British & Irish Championships 2024

[the sniper]

The Sportity password is wsscc24 , there's various downloads on there including the road book.

Tried sending you a PM but they don't seem to be working again.

Much appreciated, thanks! I'd tried guessing that... And yes, just noticed the PM aren't working again, so thanks to whoever else attempted to get in contact too. :)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Not halfway yet but Croinin has taken charge of West Cork, also benefiting from a puncture for Devine. Currently a Fiesta 1-2-3 too with Edwards & Creighton... Malcolm will be happy ! ;)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

West Cork Rally After SS12/18
1 Cronin 1:24:04.3s
2 Edwards +1:18.8s
3 Creighton +1:50.6
4 Moffett +2:29.7
5 Greer +3:02.5

Two fastest times by Will Creighton on the Ring stage shows the kid definitely has a big future and shows why M-Sport are giving him further backing on this season's ITRC & BRC.

[HKSjbg]

Much appreciated, thanks! I'd tried guessing that... And yes, just noticed the PM aren't working again, so thanks to whoever else attempted to get in contact too. :)

Where did you go in the end? I couldn’t be arsed figuring out the ideal spot so we just went down the hill from the main spectator zone at Dyfnant East. Plenty of people there despite it being wet and bloody cold!

[the sniper]

Couldn't get there early so just watched half the cars from the speccy area first run, to be near the car, didn't bother filming... Having seen the maps (thanks again Satnav!), went to West for the second run, as East was so short there weren't any appealing options and I knew there were in the former. Turned into a nice day out in proper rallying weather!

[Steve Boyd]

Couldn't get there early so just watched half the cars from the speccy area first run, to be near the car, didn't bother filming... Having seen the maps (thanks again Satnav!), went to West for the second run, as East was so short there weren't any appealing options and I knew there were in the former. Turned into a nice day out in proper rallying weather!
Tip for future events: Look on the event web site for a copy of the event regulations (often under "Competitors" section). You will usually find the Sportity code in there. EWRC often have a link to the official noticeboard (look for the "Sportity" tab) on events they list, so that can be another source.

[the sniper]

Tip for future events: Look on the event web site for a copy of the event regulations (often under "Competitors" section). You will usually find the Sportity code in there. EWRC often have a link to the official noticeboard (look for the "Sportity" tab) on events they list, so that can be another source.

I somehow missed this time that the code was indeed in the Regs, not sure how! Probably Ctrl+f'd 'Spotify' instead... :D Thanks though. :)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

West Cork Rally Top 5 and it was a 1-2-3 for the M-Sport Fiesta Rally2 ! :)

1 Cronin 2:11:36.2s
2 Edwards +57.2s
3 Creighton +1:26.4
4 Moffett +2:10.4
5 Greer 2:52.5

[Andre Oliveira]

Beautiful


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GI8neuIXEAA6Anx?format=jpg&name=large

Some of the images this morning I shot at the press team launch of MEM and Meirion Evans
Press Release

Castrol teams up with Melvyn Evans Motorsport to launch new Castrol MEM Rally Team for 2024 British Rally Championship

Rolls of Monmouth, 18 March 2024 – Castrol, a global leader in lubricants, announced today its partnership with Melvyn Evans Motorsport (MEM) UK, to form the new Castrol MEM Rally Team, that’s set to compete in the 2024 Probite British Rally Championship (BRC). The team will showcase their talent with a pair of Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 cars adorned in the iconic Castrol rally livery.

Meirion Evans, along with co-driver Jonathan Jackson, will pilot the first car in the UK’s premier rally series – beginning with the North West Stages this weekend (22/23 March). After strong performances in Ireland on asphalt in recent years, Meirion tried his hand at the Wyedean Stages Rally in the Forest of Dean last year and showed equally good speed on gravel. This has resulted in the Welshman stepping up to concentrate on the BRC in 2024.

The second car is slated for delivery ahead of the third round and will be driven by the 2019 FIA European rally champion Chris Ingram and co-driven by the American ace Alex Kihurani. The cars have been built by Toyota Gazoo Racing in Finland and will be maintained and run in the UK by Melvyn Evans Motorsport – a two-time BRC Teams champion.

The new Castrol MEM Rally Team paid tribute to Castrol’s rich rallying history with Toyota, displaying the ex-Carlos Sainz Castrol Toyota GT-Four ST185 owned by Nicky Grist at their launch event held at the Rolls of Monmouth country estate.

Nicola Buck, chief marketing officer, Castrol, said: “This partnership marks a thrilling chapter in our racing legacy, as we join forces with Melvyn Evans Motorsport UK to unleash the potential of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 cars. Racing with Castrol lubricants in an extreme rally environment demonstrates the confidence we and our customers have in delivering high performance.”

Meirion Evans said: “This opportunity is the most exciting one I've had in my career to date. For us as a team to be trusted by Toyota Gazoo Racing to bring the first Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 into the UK means a lot to us and to re-establish the iconic Castrol Toyota link and livery is phenomenal, not only for us but for rallying in this country. To have Chris [Ingram] as part of the team is fantastic. We have been friends since we were both very young, so to get the opportunity to finally work together and represent a brand like Castrol is something we are both excited for. It will be a bit of a change for me having driven a Polo for the last few years, but we will try to adapt as quickly as possible to the Yaris so that we can chase results from the outset in what is undoubtedly the strongest field the BRC has seen in over ten years.

Chris Ingram said: “It’s a dream come true to have the opportunity to drive in Castrol colours in the prestigious British Rally Championship in the latest Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, prepared by the esteemed British team Melvyn Evans Motorsport. The British Rally Championship’s announcement that it will be covered by ITV will provide a huge boost to UK motorsport and our partners. To represent such an iconic brand is a huge opportunity and I am going to give it my best shot. Including my team-mate Meirion Evans, we are going to face serious competition from some of the UK and Ireland’s best drivers. No driver in history has ever won both the British Rally Championship and the European Rally Championship, so that is my ultimate ambition for the season ahead.”

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Wowza ! Fantastic news for the drivers and the BRC ! :cool:

[HKSjbg]

Wow, wasn’t expecting that at all!

[the sniper]

Great to have a recognisable, professional looking, big brand sponsored team as the series returns to TV. Hopefully it'll attract other sponsors to the series. The car looks great! Can't wait to see them on the stages.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

More on Osian Pryce's BRC return in a Fiesta Rally2:

https://www.rallyinguk.info/post/a-fresh-start-for-osian-pryce-as-the-former-champion-returns-to-the-british-rally-championship

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Keith Cronin is my pick to win the NW Stages. Here's his take on the BRC and preview of the event:

Fresh from their victory on the West Cork Rally last weekend, Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin commence their 2024 British Championship campaign on Saturday with the North West Stages Rally, which will be based in the Lancashire town of Garstang. Having also won the Galway International Rally last month, the Killarney and District Motor Club crew are in a strong position at the top of the Irish Tarmac Championship points table, and will be hoping for an equally positive start in the British series.

While Cronin is in a confident frame of mind heading to the English event, he regards his chances of three wins in a row as perhaps a bridge too far. "It's a busy start to the year for us, that much is certain, and it's gone very well so far", he said. "We had Galway last month, West Cork last weekend, the North West Stages is on Saturday, and we're back for the Circuit of Ireland the following weekend. The North West is a new event for us and there is a very strong line-up there, so we have to be realistic. A podium would be a great result for us, and to get some solid points on the board early on. There's six rounds in the British Championship this year, three on tarmac and three on gravel, and the first one is a closed road tarmac event, so that at least will be a help to us since we've just done three days in West Cork, although the surface over there can be very different to that in Ireland, what works here in terms of suspension set-up may not work in Lancashire, or in Scotland and Wales for the other closed road rounds".

As Cronin alludes to, the BRC has attracted much interest from competitors for 2024, and registrations are significantly up on previous years. This is no doubt fuelled in part by the fact that the championship will be televised on ITV4 and ITVX throughout the season, plus the introduction of a calendar which sees all rounds take place in Great Britain, thus reducing costs for the majority English, Scots and Welsh crews.

"The organisers have done a lot of work to boost the BRC, they have to be given credit where it's due, and the strength of the field for the North West is a reflection of that", noted Cronin. "Osian Pryce beat us to the BRC title in 2022, Meirion Evans came across to Ireland and won some of the Tarmac Championship rounds over the past couple of years, and William Creighton set some fastest times in West Cork at the weekend, he's going very well in the Rally 2 car so early in his career. Chris Ingram has to be the favourite though, he won the North West Stages on the most recent time in ran in 2022, he's a former European champion, he has an amount of rallying done across the continent. He went to a rally in France last year and was only a second or two off Sebastian Loeb, a nine-time World Champion, and that was on long stages, he's definitely the man everyone else will be watching".

The news revealed this week that Ingram will be in a new Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 from round three onwards (he will drive a Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 in the interim) has certainly added an additional dimension to the BRC. He and Meirion Evans will form a two-car Toyota line-up, and Evans will have a Yaris from the outset this weekend, marking the first ever appearance of the model on a UK rally. Its pace relative to the M-Sport built Fiestas of Cronin, Pryce and Creighton will be watched with great interest.

The Legend Fires North West Rally will consist of ten stages in all, a loop of five repeated, with the first getting underway at 9am. "Tyre choice will be absolutely crucial, especially if conditions are in any way mixed, which of course they could well be in March", said Cronin. "We get to pick our tyres in the morning before the start, and there's only one service during the day after that to change them, so it has be right, otherwise you'll just be at sea", added the Cork driver.

Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M O’Brien Group of Companies, Lyons Motor Group, Shane Casey Electrical Services, Molson Equipment, Pirelli, EARS Motorsport Ireland, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Union Hall, Leap, Millstreet and Dundrum), Cronin’s HomeValue Hardware, Westlink Service Station and Daybreak Shop, Cremin Coaches, Keohane Seafoods, M-Sport and Wurth Ireland.

Legend Fires North West Stages Rally 2024
Top Ten Seeds
1: Chris Ingram/Alex Kihurani, Volkswagen Polo GTI R5
2: Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin, Ford Fiesta Rally 2
3: Osian Pryce/Rhodri Evans, Ford Fiesta Rally2
4: Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
5: William Creighton/Liam Regan, Ford Fiesta Rally 2
6: Mark Kelly/Will Atkins, Skoda Fabia R5
7: James Williams/Ross Whittock, Hyundai i20 Rally2
8: Callum Black/Jack Morton, Ford Fiesta Rally2
9: Paul MacKinnon/Keir Beaton, Hyundai i20 R5
10: Garry Pearson/Daniel Barritt, Ford Fiesta Rally 2

Legend Fires North West Stages Rally 2024
Timetable
Friday 22 March
Scrutiny, Myerscough College, Garstang, 12:00-18:00
Ceremonial Start, High Street, Garstang,18:30 - 21:00

Saturday 23 March (First Car Due)
Stage 1, Beacon Fell 1, 09:00
Stage 2, Long Knots 1, 09:20
Stage 3, Crossgill 1, 10:05
Stage 4, Hawthorthwaite 1, 10:48
Stage 5, Nicky Nook 1, 11:04

Service, Myerscough College, Garstang, 11:29
Regroup, Myerscough College, Garstang, 12:19

Stage 6, Beacon Fell 2, 13:28
Stage 7, Long Knots 2, 13:48
Stage 8, Crossgill 2, 14:33
Stage 9, Hawthorthwaite 2, 15:16
Stage 10, Nicky Nook 2, 15:32

Ceremonial Finish, Cherestanc Square, Garstang, 16.10

[dodge33cymru]

Anyone here going on Saturday? I see from the limited spectator spots that they're trying to keep as many people away as possible.

