In brief, September 2008

The British Historic Rally Championship will start in Wales in 2009 following confirmation that the Bulldog Rally will move to March 28 from its regular October date. The North Wales event will replace the Nottinghamshire-based Robin Hood Stages as the first rally in the BHRC schedule.

Sir John Whitmore will return to Australia in November to race a Lotus Elite and a Lotus Cortina at the Tasman Revival meeting at Eastern Creek Raceway on November 28-30. The 1961 British Saloon Car Champion competed at the inaugural event in 2006.

The rallying career of Ove Andersson was celebrated during the Historic Rally Party organised by Slowly Sideways alongside the ADAC Eifel Rally in Germany in July. The last five cars running in the historic event were liveried replicas of cars that Andersson drove during his career, or actual cars that won under his management.

Nick Whale raced his Mercury Cyclone Comet for only the second time in the Historic Saloon race at the British GP. The Mercury, thought to be the only one racing in Europe, was built to offer an alternative to the Mustangs and Falcons at Goodwood. It finished sixth at Silverstone.

Malcolm Wilson will take time out as team boss of Ford’s World Rally Championship programme to contest the Roger Albert Clark Rally in November. Wilson will drive a Ford Escort MkII in the three-day event, having previously competed in the inaugural rally in 2004. He will tackle classic forest stages in the Scottish borders, including the Greystoke stage used regularly by the Ford team in testing.

The 2008 Circuit des Remparts race meeting around the streets of Angoulême will mark 30 years since the French event was revived as a classic festival. While the races are all on Sunday September 21, the event also includes a historic tour in the surrounding countryside. More details are available at www.circuit-des-remparts.com