mile event.
A new British Rally Champion was crowned at Round 6 of the 2023 Championship, the TrackRod Rally Yorkshire.
From the seaside town of Filey, the British Rally Championship arrived in North Yorkshire and returned to the Gravel after four back-to-back Asphalt rallies. Six Stages covering approximately 57 competitive stage miles would await only a handful of BRC registered crews who would compete at the event but there was only really ever going to be one outcome.
The TrackRod Motorclub would host the penultimate round of the 2023 FUCHS Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship from the seaside town of Filey, North Yorkshire. The TrackRod Historic Cup Rally would offer up an array of classic gravel tests in and around the Pickering area in stages such as Dalby, Cropton and Gale Rigg. With 6 stages on offer covering around 57 competitive stage miles, the bumper entry of BHRC crews would arrive in Yorkshire with a bit of a challenge on their hands.
The fifth round of the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championships was filled with drama from before a competitive wheel had even turned, right down to the final stage of the event. The Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages Rally would take place in hot and demanding conditions for the Welsh National crews over some tough and challenging stages which stretched across the Anglo-Welsh borders.
The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series arrived in Ludlow for the sixth round of the 2023 season. As the Championship heats up so did the temperature out on the stages at the Phill Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages Rally where the series began it’s descent into the final three events of the year.
The FUCHS Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship returned to the gravel for the fifth round of its 2023 season at the Phill Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages Rally.
