Opinion: Why the UK needs a rally festival
It’s high time that the UK had a rally event to rival the best in Europe
With the notable exception of the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, the UK generally falls far behind most European countries in the way that major rallies interact with the communities in which they are based.
There are some encouraging signs as closed road special stages slowly develop on the UK mainland and the Tendring & Clacton and Three Shires events are starting to engage with their communities, to the obvious benefit of the rally and the area in which it is run.
Yet there is a long way to go before a UK event could rival the carnival atmosphere and buzz of the best European events, where whole towns are converted into service areas.
This is particularly true of the rally festival events, where cars and drivers bring out thousands of fans and direct significant amounts of money into the local economy and favoured charities.
These events tend to run to a demonstration format, with crews encouraged to play to the gallery and events like Rally Legend in Italy, Rallye Festival Trasmiera in Spain and the Eifel Rallye Festival in Germany are market leaders. For a taste of what they offer, seek any of them out on YouTube.
Of course, many British crews eagerly support these rallies and long for the chance to take part in a UK event of this style and ambition. Without question, running a rally of this scale on closed public roads in the UK would be a mammoth undertaking, but there are seeds of hope based on several demonstration events now being run here.
So far, all of the action has taken place on demonstration special stages set up on private roads, in the style of the ‘Mickey Mouse’ spectator stages that featured in the Lombard RAC Rally in the 1980s and 1990s.Venues such as Weston Park in Shropshire were used back then and are used again now, on both the Historic Rally Festival and Rally Revival. Meanwhile, the Lombard Rally Bath has endeavoured to rekindle the flavour of the Bath-based RAC Rallies of the 1970s and 1980s in a similar format.
The huge leap is to move away from short stages on private land to longer sections on closed public roads. The spectacle of period rally cars being put through their paces on B-roads in the Cotswolds, the Welsh borders or Yorkshire would be awesome.
Importantly, at least two of the current events have ambitions in that direction, even though the journey will not be easy. Rallying undoubtedly faces many challenges, not least wide-ranging green issues, but it also needs to bring in new blood as competitors, organisers, marshals and fans.
Taking the action to the people, rather than hiding it away in remote forests, would be a real boost for a branch of the sport that has suffered dreadfully over the past two years.
*How it works: The Formula Ford festival*
The glory days when everyone’s favourite knockout junior motor racing contest was the ‘Big One’ for all aspiring grand prix stars of tomorrow are long gone. But like the FA Cup, the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch is still thriving and this weekend celebrates its 50th running.
The category may be less ‘relevant’ than it used to be, but its popularity has been prolonged by its scattering of historic categories covering every generation since Brands Hatch’s great impresario John Webb came up with a new, accessible form of single-seater motor racing for cars powered by Ford’s 1600cc engine in 1967.
Over two days, heats, followed by semi-finals, last-chance races and grand finals offer fantastic cut-and-thrust, wall-to-wall motor racing. Will it be cold? Of course. Will it be wet? Probably. Will it be the highlight of many a diehard’s racing season? Every time.
*Motorsport greats: Dan Wheldon*
Daniel Wheldon (as he was then) never won the Formula Ford Festival. Jenson Button turfed him off at Clearways in 1998 to win instead. But the Emberton-born racer was as highly rated – until the breaks didn’t fall his way. Instead, Wheldon headed west and built a new career as a star of US ‘open-wheelers’. He was great in the junior ranks, then stepped up to the all-oval Indy Racing League in 2002 – and found his canvas for greatness. Champion with Andretti Green in 2005, Wheldon also became an Indianapolis 500 winner that year, then switched to Chip Ganassi Racing with which he added a Daytona 24 Hours sports car win to histally. Back at Panther Racing where his Indycar career began, Wheldon was twice runner-up at Indy, before winning the 500 for a second time with Bryan Herta’s team in 2011 – only to lose his life in a shocking accident in Las Vegas later that year.
Paul Lawrence