RAC Rally
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Introduction
The RAC Rally is the best-known motor rally in the UK. It is a round in the international rallying championship.
The forerunner of the RAC Rally was the 1932 Torquay rally which was the first major rally of the modern era in Great Britain. The 341 competing cars were unmodified.
Ten starting points spread around the country were chosen and the selected finishing point for the 1,000 mile long routes was Torquay. 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.
History
The first officially-designated RAC Rally was held the following year and followed a similar format but with Hastings as the chosen finishing point for the 300 plus competitors. The finishing points for the following years were 1934 - Bournemouth, 1935 - Eastbourne, 1936 - Torquay, 1937 - Hastings, 1938 - Blackpool, 1939 - Brighton.
The series was suspended for the war years (1940-1945) and not resumed until 1951, when it finished in Bournemouth. Subsequent finishing points (often also starting points and 'Rally HQ') were: 1952 - Scarborough, 1953 - Hastings, 1954 - Blackpool, 1955 - Hastings, 1956 - Blackpool, 1958 - Hastings, 1959 - London, 1960 - Brands Hatch, 1961 - Brighton, 1962 - Bournemouth, 1963 - Bournemouth, 1964 - London, 1965 - London, 1966 - London, 1968 - London, 1969 - London, 1970 - London, 1971 - Harrogate, 1972 - York, 1973 - York, 1974 - York, 1975 - York, 1976 - Bath, 1977 - York, 1978 - Birmingham, 1979 - Chester, 1980 - Bath, 1981 - Chester, 1982 - York, 1983 - Bath, 1984 - Chester, 1985 - Nottingham, 1986 - Bath, 1987 - Chester, 1988 - Harrogate, 1989 - Nottingham, 1990 - Harrogate, 1991 - Harrogate, 1992 - Chester, 1993 - Birmingham, 1994 - Chester, 1995 - Chester, 1996 - Chester, 1997 - Cheltenham, 1998 - Cheltenham, 1999 - Cheltenham, 2000 - Cardiff, 2001 - Cardiff, 2002 - Cardiff, 2003 - Cardiff, 2004 Sheffield, 2005 - Swansea.
Only two events caused cancellation of the rally, apart from World War II. They were the Suez Crisis in 1957 and the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 1967. The latter caused cancellation on the eve of the rally, 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.
In 1960, the first Special Stage was laid on - a 2-mile section of forest road on Monument Hill, near Dalmally in Argyll, Scotland. This development started the RAC Rally's reputation as one of the most gruelling fixtures in the international rallying calendar and there was a tendency for Scandinavian drivers to dominate the event. The preponderance of forestry stages and the unpredictability of November weather in the North of the UK contributed to this. The first of these was three-times-in-succession winner, Erik Carlsson of Sweden, who drove his Saab 96 in his legendarily spectacular way to victory in 1960, 1961 and 1962. Other drivers who have succeeeded him in this feat are: Timo Makinen (Finland) 1973-1975), Richard Burns (UK) (1998-200) and Petter Solberg (Norway) (2002-2005), who is the only driver to have won the event four years running.
The year of worst attrition was 1981, when of the 151 starters, only 54 finished. This was in stark contrast to the early years. In 1938, there were only 6 retirements from 237 starters.
In 1971, 'Spectator Stages' were introduced and, by 1975, became 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 called them 'Mickey Mouse' stages. Nonetheless, they contributed significantly to the results of the rally.
The Lombard RAC Rally in 1986 was the last European Event for the full blown Group B legends. These were specialised 'racers', requiring only 200 examples for homologation. After 1986, they were banned, as they were considered to be too dangerous. Following a scrutineering scandal on the San Remo Rally, the Peugeot team were apprehensive before the event but they passed. After which they decide to appeal about Sanremo result. The Peugeot of Timo Salonen won, with Markku Alen in the Lancia 2nd, Juha Kankkunen 3rd and Mikael Sundström in 4th. There were three Peugeots in the top four. The sole remaining Ford RS 200 was in 5th place with Kalle Grundel at the wheel. The event was also a major success for Austin Rover who won the team prize with the MG Metro 6R4, with their drivers in 6th Tony Pond, 7th Jimmy McRae, 8th Per Eklund and 9th David Llewellyn. Ingvar Carlsson rounded out the top 10 in the Group A Mazda Famillia 4WD. There were 83 finishers out of 150 starters.
Sponsorship and Name
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 and Lombard North Central took over in 1974, for 19 years. 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 of supporting Great Britain's official round of the World Rally Championship, the rally became known as the Network Q RAC Rally and then, with support from the Welsh Development Agency, in 1999, the Rally of Great Britain and then Wales Rally Great Britain or Wales Rally GB (www.walesrallygb.com). The rally is currently based in Swansea and competitive stage mileage is concentrated in Wales.
With such an illustrious history, however, many yearn for the glory days of the RAC Rally. In this spirit, the RAC Revival Rally has recently started, reflecting the origins of the earlier RAC Rallies, using less powerful cars and travelling over a far greater distance, around more of the UK over several days and nights.