Stage 1 has no tickets available and officially no 'spectate on the day'. But the stages are so close together if seems daft to not do two per loop. Anyone got any maps per chance?

[Sal yet again]

Still havent decided as the trip from my neck of the woods near York is being made slightly more awkward due to the A59 still being shut at Kex Gill so means a bit of a pain detour. Also got one eye on the weather which might make it a bit iffy. Cracking entry but not over familiar with the area so not sure yet how much access there will be away from the main spectator points.

[J4MIE]

Anyone here going on Saturday? I see from the limited spectator spots that they're trying to keep as many people away as possible.

Stage 1 has no tickets available and officially no 'spectate on the day'. But the stages are so close together if seems daft to not do two per loop. Anyone got any maps per chance?

Knowing just how much work the organisers have put into it, and the extreme hassle and stress they have all gone through, I don’t blame them at all.

Why any one would want to organise a rally I’ve absolutely no idea.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Ingram testing in the Castrol MEM VW Polo R5. Conditions as they're likely to be on Saturday.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJRppUpWoAAlGyz?format=jpg&name=medium

[mousti]

Jos Verstappen entered for the Rallynuts stages - didn't expect that! Might be his first gravel rally?Yes but je does often a test on french gravel with a Sarrazin Polo Rally2

Verstuurd vanaf mijn 2201123G met Tapatalk

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Pretty awful trying to follow the NW Stages live so far.. delay starting, stages blocked, times very slow coming through, only one stage end interview and live pictures breaking up. Very disappointing after all the build up.

[dodge33cymru]

Pretty awful trying to follow the NW Stages live so far.. delay starting, stages blocked, times very slow coming through, only one stage end interview and live pictures breaking up. Very disappointing after all the build up.

edit: removed my angry rant. Still annoyed at the comms, but I get that the actual issues on stages aren't the organiser's fault.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJWu0Z1X0AEZUpJ?format=png&name=medium

[Fast Eddie WRC]

An update from the North West Stages organisers:

Due to unforseen circumstances and various incidents on the early stages, the morning loop of 5 stages has unfortunately had to be scrubbed. The action will restart in the afternoon after all the cars have been brought back to regroup. We can only apologise for the issues and we will endeavour to keep you informed as the action unfolds this afternoon.

[J4MIE]

Got up at 4:30, paid to get into two stages, seen nothing. Spectator areas are terrible and crammed. And the official social feeds are utterly useless. Absolutely no idea what's going on. Shambolic frankly.

You could always volunteer hundreds of hours of your time to help improve things next year? Team always looking out for new helpers.

If competitors wouldn’t block so many roads that would majorly help with things.

[Sal yet again]

Closed road rallying seems to work differently on mainland GB as it do to events in Ireland and the IOM etc. Other than areas that are deemed unsafe and marked as such it is pretty much acceptable for spectators to stand in fields, behind dry stone walls and if invited to stand in someone's front garden without paying for the privilige

I didnt make the trip today due to a number of circumstances however there do seem to have been a number of "premium" spectator spots with corresponding charges that sold out quickly and trust their view wasnt of the roofs of cars as they went past as I have read on the event FB page. Think we have to remember that the roads are picked first and foremost for the challenge for the crews and then trying to fit spectators around that with all the hoops that organisers have to jump thru is a major challenge

Interesting that the recent East Ridings stages that I did attend was relatively open with its info and even had a stage near Beverley town centre that attracted a good sized crowd.

If the event is going to be bi-annual then I trust the organisers will learn from today and come back stronger for both the crews and the fans in 2026

[AndyRAC]

Closed road rallying seems to work differently on mainland GB as it do to events in Ireland and the IOM etc. Other than areas that are deemed unsafe and marked as such it is pretty much acceptable for spectators to stand in fields, behind dry stone walls and if invited to stand in someone's front garden without paying for the privilige

I didn't make the trip today due to a number of circumstances however there do seem to have been a number of "premium" spectator spots with corresponding charges that sold out quickly and trust their view wasnt of the roofs of cars as they went past as I have read on the event FB page. Think we have to remember that the roads are picked first and foremost for the challenge for the crews and then trying to fit spectators around that with all the hoops that organisers have to jump thru is a major challenge


Closed road rallying is a new-ish thing for the mainland, so organisers have to take a more pragmatic view of spectator areas - unlike in other places. However, at BRC level spectators should/need be catered for far better. MSUK should be helping in this way.......

[Sal yet again]

The JCMR has had its issues of course so maybe if farmers/landowners are actively courted and let them know that perhaps they could make a few quid allowing people to watch from their land (safely of course) then maybe things can improve. Fields and land alongside the IOM TT course are often by paid entry and when Le Grand Depart took place in this Shire a few years back there were plenty of enterprising landowners welcoming people onto their land.

Rallying is an exciting sport that attracts people wanting to watch and as with most things in this country we pay for things we used to get for free so lets see how those aspects can be married together

[Fast Eddie WRC]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJYQ680XUAAYdPD?format=jpg&name=medium

[J4MIE]

The reason it got changed to running every two years was that it was too much work for the organising team. When Dave Read passed away before the 2022 event, his replacement clocked up over 400 hours from eariy Jan to mid March. That is far more than a full time job.

Spoke to one of the organising team during the past week and they said they simply can’t do it again.

All the moaning people online won’t help their enthusiasm levels at all. They are rally fans just like you or me, and want their event to succeed.

[dodge33cymru]

The reason it got changed to running every two years was that it was too much work for the organising team. When Dave Read passed away before the 2022 event, his replacement clocked up over 400 hours from eariy Jan to mid March. That is far more than a full time job.

Spoke to one of the organising team during the past week and they said they simply can’t do it again.

All the moaning people online won’t help their enthusiasm levels at all. They are rally fans just like you or me, and want their event to succeed.

The thing that frustrated me most was the complete lack of any comms about what was happening. I've been on rallies where things have been cancelled and I can make alternative plans - this was just leaving everyone completely in the dark for no need.

I get that people have put more time and effort in to organise than I have to spectate and they're more frustrated than me, but on a purely personal level I get very few weekends that aren't parenting time (maybe 3 per year) at the moment and today was a complete write off.

I'm glad the afternoon loop went smoothly and look forward to watching the coverage of it next week; I hope this is some reward for a difficult event for the team.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

A fine 2nd place for young Will Creighton too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GJYaZxiWUAAvXrJ?format=jpg&name=medium

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The thing that frustrated me most was the complete lack of any comms about what was happening. I've been on rallies where things have been cancelled and I can make alternative plans - this was just leaving everyone completely in the dark for no need.

I get that people have put more time and effort in to organise than I have to spectate and they're more frustrated than me, but on a purely personal level I get very few weekends that aren't parenting time (maybe 3 per year) at the moment and today was a complete write off.

I'm glad the afternoon loop went smoothly and look forward to watching the coverage of it next week; I hope this is some reward for a difficult event for the team.

This is spot on and was also applicable to those trying to follow and watch online. The poor presenters were also left in the dark and unable to tell us what was happening and why.


The streams came was across as amateur hour when they weren't to blame. Anyone watching for the first time or from abroad were given a lousy impression of the BRC.

[the sniper]

You could always volunteer hundreds of hours of your time to help improve things next year? Team always looking out for new helpers.

I'm sure we appreciate the circumstances on here, but can you think of many other sports in which members of the public are expected to book and pay to attend an event, which then has unfortunately turned into a shambles, where the default response from the sport is inevitably going to be, 'feel free to try and do it better yourself?'. Luckily this is now a niche sport and we're all in or near enough to the bubble to be familiar with the absurdity of it all, but otherwise the media would have a field day with that attitude, after a sporting equivalent of a Glaswegian Willy Wonka experience...

[Steve Boyd]

You could always volunteer hundreds of hours of your time to help improve things next year? Team always looking out for new helpers.

If competitors wouldn’t block so many roads that would majorly help with things.
Well said!
After 35+ years of working on results on events from SV to BRC & WRGB, I know only too well that without competitors and spectators, running rallies would be a breeze.

Looking at competitors stage times in starting order on Rallies.info (the event results provider) and seeing who got notional times, it looks to me as though there were two separate blockages on SS1, a blockage on SS2 and another on SS3. Without actual times of day at the relevant controls I can't be more precise, nor can I say how long the stages were held up or how many of these had to be managed simultaneously. As you're well aware, though maybe some spectators aren't, when the field gets split and there's a gap of more than 20 minutes you need to put a safety car in the gap before the stage is resumed. There's also the remaining road closure time to be considered for getting later runs in where closed roads are used more than once. It is very often much easier to scrub a couple of stages altogether to get the event back on schedule and bunch the field back into a single group with a sensible running order than it is to try and juggle things back together. It has happened in the past on JCMR, Manx National & Rally Isle of Man and, no doubt, it will happen again in future somewhere. It's unfortunate but it's the nature of the game and when those in Rally Control are busy managing incidents they often don't have time to tell the world what's going on. Comparing the LFNWS organisers to a bunch of con-artists in Glasgow is grossly unfair.

[the sniper]

Comparing the LFNWS organisers to a bunch of con-artists in Glasgow is grossly unfair.

That wasn't the intention. But equally I don't think it's fair (as is always the case) to have little to no respect for the experience of spectators, particularly when they've jumped through the expected hoops, respected the constraints imposed by the organisers and paid for the privilege.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Watching the numerous fan videos on YT last night was a treat and helped me forget the frustration of the 'live' experience. The action was superb and I saw more good stuff in a few minutes than 8 hours of the live streams. These guys had much closer and more interesting vantage points than Special Stage.

I think in future I'll just follow the times and leave the viewing until the evening.

[Steve Boyd]

That wasn't the intention. But equally I don't think it's fair (as is always the case) to have little to no respect for the experience of spectators, particularly when they've jumped through the expected hoops, respected the constraints imposed by the organisers and paid for the privilege.
It may be worth asking for a refund if you'd paid to watch on SS4 or SS5 and weren't able to wait for the later runs, but I don't know what the T&C's on the tickets were.

What I do know, from reading the official noticeboard on Sportity, is that they ran the second loop at 30 second start intervals, rather that whole minutes, which is something that is done to get the field through before the road closure expires. That, in itself, can often cause more problems and as someone who has been in HQ when things have gone badly wrong I think the organisers desrerve some credit for getting the event back on track for the second loop.

[Sal yet again]

Watching the numerous fan videos on YT last night was a treat and helped me forget the frustration of the 'live' experience. The action was superb and I saw more good stuff in a few minutes than 8 hours of the live streams. These guys had much closer and more interesting vantage points than Special Stage.

I think in future I'll just follow the times and leave the viewing until the evening.

Not sure if the majority of the YT footage was shot by signed on media however it does look like one of those events where local knowledge comes to the fore as plenty with a "ring side" view rather than filmed over the top of a hedge. Will have to do a "recce" during the summer as many moons since I was on a road rally in that part of the world.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Not sure if the majority of the YT footage was shot by signed on media however it does look like one of those events where local knowledge comes to the fore as plenty with a "ring side" view rather than filmed over the top of a hedge. Will have to do a "recce" during the summer as many moons since I was on a road rally in that part of the world.

