CLOSED ROADS IN ACTION
WHERE: UK WHEN: 2018
When closedroad legislation was passed in 2017, British fans rejoiced and called for events to sprout up all around the country. Whether that would happen though was uncertain, and required big investment, both in terms of money, people-power and time for organisation. A closedroad event takes a massive amount to come together.
Thankfully, the beginning of 2018 was littered with the news that closed-road action was coming to a town, city, lane or forest near you. Wales Rally GB, the Coventry Motofest and Watergate Bay Hillclimb all confirmed their intentions in the first three months of 2018.
Wales Rally GB, perhaps being the highest profile of all, delivered a special stage around the Great Orme in Llandudno in October, finishing in the middle of the town with its central roundabout providing a perfect donut mound. The five-mile stage provided plenty of drama and played a key role, as Sebastien Ogier used his advantage on the test to eke out victory, which became vital to him taking a sixth world rally title.
While that was one short sharp test, Rally Tendring and Clacton was a full-blown 40-plus mile closed-road stage rally and, after over a year of planning, the event went off without a hitch despite the nerves of residents around the area. Melvyn Evans and Sean Hayde steered their Subaru Impreza S12B WRC to victory in the roads of the south-east.
Between those two rallies, motorsport returned to city streets for the first time since 1990 and the Birmingham Super Prix as the Coventry Motofest ran a British Automobile Racing Clubsanctioned event won by Olly Clark, son of rally ace Roger, in a Subaru in June.
And then the Watergate Bay Hillclimb followed in September, an uphill flier through the twists and turns of Cornwall a perfect metaphor for the ascendancy of closed-road motorsport in the UK.
Three more rallies have confirmed the intention of using closed-roads next year, Formula E is looking for a British return and no doubt there are other clubs out there discussing the possibility of going closed roads in 2019. If they run as the events this year did, fans, spectators and competitors are in for a treat.