Route announced for Rally GB 2020!

[AnttiL]

Apparently some radical plans were in mind for this year, but now it's all been put to hold and the rally will be same ol' in case it runs https://www.dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/r...d-by-covid-19/

Although, I have to agree with this

“It’s that age-old thing with Rally GB, isn’t it? Because it once toured around the country, we feel we have to apologise for it staying in one place – but then you get into the car and drive through Myherin or Hafren and you realise that actually, these really are some of the best roads anywhere in the world.”

[HKSjbg]

I wonder what they would have done that was ‘radical’ while staying in North Wales and having alluded to having to check out the forests in order to do that - so not necessarily public roads.

[AnttiL]

I wonder what they would have done that was ‘radical’ while staying in North Wales and having alluded to having to check out the forests in order to do that - so not necessarily public roads.

Just checking out any new roads requires a lot of work in the forests, negotiating with the locals and landowners. Meanwhile, it's easier to just renew the old contracts for the same stages.

[AndyRAC]

I wonder what they would have done that was ‘radical’ while staying in North Wales and having alluded to having to check out the forests in order to do that - so not necessarily public roads.

What their definition of 'radical' means maybe different to somebody else. To me, radical, would be running Clocaenog as maybe one stage, requiring a road closure; as opposed to splitting it into Clocaenog West/ East. Or possibly linking Alwen, Brenig, with a major part of Clocaenog....(they did similar in 2018, but only used a small part of Clocaenog) there are all sorts of possibilities in there. I often take the MTB bike there and there are plenty of roads in there.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Surely 'radical' plans must've been more than just some different Welsh stages, or doing them in a different direction/combination.

The fact that Iain Campbell mentions that the old rally 'toured around the country' means there were thoughts of using stages elsewhere, like the Lake District ?

[doubled1978]

What their definition of 'radical' means maybe different to somebody else. To me, radical, would be running Clocaenog as maybe one stage, requiring a road closure; as opposed to splitting it into Clocaenog West/ East. Or possibly linking Alwen, Brenig, with a major part of Clocaenog....(they did similar in 2018, but only used a small part of Clocaenog) there are all sorts of possibilities in there. I often take the MTB bike there and there are plenty of roads in there.

It could have been using some old stages not used for a while, for example others have mentioned Talesin, and there is Coed-y-Brenin also, which from the going out and checking the roads comment sounds plausible.
Clocaenog is an issue for the organisation these days as it’s tough to prevent lots of people getting in without paying. If they use big chunks of it as they did years ago, it’s pretty easy to get in without paying and the topography is relatively flat. It’s not a coincidence that most of the other stages routes are designed so it’s a long uphill walk to reach the stage from the public roads.

[the sniper]

Hopefully in time me and Antti will be to add something of interest regarding Yorkshire...

Big thanks to Antti for doing the plotting on this one, on maps I acquired last year: https://www.rally-maps.com/National-...own-Rally-1987

Relevant to today's news, I noticed that the 1986 International Welsh Rally maps have been uploaded too! I should add that I had nothing to do with this one: https://www.rally-maps.com/Internati...lsh-Rally-1986

I am intrigued to know what these radical changes might have been. Hopefully in time we'll be able to find out, though I doubt it'll be possible before the actual route is announced at least, so not to overshadow that. I am somewhat cautious though, as IMS/MSUK have been known to lean on hyperbole in the past. I do wonder if it could have been a return to the forests around Epynt, with the itinerary looking similar to 2011?

[HKSjbg]

Relevant to today's news, I noticed that the 1986 International Welsh Rally maps have been uploaded too! I should add that I had nothing to do with this one.

400km all crammed into one day! The mind boggles

[the sniper]

400km all crammed into one day! The mind boggles

Rally Maps actually shows that incorrectly, the vast majority of the rally would have taken part between Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, so over two days. But it probably would have been a near continuous rally overnight in that era. I think I might have the itinerary for that one somewhere.

The itinerary for the National Breakdown are the accurate planned timings.

[HKSjbg]

ewrc-results.com shows it as one leg, so yes very unlikely all 38 stages were run in one lot! But the date listed for the event is 3rd-4th May