I expected Special Stage to have recce'd the roads better as their locations weren't great. Especially the first one which was basically a straight, half of which was hidden by a hedge !

Lack of local knowledge is a problem if you are attending as the official spectator areas seemed poor and overcrowded. If you find some good places please share them for next year !

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Dirtfish's David Evans on the BRC's 'tricky start'...

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/brcs-big-reboot-gets-off-to-a-tricky-start/

[archie106]

With regards local knowledge, closed road rallies have the advantage of google maps street view, so if you can find the stage maps its fairly easy to find a good place to spectate.

The biggest problem is finding somewhere to park where you aren't causing a nuisance, which sometimes means a bit of a walk, 40 minute walk for me on Saturday.

[Sal yet again]

Yeah thats what I meant by doing a recce. Never want to cause any issues locally with parking and certainly dont want to be trying to access land with livestock like sheep during peak lambing season.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

One thing that puzzles me a bit and very apparent on the YT videos was that virtually everyone there had a fancy camera and was staring at their 'shot' the second the car went past. Are these people really rally fans or toggers ?

And how often will they look at all their 100s of photos once they get home ?Once or twice probably and then never again.

I prefer to just enjoy the full spectacle, the noise, the smell and keep that as my memory. I'm sure it lasts much longer that way.

[J4MIE]

One thing that puzzles me a bit and very apparent on the YT videos was that virtually everyone there had a fancy camera and was staring at their 'shot' the second the car went past. Are these people really rally fans or toggers ?

And how often will they look at all their 100s of photos once they get home ?Once or twice probably and then never again.

I prefer to just enjoy the full spectacle, the noise, the smell and keep that as my memory. I'm sure it lasts much longer that way.

Most of them will share them on Facebook and try to sell them.

I think me and me dad had a collection of about 250,000 photos when we stopped, I lost most of them on an old hard drive sadly but would only really look at a few of the wrc ones, I enjoyed taking most of them but a lot of the rallying was very boring to watch. 100 car entry and the top ten would be good to watch, then another ten spread through the rest of the field.

I’ve found it’s much more interesting competing. Even in the slower ones.

[Sal yet again]

It was all much more fun with film back in the days when there were magazines and publishers willing to pay for rally pictures.

Now other than one or two outlets its people asking for freebies or 'togs giving stuff away then paying for the privilege of a blue tabard.

[HKSjbg]

Does anyone know the sportity password for the Rallynuts Stages? Hoping to spend the full day in Hafren, starting with Sweet Lamb then into the forest itself for the second pass

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Great fight between the Fiesta twins of Cronin & Edwards on the Circuit of Ireland. Trading stage wins and just 0.2s between them after the morning loop !

Devine out and Josh Moffett really struggling again in the Citroen C3.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Circuit of Ireland result Top Five:
1 Edwards 1:11:46.3s
2 Cronin +14.4s
3 Moffett +1:46.1
4 McCourt +2:11.5
5 Jennings +3:43.2

I'm delighted for Matt Edwards after his struggles to get funding and for another Ford 1-2.

[Sal yet again]

Anyone looking at the provisional entry list for the forthcoming Manx National would wonder why there have been threads here and on other forums about the health of UK rallying...195 entries!

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/manx/entries.php?type=u

[Sal yet again]

Remember the first round of the BRC the North West stages is on ITV 4 at 17.45pm today. Pity the snooker is on as they could have B2B'd it with the Safari which is on at 22.10pm!

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Remember the first round of the BRC the North West stages is on ITV 4 at 17.45pm today. Pity the snooker is on as they could have B2B'd it with the Safari which is on at 22.10pm!

Just watched the NW Stages highlights and I am quite impressed with the overall package. The presentation was pretty slick and modern looking, but it still had a quite familiar traditional feel. The comms with David Addison helped with that too.

The rally conditions and issues didnt make it easy to cover but the action shown wasnt bad. Maybe the future events will be done better with more benign weather.

The showing of cars & drivers from the difference Classes was a bit confusing for the non-rally fans. More stage end interviews wouldve been good too and showing each stage times.

A good effort all in all.

[cmac]

Thought the coverage was ok, but kept jumping from car to car too quickly and all in different classes rather than grouped together in there respective classes.
Think the rally nuts will be easier to cover and longer shots of the cars.

OK start but room for improvement.

[cmac]

I am going to be spectating on the rally nuts severn valley stages and am looking for the sportity password or just the stage maps if anyone has them?
Thanks

[Fast Eddie WRC]

BRM didnt hold back with their verdict on the BRC coverage...

https://x.com/BritRallyMedia/status/1775452223591346609?s=20

[AndyRAC]

No, and I applaud his/ their honesty. The 'better than nothing' has been the usual comment for rally coverage from British rally fans for too long......

I thought it was okay; but a little disjointed, and the camera positions could have been far better. I don't know how much communication there is between the event organisers, and TV crew regarding camera positions - but in most sports it's done to showcase the sport in its best light. In an ideal world, camera positions would be decided when the route is being planned........

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I think my positivity possibly came from comparing it to the abysmal YT-only efforts in previous years. Plus as an Ingram fan he got a lot of coverage which I enjoyed.

I dont know how the camera positions were chosen but the live streams were also pretty poor. Maybe the weather made a difference and they needed to get some shelter. I guess we'll see on the next shows.

[J4MIE]

Absolutely pathetic coverage. Ridiculously bad quality, out of focus shots of car approaching stop line only for Matt to walk in front of the camera so cameraman had to walk around the car door. That would be terrible on live coverage, never mind the production studios they have. Interviewer must have forgotten to switch on the mic so couldn’t hear what was being said - that should be picked up straight away when it’s happening so they can redo it properly.

With the budget they had, there is no excuse for not coping with stage cancellations or weather - it’s rallying!!

They had a recce of the route beforehand and had a lot of help, there’s absolutely no excuse for it.

And put it this way, for what they’re being paid for the year it would be a nicely sized pension pot for me.

[J4MIE]

I am going to be spectating on the rally nuts severn valley stages and am looking for the sportity password or just the stage maps if anyone has them?
Thanks

Spectator information is available at https://rallynutsrally.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-RSVS-Spectator-Information-Download.pdf

[HKSjbg]

I’ve been watching it just now and I must say I think a lot of the criticisms seem a bit harsh. I thought it wasn’t too bad, but then maybe my expectations were lowered considerably reading these comments!

I’ll concede cinematically I don’t know what I’m talking about at all but it didn’t seem too bad for the most part. There were some glaring exceptions though!

The pre-amble was good; informative without being patronising. The mix of classes wasn’t confusing to me but kept me interested - I tended to skip forward through the lower classes until the main field appeared again on the old youtube footage. And as for the ‘fancam’ footage, ‘t’was ever thus; who else remembers Steve Rider’s commentary over the the fan submitted footage of Mark Lovell’s crash on the Twiglees stage of the ‘86 Scottish?

Hollie McRae was surprisingly good as a service park reporter, I think I assumed there would be an overuse of sporting TV buzzwords and cliches, but there was none of that - I don’t think I even heard the word ‘iconic’ once. And service park interviews are to me what classic rally roundup shows are supposed to have, none of this ram a microphone in every driver’s face at he end of every single stage and force them to come up with something interesting and original each time…

Better stage-side shots for the Severn Valley Rally will hopefully make this properly polished and miles better than it was last time the BRC was on TV - was it back in ‘18 on Channel 4 at 7:30am on a Saturday with some berk who didn’t have the first clue about rallying?

[satnav]

Does anyone know the sportity password for the Rallynuts Stages? Hoping to spend the full day in Hafren, starting with Sweet Lamb then into the forest itself for the second pass

No Sportity password as yet however the route will be on the Sporttraxx app when it goes live usually a few days before the event as they are doing the tracking.

[HKSjbg]

I just noticed on ewrc-results that there is a tiny bit of extra mileage in there somewhere, it’s gone from 99km to just over 100. Not a lot I know but when was the last time the BRC had 100 or more competitive km on gravel?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Yates back in BRC just for fun..

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/yates-makes-shock-brc-comeback/

[J4MIE]

Might just be me, but PMs not working on here?

[Sal yet again]

Might just be me, but PMs not working on here?

Was very sporadic now appears to be fully broken!

[satnav]

They keep going down, as Sal said they are broke yet again.

Keep trying they might come back again

[Steve Boyd]

I just noticed on ewrc-results that there is a tiny bit of extra mileage in there somewhere, it’s gone from 99km to just over 100. Not a lot I know but when was the last time the BRC had 100 or more competitive km on gravel?
When event routes and schedules are first published they are based on approximate measurements. They can change for a variety of reasons - bits of road you thought you could use become unavailable &c - but in this case it's probably just due to the roadbook being published with the actual trip meter measurements, rather than the pre-event estimates.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Chris Ingram said today he's testing the 2nd MEM Yaris Rally2 'soon'.

[J4MIE]

Yates back in BRC just for fun..

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/yates-makes-shock-brc-comeback/

That’s a shame, I thought he was gone for good.

[the sniper]

Talking of popular blokes, I wonder if we'll see Tom Cave out this year?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Jos Verstappen on his BRC & gravel debut:

"We are very happy to come to Wales and the British Rally Championship,” Verstappen said.

“Renaud [Jamoul, co-driver] has done Wales Rally GB several times but for me, these stages will be the first.

“I only started rallying two years ago but only with tarmac events. After two test sessions in the wintertime in the south of France, we have decided to do our first proper gravel rally and as Renaud has some really good memories in Wales, this rally was looking like the best one to start with.

“There is no plan in terms of performance because it will be my first time on gravel but for sure the target is to improve and be as close as possible to the top guys. The entry field will be again really competitive, so we are looking forward [to it].”

[satnav]

Might just be me, but PMs not working on here?

They are back up again, don't know for how long though.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Nice piece on how Meirion Evans is finding Toyota transition:

https://rallyinsight.com/2024/04/09/how-evans-is-finding-toyota-transition/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Evans / Ingram PET for Rallynuts:

https://youtu.be/kWwJ-JhTSVU?si=Qc0SWg1HObmPVe5B

[Sunbeamti]

I know this may be a long shot but does anyone have the sportity PWd for this weekends Rallynuts? PM me please.

[Sunbeamti]

I know this may be a long shot but does anyone have the sportity PWd for this weekends Rallynuts? PM me please.

[Sunbeamti]

Tip for future events: Look on the event web site for a copy of the event regulations (often under "Competitors" section). You will usually find the Sportity code in there. EWRC often have a link to the official noticeboard (look for the "Sportity" tab) on events they list, so that can be another source.

I have used Sportity for a while now as you described, but I notice Rallynuts organisers have now removed it and send out the PWd to competitors only.

[J4MIE]

I have used Sportity for a while now as you described, but I notice Rallynuts organisers have now removed it and send out the PWd to competitors only.

Great, probably as a result of folk sharing it all publicly or on Facebook. Excellent work chaps…

[Sunbeamti]

Great, probably as a result of folk sharing it all publicly or on Facebook. Excellent work chaps…

Yes disappointing, I dont really see the harm. Mostly its dedicated spectators that look as deep as this. It certainly helped me on the NW stages this year after a mess of a morning. The Marshalls had little knowledge of the nissues when I asked them! Oh Well back to my trusty scanner.

