RAC Rally celebrated

RAC Rally celebrated

Two events that celebrate the history of the RAC Rally will take place during November and both events promise a strong and competitive entry.

From November 9-11 the Rally of the Tests will recall the era before the RAC Rally moved on to forest special stages. Starting from Torquay, the finish venue for the inaugural event in 1932, the route heads north and west to run up through Wales and finish in Chester.

A capacity field of cars from the 1950s and 1960s includes previous winners Frank Fennell, Paul Wignall and John Bateson. They will tackle a route that includes 35 special tests, 20 road regularity sections and two night navigational sections. “It’s one of the toughest and most enjoyable events on the calendar,” said clerk of the course Guy Woodcock.

Two weeks later, the Roger Albert Clark Rally will re-create the forest-based RAC Rallies of the 1970s with a route that starts in Pickering, North Yorkshire, on November 23 and finishes in Carlisle on Sunday afternoon.

Leading entries include Ford Escort Mk2s for former WRC entrant Gregoire de Mevius, sports car racer Guy Smith and rising rally star Martin McCormack. “It’s a rally I love and it is unfinished business,” said McCormack, who pushed Malcolm Wilson for victory in 2008.

In between the two British events is the Silver Fern Rally in New Zealand, perhaps the finest historic gravel rally in the world. Entries for the week-long event include Peter Smith, who will then fly back to the UK to compete alongside his son Guy on the Roger Albert Clark Rally.