RAC Rally memories

[ste898]

The BBC TV coverage was superb in the 80's and 90's. It was on twice per day, on each day of the event. There were also quite a few great presenters/commentators used for Top Gear Rally Report: William Woollard, Brian Jones, Barrie Gill, Tony Mason, Steve Rider, Steve Lee and Mark James. There are various versions of opening titles from the show on You Tube. I've pasted a link to one of the later ones, the classic theme by the way, is by Propaganda - "Duelled". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUt5A-uWsow

The excitement used to begin for me when my Rallypak arrived which contained all kinds of little goodies and the official programme. Anyone remember how good it used to smell new???

My Mum and Dad took me into the Welsh forests in 1985 (I sadly don't remember as I was two). For many years after, the Chatsworth Special Stage was normally the place they took me although we did Kielder in snow one year.

I remember taking a little battery powered radio into school in the 1990's and getting the updates on 5 Live at break and lunch time. Mark James was normally the reporter. I desperately wished I could be out in the forests watching the action.

I did manage to experience following the event day to day, just before it changed from being the proper Lombard RAC Rally.

The Lombard RAC Rally was a really special event, we can moan about how it was destroyed etc, but at least those of us who were fortunate enough to go in the heydey, have some special memories which will last a lifetime.

Every word of that is so so true....fond memories that will never be forgotten

[FAL]

Tony Pond's first stage crash in the Rover Vitesse there the following year is certainly one of the RAC incidents I most remember. He had the BHP on-board camera with him, and sounded understandably angry: 'I don't f***ing believe it. I don't F***ING believe it.'

More or less what I said as I passed him at the end of the stage as I was driving away from the stop line!

[AndyRAC]

So, with Rally GB under way in chaotic fashion and even more a shadow of its former self than ever, I thought I'd start a thread in which to reminisce about the RAC Rally as was.

For me as a motorsport-mad youngster, the RAC was the best event of the year - forget the British GP! Even if the championship had already been decided, it was still brilliant. It offered a fascinating mix of stages and conditions, and was a genuinely challenging event - five days long until the late 1980s, of course, including night stages up to 1986. And there was true British interest in the RAC, even if British drivers capable of winning were few in number for so long, largely due to their equipment. Because it traversed large parts of the country, there were ample opportunities to see it, and when Top Gear introduced its twice-nightly Rally Report in 1984, complete with live Sunday spectator stage from the following year onwards, it began to get the TV exposure it deserved.

For me, the best year was 1985. The entry list was stunning - pairs of 205 T16s, Sport Quattro E2s, Delta S4s and Metro 6R4s, the latter two cars making their WRC debuts. The Audis and Peugeots were all out by the end of the second day, but we were left with an incredible battle in ever-changing conditions between the Lancias of Toivonen and Alen, and Tony Pond's Metro, which no-one thought would last the distance. Yet last it did, and there was a very real chance that Pond - who held second for some time and had been closing on leader at the time Markku Alen - could have won. It wasn't to be, as he made a wrong tyre choice and fell back to third, with Henri Toivonen getting ahead of Alen on the final night, but it had still been a brilliant effort. The crowds that year were massive all along the route, largely as a result of all the publicity for the new British car. A great event.

So, what are your favourite RAC memories?

Great post - was only watching the DVD of this last week, and after being in Hafren on Friday....................Angry is not the word!!!
It almost hard to believe that it is the same sport.

[BDunnell]

I remember taking a little battery powered radio into school in the 1990's and getting the updates on 5 Live at break and lunch time.

I remember doing that at sixth form in 1995, to find out whether Colin McRae had won the world title. I wasn't disappointed! For me, it was still a great event then...

[turves]

I would say 85 and 95 are my joint favourites. Colins fightback to win the championship, there was a real buzz everywhere you went, but you just can't beat the Group B cars, they were phenominally spectacular to watch.