It's a thought I had to myself when I was driving along the country lanes of Berwickshire, made famous in the world of rallying by the Jim Clark Rally. My little Ford Fiesta is by no means a rally car, but I was really enjoying the road stretching out ahead of me, and being a Borderer who has grown up watching rally cars blast along the roads round where I live, closed road tarmac rallying is something very close to my heart. But what is it that makes it so special? In the UK at least closed road rallies are something of a rarity. At this moment in time there are none on mainland UK, but for many years the only one has been the Jim Clark which hopefully will return to the tarmac lanes next year in 2017. However, with the Jim Clark potentially returning home so to speak next year and the recent price increase in forest use for rallies that is putting Welsh forest rallying in general under serious threat, closed road rallying could be where the future of our sport lies. If you ask Scottish Rally Championship competitor John MacCrone, who is from the Isle of Mull, that's not such a bad thing. He said: "I really enjoy Tarmac, so would love to see more closed road events in the UK. Getting to recce the stages means you can be much more committed to your notes which is a lot of fun. "Narrow bumpy roads with crests and jumps are my favourite and there are plenty of these to be found throughout the country so fingers crossed closed road rallying becomes a reality!" I am by no means demeaning the charms and the attraction of forest stage rallying as it would be a tragedy if we were to lose them in Britain. The fast, flowing roads or tight, technical sections littered with hazards that sees the cars throwing up dust and stones is a spectacle worth seeing. But the main disadvantage of rallying in the forests is it is much less accessible to most of the spectators going to watch. Opel works driver and current ERC Junior points leader Chris Ingram, who has rallied on some of the best gravel and tarmac events across Europe including Wales Rally GB, the Circuit of Ireland and Ypres, gave his opinion on the matter. "For me closed road rallying is the future of the sport. It's arguably even more enjoyable than gravel rallying as the speeds are higher and a faster driver in a slower car can shine by being able to carry more speed. It is more accessible and closed road events in mainland Europe always bring out massive crowds." I may be perceived as possibly being a little biased as the reason I fell in love with rally was because of the Jim Clark Rally, meaning my first introduction to the sport was a closed road event. But the closed road events would be a credible solution to rally's current problems and should get new blood involved with the sport as they naturally get more people involved through the closure of public roads. If the rally runs past your house you can't really ignore it; a situation that has had a major affect on the number of people involved with rallying in Ireland for example. It's clear to see how much the closed road rallying means to the people of Berwickshire and beyond where the Jim Clark is staged (Photo Credit: Garry Pearson Rallying). And although there will undoubtedly be some who find the rally a nuisance, the general community welcomes events like this as they are fantastic for the economy; the Borders gains £5,000,000 from the annual event. Closed road rallying is the origin of our sport. The two oldest rallies in the world, Rallye Monte-Carlo and the Circuit of Ireland, so it's a shame it's not such a feature in the present in the UK at least. Ideally what we want are rally calendars full of gravel and tarmac events, so we get a mixture of different types of event and a bigger challenge for the competitors. As for what makes them special, just imagine walking into your local town on a Friday night and seeing a bunch of rally cars charging through. It''s a spectacle forest rallying can't give you.
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BRITISH RALLYINGArticles covering rally in Britain, looking at the MSA BRC Archives
September 2017
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