Remembering Rallying 1960-2005
Discussion
best memory, Colin McRae in his road going Legacy, the day before the RAC in 1991, drifting it perfectly round a corner as I was coming the other way thinking "Christ that cars going some, I wonder if it is... it is... f
k its Mcrae"
1983 RAC rally is what started it all for me, talk about atmospheric, night time, bright lights, pops and bangs, noise, expectant crowd, smell of burger vans. Possibly the most influential day of my life - I was 9 at the time.
For the guy that posted about Mike Jackson, I have some video from Look North in 1987 showing his preparations for the Himalayan Rally, co driven by a young Navigator called Howard Patterson who ended up owning a Rallyschool in Lincolnshire on the current Blyton site.
The Michele Mouton 'I remember I was completely steering' quote is from the 1985 Manx rally. It is on youtube, I would link to my copy, however I have had to mark it as private as the Duke video wkers have claimed copyright. FFS!
k its Mcrae"1983 RAC rally is what started it all for me, talk about atmospheric, night time, bright lights, pops and bangs, noise, expectant crowd, smell of burger vans. Possibly the most influential day of my life - I was 9 at the time.
For the guy that posted about Mike Jackson, I have some video from Look North in 1987 showing his preparations for the Himalayan Rally, co driven by a young Navigator called Howard Patterson who ended up owning a Rallyschool in Lincolnshire on the current Blyton site.
The Michele Mouton 'I remember I was completely steering' quote is from the 1985 Manx rally. It is on youtube, I would link to my copy, however I have had to mark it as private as the Duke video w
kers have claimed copyright. FFS!Lots of memories as a competitor, but the one thing that sticks in my mind as the driving force that made me say I just have to compete in the RAC rally.
1974, year won by Timo Makinen and Henry Liddon Colibri Escort.
Welsh forest stage, the first night I think, Coed Y Brenin.
Absolutely bloody freezing, try to stand up on the stage, sheet ice.
First car on the road, hear the induction noise as he held the revs high, obviously an Escort, the loom of the lights over the horizon, the engine note chattering with the driving wheels gripping and slipping, crash of stones on the sump guard, and he's here.
Flash of cameras, some cries Makinen!
Heading down a steep icy hill towards a 30 right through gates over a cattle grid. Hang on, he's still accelerating, foot right in the bucket!
Accelerating away towards the gates, he's off surely?
Brake lights flare, hear the tyres scrabbling for grip as he takes the braking to the perfect point.
Brake lights off, flick right, through and away, waaah, waaaaah, waaaaaaaah, away into the night.
Crowd, stunned into silence. Then everyone elated started talking as one.
Magical.
1974, year won by Timo Makinen and Henry Liddon Colibri Escort.
Welsh forest stage, the first night I think, Coed Y Brenin.
Absolutely bloody freezing, try to stand up on the stage, sheet ice.
First car on the road, hear the induction noise as he held the revs high, obviously an Escort, the loom of the lights over the horizon, the engine note chattering with the driving wheels gripping and slipping, crash of stones on the sump guard, and he's here.
Flash of cameras, some cries Makinen!
Heading down a steep icy hill towards a 30 right through gates over a cattle grid. Hang on, he's still accelerating, foot right in the bucket!
Accelerating away towards the gates, he's off surely?
Brake lights flare, hear the tyres scrabbling for grip as he takes the braking to the perfect point.
Brake lights off, flick right, through and away, waaah, waaaaah, waaaaaaaah, away into the night.
Crowd, stunned into silence. Then everyone elated started talking as one.
Magical.
Edited by FiF on Saturday 5th November 19:18
300bhp/ton said:
Pretty much anything pre "WRC" spec cars was awesome. Be it Impreza's and Evo's, Escorts, Triumphs, Grp B's, Healeys, Porshces, Ferrari's, Mini's or older. Anything clubman and up.
Modern stuff is just dross and boring. Technically great and fast I'm sure. But I find zero interest or enthusiasm for it.