[J4MIE]

Sportraxx map is on the app, looks like its been running for recce today anyway.

[Sunbeamti]

Sportraxx map is on the app, looks like its been running for recce today anyway.

Good to know that is still an open service. Interesting, I thought RallyNuts were using Geotraq? It has no ref in the regs to Sporttrax, but a complete guide and ref to Geotraq.

[Sunbeamti]

I know this may be a long shot but does anyone have the sportity PWd for this weekends Rallynuts? PM me please.

Thanks to anyone who has PM me, the messaging seems to be down for me this afternoon. Hope its resolved later.

[satnav]

Yes the PM's are down again, another tip for some stage info is onthepacenotes on sportity, pw is OTPN2024

[J4MIE]

Good to know that is still an open service. Interesting, I thought RallyNuts were using Geotraq? It has no ref in the regs to Sporttrax, but a complete guide and ref to Geotraq.

Yeah strange one that. Geotraq seems to be more complex and although it uses satellites, they were blocking some issues at NW Stages on lack of phone signal. It just doesn’t seem to work very well from an outsider looking in. Plus you can’t view any tracking info before or after an event’s time. I distinctly remember it finishing on the RAC when there’d been a delay, and when I queried it on Facebook they insisted everything was fine and no problem at all……:rolleyes: Also high costs for any damage.

[Sunbeamti]

Yeah strange one that. Geotraq seems to be more complex and although it uses satellites, they were blocking some issues at NW Stages on lack of phone signal. It just doesn’t seem to work very well from an outsider looking in. Plus you can’t view any tracking info before or after an event’s time. I distinctly remember it finishing on the RAC when there’d been a delay, and when I queried it on Facebook they insisted everything was fine and no problem at all……:rolleyes: Also high costs for any damage.

I agree I found it a bit less informative on a Moble on the NW stages, not it as good as Sporttrax. Maybe a work in progress.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Looks to be battle on between Ingram and Pryce for the Rallynuts win.

[satnav]

Good to know that is still an open service. Interesting, I thought RallyNuts were using Geotraq? It has no ref in the regs to Sporttrax, but a complete guide and ref to Geotraq.

The only reason i knew it was on Sporttraxx was that it was on the list of upcoming events, i see they have removed it from the list today on the app although it can still be viewed here;
https://tracking.sporttraxx.com/races/rallynuts-2024/map2d/

[J4MIE]

I agree I found it a bit less informative on a Moble on the NW stages, not it as good as Sporttrax. Maybe a work in progress.

I don’t agree that “a work in progress” should be allowed in rallying. Same with the terrible BRC coverage.

Prove it works, prove you can do the job and then get chosen to earn lots of money. You wouldn’t get away with it in any other industry.

I watch an F1 photographer on YouTube who constantly gets asked “can I be your assistant and learn to take F1 photos?”. He says that you should already know how to take the photos before you reach F1. That’s my point exactly.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

At Rallynuts William Creighton on a charge with two stage wins and passes a slow Ingram for 2nd o/a.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Somewhat expected but still impressive win for Osian Pryce on Rallynuts. Really happy for him after a tough close season and misfortune on the NW Stages.

Creighton being 2nd again is amazing by this lad. His stage wins were maybe due to Pryce going steady and Ingram's Polo struggling in the slippery conditions but still a great confidence boost.

Ingram thought the Polo wasnt as suited as on dry fast conditions and cant wait to get his new GR Yaris for Rd3.

Looks like a great Championship battle is developing as we hoped.

[HKSjbg]

Only just noticed this: the Woodpecker is moving to a Newtown/Sweet Lamb base this year, so could out watching the cars in Hafren again later this year.

https://www.woodpecker-rally.co.uk/phil-price-memorial-woodpecker-rally-gets-shake-up-for-2024/

[AndyRAC]

Only just noticed this: the Woodpecker is moving to a Newtown/Sweet Lamb base this year, so could out watching the cars in Hafren again later this year.

https://www.woodpecker-rally.co.uk/phil-price-memorial-woodpecker-rally-gets-shake-up-for-2024/

Using some of the stages as seen in Saturday's Severn Valley.
In years past the Rallynuts/Severn Valley/ Kerridge/ Mutiny used the stages around Crychan, Halfway, Tywi, Radnor........And it was in late May/ early June; I never heard the reason for the date change, or the change of forests.

[HKSjbg]

Using some of the stages as seen in Saturday's Severn Valley.
In years past the Rallynuts/Severn Valley/ Kerridge/ Mutiny used the stages around Crychan, Halfway, Tywi, Radnor........And it was in late May/ early June; I never heard the reason for the date change, or the change of forests.

Hopefully that will be day two’s itinerary for the Severn Valley next year ;)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Ingram still leads the BRC after Rd2..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GLN_cVhXwAA_ofR?format=jpg&name=small

[AndyRAC]

Hopefully that will be day two’s itinerary for the Severn Valley next year ;)

Yes, a two day gravel event is a pipe dream.......

[HKSjbg]

Yes, a two day gravel event is a pipe dream.......

RACMC are pulling it off this November…

[Sal yet again]

Nice to see the Appleby TR7 V8 making progress at the weekend with Miggins at the wheel. Exciting prospect for the Manx.

[AndyRAC]

RACMC are pulling it off this November…

Yes, I meant BRC...and running Saturday/ Sunday. Not Friday night/ Saturday like Cambrian & Trackrod have done.

[HKSjbg]

Well I think for once the new BRC season has lived up to the hype - we couldn’t reasonably expect much better than a former ERC champion and last year’s JWRC champion, among other high calibre entrants.

And everybody seemed happy enough doing 100 forestry kilometres last weekend so it might not be out of the realms of possibility that next year or the year after there could be at least one 2-day BRC gravel round. As this year has already proved doing more than 70km clubman rallies was always plausible, just so long as there was good promotional benefit in the BRC for the competitors to be interested

[cmac]

Can anyone tell me how Ingram managed to start 4th on the road with out penalty?
Seems unfair if road position tactics can be played, with out time penaltys?

[AndyRAC]

Well I think for once the new BRC season has lived up to the hype - we couldn’t reasonably expect much better than a former ERC champion and last year’s JWRC champion, among other high calibre entrants.

And everybody seemed happy enough doing 100 forestry kilometres last weekend so it might not be out of the realms of possibility that next year or the year after there could be at least one 2-day BRC gravel round. As this year has already proved doing more than 70km clubman rallies was always plausible, just so long as there was good promotional benefit in the BRC for the competitors to be interested

Yeah, it's going really well - and one hopes everybody keeps doing the full series; and not pulling out when they can't win the series.

As for promotion, we just need them to put the live end of stage stuff on You Tube; I can't fathom why it's Facebook only.......It's 2024, not 2014.

[J4MIE]

Can anyone tell me how Ingram managed to start 4th on the road with out penalty?
Seems unfair if road position tactics can be played, with out time penaltys?

There was 15 minutes of penalty free lateness between Main Controls.
This is always an option for non international events, but most usually employed if there’s fresh snow.

Have seen some do this if very very foggy in the hope of catching and following lights of car ahead, or just mind games with close competition behind they could think you’ve had a problem and back off…

All part of fair competition :)

[Steve Boyd]

Well I think for once the new BRC season has lived up to the hype - we couldn’t reasonably expect much better than a former ERC champion and last year’s JWRC champion, among other high calibre entrants.

And everybody seemed happy enough doing 100 forestry kilometres last weekend so it might not be out of the realms of possibility that next year or the year after there could be at least one 2-day BRC gravel round. As this year has already proved doing more than 70km clubman rallies was always plausible, just so long as there was good promotional benefit in the BRC for the competitors to be interestedHappy doing 100km for the entry fee of a 70km event. The organisers added 30km for free to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event. Would there have been as many entries if the full entry fee had been charged?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Talking of popular blokes, I wonder if we'll see Tom Cave out this year?

He posted today that he did some gravel driving tuition with Jo's Verstappen before the Rallynuts.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Can anyone tell me how Ingram managed to start 4th on the road with out penalty?
Seems unfair if road position tactics can be played, with out time penaltys?

He didnt gain anything anyway as he was slower as the rally went on. The muddy 'line' created was more slippery than the gravel and the Polo R5 didnt have traction of the more modern Rally2 cars.

[HKSjbg]

Happy doing 100km for the entry fee of a 70km event. The organisers added 30km for free to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the event. Would there have been as many entries if the full entry fee had been charged?

If it’s all down to the entry fee then surely it is sustainable to keep it at 100ish km? One would assume the organisers would be making a loss by not increasing the entry fee, yet this year’s event had 180 entries compared to 119 last year and 139 the year before.

I would also assume that although getting more entry fees coming in, that with 140 finishers there is a bit of an increase in the cost of repairing the roads. But still, with 61 more entries than last that would cover a lot of the extra cost involved in this year’s running of the event?

[J4MIE]

If it’s all down to the entry fee then surely it is sustainable to keep it at 100ish km? One would assume the organisers would be making a loss by not increasing the entry fee, yet this year’s event had 180 entries compared to 119 last year and 139 the year before.

I would also assume that although getting more entry fees coming in, that with 140 finishers there is a bit of an increase in the cost of repairing the roads. But still, with 61 more entries than last that would cover a lot of the extra cost involved in this year’s running of the event?

It’s not quite as simple as that. It was a round of all of the top UK championships, that’s the main reason entries were so high. Remember that BRC chops and changed their calendar on a whim the last few years.


Extra first usage costs - not sure of the figure, maybe £900/mile?
Extra 2nd usage costs - again maybe £650/mike or something?
Recce is an extra cost.
Extra permit fees per car is maybe a few hundred extra?

But then you have extra costs like rescue crews, doctors, signage, fuel/car costs for officials, etc.

If it was sustainable, every event would be doing it. All the details I’ve seen was saying it was specific to being the 50th year of the event. I can’t see it being much option in the future or other events, most will make a very modest small profit which will need to tide them over in leaner years.

[HKSjbg]

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/cambrian-adds-to-the-challenge/ Yeah yeah yeah heard it all before sting in the tail longer more challenging compact route etc

[AndyRAC]

A shame it seems there will be no Penmachno.....And if they want a proper sting in the tail, how about linking Alwen & Brenig, as seen on RallyGB in 2018? Might need a road closure, which is why it doesn't happen.

[archie106]

Sounds like a good route to me, they were unfortunate last year to have the use of Alwen withdrawn last minute.

Plenty of possible stage configurations within Clocaenog/Brenig, the drivers enjoy Alwen, and a single run through Elsi prevents the road cutting up too much.

I don't see much point in linking up Brenig/Alwen, additional cost/admin required for the road closure seems unnecessary when they can run a long stage through Clocaenog/Brenig.

[J4MIE]

They linked Alwen/Brenig a few years ago, was a pretty nice jump over crossroads.

Penmachno is a horrible rough stage, always causes loads of retirements, plus they used a road closure to link both sides of it.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Anyone watched the BRC highlights show programme last night ?

Sadly there wasnt much improvement other than a slightly less complex showing of the various Championships & car classes.

To be fair the foggy weather didnt help the view of the action, but the camerawork was still pretty poor in terms of the positions, tracking shots losing the car and the drone shots again very amateurish.

[AndyRAC]

Plains Rally cancelled - a real shame.

https://www.plainsrally.co.uk/

[HKSjbg]

Blimey that’s a surprise. Doesn’t seem believable that a BHRC round can have too small an entry these days but here we are

[archie106]

This year it wasn't a round of the BHRC, just the Welsh forest championship and a couple of regional championships.

