… Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, October3-4 …
Last year’s winners from left to right:
Peter Foy and Mike Faulkner (2nd o/a),
Paul Beaton and Euan Thorburn (Winners), Jock Armstrong and Paula Swinscoe (3rd o/a).
And as the final round of this year’s MSA ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship the organisers have planned something rather unique for the national series finale.
Instead of Friday afternoon and evening documentation and pre-event Scrutineering, this year’s event will host its competitor sign-on and technical checks on the Saturday morning with the rally starting at 12 Noon. And instead of a Saturday evening finish, this year’s event will conclude at mid-day on Sunday with a rather unique public ‘Rally Forum’ being staged during the Saturday evening overnight rally halt.
In the past some competitors have struggled to get time off work on a Friday to leave for the traditional Saturday event. It was because of this that the enterprising organisers came up with a new format. Although it still requires one night away from home, the event will be entirely contained within the Saturday and Sunday weekend.
There will be three Special Stages on Forestry Commission roads on the Saturday afternoon with the final two forest stages being run on Sunday morning.
The other big change is that this year’s event will start from Perth city centre as opposed to Aberfeldy where the rally has been based for the past 5 years.
“We realise the new format will not please all of the competitors,” said Coltness Car Club Chairman, Jim Brown: “but we were keen to try something different. If the competitors support it, then it will give us food for thought next year, but if they don’t like it, then we may well revert to tradition. Motor sport is always about going forward and trying something new and Coltness Car Club are always keen to innovate and experiment.”
On the plus side, the Rally Forum on Saturday night will provide an event not to be missed by competitors and serious rally fans. Coltness Car Club are delighted to announce that both the civil servant appointed to oversee the Motor Sports Safety Review Group and the recently appointed Safety Delegate have agreed to participate and take questions from the audience. This will be the first time that both individuals have agreed to appear on a public platform to meet competitors and rally fans.
Over the past few months much has been said about the future direction of the sport and this unique event will provide those interested in that future to find out first hand how the sport is planning to evolve over the next few years.
On that basis, this year’s Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally will offer not just a fitting finale to this year’s national year-long competition series, but the chance to find out what the future holds for motor rallying in the nation’s forests.
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