What he said...Modern stuff is just dross and boring. Technically great and fast I'm sure. But I find zero interest or enthusiasm for it.
My first taste of rallying was a cold, sunny, Dyfant Forest at dawn, Timo Makinen sliding his works Healey 3000 down the icy stage.
Magic stuff, when rallying was rallying, not the piddling little sprints we have today.
olly755 said:
Could be wrong but pretty sure it was Olympus in 1986. The same event he won the championship (but didn't), and was filmed taking the time to walk round and hug each and every one of his mechanics as if they were his own children.
1986 Olympus Rally Group B finalhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xOSaftHsQo
Gary C said:
You weren't the chase car and rally car I followed all the way from grizedale 2 to Penrith on the wrong side of the road for about 5-8 miles passed all the spectators queuing to get out onto the main road?
The policeman controlling traffic at the junction was a bit miffed
Not that year but in Wales the spectator traffic was terrible, we had had problems and running late on the road, so was Sandro Munari in the works Stratos. Wrong side of the road mini two car convoy pretty much most of the way from Clocaenog going into a control and service at Mold. Munari was leading and we were hanging on his coat tails.The policeman controlling traffic at the junction was a bit miffed
Out steps one of North Wales finest and pulls the pair of us over, figures out the Stratos is lhd, walks round to the nearside, Munari opened the window as far as possible, just that triangular crack, North Wales plod obviously don't do Italian, shook his head and waved us both on our way. Deep sighs of relief. North Wales Police wouldn't treat us like that today.
Dave Metcalf on the Manx International in a 1600 Nova- amazing.
Patrick Snijers in a M3 on the same event a year later – wow.
Kankunnen skipping across yumps on the RAC near Pickering (?) on -15 deg C icy stages, never once lifted.
RAC - seeing Stig take an icy bend flat out in 5th, when everyone else kept it in 3rd or below, he should have got a medal never mind a 3rd place that year.
1985 RAC watching Rohrl fight the sport Quattro, what a beast!
Servicing for my mate Phil (Jones the Manta) in 1990/1991, and him winning the Coracle stages, toast of the town, and many of us got seriously hammered that night!
Patrick Snijers in a M3 on the same event a year later – wow.
Kankunnen skipping across yumps on the RAC near Pickering (?) on -15 deg C icy stages, never once lifted.
RAC - seeing Stig take an icy bend flat out in 5th, when everyone else kept it in 3rd or below, he should have got a medal never mind a 3rd place that year.
1985 RAC watching Rohrl fight the sport Quattro, what a beast!
Servicing for my mate Phil (Jones the Manta) in 1990/1991, and him winning the Coracle stages, toast of the town, and many of us got seriously hammered that night!
Gary C said:
HRH2009 said:
YorkshirePudding said:
Motoring News era road rallying for me, 
Your mention of Motoring News brings back memories of seeing one of the rounds, the Cilwendeg based in Newcastle Emlyn , which was the classic of the time. Pwig said:
Then I'm doing the Dansport later in the month in a Mk2 Escort which is my last championship round of the season.
The joys of Navigating
You'll be seeing my ugly mug through your window then as I'll be out marshalling, The joys of Navigating
It would have been in the mid 70's and going to spectate on the Cilwendeg, seeing the leading cars at the end of a very fast down hill straight pulling down from prehaps 90+ to take hairpin slot. The front discs were all glowing red through the spokes of the wheels!!
Motoring News gave superb coverage of all the motorsport events at the time- Thursday was the best day of the week, as that was the day it came out.
Then again wales is still like that at the moment.
mybrainhurts said:
300bhp/ton said:
Pretty much anything pre "WRC" spec cars was awesome. Be it Impreza's and Evo's, Escorts, Triumphs, Grp B's, Healeys, Porshces, Ferrari's, Mini's or older. Anything clubman and up.
Modern stuff is just dross and boring. Technically great and fast I'm sure. But I find zero interest or enthusiasm for it.