A big shame, but forest rallies which aren't a round of a major championship are struggling. I also don't think it helps having the Plains then the Border Counties on successive weekends, both of them stuck around the 70-80 entries mark.

The number of entries for the Rallynuts showed that there is still the appetite for forest rallying, however would it be better to have fewer events which are better spaced through the year? Rather than a load of events at the start of the year and a load at the end. (I know it would be tricky to do)

Just as an idea, have some events which only run every 2 years similar to the North West Stages. For instance, run Rally North Wales and the Plains on alternating years. Could help limit risks to organising clubs as should get a bigger entry for each one?

[AndyRAC]

Both the Plains & Border Counties are now run at different times to when they used to previously. The Borders was mid March, and the Plains for years was mid/late September, since 2009?? it moved to it's current slot. Obviously, forestry allocation may be the reason, but I regularly wonder just how much communication there is between organising teams.

Events/ championship are all competing for entrants, and there needs to be a way to facilitate all these events to run. Losing events is doing the clubs, or the sport no good at all.

Funny that you mention the North Wales & Plains, as back in the day, they used similar forests about a month apart in the autumn, when the North Wales was called the Bulldog.......

[HKSjbg]

This year it wasn't a round of the BHRC, just the Welsh forest championship and a couple of regional championships.

Oh yes of course. May well explain why so few entries then, the Welsh championship isn’t exactly oversubscribed…

[Steve Boyd]

Both the Plains & Border Counties are now run at different times to when they used to previously. The Borders was mid March, and the Plains for years was mid/late SeptemberThe Plains was in mid-April 35 years ago, though. I was servicing on the event on the day of the Hillsborough disaster.

It isn't uncommon for events to change dates. When it's done at the behest of a large championship it rarely has an impact. When a date change is forced by influences outside of rallying it can have a significant impact and if a large championship decides it doesn't want your event either because of location or a date you can't change then it often means the event has a limited future. Just look at the Astra, Dukeries & North Humberside events as other examples.

It's a sad loss. I remember marshalling on the event when it was a road rally and have been involved many times since.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

ITRC Rally of the Lakes underway and Matt Edwards is finding it a steep learning curve vs the experienced locals of Devine and Cronin.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Keith Cronin just took a huge 18.2 sec out of both Devine & Edwards on SS4 ! Edwards says that's mental and Keith is a special talent.

Edit -
Disastrous bad luck for Cronin on SS7 losing 2 mins with a puncture. :(

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Some good live action filmed by On The Limit and with cars at 30s intervals making it really enjoyable to watch:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/royfY3g2z2rYMgEL/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

So Devine held on for the win, Edwards couldn't catch him despite a couple of fastest times today. The unfortunate Cronin recovered to 4th.

This result should tight up the battle for the 2024 ITRC.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meirion Evans is set to give the GR Yaris Rally2 its Irish debut on the Carlow Stages on the 18th May.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

DirtFish to partner with Onthepacenote to bring further coverage of the remaining rounds of this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. :)

https://dirtfish.com/rally/dirtfish-is-going-bigger-in-ireland/

[hutchie]

Fantastic entry for Jim Clark Rally and the Reivers Rally too.

https://rallies.info/webentry/2024/jimclark/entries.php?type=s
https://rallies.info/webentry/2024/jimclarkreivers/entries.php?type=s

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meirion Evans is set to give the GR Yaris Rally2 its Irish debut on the Carlow Stages on the 18th May.

Evans only finished 3rd in the Yaris behind Daniel Cronin & Eddie Doherty.

With his experience on Irish roads I'd expect him to beat these guys if he was still using the Polo R5. He doesn't seem to be getting the pace out of the new car yet and doesn't look like challenging for the BRC Title if this doesn't change very soon.

[satnav]

Reading through the Final Instructions for the Jim Clark and this part is interesting ;

Crew Safety Briefing
There will be a competitor briefing which will be available on the Sportity App prior to the event.
It is a criminal offence for unauthorised persons to encroach on a public road including its verges
whilst it is closed by law for motorsport purposes. This includes members of the public and
competitors’ service personnel going onto the stage to assist cars that have stopped or come off. It
is also an offence to incite unauthorised personnel to commit an offence by asking or encouraging
them to encroach on the closed road for any reason. Arrest and charge may result from such
actions. Should unauthorised personnel offer to or actually assist a competitor, the competitor must
refuse such assistance and tell those involved to leave the stage and return to a place of safety
immediately

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Yeah, I was reading the Spectator Information section of the JC Rally this morning and they have gone completely OTT on the safety message !

https://jimclarkrally.co.uk/spectators/

[satnav]

Yes indeed, i seen that over the top is an understatement . So if a car is half on half off and blocking the stage unless the crew can get the road clear by themselves the stage will be lost..........

The Yaris still needs a bit of work yet going by Carlow yesterday, although the pace of Daniel Cronin and Eddie Doherty has been up there this year so the result wasn't really surprising.

[Steve Boyd]

Yeah, I was reading the Spectator Information section of the JC Rally this morning and they have gone completely OTT on the safety message !

https://jimclarkrally.co.uk/spectators/


Yes indeed, i seen that over the top is an understatement . So if a car is half on half off and blocking the stage unless the crew can get the road clear by themselves the stage will be lost..........

The Yaris still needs a bit of work yet going by Carlow yesterday, although the pace of Daniel Cronin and Eddie Doherty has been up there this year so the result wasn't really surprising.Given that the law says it is illegal to be anywhere on a closed road, unless you are specifically authorised to be there, and that not many years ago three irresponsible spectators died on the Jim Clark Rally, I think that you two really need to reconsider your attitude.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Given that the law says it is illegal to be anywhere on a closed road, unless you are specifically authorised to be there, and that not many years ago three irresponsible spectators died on the Jim Clark Rally, I think that you two really need to reconsider your attitude.

I quite understand the need for safety briefings but the threats and it's how it's being communicated that seems to me extremely heavy-handed.

And the similar NW Stages closed-road rally didnt have these instructions or threats of arrest to spectators...

https://www.northweststages.co.uk/spectators/spectating-safely/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The Yaris still needs a bit of work yet going by Carlow yesterday, although the pace of Daniel Cronin and Eddie Doherty has been up there this year so the result wasn't really surprising.

Yesterday Chris Ingram posted he was doing a shakedown of the Polo R5 so it seems he's continuing in that car for the Jim Clark.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7OEfYKoYV1/?igsh=czZzYzB1dm9zeHd4

EDIT
He answered that it's because the 2nd Yaris hasn't arrived yet at MEM and he's happier in the Polo on the tarmac. His new Yaris arrives ahead of the Nicky Grist Rally.

[J4MIE]

Yes indeed, i seen that over the top is an understatement . So if a car is half on half off and blocking the stage unless the crew can get the road clear by themselves the stage will be lost...........

No, it’s only if spectators break the law by going onto the road to give them a push.
If they just stay where they are then there’s no issue unless the road is blocked, but that can be reported on the trackers.

With the organisers facing the possibility of being arrested and facing court action if spectators continue thinking they are above the law, how would you go about stopping this?

Due to the risk of stuff happening I’ll never even marshal in stage on an event again, I can’t quite understand why anyone would put themselves at risk by organising/running an event.Yet speccies are more than happy to hugely increase that risk, all the while being against being told not to break the law…

[Steve Boyd]

And the similar NW Stages closed-road rally didnt have these instructions or threats of arrest to spectators...But then the LFNWS organisers haven't had to give evidence at a Fatal Accident Inquiry.

Also bear in mind that spectators trespassing on closed roads on the Isle of Man have been arrested, fined and even had to spend a night in the cells.

[satnav]

Given that the law says it is illegal to be anywhere on a closed road, unless you are specifically authorised to be there, and that not many years ago three irresponsible spectators died on the Jim Clark Rally, I think that you two really need to reconsider your attitude.

My attitude is quite all right, considering the three irresponsible people killed, two of which were actually signed on media who should have know better, that was the reason Media accreditation was changed by the MSA.

The law in the IOM is a lot different than the UK so you can't compare like for like.

[J4MIE]

My attitude is quite all right, considering the three irresponsible people killed, two of which were actually signed on media who should have know better, that was the reason Media accreditation was changed by the MSA.

The law in the IOM is a lot different than the UK so you can't compare like for like.

No it was only one signed on media person all others were spectators. And there were dozens of people standing there on both sides of the road in the large gaps in the hedges created by cars going off there almost every time it was run. Completely insane place to stand, one of the few places I know of that I went out of my way every year to remind my dad to never go there. But there were other organisational issues of course, which are well documented.

But to blame “The media” is well wide of the mark. And of course another group of spectators were hit by a car on another stage on the event just before the fatality.

These days who were “the media” have mostly given up with rallying due to the hassles with officials/marshals both before and during events, it’s simply not worth the hassle. And most new photographers realise this and remain as spectators and find it less restrictive and much much easier to flout the rules and stand wherever they like, including dangerous positions. They have no accountability and take the piss when queried, and really don’t understand they are putting the future of rallying at real risk.

[satnav]

No it was only one signed on media person all others were spectators. And there were dozens of people standing there on both sides of the road in the large gaps in the hedges created by cars going off there almost every time it was run. Completely insane place to stand, one of the few places I know of that I went out of my way every year to remind my dad to never go there. But there were other organisational issues of course, which are well documented.

But to blame “The media” is well wide of the mark. And of course another group of spectators were hit by a car on another stage on the event just before the fatality.

These days who were “the media” have mostly given up with rallying due to the hassles with officials/marshals both before and during events, it’s simply not worth the hassle. And most new photographers realise this and remain as spectators and find it less restrictive and much much easier to flout the rules and stand wherever they like, including dangerous positions. They have no accountability and take the piss when queried, and really don’t understand they are putting the future of rallying at real risk.

I'm not blaming anyone, i know there were a lot of people there on both sides of the road and it was luck more than anything that it was only three people that lost their lives, insane place isn't even close.

For people to say they think it is safe unless there is a sign to say otherwise is a sorry state of where we are unfortunately.

I just hope the organisers have a safe and well run rally for everyone's sake. I've sent you a pm

[Steve Boyd]

The law in the IOM is a lot different than the UK so you can't compare like for like.No - the UK closed roads legislation was based on the IoM Road Racing Act. You also need to bear in mind that legislation in Scotland is different from the law in England & Wales so the interpretation and implementation may well be different between the countries. You ignore the event advice at your peril.

[satnav]

No - the UK closed roads legislation was based on the IoM Road Racing Act. You also need to bear in mind that legislation in Scotland is different from the law in England & Wales so the interpretation and implementation may well be different between the countries. You ignore the event advice at your peril.

I take your point, as you said the legislation is different, also at no point has it been mentioned that the advice would be ignored, i just hope for all's sake that there are ample marshals on the whole stage not just the spectator point if there is an incident, which i sincerely hope there isn't.

I think this discussion needs to close and we just look forward to a safe and uneventful rally for all competitors and spectators alike, for everyone's sake.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Re a message from Special Stage - they saying they are struggling to get their videos seen widely on YT. They ask anyone watching to give their videos a Like & make a comment to help push them to more people.

