Route announced for Rally GB 2020!

[the sniper]

Coed-y-Brenin is currently off-limits to rallying due to mountain biking & other activities, though there were times when the RAC, Welsh International and Gwynedd Stages would have had three or four stages there. Stages have also been run in the past in Beddgelert & Drws-y-Nant, though they are a bit on the short side for modern events.

I've been led to believe the stages on east side of the A470 are now unavailable as you say but Maesgwm is theoretically still an option? I can't really see it being used though, as managing the spectator traffic/access wouldn't be easy. I imagine it'd be hard to justify the faff required for such a short stage.

Drws-y-Nant was apparently due to make a return on a National rally this year.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Lake District stages must be the closest other forest stages outside of Wales.

And they are still in use - https://www.malcolmwilson.co.uk/spectators-2020/

[AndyRAC]

Ah, the Whinlatter forest; which used to be double usage, morning about 9 o'clock, then in the afternoon about 2 o'clock. Then was cut back to just the morning, and is now run quite early, about 7;30. Which gives enough time for the rally to have finished the stage, and handed back to the forestry mid morning. It surely can't be long before access is pulled. About 5+ years ago, there was a tweet from the FC saying the rally would soon be finished, and we can get back to normal - it was subsequently deleted.

I happen to think, if the sport was a lot more popular/ high profile, and held a bit of influence, it could possibly find a way of still accessing some of these forests. But, its not, so it can't. I mean, it's usually one day a year, plus a few days either side to set up, and then clean up. They still have near 360 days to themselves.

I do miss my trip to the Sherwood Pines for the Dukeries; a nice drive through Cheshire and Peak District in early June, followed by a day of rallying, and a relaxed drive back. One could see the change there in the last 10+ years. The car park was extended, Go Ape was added, they hosted concerts, etc in addition to the MTB. It was always packed, even when the rally was there; lots of MTB and families with picnics on the large grass area.

[HKSjbg]

It is sad indeed. I hope we still have plenty of forests available in Wales at least for years to come. I wouldn’t be surprised if in a decade we have not much more than Wales, Kielder and a few spots around Scotland

Rallying’s a far less wasteful use of land than circuit racing if you ask me!

As an aside should one of the mods rename this thread? Maybe something to do with it being about all things British forest stages?

[HKSjbg]

Since I’m still bored back at work (I’m on rotation with my colleague, they won’t let me just stay at home the whole time ) I have been looking into the viability of a Scotland-based Rally GB.

I knew it had to include the Perthshire stages as well as the stages close to Dumfries (i.e. where the RSAC Scottish has been based since about 1997) and realised Glasgow is in a pretty good position to be host city and service park HQ. Not only is it the most populous city in Scotland, but you can be at the start of the first forest stage, Greskine, in an hour-ish and similar time to get to Carron Valley to the north (though this would probably be better served as the power stage, not the first of its leg, given it’s reservoir-side location).

With that in mind here is just a list of possible stages and their kilometerage:

1. Bellahouston Park - 2.08km
2. Greskine - 17.82km
3. Ae - 14.32km
4. Twiglees - 10.28km
5. Castle O’er - 9.72km
6. Craik - 14.81km
7. Cardrona - 10.27km
8. Yair - 8.87km
9. Black Loch - 9.82km
10. Glentrool - 29.71km
11. Elibank - 19.89km
12. Carron Valley - 8.36km
13. Loch Ard - 33.52km
14. Drummond Hill - 18.66km
15. Griffin - 21.26km
16. Errochty - 17.68km
17. Craigvinean - 17.89km
18. Scone Palace - 3.37km
19. Knockhill - 3.57km
20. Devilla - 9.91km

281.81km

Where possible, the stages are the longest length I could find on ewrc-results.com and rally-maps.com and from either last year’s R.A.C. Rally or the most recent Rally Scotland. Some exceptions are Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park taken from the itinerary of the 1987 Scottish, Yair, Black Loch and Glentrool taken from Mobil 1 Rally Championship from 1999 and I think the oldest forest stage length I took was Devilla, also from the ‘87 Scottish.

Assuming there will be some from that list that are no longer available or suitable, there’s still a lot of km around given that 281.81km is all from single passes!

[AnttiL]

I've also been bored so I fine-tuned my Carlisle based WRC Fantasy Route. There's now onboards for almost every stage. I also added one stage combining both Twiglees and Castle O'er, as well as the Raby Castle super special. There's onboard for almost all stages.

http://itgetsfasternow.com/2020/04/1...isle-rally-gb/

[the sniper]

To get a rough idea of what forest tracks look like now where they haven't been used for rallying in years, or where I can't find onboards, I use a site called Geograph. People upload random photographs to fill the grid squares on the OS Map, so there's a lot of pictures of tracks and paths in random places in forests and on moors across the country, though some of the images are a few years years old.

For example, there's a remote part of Myherin with a water splash that hasn't been used on Rally GB at least since 2008 (https://www.rally-maps.com/Wales-Rally-GB-2008/Myherin), seen on this onboard @ 3m47s: https://youtu.be/ngVX0t7jXSg?t=227

Here's that spot on Geograph: https://www.geograph.org.uk/mapper/c...2.3999/-3.7708

It's a bit cumbersome to use, but useful particularly for getting a somewhat recent impression of the conditions on the ground for stages we see on maps used in the 80s and 90s. Red numbers are supposed to be more recent photos.

[the sniper]

Since I’m still bored back at work (I’m on rotation with my colleague, they won’t let me just stay at home the whole time ) I have been looking into the viability of a Scotland-based Rally GB.

Scotland would be my ideal 'local' replacement for Wales if an RAC style event isn't possible. There's so much choice there, many nice (if rougher) stages and fantastic scenery. The three editions of Rally of Scotland show what an event could/would look like there. I'd just add an extra day in the middle of any of those itineraries on the Saturday with a rough itinerary of:

Cardrona 1
Elibank 1
Yair 1
[Hawick Tyre Service]
Craik
Castle O’er
Twiglees
Cardrona 2
Elibank 2
Yair 2

Base the event at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston near Edinburgh (and right next to its Airport). Centrally there you're just an hour away from stages in the North, Borders and Trossachs (Middle). I'd run the Borders day on the Saturday to attract more spectators from the south and Marshals, as I'd be using six stages there.

[AnttiL]

Yair 2

Base the event at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston near Edinburgh (and right next to its Airport). Centrally there you're just an hour away from stages in North, Borders and Trossachs (Middle). I'd run the Borders day on the Saturday to attract more spectators from the south and Marshals, as I'd be using six stages there.

And you could still go to Kielder as well. In 1986 they had a night break and a super special in Ingliston.

[the sniper]

And you could still go to Kielder as well. In 1986 they had a night break and a super special in Ingliston.

The only problem is, in this scenario Scotland would be paying the bills, and there's no chance they'd let it stray into England!