What he said...Modern stuff is just dross and boring. Technically great and fast I'm sure. But I find zero interest or enthusiasm for it.
My first taste of rallying was a cold, sunny, Dyfant Forest at dawn, Timo Makinen sliding his works Healey 3000 down the icy stage.
Magic stuff, when rallying was rallying, not the piddling little sprints we have today.
It was on a lovely open right-left gravel s-bend.
Car one was one of those new-fangled 4wd turbos, and went through like a slot car, with a turbo whoosh and hiss.
Car two ditto.
Car three was a 240Z, came in at maximum attack, beautiful flick sideways, drift, flick back, and powered out with a rooster-tail of gravel as he howled off out of sight with an orchestra of webers and extractors.
It was a brilliant piece of on-the-limit driving, but we could see he was slower than the 4WDs.
We could see the future of (gravel) rallying there
.Interestingly, 30 years on, we (the Historic Rally Association) still run the Alpine every two years and get a full field of 120 cars within a week of entries opening - all 2WD, and more Webers & SUs than you can shake a stick at.
Most of my memories are from the mud,rain and cold of British stage rallying,but we also competed in European Tarmac rallying.
Tour of Flanders,Ardennes,Mont Blanc,La Touquet and Rouergue.It was absolutely awesome,very very fast,and that was the chase cars and service vans!!.We could service anywhere,mostley by the side of the road with rally cars going past at 100mph.In the villages people would stand at junctions and only allow service vans through.
Brakes were a big problem on a group N 205GTI with O/E discs and calipers,red hot discs and boiling fluid.In an effort to cool it down I would change the discs,pads and fluid quiet often.On one road side service the red hot disc was very qickly tossed aside and set the grass verge on fire.
The Rouergue Rally in the Midi Pyrenees ended in disaster for us.High up mountain stage,missed call,too fast and over the side!! It must have flown 100ft and landed upside down in some trees.Luckily the crew were unhurt but the car was destroyed and it took a wrecker crew most of the day to recover it.
Tour of Flanders,Ardennes,Mont Blanc,La Touquet and Rouergue.It was absolutely awesome,very very fast,and that was the chase cars and service vans!!.We could service anywhere,mostley by the side of the road with rally cars going past at 100mph.In the villages people would stand at junctions and only allow service vans through.
Brakes were a big problem on a group N 205GTI with O/E discs and calipers,red hot discs and boiling fluid.In an effort to cool it down I would change the discs,pads and fluid quiet often.On one road side service the red hot disc was very qickly tossed aside and set the grass verge on fire.
The Rouergue Rally in the Midi Pyrenees ended in disaster for us.High up mountain stage,missed call,too fast and over the side!! It must have flown 100ft and landed upside down in some trees.Luckily the crew were unhurt but the car was destroyed and it took a wrecker crew most of the day to recover it.
The decline of rallying had nothing to do with the deaths of some popular participants. It may have been a blow for their fans but the more insidious problem was greater homogenisation of competing cars , emasculated routes , quick but bland machinery and terrible TV coverage - all this resulting in the demise of rallying as an event which appealed to a much wider demographic than any other live motor sport . Caging spectators hasn't helped - well meaning but rationale hugely flawed - a response to spectator deaths on tarmac rallies applied to the very different forest stage environment .
Mind you, the behaviour of a worrying large minority of rallying fans did not help . I well remember near anarchy around Pickering - crazy bad driving , awful parking , gates being torn down etc. And latterly on Club rallies it has got worse- trees being vandalised, fires, loud effing and blinding in front of kids and a LOT of litter. Rallying has never attracted saints but locals have long memories when it comes to antisocial idiots spoiling things for the rest of us.
Mind you, the behaviour of a worrying large minority of rallying fans did not help . I well remember near anarchy around Pickering - crazy bad driving , awful parking , gates being torn down etc. And latterly on Club rallies it has got worse- trees being vandalised, fires, loud effing and blinding in front of kids and a LOT of litter. Rallying has never attracted saints but locals have long memories when it comes to antisocial idiots spoiling things for the rest of us.