I'll certainly do so starting with tonight's live coverage of the JCR.

https://youtube.com/@specialstage?si=1fKKQHdgnp6Vzdab

[AndyRAC]

Re a message from Special Stage - they saying they are struggling to get their videos seen widely on YT. They ask anyone watching to give their videos a Like & make a comment to help push them to more people.

I'll certainly do so starting with tonight's live coverage of the JCR.

https://youtube.com/@specialstage?si=1fKKQHdgnp6Vzdab

You Tube is the best platform for streaming; why so many of the UK rally community prefer Facebook completely baffles me ( well, we know they prefer old tech).......Maybe Special Stage should stream exclusively on You Tube, and drop Facebook to force people's hand.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

So there we go, Payne stopped on SS1 at the watersplash and no-one moved it and crews are coming on it surprised.

Then Petch crashed and blocked the stage...

[J4MIE]

So there we go, Payne stopped on SS1 at the watersplash and no-one moved it and crews are coming on it surprised.

Then Petch crashed and blocked the stage...

There was a marshal trying to slow cars down, plus plenty room to get past.

Seems like lots of happenings in Abbey as well…
If I’d been able to get the afternoon off work would have been marshalling up there.

[J4MIE]

You Tube is the best platform for streaming; why so many of the UK rally community prefer Facebook completely baffles me ( well, we know they prefer old tech).......Maybe Special Stage should stream exclusively on You Tube, and drop Facebook to force people's hand.

Any business outlet has to go to where the viewers are, it is basic business practice.

[J4MIE]

Langton cancelled due to cows blocking the road for the interim car.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

There was a marshal trying to slow cars down, plus plenty room to get past.



Quite a few said they were taken by surprise by Payne's car just past the water splash.

There should be marshal's there ready to push any cars that stall.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Langton cancelled due to cows blocking the road for the interim car.

WTF. Such a short stage and they cant even control that.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Pryce stuck after the water splash this time. Dangerous says Evans.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

If Cronin''s time on SS5 is correct he's pulled back a chunk of time and after SS6 just 8.6s down overnight. Game on.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The game didnt last long with Ingram's off on SS8. :(

Pryce, Evans and Williams also failing to finish left the win to Cronin. Great for him and keeping him in the series this year.

Creighton in 2nd showing great consistency gives him the BRC lead !

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Ingram's debut in the GR Yaris Rally2 confirmed for the Nicky Grist Stages...

https://nickygriststages.co.uk/chris-ingram-to-make-toyota-debut-on-the-nicky-grist-stages-as-castrol-mem-rally-team-runs-two-gr-yaris-rally2s-for-the-first-time/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3QnZ6Pmi7QbcX_R1Vi5GRB 0McEVDqroWAcNkRKNOpH9Hf6-BDyQxeFd8w_aem_ATIfk0fiBBy9i-pJpHdC7dS3z5o-hqhJbGIcDsyrAE8Ti0KGXUB-hoFs3XiEFo0UMy1TPCjEXnQXNV58YItpz35K

[satnav]

I haven't seen this on here so i thought i'd let you all know how some fellow competitors behaved towards marshals at this years West Cork Rally ;

Sitting on 15th May 2024
David Munro (Chair), Nicky Moffitt, John Hopwood
Case No: J2024-8
Disciplinary Panel
Eian Pritchard – Licence Number: 41246
Jamie Champkin appeared on behalf of Motorsport UK.
Eian Pritchard did not appear and was not represented.
1. 1. Motorsport UK has brought disciplinary proceedings
against Eian Pritchard, a Motorsport UK Licence holder
who had attended the West Cork Rally as a spectator
together with his brother Kevin Pritchard and a friend,
Howard Davies.
2. An incident occurred during the second running of the
stage in Ring Village on 16th March 2024.
3. As a result of what occurred the matter was referred to
Motorsport UK by Motorsport Ireland.
4. Eian Pritchard was then summonsed to appear before the
National Court for breach of NCR C.1.1.4 and C.1.1.9.
5. The Court is satisfied to the appropriate standard that Eian
Pritchard participated in an incident which was prejudicial
to the interests of motorsport generally and that he was
involved in assaulting two Marshals, Ger Conroy and Sean
Keown.
6. The essential facts appear to be that Mr Pritchard had
been allowed to park his Toyota SUV in the driveway of
Barry’s Bar in Ring Village. Access to the driveway was from
a length of highway which was being used as an escape
road while the stage was live.
7. He was made aware of this and said that he would not be
leaving until the stage was closed at the end of the second
running.
8. At some point he changed his mind and, together with
his brother and Mr Davies, returned to the car with the
obvious intention of reversing it out of the driveway and
onto the escape road. Indeed, Mr Davies lifted a length of
red and white tape to allow the vehicle to be reversed.
9. The photographic evidence before the court plainly shows
that the vehicle had been reversed a short distance.
10. Unsurprisingly the two Marshals who were monitoring the
escape road became involved when they saw what was
happening.
11. Before the vehicle was actually moved, one of the
Marshals, Ger Conroy, had spoken to Mr Pritchard and
explained that he could not reverse into the escape road
and that the car should remain parked.
12. He was ignored, so he stood behind the Vehicle and on
two occasions banged his hands on the rear window.
13. Mr Pritchard got out of the driver’s seat and pushed
Mr Conroy away. Threats and obscenities were shouted
at Mr Conroy.
14. The second Marshal, Sean Keown, became involved when
Mr Pritchard returned to the car and started to get back
into the driver’s seat. Mr Keown was attempting to prevent
this from occurring when he was assaulted by Kevin
Pritchard and Eian Pritchard.
15. Mr Conroy sought to intervene and was punched and
grabbed to the face.
16. This was an unpleasant and wholly avoidable incident.
It has the appearance of joint enterprise by the Pritchard
brothers.
17. The Court is satisfied that Eian Pritchard was involved in
this fracas and therefore imposes a fine of £1,000.
18. The Court further orders that his Competition Licence
is suspended until 31st December 2024 with a further
suspension period of 12 months from that date, but that
further suspension is itself suspended subject to his
continuing good behaviour.
19. He is to pay the costs of £500.
David Munro, Chair
15th May 2024

[Sal yet again]

Really poor behaviour but maybe if the marshals had access to a radio the stage could have been stopped rather than them "getting involved". Interesting that with a bit of googling the main culprit was also involved in an alleged incident at his own business not long before. If that is the same HD I'm thinking of then he needs banning from representing rallying as a commentator for a year IMO

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Donegal to be pivotal to Cronin's 2024 Title challenge.

https://www.motorsportireland.com/Public/MI_News/2024/Cronin-Donegal-Preview-2024.aspx

Others have more recent experience in Donegal but Cronin has two ITRC wins already on the board this year.

[Sal yet again]

Talking of Donegal was just watching footage of the 2019 event and poignant that 3 of the drivers featured are sadly no longer with us namely Craig Breen, Manus Kelly and Ken Block

[Fast Eddie WRC]

DirtFish to partner with Onthepacenote to bring further coverage of the remaining rounds of this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. :)

https://dirtfish.com/rally/dirtfish-is-going-bigger-in-ireland/

On todays SPIN the Rally Pod they were just taking about a live podcast from Donegal next week. No mention of anything during the actual rally.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meirion Evans is set to give the GR Yaris Rally2 its Irish debut on the Carlow Stages on the 18th May.

Meirion Evans is also doing Donegal in the Yaris Rally2. Will be interesting to see how he and the car goes against the established cars on the Irish tarmac.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Wow, and Callum Devine has switched to a new car for Donegal.. A Skoda Fabia RS Rally2!

[Sal yet again]

Interesting time to change car maybe the day of the Polo on Irish tar is over. With Cronin's pace in the latest Festa then maybe he has been having to over drive the VW.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Interesting time to change car maybe the day of the Polo on Irish tar is over. With Cronin's pace in the latest Festa then maybe he has been having to over drive the VW.

Devine said this morning that the Skoda just suddenly became available and they had to take it as they're quite hard to get hold of.

A short test was ok and the base tarmac set-up seems good and the engine stronger at the top end than the Polo.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meirion Evans is also doing Donegal in the Yaris Rally2. Will be interesting to see how he and the car goes against the established cars on the Irish tarmac.

Meirion Evans was within 0.5s of stage-winner Matt Edwards on the opening Knockalla stage on Saturday. Encouraging.

Now fastest o/a on Day 2...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQvTgH5XcAAtDUc?format=jpg&name=medium

[Sal yet again]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JdqF7xpFr0

Great Donegal highlights vid capturing Edwards off amongst others!

[AndyRAC]

Sweetlamb Rallysprint/ Time Trial at the weekend. I didn't go, but as usual, it looked a good event. Would love to see more of these, particularly in the rally 'off season', from November - February. We used to have Haye Park, Cropton.....
Walters Arena is big enough for a 2 day Rallysprint.

[Sal yet again]

Don't know what the entry fee was however as you say would seem like a great format from the YT footage I've seen and like you am surprised there aren't more like this around the country however guess its down to allocation as usual.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JdqF7xpFr0

Great Donegal highlights vid capturing Edwards off amongst others!

Also good daily highlight videos from On The Limit:

https://youtube.com/@onthelimitsports?si=iIJubeZ5eRwL7_vY

Nice that they have no commentary plus a bit of old-school atmosphere:

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Re Donegal
It was slightly disappointing that both top Fiesta drivers, Cronin and Edwards, had accidents to derail their challenges.

But the win and second place for Devine and Evans in the respective new Fabia RS and GR Yaris were still great results and encouraging for the future.

[Sal yet again]

Some people I know used to joke a bit about the Irish tarmac series and say it was just a rich man's playground however the current crop of drivers like Devine and co have some real pace and the Rally 2 formula seems to have levelled the playing field machinery wise.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

RALI CEREDIGION Welcomes European Stars With New Extended Route

The longest and most diverse route yet, the rally’s 183km of competitive special stages will visit the neighbouring Carmarthenshire and Powys counties as well as Ceredigion.

Full details:
https://x.com/RallyingUK/status/1807746360067633555

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Interesting to see Keith Cronin also on the entry list for the NG Stages, along with the two MEM GR Yaris. He's clearly taking the attempt to win a 5th BRC very seriously with this practice rally...

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/nickygrist/entries.php?type=s

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Chris Ingram was the overall winner on the NG Stages on his debut in the GR Yaris. A promising start and good for the remaining rounds of the BRC.

Cronin was 2nd 12s down and Evans 3rd nearly a minute behind his team mate in the othe Yaris.

[Steve Boyd]

Chris Ingram was the overall winner on the NG Stages on his debut in the GR Yaris. A promising start and good for the remaining rounds of the BRC.

Cronin was 2nd 12s down and Evans 3rd nearly a minute behind his team mate in the othe Yaris.
Those results are not correct. EWRC is currently (01:30 BST on 14 July) showing the first provisional results. Following information presented to the CofC with regards to a faulty clock at the start of SS2, that stage was cancelled and, following a JoF report, car 89 was disqualified and the results re-posted provisional. The second provisional results were declared final at 19:25 BST on 13 July.

The correct results are available here:
https://results.btrdarallyresults.co.uk/results/?e=706
Following the changes Ingram finished 14.7 s ahead of Cronin and 53.4 s ahead of Evans.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Those results are not correct. EWRC is currently (01:30 BST on 14 July) showing the first provisional results. Following information presented to the CofC with regards to a faulty clock at the start of SS2, that stage was cancelled and, following a JoF report, car 89 was disqualified and the results re-posted provisional. The second provisional results were declared final at 19:25 BST on 13 July.

