Mini Tempest to make long-awaited return

One of the South East’s most popular single venue rallies, the Mini Tempest, will run for the first time in a decade on December 29 and will use roads at Deepcut Barracks in Surrey, a venue new to rallying.

The Sutton and Cheam Motor Club-run asphalt event was a favourite with clubman competitors for over 20 years; formerly based at Goodwood and the Transport Research laboratory at Crowthorne, it last ran in 2009 at Longcross Test Track near Camberley.

It has been resurrected as a oneoff event using Brunswick Road and Pirbright ranges, which are part of Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut. The Ministry of Defence will close the Barracks on January 1 2019 and SCMC’S website states: “We have a brief window of opportunity to hold what may prove to be the only single-venue rally at the venue.”

The rally will consist of eight short stages, giving competitors about 24 competitive miles. It will feature a format – well-liked by competitors – where cars contest a stage in an east-west direction before entering a holding control. They then contest the same stage in reverse, followed by a short service halt.

There will also be two special awards for the leading driver and co-driver using a Ford Escort. These will honour Shawn Rayner and Steve Dear, who lost their lives in a rally accident at Bramley, Hampshire last year.