Rally GB
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Rally GB, or Rally Great Britain, is the largest and most high profile motor rally in the United Kingdom. It is a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, and is based in and around the city of Cardiff in Wales. From its first running in 1933 until the 53rd event in 1998, it was known as the RAC Rally until adopting its current name in 1999.
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[edit] History
[edit] 1932 Torquay Rally
The forerunner of the event was the 1932 Torquay Rally, which was the first major rally of the modern era in Great Britain. 341 competitors in unmodified cars navigated via ten waypoints points spread around a 1,000 mile route. As well as completing the route to a time schedule the competitors were required to perform special tests and a Concours d'Elegance was held at the finish in Torquay. There was no official winner, although Colonel A H Loughborough in a Lanchester 15/18 was recorded in having the fewest penalty points in the decisive test at the finish, to drive 100 yards at the slowest speed.<ref>"History of the RAC Rally", UKMotorsport.com, September 23 1997</ref>
[edit] Pre- & post-war years
The first officially-designated RAC Rally was held the following year and followed a similar format, but with Hastings as the chosen finish. Over three hundred competitors entered, and this time Miss Kitty Brunel, driving an AC Ace, was the diver with the fewest penalties.
The race was run annually until 1939, after which the outbreak of the Second World War forced its suspension. However, it resumed in 1951, and has been contested every year since with only two exceptions, 1957 (Suez Crisis) and 1967 (Foot and Mouth Disease). This latter incident was on the eve of the event, so competitors staged a mock rally at the Bagshot proving ground as consolation for the press and television (ATV had been persuaded to provide major coverage with in-car cameras for the first time). This one-off event was the direct ancestor of Rallycross.[citation needed]
[edit] Forest stages
In 1960, organising secretary Jack Kemsley negotiated with the Forestry Commission to allow a two mile section of forest road in Argyll, Scotland to be used as a competitive section. It proved enormously successful, and the following year forest roads all over the country were opened up to the drivers. This, combined with the introduction of special timing clocks and seeding of entries, secured the rally's future, and cemented its reputation as one of the most gruelling and unpredictable fixtures on the calendar.<ref>"Jack Kemsley And The Forests", Ross Finlay, CarKeys.co.uk, December 9, 2001</ref>
[edit] Mickey Mouse stages
In 1971, 'Spectator Stages' were introduced and, by 1975 had become an important part of the event, usually at stately homes and other public venues like Sutton Park. The first day was, by then, devoted to these stages. Drivers did not enjoy them, and referred to them disparagingly as "Mickey Mouse stages" because of the lack of challenge they offered,<ref>Francois Duval, "Unofficial Leaderboard after Stage 16 (final stage), Rally of Kent (Formula Rally)", RallyNews.net</ref><ref>Michael Park, Motors Blog:WRC</ref> but nonetheless they contributed to the results. More recently, they have given way to the 'Super Special Stages', which are equally maligned by the drivers, but just as popular with spectators.
[edit] Group B
The 1986 RAC Rally was the last European event for Group B vehicles. These highly-tuned turbocharged cars were to be banned as they were deemed too powerful and dangerous, in light of the various accidents in which they were involved. In the end, the Peugeot 205 T16s of Timo Salonen, Juha Kankkunen and Mikael Sundström took three of the top four places, with only Markku Alen's second position in the Lancia Delta S4 preventing a monopoly of the podium.
There were 83 finishers out of 150 starters in 1986, compared to year of worst attrition in 1981 when only 54 of the 151 starters reached the end. This was in stark contrast to the early years: in 1938, there were only 6 retirements from 237 starters.
[edit] Scandinavian successes
Scandinavian drivers have enjoyed rich pickings in the RAC Rally, even allowing for their general dominance of the sport. Home drivers won the first six runnings of the race from 1953, when an outright winnner was first declared. However, in 1960 Erik Carlsson of Sweden, drove his Saab 96 to a hat-trick of victories in 1960–62, and of the six drivers to have won three or more titles since then, all but two — Colin McRae (1994, '95, '97) and Richard Burns (1998–2000) — have been Swedes, Finns or Norwegians. The record for most victories is four, shared by Hannu Mikkola (1978–79, '81–82) and Petter Solberg (2002–05), whose consecutive streak is unique.
[edit] Title sponsors
Until 1970, there was no overt sponsorship, but in that year advertising decals appeared on cars and the Daily Mirror newspaper sponsored the event. This deal lasted four years before Lombard North Central took over in 1974. The event became known as the Lombard RAC Rally, and Lombard's name became synonymous with the event.
Following Lombard's withdrawal of sponsorship after nineteen years, the rally became known as the Network Q RAC Rally and then the Network Q Rally of Great Britain. The rally has moved its operational base to Cardiff and competitive stage mileage is concentrated in Wales. With sponsorship from the Welsh Development Agency, the event is now known as Wales Rally GB.
However, with such an extensive history covering the whole country, there were demands for the "glory days" of the old RAC Rally. In this spirit, two events have recently been established, and cover the same classic stages which are no longer part of the WRC itinerary. The RAC Revival Rally uses modern, but less powerful cars, while the Roger Albert Clark Rally is a historic event using only pre-1972 machinery, and named after the first home winner of the race as a World Championship event.
[edit] 2005
The 2005 Wales Rally GB was the twelfth event on the WRC schedule for 2005. It was held on September 16–18, 2005.
On stage fifteen, Peugeot driver Markko Märtin crashed, and while he was unharmed, his co-driver Michael Park sustained fatal injuries, the first such death in the sport in over a decade. Sébastien Loeb was leading at the time, and would have won the rally and the World Championship, but chose not to win under such tragic circumstances. He voluntarily incurred a two minute time penalty after the final stage which dropped him to third position, leaving Petter Solberg to be declared the victor.
[edit] Results
[edit] External links
- Wales Rally GB official site
- World Rally Championship official site
- Endurance Rally Association, organisers of the RAC Revival Rally
- Roger Albert Clark Rally, official site
[edit] Footnotes
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