The correct results are available here:
https://results.btrdarallyresults.co.uk/results/?e=706
Following the changes Ingram finished 14.7 s ahead of Cronin and 53.4 s ahead of Evans.

No change in the 1-2-3 order though, just a slight change in the gaps.

It wasn't easy to be sure of the times as Cronin was shown with a 1.00 Penalty for a good while.

Watching the action on YT there was a clear difference in pace between Ingram and Evans. Quite a surprise when Evans has had much more time in the GR Yaris. Plus Ingram didnt even have a recce !

[Steve Boyd]

Plus Ingram didnt even have a recce !Nobody had a recce - it was a BTRDA event & you only get a recce on BRC events in the woods!

EWRC have now updated their results pages to match the final results of the event.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Jimmy McRae is doing the Grampian Forest Rally ! Happy 50th Year, Jim ! :D

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/jimmy-mcrae-to-make-brc-return-after-30-years/

[HKSjbg]

Is anyone planning on going to Rali Ceredigion this year? I’m planning on staying overnight somewhere, maybe have a piss up with my mates in Aberystwyth on the Saturday but with stages like Brechfa included this year, how close is the itinerary to Aber this time around?

[Sal yet again]

I was hoping to go but as am not familiar with the area dont want to get "penned" in. Had hoped to do shakedown/quali and then the town centre but after that am struggling.

[J4MIE]

I was hoping to go but as am not familiar with the area dont want to get "penned" in. Had hoped to do shakedown/quali and then the town centre but after that am struggling.

I think it’s fine as long as you arrive in plenty time and can go for a wander, getting there early is crucial (ideally before road closes). Maps usually fairly easy to find in advance. So e cracking roads, but a lot are like Ireland in that they’re fairly narrow with big hedges so sometimes hard to get a view. I think there’ll be plenty spectator info scsilsnoe due to it being on the ERC.

[HKSjbg]

I was hoping to go but as am not familiar with the area dont want to get "penned" in. Had hoped to do shakedown/quali and then the town centre but after that am struggling.

Based on my experience of last year, the fan zones weren’t ideal - both we tried were pretty flat and didn’t offer much to get excited about. I’m sure there will be the possibility for some areas to be on more of natural bank, maybe my own recce will be needed to check out this year’s zones.

Last year I took a look at the maps and found a couple areas that looked like they might be interesting - Cymystwyth at the end of the long run up Elan Valley was a good spot, so good in fact that Special Stage chose to set up their cameras there too! On day two we went to the Hafren stage and found two switchback hairpins, brilliant spot to see everything come through at full chat with plenty of oppo, loads of fans there and the marshals were all pretty reasonable with us gathering there.

[AndyRAC]

Yeah, they actually used the Tarmac road through the Hafren forest that goes past the picnic site near the famous Nant Melen hairpin........

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Grampian Forest seeded entry:

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/grampian/entries.php?type=s

[J4MIE]

Ceredigion maps are on council website:

https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/eetomw0d/aberystwyth-map-1.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/0whpv1gw/aberystwyth-map-2.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/mvebhqck/aberystwyth-map-3.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/1vmpo5sj/bethania-map.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/xkzdolyh/cwmerfyn-map.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/vrqlruua/hafod-map.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/lkjm0mwu/llyn-brianne-map.pdf
https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/udzh1sph/nant-y-moch-map.pdf

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Live action from the Grampian Forest Rally...

https://www.youtube.com/live/Z-o_4lxHkQY?si=RP1sz_kw9Yor26cI

[Fast Eddie WRC]

BRC Leader Will Creighton lost 26s with a puncture on SS2 of the Grampian. It'll be tough to get that back tomorrow.

[archie106]

Tough but not impossible, sounds like the stages have a lot of big rocks getting pulled out, so he won't be the last to get a puncture.

72 km to go over 7 stages, so enough distance left if he's willing to push

[J4MIE]

Tough but not impossible, sounds like the stages have a lot of big rocks getting pulled out, so he won't be the last to get a puncture.

72 km to go over 7 stages, so enough distance left if he's willing to push

This was always one of my favourite events, it’s a fairly nice surface which is quite loose but not usually that rough apart from a very small number of bends. And will have been fine with their running order, I’ve run last on the road and it’s not really been an issue. Maybe just the bigger cuts the top crews are taking that are pulling more rocks out?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

2/2 stage wins for Creighton so far today !

Brilliant live filming location for SS3...
https://www.youtube.com/live/OamsB_gWfoo?si=4me1mQpbGYqjMgvQ

[archie106]

I think that Cronin said it was from the cuts, I had the stage interviews on in the background so missed a few bits. Sounds like the first few stages this morning have been better

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Spin for Pryce on SS5. Now Ingram leads him by 18.5s with 3 stages to go.

(Another puncture for Creighton on SS6)

[archie106]

James Williams retired, tracker shows him stopped at the corner Finlay Retson rolled on last night. Assuming he has gone off the road.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Good win by Ingram, not the fastest but no mistakes.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

This came up on my feed re Rali Ceredigion...

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/rally-trouble-couple-locked-in-by-rali-ceredigion-route-as-others-defend-ps3m-event-711769

[HKSjbg]

This came up on my feed re Rali Ceredigion...

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/rally-trouble-couple-locked-in-by-rali-ceredigion-route-as-others-defend-ps3m-event-711769

“Rallying emits Co2 which does not need to be emitted, hastening global ecosystem collapse.” So does everything else mate, get a life. How about we cancel all sport because of the Co2 which does not need to be emitted?

[Sal yet again]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/09/biomass-power-station-produced-four-times-emissions-of-uk-coal-plant-says-report

Read this and weep environmentalists!

Problem you have is that the press are always looking for click bait and as the guy mentioned in the story is a retired journo no doubt he will know all about timing for effect. Remember what happened though with the 11th hour postponement of the new closed road event up in Sth Yorkshire late last year to see what could happen. There is so much self entitlement and poor spirit in flight in this country just now it really is disappointing.

[J4MIE]

“Rallying emits Co2 which does not need to be emitted, hastening global ecosystem collapse.” So does everything else mate, get a life. How about we cancel all sport because of the Co2 which does not need to be emitted?

So what is rallying doing to try and convince people otherwise?
Some events are offsetting carbon, some competitors are too. But as a whole, rallying is sleepwalking into an early grave, and not coming up with any answers to avoid it.
Spectators simply aren’t interested in offsetting, or, god forbid, things like park & rides to a single spectator area.

FLS are in the middle of negotiating a new master agreement for Scotland and are trying to massively increase costs, some events/MSUK are paying it and the Galloway Hills has cancelled with presumably more to follow. The warning signs have been there since the last forest review which basically said that rallying needs to do much more. And yet pretty much nothing has been done.

Just to bring some money to an area, and insulting those who dare to ask questions, isn’t good enough. Then questioning why rallying is dying…..

[Fast Eddie WRC]

“Rallying emits Co2 which does not need to be emitted, hastening global ecosystem collapse.” So does everything else mate, get a life. How about we cancel all sport because of the Co2 which does not need to be emitted?

Ironic when "Rali Ceredigion Receives Motorsport UK Environmental Sustainability Award"

https://www.raliceredigion.co.uk/articles/v/89-rali-ceredigion-receives-motorsport-uk-environmental-sustainability-award/

[Sal yet again]

Sad news for Yorkshire/North East rallying in that the landowner of the Melbourne airfield outside of York has decided to expand farming at the site and the last rally will now take place there in September. Leaves the county without a venue which is a massive shame. Spent many a happy hour there.

[J4MIE]

Single venue rallying will soon only be available at circuits in the winter off season.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It'll be great to see Matt Edwards back for Rali Ceredigion...

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/edwards-eyes-return-to-british-championship/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Not so great for Edwards on the Ulster Rally today...

Edwards Out 💥

Title contender Matt Edwards has come unstuck on Ulster Rally's third test. His Fiesta clipped a bank, dropping him out of the race for Ulster honours.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

So with the win going to Cronin in Ulster he has gone a warm favourite for the ITRC Title.

I wonder if he'll focus on that now as he's not had many good events so far in the BRC. The cost of doing both Championships must be pretty high.

[archie106]

Cronin hasn't had the best season so far in the BRC, however he isn't too far off the championship lead. There are two championship rounds at Ceredigion, and 1.5x points for the Cambrian so the BRC is only just over halfway through in terms of available points. He also hasn't yet used his joker points.

If he has a good run at Rali Ceredigion, he'll be right back in the hunt.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cronin's views and event preview...
https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/cronin-concentrates-on-brc-points-for-ceredigion/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Rali Ceredigion
BRC Qualifying Times

1️⃣ Creighton/Regan - 2:26.332
2️⃣ Armstrong/Treacy - 2:26.383
3️⃣ Ingram/Kihurani - 2:27.410
4️⃣ Cronin/Galvin - 2:27.773
5️⃣ Edwards/Moynihan - 2:28.158

[Fast Eddie WRC]

MEM Team Yaris 1-2 after SS5/14. A disastrous day for Creighton though.

1️⃣ Ingram/Kihurani - 34:30.0
2️⃣ Evans/Jackson +4.9
3️⃣ Pryce/Evans +12.1
4️⃣ Cronin/Galvin +18.7
5️⃣ Edwards/Moynihan +39.1
6️⃣ Armstrong/Treacy +59.1

Edit - Evans and Pryce got nominal times on SS4 after Williams roll and they were made fastest of the BRC guys. I'm not sure that will stand.

Edit 2 - looks like the SS4 times have been amended at least on eWRC.

[the sniper]

Having had a quick look through EWRC, was today's Woodpecker Rally (provisionally) the first time since 2003 that a Ford Escort hasn't finished in the top three of a British Historic Rally Championship event? https://www.ewrc-results.com/results/85726-phil-price-memorial-woodpecker-rally-2024/?s=472444&sct=453

Is the Proton still being developed? Pretty impressive that it can still be driven to the overall win.

I'll be interested to hear and see from the onboards how wide spread the fog was. I was surprised how foggy it was in Ceri even in the afternoon!

[AndyRAC]

There'll surely be crisis talks from the Historic community to make sure it doesn't happen again......;)

[Steve Boyd]

There's talk of letting Cat5 cars (1990's) in.

911's, 131's & TR8's will be the least of their worries! :D

[AndyRAC]

Good - 1990 is 34 years ago; that's surely 'historic'. Though I often feel anything after 1982 is classed as 'modern' in UK rallying circles.

I'd love to see the UK get a round of the European Historic championship.......

[Fast Eddie WRC]

There's talk of letting Cat5 cars (1990's) in.

911's, 131's & TR8's will be the least of their worries! :D

The 1990's F2 and Kit Cars would be amazing to see again. It's really time to move on from the 1970s cars.

[HKSjbg]

Good - 1990 is 34 years ago; that's surely 'historic'. Though I often feel anything after 1982 is classed as 'modern' in UK rallying circles.

I'd love to see the UK get a round of the European Historic championship.......

R.A.C. Rally/Anglo-Caledonian Rally?

[Steve Boyd]

Good - 1990 is 34 years ago; that's surely 'historic'. Though I often feel anything after 1982 is classed as 'modern' in UK rallying circles.I agree.

