British and Irish Rallying 2021. Will there be a season as such?

[HKSjbg]

Motorsport UK confirms motorsport will restart in England from 29 March

Release: 23/02/2021

Motorsport UK is pleased to announce that organised Permitted motorsport can resume in England with effect from 29 March, subject to local restrictions and in accordance with its own Restart Guidance.

This confirmation follows the announcement on 22 February by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the third lockdown imposed on 4 January will be lifted, and formally organised outdoor sports – for adults and under 18s – can also restart but should be compliant with guidance issued by national governing bodies.

As the applicable governing body for the sport, Motorsport UK will now begin granting Permits for all disciplines, and applications are invited in the usual way.

Motorsport UK will resume the sport in accordance with its Restart protocols, which have guided the safe resumption of motorsport through the lifting of the two previous lockdowns. Updated guidance relevant to the latest restart will be available on MotorsportUK.org in due course.

Motorsport UK guidance in relation to Exemptions and Elite Sport still applies.

The governing body acknowledges the target of late spring for allowing spectators on a limited basis and will follow those developments in order to keep its stakeholders informed.

Motorsport activities in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Channel Islands are subject to prevailing government guidance in those devolved territories and we look forward to announcing updates relevant to those nations in due course. The Isle of Man is not subject to a lockdown at this time.

Motorsport UK CEO, Hugh Chambers, commented: “We are extremely grateful to government for providing the opportunity for motorsport to resume in England from 29 March. This will be very welcome news for our community, which extends from professional drivers and teams, through to the grass roots of the sport with tens of thousands of enthusiasts. Collectively they fuel an industry employing 41,000 people and generating over £10 billion for the economy, so this is a vital step in securing the UK's future as leaders in motorsport around the world.

“Hopefully it won’t be too much longer before we can announce similarly positive news from the other home nations. Clearly strict protocols still apply, as our sport needs to play its part in supporting the NHS and wider frontline community in keeping infection rates under control, and our Restart Guidance has enabled us to accomplish that objective on two previous occasions. I would like to thank the Motorsport UK community for their support during lockdown, and for their spirit and fortitude in keeping the sport together for when this announcement came. We now look forward to getting motorsport up and running at the end of March.”

One would presume that event cancellations will stop from now on - or at least any that needed to know if they could start their planning processes at some point after this wretched lockdown finally ends know they will not have to cancel

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Let's see if the other home nations follow suit. They all do things differently just to be awkward.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Matt Edwards in VW Polo switch !

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/edwar...1-brc-assault/

[the sniper]

Matt Edwards in VW Polo switch !

https://dirtfish.com/rally/brc/edwar...1-brc-assault/

Most impressed to see that, with TPS as a sponsor, this is actually a partially Volkswagen Group UK supported effort! Well done to Matt.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Breen disappointed ITRC cant be run:

https://www.rte.ie/sport/motorsport/...done-for-itrc/

[HKSjbg]

Just been reading the thread on the EKS Rally2-Kit car and one of the comments made me think of something, what do you guys think:

If MSUK decided to remove the need for an FIA homologated Rally2 car to compete for overall honours in the BRC would that help things? Would new cars be cheaper? Would a local importer or a British brand find it easier to run a BRC campaign? (So long as they could spin enough ‘green’ credentials from it)

In theory there are very capable rally car designers in the UK, M-Sport and Prodrive obviously, but also JRM have past experience of building the last NR4 Subaru and took on development of Prodrive’s Mini for rallycross. Would it have no affect whatsoever or could it potentially coax, for example, Vauxhall into the BRC? Or just a rich bloke who wants a Rally2 spec <insert B-segment car here> at lower cost to a brand-new factory Rally2 car?

This is just one aspect of the championship I’m thinking about... I think MSUK still needs to try and find a way to get two-day rallies in the forests and make the championship worth Andrea Adamo and Jari-Matti Latvala sending their junior drivers to the BRC for a development program.

[PLuto]

Just been reading the thread on the EKS Rally2-Kit car and one of the comments made me think of something, what do you guys think:

If MSUK decided to remove the need for an FIA homologated Rally2 car to compete for overall honours in the BRC would that help things? Would new cars be cheaper? Would a local importer or a British brand find it easier to run a BRC campaign? (So long as they could spin enough ‘green’ credentials from it)

In theory there are very capable rally car designers in the UK, M-Sport and Prodrive obviously, but also JRM have past experience of building the last NR4 Subaru and took on development of Prodrive’s Mini for rallycross. Would it have no affect whatsoever or could it potentially coax, for example, Vauxhall into the BRC? Or just a rich bloke who wants a Rally2 spec <insert B-segment car here> at lower cost to a brand-new factory Rally2 car?

This is just one aspect of the championship I’m thinking about... I think MSUK still needs to try and find a way to get two-day rallies in the forests and make the championship worth Andrea Adamo and Jari-Matti Latvala sending their junior drivers to the BRC for a development program.

I dont think it will help to allow building non-FIA homologated cars in any national championship in Europe.

[Steve Boyd]

Just been reading the thread on the EKS Rally2-Kit car and one of the comments made me think of something, what do you guys think:

If MSUK decided to remove the need for an FIA homologated Rally2 car to compete for overall honours in the BRC would that help things? Would new cars be cheaper? Would a local importer or a British brand find it easier to run a BRC campaign? (So long as they could spin enough ‘green’ credentials from it)

In theory there are very capable rally car designers in the UK, M-Sport and Prodrive obviously, but also JRM have past experience of building the last NR4 Subaru and took on development of Prodrive’s Mini for rallycross. Would it have no affect whatsoever or could it potentially coax, for example, Vauxhall into the BRC? Or just a rich bloke who wants a Rally2 spec <insert B-segment car here> at lower cost to a brand-new factory Rally2 car?

This is just one aspect of the championship I’m thinking about... I think MSUK still needs to try and find a way to get two-day rallies in the forests and make the championship worth Andrea Adamo and Jari-Matti Latvala sending their junior drivers to the BRC for a development program.

If MSUK drop the Rally2 requirement for the BRC it depends what they replace it with. Rally2-kit is a fairly expensive lower performance option - there are second-hand R5 cars about that would be at least as quick and cost less. If they remove the FIA requirements altogether then the MSUK national rules will apply and anything that's running on national events - old Subarus, Mitsubishis, Mk2 Escorts with Millington engines and sequential gearboxes &c will be able to take part.

Until you find a magic money tree to make two-day forest rallying a lot cheaper than it is currently, you aren't going to get enough entries to make your 2-day events viable. Remember that 2-days in the woods needs another day making notes and most event entrants in the UK aren't prepared to spend that time on their rallying.