Edited by coppice on Monday 7th November 18:17
as ever with a rallying thread the doom mongers are back out.
I don't think rallying is any worse than it was in the rest of the world. And in the UK if it is worse, primarily because its biggest event is cornered in Wales.
The cars are good, and next years will be ace. We have sufficient manufacturers. The sport was always a bit niche back in the day, and it still is.
H&S and the public liability issues do not help, but worse is the motor clubs and their inability to modernise, and the incessant whinging of hard working but low achieving people who don't like change, so won't organise their rally any more because it was harder than last year to do. But it's only difficult the first time you do it... ffs!
The UK rally scene would benefit from the Wales rally GB spending Sunday in parks and stately homes of the midlands. The current Rally2 set up almost encourages it. If we got the stages in the parks ( big if) and advertised it properly I am sure we would go back to 20k speccies at each venue, which would then grab the attention of fleet street. And make it seem more popular.
I actually think the above point is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is being able to secure private land for motorsport use. Today's decision makers probably haven't had a motorsport event on their land for 20 years, long before some of them had left school. Being hidden adversely affects the green agenda as it is not normal to close Harewood house for a rally any more.
Even in rallying's mid 80's hey day, I am not sure that there are more people in the forests than today. Or at least not per stage.
Finally rallying doesn't have to be front page news, it won't make any difference to your enjoyment of it, it is a challenging sport to follow closely in many ways, and that is part of it's appeal.
I don't think rallying is any worse than it was in the rest of the world. And in the UK if it is worse, primarily because its biggest event is cornered in Wales.
The cars are good, and next years will be ace. We have sufficient manufacturers. The sport was always a bit niche back in the day, and it still is.
H&S and the public liability issues do not help, but worse is the motor clubs and their inability to modernise, and the incessant whinging of hard working but low achieving people who don't like change, so won't organise their rally any more because it was harder than last year to do. But it's only difficult the first time you do it... ffs!
The UK rally scene would benefit from the Wales rally GB spending Sunday in parks and stately homes of the midlands. The current Rally2 set up almost encourages it. If we got the stages in the parks ( big if) and advertised it properly I am sure we would go back to 20k speccies at each venue, which would then grab the attention of fleet street. And make it seem more popular.
I actually think the above point is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is being able to secure private land for motorsport use. Today's decision makers probably haven't had a motorsport event on their land for 20 years, long before some of them had left school. Being hidden adversely affects the green agenda as it is not normal to close Harewood house for a rally any more.
Even in rallying's mid 80's hey day, I am not sure that there are more people in the forests than today. Or at least not per stage.
Finally rallying doesn't have to be front page news, it won't make any difference to your enjoyment of it, it is a challenging sport to follow closely in many ways, and that is part of it's appeal.
In 1971 I was six and vividly remember the RAC. It was this rally that started it for me. With Christmas fast approaching a great stocking filler is 'From Harrogate It Started'. Brilliant video coverage, superb music and some crazy BBC News Reports. Tony Fall, Roger Clark, Rauno Aaltonen, Paul Easter, Stig Blomqvist, Henry Liddon, Tony Mason...superb stage fun at Harewood...Fords, Saabs, Datsuns, Alpines, Moskovitch...and even a new suit for the Harewood stage winner!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Harrogate-it-Started...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/From-Harrogate-it-Started...
Jerry Can said:
as ever with a rallying thread the doom mongers are back out.
I don't think rallying is any worse than it was in the rest of the world. And in the UK if it is worse, primarily because its biggest event is cornered in Wales.
The cars are good, and next years will be ace. We have sufficient manufacturers. The sport was always a bit niche back in the day, and it still is.
H&S and the public liability issues do not help, but worse is the motor clubs and their inability to modernise, and the incessant whinging of hard working but low achieving people who don't like change, so won't organise their rally any more because it was harder than last year to do. But it's only difficult the first time you do it... ffs!
