British & Irish Rally calendars 2023

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

My only issue is there are plenty of walkers paths nearby, including a picnic site not far from the famous Hafren hairpin.....And they don't seem to be restricted during this time of year.

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That's the car park I mentioned in my post last night. It wasn't an official car park but (from the security guy I talked to) they seemed ok with people going there as a lesser evil than parking along the narrow roads which were being used as access by the competitors.

@HKSjbg - I had a good old wander in Hafren last year and encountered a handful of other speccies, and none of the marshals or safety cars had any problem with me being there - though obviously I was in safe locations at all times.

Jim Clark entry list:

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/20...ies.php?type=u

Dont see Keith Cronin but he may be last minute as usual !

Polo Power for Pearson in BRC 2023

Duns rally driver Garry Peason will make an exciting switch to a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for the rest of the British Rally Championship season.

Pearson, a four-time national rally champion, has driven both a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and more recently a Skoda Fabia R5 since stepping up to the BRC last year.

But the switch to a Polo, run by Melvyn Evans Motorsport, puts him with the car and team that has won both the 2021 and 2022 British titles and 11 of the last 15 BRC rounds.

The Scotsman's first event in his new car will be his home event, the Jim Clark, on May 26/27.

"I'm incredibly excited to announce that we will be using a Polo from Melvyn Evans Motorsport for the rest of the season," Pearson said.

"We know that the Polo is proven on the events that we're going to, and Melvyn Evans Motorsport are going to be able to provide us with good help and feedback on the events and give us a good starting point in terms of set-up.

"The car and team have won the previous two British championships so it's a good step for us to drive this car and learn from these guys.

"We are sure we have the right package to unlock our full potential."

Pearson moves on from Dylan Davies Rallying on good terms.

"The Skoda was a one-event deal to start us off this season," he explained.

"Dylan Davies was great, he helped us out last season and the start of this season, but through no fault of Dylan's we've decided to try the Polo for the rest of the year given its proven winning capability in the BRC.

"I cannot wait to get my first try in the car and see what we can do for the rest of the year."

But Pearson will be doing so with a heavy heart after the rallying world lost Hyundai World Rally Championship star Craig Breen earlier this week.

"I’d like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to Craig Breen," Pearson said.

"Craig for me was the life and soul of rallying in the WRC. He lived and breathed rallying wearing his heart of his sleeve, holding back no emotion.

"We thought long and hard about when to announce our plans after the tragic news, but Craig wouldn't have wanted any of us to stop enjoying the sport he loved so much.

"My thoughts are with Craig's family, close friends and many fans around the world."

Pearson is supported by Billie Bowie Special Projects, Hankook UK, Asset Alliance Group, George Anderson General Builders, Solid Fuel Hub, Husqvarna, R.L Smith & Sons, Brick & Steel Construction and Morris Lubricants. switch to a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for the rest of the British Rally Championship season.

Got a last last minute seat for Clacton with Charlie Barlow in his 1400S Micra. Two runs along the seafront yesterday evening went ok and blew away the cobwebs as my last rally was in August. Forecast for some rain today which might make things interesting…

https://www.rallies.info/res?e=521&i=300

Well as last minute seats go that was a lot of fun, Charlie properly going for it all day with the rain getting steadily worse, got away with a few moments here and there to finish 9th overall in a 1400 Micra! :eek: :D

Wow thats a proper result with all that big banger machinery on the entry list! Just goes to show there is no substitute for talent and commitment!

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Originally Posted by Sal yet again

Wow thats a proper result with all that big banger machinery on the entry list! Just goes to show there is no substitute for talent and commitment!

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Talent and commitment, plenty of that on the drivers side :p
Really on it from the first bend, went out on wets as it had been raining overnight and got worse and worse, lots of big puddles on the last look and more than a few wobbles on the limiter :eek:
We were lucky to only get held up briefly by one car on the middle loop (cost us about 5 seconds) and same again on the final loop. To be fair quote a few came over and asked us to start ahead as they saw how well we were doing and didn’t want to get in the way! Was a bit worried going into the final stage being the longest of the loop but finished about 200m behind him flat over the flying finish (an Evo 6).

MN could be interesting this week....

We have a look at the current state of rallying in the UK. Special Investigation: Why British rallying needs your help.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fusrpf_X...jpg&name=large

Is it possible to buy a single cope of MN as a PDF?

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Originally Posted by J4MIE

Is it possible to buy a single cope of MN as a PDF?

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Looks like...

https://pocketmags.com/motorsport-news-magazine

And they just tweeted this link where its £2.99...

https://shop.kelsey.co.uk/single-iss...-magazine/5168

On a slightly different topic but kind of connected I seem to remember reading that the end of April was D_Day for any chance of a round of the WRC coming back to the UK/Ireland any time soon. Has anyone seen any updates yet?

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Originally Posted by Sal yet again

On a slightly different topic but kind of connected I seem to remember reading that the end of April was D_Day for any chance of a round of the WRC coming back to the UK/Ireland any time soon. Has anyone seen any updates yet?

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https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/w...nded/10460550/

I don't know whether the cancellation of the Ulster GP is any indication of the likely outcome - but it can't help.

Osian PRYCE 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

New Season….

New Car..
New Team
New Co Driver

New Challenge…
Coming soon…..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fu0D_BCW...jpg&name=large

Devine leads the ITRC Rally of the Lakes after SS4. Harsh on previous leader Rob Duggan after losing time on SS3 with J.Moffetts slow (nominal) time after Meirion Evans went off.

Biggie for Damien Cole on Epynt today, both taken to hospital. Car completely destroyed.

Sad end for Rob Duggan damaging the Polo R5 on the Rally of the Lakes penultimate stage, and not risking it going to the end.

