Last updated at 21:07, Thursday, 17 February 2011
The Motor Sport Association is consulting with clubs, officials and competitors on the future of stage rallying.
This area of the sport has suffered a steady decline in the last 20 or so years and has gone from being the most popular area of motorsport to one that only a few can afford to take part in.
The MSA has appointed Steve Stringwell to conduct consultations and in recent weeks I’ve attended two. Firstly there was the MSA Clerks of the Course training day in Preston and more recently the ANECCC meeting last week.
The statistics are really quite alarming. The agreement with the Forestry Commission used to have a limit of 64 events per year and there was always a demand for places and stiff competition to get the allocations.
Last year there were just 31 events in the forests and only 14 of them were in England. Of those 31 quite a few ran at a loss or nearly so and this year may be their last chance.
Looking at non-forest events and the situation is even worse with venue loss being the biggest issue. Back in the mid-80s the Cumbrian Stage Championship listed 14 events in the county, last year there were just four.
Of course knowing the facts does not help finding the solutions. There are basically two main issues – firstly, venues and the lack of them plus the cost of forest tracks, and secondly the fact that officials, marshals and competitors are generally getting older.
At the well-attended meetings that I went to there were very few people in the rooms who were under 50 and there are a lot of competitors and officials who have been in the sport all their adult lives.
Of course the officials and marshals have built up a wealth of experience in that time and the many new regulations that come in each year have to be absorbed.
This makes it much more difficult for newcomers to do the required training, gain expertise and eventually take over. Another difficulty for training is that now there are so few events there are less opportunities for new clerks to gain experience.
For example in the mid-80s Wigton Motor Club ran six stage rallies and so built up a wealth of experience that is still available today, but will it be there in 10 years time?
There are other issues such as the cost of cars and tyres, cost of special fuel, too many classes and championships, difficulty in accessing the sport for newcomers and the poor publicity in terms of TV coverage event for WRC events.
Ultimately we do face some major challenges. We could lose the use of forests, the use of military land is always unreliable and the only other venue we have is the Croft race circuit but rallying does not bring in as much money as a race meeting and with the limit on events there we could lose the two remaining rallies.
The good news is that the Riponian Stages Rally this weekend has a good entry and will run. There are nearly 60 modern cars and 27 in the historics.
Tomorrow sees the Northern Classic Trial being run by the county’s smallest club, Fellside AC. The event takes in special tests in the north Lakes forests and some other venues in the north of county with the event being based at the Stocksman Café in Wigton.
There are some 23 motor bikes entered and around 25 cars. Local entries include: Mike Pocock in a Skoda, Chris Vivers in an Austin 7, Hamish White in an Alvis, Mark Powley in a Frazer Nash, Keith Thomas in his Buckler and Alan Smith in a Marlin.
First published at 19:41, Thursday, 17 February 2011
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 7]