The UK rally scene would benefit from the Wales rally GB spending Sunday in parks and stately homes of the midlands. The current Rally2 set up almost encourages it. If we got the stages in the parks ( big if) and advertised it properly I am sure we would go back to 20k speccies at each venue, which would then grab the attention of fleet street. And make it seem more popular.
I actually think the above point is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is being able to secure private land for motorsport use. Today's decision makers probably haven't had a motorsport event on their land for 20 years, long before some of them had left school. Being hidden adversely affects the green agenda as it is not normal to close Harewood house for a rally any more.
Even in rallying's mid 80's hey day, I am not sure that there are more people in the forests than today. Or at least not per stage.
Finally rallying doesn't have to be front page news, it won't make any difference to your enjoyment of it, it is a challenging sport to follow closely in many ways, and that is part of it's appeal.
Except it's not as interesting anymore.I don't think rallying is any worse than it was in the rest of the world. And in the UK if it is worse, primarily because its biggest event is cornered in Wales.
The cars are good, and next years will be ace. We have sufficient manufacturers. The sport was always a bit niche back in the day, and it still is.
H&S and the public liability issues do not help, but worse is the motor clubs and their inability to modernise, and the incessant whinging of hard working but low achieving people who don't like change, so won't organise their rally any more because it was harder than last year to do. But it's only difficult the first time you do it... ffs!
The UK rally scene would benefit from the Wales rally GB spending Sunday in parks and stately homes of the midlands. The current Rally2 set up almost encourages it. If we got the stages in the parks ( big if) and advertised it properly I am sure we would go back to 20k speccies at each venue, which would then grab the attention of fleet street. And make it seem more popular.
I actually think the above point is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is being able to secure private land for motorsport use. Today's decision makers probably haven't had a motorsport event on their land for 20 years, long before some of them had left school. Being hidden adversely affects the green agenda as it is not normal to close Harewood house for a rally any more.
Even in rallying's mid 80's hey day, I am not sure that there are more people in the forests than today. Or at least not per stage.
Finally rallying doesn't have to be front page news, it won't make any difference to your enjoyment of it, it is a challenging sport to follow closely in many ways, and that is part of it's appeal.
I watched the Wales rally on TV recently, Polos and Fiestas looming. Yes all is good, but the cars were a bit..bland.
No more signature burbles or screams anymore, they sound similar.
No more interesting cars or homologation specials of said interesting cars (you can leave the Hyundai i30 N out of this)
You can't buy said homolgation specials, etc you used to be able to go out and buy an Impreza Turbo and be like McRae)
No super group like Group B, only the same WRC cars
etc etc,
Burns kept Subaru on the ground, if he had not died SWRT may still be here today.
McRae kept the press going.
Ah, rallying. A sport and an addiction.
For me it started with watching the rally programmes on the telly in the mid 90s, and being taken out to watch the Snowman Rally by my dad. Just the local event but clear memories of 6R4s, Sierras, Escorts, Chevettes at that time.
Then a lull for a few years until playing one of the McRae rally games on the playstation at uni. Which rekindled an interest in spectating. That then led to taking photos at rallies, then marshalling. Then a decade ago I started competing. And the bloody sport has taken over so much of my life now!
100+ rallies done, mainly co-driving in a variety of cars from a very nice N12 Impreza to 205s, a proper Mini, Corsas, Fiestas, an Evo1, Civic, MGZR, 106.
For me it started with watching the rally programmes on the telly in the mid 90s, and being taken out to watch the Snowman Rally by my dad. Just the local event but clear memories of 6R4s, Sierras, Escorts, Chevettes at that time.
Then a lull for a few years until playing one of the McRae rally games on the playstation at uni. Which rekindled an interest in spectating. That then led to taking photos at rallies, then marshalling. Then a decade ago I started competing. And the bloody sport has taken over so much of my life now!
100+ rallies done, mainly co-driving in a variety of cars from a very nice N12 Impreza to 205s, a proper Mini, Corsas, Fiestas, an Evo1, Civic, MGZR, 106.
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