Heroic drive from the guy, setting 5 fastest stage times in an R5, when he's usually in a Mk2 Escort !

Robert Barrable also superb, taking 2nd place to Devine by just 25sec.

Hope they are both ok. Damien has been a bit of a controversial character in past years however in the current climate especially its never good to hear about big crashes.

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Originally Posted by Paul Hudson

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/w...nded/10460550/

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Thanks for the link. Looks like they are hedging their bets however cant see any chance of a mainland GB rally especially in England with a £3 million entry fee..

£3 million is a hell of a lot of money for a series of the WRC's size.....

Found this pic online of the Cole wreck and testament to the strength of the Fabia cage that they were both relatively ok. Must be doubly upsetting for him that his daughter was in the nav's seat.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...9&locale=en_GB

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Originally Posted by Sal yet again

Found this pic online of the Cole wreck and testament to the strength of the Fabia cage that they were both relatively ok. Must be doubly upsetting for him that his daughter was in the nav's seat.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...9&locale=en_GB

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Wow that must've been brutal. So glad they survived it relatively well.

Another example of Epynt taking no prisoners; how many times has he done events on Epynt - and yet it can still catch you out. There are very rarely small 'offs' there......

A speedy recovery to both the crew.....

https://www.autosport.com/national/n...ival/10464444/

Motorsport UK behind plans for a UK rally festival...........

If they want it to "help grow rallying" it should feature a truly representative stage, it'd have to be somewhere like Sutton Park, Wollaton Park, Bute Park or Bellahouston Park, somewhere as near as possible to a large popular centre, where people can easily come and have a look. The likes of Castle Combe and Chatsworth are just too far out. It may be a couple of years too late for the former though, in terms of getting the local authorities onboard and keeping the likes of Just Stop Oil away... Sadly, I think the time to do this was 10 years ago.

I thought it could do with being part of an actual event; but I'm not sure how they'd make that work. And it would have to be an annual event, not a 'one off'.

Do we really need another rally festival ?, why not spend the money getting a WRC Event back in the UK and build on that with, Hospitality, Media, Spectator numbers in the Thousands every day.

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Originally Posted by Paul Hudson

Do we really need another rally festival ?, why not spend the money getting a WRC Event back in the UK and build on that with, Hospitality, Media, Spectator numbers in the Thousands every day.

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I agree with this.

We need a top series event back (ERC / WRC) and then have a spectator stage like the Rallyfest we had at WRGB with top cars and also demo runs from Group B cars etc. This would need to be as central and near cities as possible.

Rallyday already exists and adding something similar wont make any difference - another sticking plaster on a gaping wound.

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Originally Posted by Paul Hudson

Do we really need another rally festival ?, why not spend the money getting a WRC Event back in the UK and build on that with, Hospitality, Media, Spectator numbers in the Thousands every day.

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I'm guessing that they don't expect to find the funds to get either a WRC/ERC back, so this will have to suffice.

Saying that, the current events are pretty small, and hardly what you'd describe as a Festival.

Osian Pryce has done a deal for the next 3 Rounds of the ERC !

Great news and will be good to finally have a someone British to cheer again.

Jim Clark seeded entry list

https://www.rallies.info/webentry/20...ies.php?type=s

It seems kind of perplexing to me that this year and last, the Jim Clark and Reivers both have very healthy entry lists, yet there is no 3-day ‘International’ for lack of a more appropriate term.

The Ulster is going to be 157km long this year and round three at Ypres is going to be 221km, yet round two is just 107km and probably done and dusted after an hour-ish of stage running when there could be 173km and three days of action. Is it just me or does this seem like it could have been an easy win to get a ‘bigger’ event on the BRC?

Running the BRC on Sunday with the Scottish Championship would require a different route & schedule to accommodate the numbers of cars. In the years I worked on results the Reivers was frequently very hard work getting the entire field through the stages at 30 second intervals within the road closure times. Delays on the first run through frequently had knock-on stage cancellations of multiple stages for the tail of the field which lead to disgruntled competitors. You have to ask yourself whether the current event organisers want the extra work that a 3-day BRC event would entail.

Thanks for the insight! Is the scheduling issue specific to running a closed road rally in that part of the country or is it a problem possibly faced by the Argyll organisers too?

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Originally Posted by HKSjbg

Thanks for the insight! Is the scheduling issue specific to running a closed road rally in that part of the country or is it a problem possibly faced by the Argyll organisers too?

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It applies to all rallies on closed roads. It isn't as critical under the new legislation as it was because the order these days can be for 24 hours with the provision to be implemented in full for periods within that 24 hours.

In the past for the JCMR there were full closures for declared periods that were precisely defined and if you ran late there was the risk the closure order would run out before the tail of the field had completed the stage. A delay with a split in the field could cause stages to be cancelled for the late runners as they wouldn't get through before the road had to be opened. If the geography of the route was such that the tail couldn't catch up in that loop then you'd have no choice but to cut all remaining stages in that loop and send them back to service & re-group, sometimes missing two or three stages.

Even under the new rules, where the full closure is more flexible, you still don't want to be running late because if you've told the residents on the route that they will have full access by, say, 6pm you want to be clear by that time so you get their support for the event next year.

Live action tonight..

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxDgo__W...jpg&name=small

https://jimclarkrally.co.uk/jim-clark-rally-statement/

Sad about the fan. At least with the delay we and the drivers got some real night rally action and a great atmosphere with lights and glowing discs.

Day 2 on Special Stage.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxHp9fGX...jpg&name=small

The win goes to Fourmaux but not great times today... maybe just managing his lead.

3 surprising stage wins for James Ford... ironically in a Citroen !

Not been following the rally as such but was surprised to see it all over and done by just after lunch.