The first event with a historic rally that I worked on the results for was the 1988 Manx International. The "Big Healeys" & Sunbeam Tigers in that event were as old as a 1999 car is now. I think they need to go back to results by category, though, rather than overall results for all competitors. We might see some of those older cars come back as well as adding some of the newer cars from the 1990's.

[the sniper]

Enjoyed this onboard with Mark Higgins in SS6 Cwmbiga (Hafren) in the Triumph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5kiCKfuaC4

Foolish spectators at 0:46... Proper spectator at 5:46!

[Sal yet again]

Great to see Appleby and Miggins are making proper progress with the TR7 V8 as gives us some non Escort relief. Along with the 131 we now need someone to take hold of the Chevette and possibly the Sunbeam Lotus and it will be 1980 all over again!

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Re the 1990s F2 cars, would there be many out there likely to be entered if allowed and what use have they had since their BRC heyday ?

I know there's a F2 Nissan Sunny now in the BRC...

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/butcher-brings-the-noise-with-nissan-sunny-f2-brc-campaign/

[Sal yet again]

Depends what era of F2 you are talking about. There certainly aren't many (if any) "original" Maxi era cars competing in the UK and the ex works cars if they are still alive will be worth too much on the collectors market or being used at demo events. Seeing as there hasnt been the predicted upswing in use of the earlier 4wd cars as yet I really cant see a mass rush to use scrabblers even if it represents one of my favourite instances of the BRC.

[Brynmor Pierce]

Depends what era of F2 you are talking about. There certainly aren't many (if any) "original" Maxi era cars competing in the UK and the ex works cars if they are still alive will be worth too much on the collectors market or being used at demo events. Seeing as there hasnt been the predicted upswing in use of the earlier 4wd cars as yet I really cant see a mass rush to use scrabblers even if it represents one of my favourite instances of the BRC.

A big reason for the lack of upswing is the insistence of very costly FIA papers …something which cat 1-3 don’t have to have in the UK …this insistence was for anything Cat4 and now Cat 5 until recently, so my 309 gti had to have £2k worth of Fia papers ! It’s recently been relaxed for cars below the 4x4 category but too late Imho.

In regards the newer cars and cheaper to run stuff, I’m thinking gc8 Impreza you could probably build a nice Grp n legal one with papers for £30k ish done right, indeed there’s a lovely Evo 6 on eBay at £25k …problem with lots of 90’s cars though is they’ve been clubman fodder for so long they’re just destroyed.

[Sal yet again]

Good end of season entries for the Trackrod Forest stages and Historics.

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/trackrodhistoric/entries.php?type=s

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/trackrodforest/entries.php?type=s

Interesting to see Matt Hirst using a Fabia now

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cork 20 finale to the ITRC this coming weekend. Quite a battle should be on the cards...

http://www.irishtarmac.com/cork-20-finale-to-decide-2024-irish-tarmac-rally-champions/

Also Josh McErlean in a Fabia RS and Mez Evans in the GR Yaris add to the interest.

[saco0o]

Rd.4 Grampian Forest Rally 46min Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwt77lHO3QQ

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Good end of season entries for the Trackrod

Made the BBC... sort of. :D

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpg7yze7eo.amp

[Fast Eddie WRC]

31 Rally2/R5 entries for the Cork 20... impressive.

https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/86501-oconnell-group-cork-20-international-rally-2024/?ct=167

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cork 20 cancelled after SS5 due to adverse weather. Looks like Keith Cronin is the 2024 Champion.

https://rally.ie/index.php/stories/240704-020915#240929-083414

[satnav]

Matt Edwards on SS6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqrFhq2u3bg

You can see Calum's bumper on the left at 1:54 after his spin

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The BRC F2 Kit car reunion:

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/inside-the-brc-f2-kit-car-reunion/

All we need now is those cars back on the stages in the BHRC...

[satnav]

The BRC F2 Kit car reunion:

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/inside-the-brc-f2-kit-car-reunion/

All we need now is those cars back on the stages in the BHRC...

A truly unforgettable weekend, some more pictures ;

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=100044239968656&set=a.1102432131241442

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=100044239968656&set=a.1103166687834653

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Interesting that the recent East Ridings stages that I did attend was relatively open with its info and even had a stage near Beverley town centre that attracted a good sized crowd.



It's been rewarded...


https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/east-riding-stages-rally-to-provide-2025-brc-curtain-raiser/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabPT3f59IwlQV2XUI78WjtF zuM49VzDq3Dgq-1XhCnJUAoTzTkctFFnNn0_aem_tL8aENC65eZ0-1MgygB_hw

[Sal yet again]

Hope it doesnt spoil the ER! When the BRC went to the NW this year and that event being bi-annual I did think that maybe they would try and switch between the two especially as the East Riding had been left out of the Tarmac championship.

[HKSjbg]

The end of the article states a new look BRC calendar will be announced in a few weeks. I wonder how many rallies will come and go… Will there be a return to an English gravel round?

[archie106]

Surprised that they are going for a new look calendar when entries have been good this year. Would love to see the Wyedean or Kielder Forest Rally as part of the championship.

The East Riding Stages is great event, good to see it recognised. Some people on Facebook have been saying that it will negatively affect the clubmen competitors, but I'm not convinced, the stages are much more open than the North West stages, so I don't think stage blockages/cancellations will be as much of an issue.

[HKSjbg]

Some people on Facebook have been saying that it will negatively affect the clubmen competitors

Isn’t that the complaint with every rally in the country once it achieves any ambitious goal? As an outsider to the sport it does always seem like some competitors just don’t want rallying in Britain to get any bigger again for their own personal reasons

[AndyRAC]

Surprised that they are going for a new look calendar when entries have been good this year. Would love to see the Wyedean or Kielder Forest Rally as part of the championship.



Wyedean was BTRDA, and was moved to autumn and out of that championship, after the well publicised 'spectator issues' on the 2015 event. Kielder Forest was in the BRC, when known as the Pirelli; another event which has moved to another time of the year from late April.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cave ready to retain Cambrian crown !

Welsh rally ace Tom Cave will return to the sport exactly 12 months after securing victory at the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally in 2023, in a bid to defend his win.

“We certainly had to return to defend our Cambrian win from 2023, and it’s a nice bonus that we can show our pace against the BRC front runners. I’m excited to have Dale [Furniss, co-driver] back alongside me to be back in the Melvyn Evans Motorsport team again. Their professional set up and outlook aligns perfectly with my partner’s expectations.”

I`m very excited to be back behind the wheel of the Polo, it’s easily the best car I’ve driven on gravel in the Rally2 format and it’s still at the top in terms of competitiveness at a national level. We have a pre-event test planned to get re-acquainted with the Polo and Pirelli tyres, but we are going out there to show our pace and fight at the sharp end of British rallying. I can't wait for the challenge that brings; it’s been a while.”

Cave is supported by: The Joker, Go Fetch Ltd, Thorne Wines Limited, HN Nuttall Food Services Ltd, GF Grigg Construction Ltd, Pirelli, Tom Cave Racing Ltd, Melvyn Evans Motorsport, Atech

[HKSjbg]

Is anyone planning on going to the Anglo Caledonian? I’m going to try two stages on the Saturday, but as I’ve never been up that way I don’t know where are good viewing opportunities/what forests are a pain the arse to get to!

Each days’ route info:

http://files.freethought.website/freethought27/file/routeschedule1.4saturday.pdf

http://files.freethought.website/freethought27/file/routeschedule1.4sunday.pdf

[archie106]

I'm thinking about it, will see how good the entry list is closer to the time.

Ash Park and Kershope are across the road from each other, not too bad to get to, but it is pretty remote around there.

Haven't done Buck Fell before, but as I understand it, the Gowanburn stage is very similar to the Mount Common stage from the RAC last year with a couple of new miles at the start. Was very easy to get to last year, as the spectator area was next to Kielder Village.

If I end up going I think I'll do Kershope and Gowanburn, but will wait for the stage maps/spectator info.

[HKSjbg]

If it’s similar to last year’s RAC the series of 90 degree right handers about 1.6km from the end of Kershope made for good viewing from what I remember:

https://www.rally-maps.com/Roger-Albert-Clark-Rally-2023/Kershope

So Gowanburn is what used to be known as Falstone, I will just take a punt on where the organisers direct us to. Or maybe Kershope 1 and Buck Fell 1 depending on time…

[AndyRAC]

I went to Ash Park on the 2000 Pirelli, which was run about 8 o'clock in the morning; Kershope was run mid afternoon, when Jarmo Kytolehto suffered a puncture on the stage, costing him the win.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Ingram and Castrol MEM Rally Team aim for titles on season finale:

https://britishrallychampionship.co.uk/ingram-and-castrol-mem-rally-team-aim-for-titles-on-season-finale/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3kiPXXsK76CpW_fAmmKV74 jv8EFvqvdiivkH0Wj2WpbWQHY0--kJcz5NM_aem_qyWa2kR4a1ds6zV8KeuOXg

[HKSjbg]

I might go to the Cambrian as well if I can be bothered with the 2.5 hr drive :D

From the spectator info Brenig, Alwen and Clocaenog look a good bet - all close together if you wanna mix it up during the day and there’s that open section on Brenig where we got a lot of footage the other year of Solberg et al.

[Sal yet again]

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/2024/malton/entries.php?type=u

Un-seeded/provisional entry list of the now traditional curtain closer for Yorkshire rallying looking good.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Cambrian Entry list:

https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries/85612-visit-conwy-cambrian-rally-2024/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR04WBDw8iNjMxOPMfMjXKfA C-gcKe7rDyl4dIxSwuOQz08mFLyU2tMgDnM_aem_3sw3kzh-FEHODj5f28VL_w

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's nearly time for the end of season blockbuster !

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GZSk6PbX0AAeDk4?format=jpg&name=medium

[archie106]

Will be an interesting one, my money is on Creighton if he avoids punctures.

Was out in Clocaenog today, stage is in great condition. Looks like a dry day but the roads are still pretty damp.

Bring it on!

[saco0o]

oh boy here we go. GO INGRAM!

[Steve Boyd]

Link to the TCS Results Service for the National (BRC) section of the Cambrian Rally:
https://results.djames.org.uk/results/?e=709&simple

The InterClub (BTRDA) results are here:
http://www.btrdarallyresults.co.uk/results/?e=716&simple

The Mini Challenge results are here:
https://results.djames.org.uk/results/?e=717&simple

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Is there any tracking available ?

[satnav]

Tracking

https://tracking.sporttraxx.com/races/cambrian-2024/map2d/

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Tracking

https://tracking.sporttraxx.com/races/cambrian-2024/map2d/

Thanks ! :)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's been a frustrating rally to watch online (and in a person I expect). The delays seem almost inevitable on British rallies nowadays and the lack of information makes it even worse.

A close battle at the front though between Ingram and Creighton is great to see. But Pryce off the pace and Cronin stopped on SS2 is a shame.

Also a real pity for Cave to get a puncture on SS1 and also Ollie O'Donovan out early with a mechanical.

[archie106]

The delays were due to 3 or 4 cars rolling in Elsi, with 1 blocking the stage. Not much you can do about it really.

Afternoon stages will be interesting, some of the roads in Clocaenog are destroyed (more than normal), will be very tricky even for the rally2 cars.

[saco0o]

wait... is this a one day rally?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Creighton looked to have stopped for a while on the tracking !?

Edit: Seems a timing glitch, same time as Ingram apparently.