The Chairman's View

Well, it doesn't get any better does it?, the sorry state of rally championships in the UK - and even then the available pool of manufacturers has been reduced by one after the withdrawal of Vauxhall (toys out of pram?).

Let us look at the scenario for the proposed manu- facturers Super 1600 Championship. A series is proposed which may last "a couple of years"; it composed 4 ANCRO rounds, a couple of BRC events and a few extra rallies which currently are rounds of other championships.

So what does this do; it buggers up several existing series. Why you might ask? Well as I understand it, one of the provisos for being in this super new series is that you have to let all the 1400 & 1600cc manu- facturers cars (about 80 of them!) run first.

Which basically means that no one else will enter, cause would you like to run behind this exciting field?, and how many spectators will turn up to watch - very few!

What do we always hear from spectators?, that they like Metro 6R4's, WRC cars & 2 wheel driver MkII Escorts, cause they are fun, they are fast and they are exciting.

Now I have the greatest respect for the one-make formulae (Peugeot, Ka, ‘1W, etc.) but shouldn't these manufacturers be encouraged to use the existing framework of UK rallying?

For example, "any one event can only have 1 one-make series". This would ensure that com- petitors got a fair spread of experience and that organisers of good events would be helped by the guarantee of a one-make championship.

Events & championships could even rotate 'year-on- year' to provide an even wider spread of experience for competitors.

In essence this format would help to keep events financially viable, if the manufacturers set up their own championship, then I can see a situation where BRC, ANCRO & BTRDA events/championships could falter & fail in very short time.

And what then, if the vehicle makers decide they don't want to go rallying anymore (look at Vauxhall) in the future - and that is very likely because their motorsport plans are sales & marketing driven and dependent upon success - they will have, for relatively short-term gains, dealt the whole fabric of rallying in the UK a mortal blow.