New scheme gratefully received, but can it pay?

By Sunday night, pretty much the entire population of rally drivers in the United Kingdom had been signed up to Rally Team UK. And there wasn’t a rally car to be had – Rally Team UK had bought them all. And then ordered some more.

Everybody is in on it, everybody is part of it. But who’s paying for it? Cue serious inspection of your own shoes.

Certainly, Rally Team UK sounds like the grandest of plans from Paul Curson and his team. Without doubt, this is what British rallying has been waiting for: benevolence which comes with a credit line reportedly registering not just millions, but hundreds of millions. Some of which, as Martin Whitaker confirms, will be spent on bringing Britain back to the big time – worth remembering two of the 10 full-time factory seats on offer in the World Rally Championship are actually taken by Brits this season…

Cynicism comes with the territory when you work on these pages and any question marks over a programme of this magnitude simply reflect the mood in the wider British rallying community.

But let’s put that to one side and wish Rally Team UK the best for an ambitious future.