04/03/2024
Motorsport, Rally, British Rally, Web-Zine, E-Zine, E-Mag, Magazine
Motorsport, Rally, British Rally, Web-Zine, E-Zine, E-Mag, Magazine
The 2024 East Riding Stages, organised by the hard-working team at the Beverley & District Motor Club would kick off closed road stage rallying for the year. Conveniently hosted a little under a month before the start of both the British Rally Championship and the Protyre Asphalt series. The fast and flowing ‘Ypres-like’ stages of North East Yorkshire would offer crews a perfect opportunity to gain valuable seat time after the winter break, aiding in their preparation for the season ahead.
This year, the FUCHS Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship takes a new step forward with an expanded calendar. Although similar to previous years, notably, there is an increase in Asphalt events, adding diversity to what is primarily a loose surface playground.
On Sunday 11th February, from the North Yorkshire market town of Thirsk, The Riponian Rally once again raised the curtain on a fresh new season of British Historic Rallying and would provide a challenging event for the participating crews to contend with.
The Forests of North Yorkshire will witness the commencement of the 2024 FUCHS Lubricant, Motorsport UK, British Historic Rally Championship on February 11th. The Riponian Rally, serving as the season opener, will once again take centre stage, marking the beginning of three consecutive Gravel events that will ignite the new season. Following this Championship curtain raiser, the attention will then turn to Wales for Rally North Wales, taking place on March 16th, and the Severn Valley Stages which will follow suit on April 13th.
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.
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 last weekend of September saw the third running of Historic Rally Festival. Based in and around the grounds of the seventeenth century grade II listed Weston Hall in Weston Park, near Telford in Shropshire, this “demonstration rally” (untimed) attracted some big names to classic RAC rally stages with star attractions in the name of former British and World Rally Champions.
Set in over one thousand acres of landscaped parkland, with wide open vistas and its famous water splash, this classic, former “RAC Rally” stage was the perfect venue to host a display of classic rally machinery, but more of that later.
The event, ran by the Rallying History organisation, is the only multi venue MotorsportUK sanctioned demonstration rally in the country where cars run untimed at two venues. Previously held both at Weston Park and Ironbridge power station, this year welcomes a new venue with the event moving o Hatton Grange (from Ironbridge) for a bank of three stages on Saturday Morning.
The third Saturday of November had a distinctly autumnal feel on the Gloucestershire/ Wales border as the curtain came down on the 2023 Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship on the forty fifth Wyedean Stages Rally. The Forest of Dean motor club ran event was once again based out of Forest Hills Golf club in Coleford and included 7 stages spread across the historic Forest of Dean.
The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series would conclude its 2023 season on the stages of North Wales at the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally. With a planned 5 stages on offer covering 40 competitive miles, the North Wales Car Club organised event would also see the return of the main part of the Clocaenog Forest Complex.