10 replies to this topic

[Cooperman]

For the first time in England a rally is being held on closed public roads on the 22nd April.
The Chelmsford Motor Club is running the Clacton & Tendring Rally which will feature 45 miles of closed road special stages with 100 miles of link secttions.
This really is a 'first'.
Peter Horsborough is entered in his 1965 Cooper 'S' sponsored by Mini Spares Centre.
Go to the Chelmsford M.C. website for full details.

[sledgehammer]

http://corbeauseatsrally.co.uk/

[Trissy B]

I'm marshalling on stage 3 so can't wait to see that go past!

[DUF2]

Hope the "Clacton & Tendring Motor Car Rally voice for Animals" lunatics do not do anything to jeopardise the running of this event!

[Cooperman]

Just seen a report on the TV. It looks like it went well and that should encourage other clubs in England & Wales to do the same.

[Goacher65]

I was servicing for one of the crews yesterday. There was a great buzz around the lead up, and throughout the event.

 

The event was a great success, the weather, the number of people coming out. Other districts can only take good things away from the revenue and the footfall that the event brought in. I have seen the figure of 6000 people descending on Tendring, and even the horses in their fields survived the event. I think they were even spectating themselves at one point!

 

I do hope that this is the start of a new era of Belgian'esque closed road events where the community embrace it and they are a resounding success.

 

Well done to Chelmsford MC  and the MSA for the time and effort that went into organising the event and allowing it to run smoothly!!!

[warning634]

You all need to head over to Jersey, our closed public road rally has been going for years, and it would be great to have more minis competing in it.

 

http://www.jerseyrally.com/

[DUF2]

It was interesting to see the Facebook posts by Danny Sloggett, he was the one who started the campaign to stop the rally going ahead.
He now seems to be for the rally and from his videos he did say he'd enjoyed it.
I think he has distanced himself a little from the Horse Physiotherapist who has stated so many untrue comments about the event.
The "Tendring & Clacton Motor Car Rally, speak for animals" Facebook page disappeared last week. It would be interesting to see what the mad horsewoman thinks now the event is over.

There were two minor incidents that I am aware of. Screws were strewn across a stage, but were cleared up by marshals prior to the cars arriving. I also saw reference to a dog being hit, but don't know if this was on a stage or not and if or not it was a competitor who hit the dog, was the dog on a lead etc?

A very well done to all the organisers on an event that appeared to be very well run and liked by all.

[Trissy B]

Didn't hear about the dog but some of the hay bales were set on fire and had to be replaced. The mini went well and came 56th out of 120th!

 

 

 

[Cooperman]

It's the beginning of a new era in rallying in England & Wales. I can't wait until they close some of the most classic Welsh roads like the Abergwesyn - Tragaron road (the Devil's Staircase), Farmer's Road, and other roads used on road rallies for as long as I can remember.

 

Now the ridiculous charges made by the Forestry Commission for using their gravel roads will be able to be avoided to some extent, although it would be a shame to not have any forestry mileage on major rallies.

[DUF2]

We need to wait and see what the actual costs are for running a closed road event.
The Clacton event cost £495 for 45 stage miles. Last year's Cheviot rally on Otterburn ranges was £370 for 60+ miles! I can only presume the costs of extra stage furniture (bales etc) and policing costs made this event so expensive. It was almost forest event entry cost.
With the high number of competitors, it would be interesting to see the profit made! Whilst the actual roads were free ie no Forestry or MOD costs, I suspect there were other costs I'm not aware of.
If the Cheviot had in excess of 100 entries, we'd either make a huge profit or give competitors a refund. By the way the Cheviot uses in excess of 70 bales which have to be hired in from a local farmer.