RALLYING’S NEW ERA

Brillianttendringeventcouldbeasignofthefuture.by Jackbenyon

O

ne hundred and ninety three pages. In A4. That was just the safety and set-up plan. Process and procedure? That was thirty-five. The mind boggles at the enormity of the task.

Rally Tendring and Clacton was highly anticipated as the first event to run closed roads under new legislation passed in England last year, after a long campaign by the UK motorsport governing body, the Motor Sports Association.

The capacity for things to go wrong on any closed-road event is large, everything has to go to plan for the entirety of the schedule to run and for the competitors to go home happy, especially on a new event where the populous may not understand what is happening and the implications of their actions should they venture onto a live stage.

What played out in Clacton was incredible. All 15 stages started on time or with a minute delay, and an early estimate puts the local community out in force to spectate at well over 5,000. People lined the road sections, watched from gardens and pubs and attended the two spectator stages for a day’s sport.

At a time when rallying won’t make the Fleet Street back pages, it’s vital that the discipline is taken to the people, and there’s around 5,000 people who may have had no idea what a rally was that are now calling for the event to return year-on-year.

As is always the case, a small number against rallying made a great noise in the build-up, citing what seemed like every reason under the sun. For example, a risk to the local avian community (a large air show runs annually in the area…).

But the naysayers were nowhere to be seen.

MN tried, and failed, to find a spectator with something bad to say. Happily.

“We haven’t seen a negative person, everyone has been thumbs-up and waving,” says Guy Butler, driver of a Toyota Corolla. “There’s a real carnival atmosphere and it’s our own version of Barbados!”

The key to the success of the event was down to the Chelmsford and District Motor Club. Not a regular multi-venue rally organiser, as a collective it managed to pull together 500 volunteers and run a huge event straight off the bat, to universal acclaim. Anyone who has spent time in a rally service park will understand how unusual universal acclaim at a rally is.

The key to this was not biting off more than they could chew. The fundamentals were put in place, and what the event ran, was run well. It was a measured approach, which gives the organiser plenty to build on to improve the event further ( see rally news for more).

No names will be called out at this point, as every single marshal and volunteer was key in making the event run, and for giving the UK rally community a blueprint. Real numbers, real data, that similar clubs around the country can take to their local authorities and businesses in search of running a similar event.

One person of that view was David Richards. Much to the delight of the competitors, the 1981 World Rally champion was out shaking hands and reinforcing his presence.

“Everyone should look at this as a very historic day for motorsport in Britain,” he says. “It’s the first time we’ve had closed public roads under the new legislation, and if we can build on what Chelmsford Motor Club has done here, and the regional car clubs that have supported it, then we have a great blueprint for the future.”

An all-round success story, then. The glorious weather certainly helped, on a ground-breaking day for UK motorsport. ■