COMBE RALLYDAY ATTRACTS GRANDEST ENTRY SO FAR
WRC champion Auriol headlines bumper entry for 2019 edition of popular Wiltshire event
Rallyday will serve up its finest display of rally cars and drivers ever at Castle Combe on Saturday.
The Castle Combe event’s association with Bgmsport and Rally Replay has worked to deliver some exquisite machinery, including a whole range of Lancias, from the fearsome Delta S4 right the way through to the Turinese’s final offering to the World Rally Championship, the stunning Delta HF Integrale.
And who’s going to be driving those Lancias? Only the 1994 world champion Didier Auriol and the son of Lancia team principal Cesare Fiorio, Alex.
For Ian Gwynne’s Bgmsport firm, the fever begins even before the cars have arrived at the Wiltshire circuit. An astonishing 21 vehicles make the journey from Brackley, but three of those rally cars – including an ex-jimmy Mcrae Vauxhall Chevette HSR and a Subaru Legacy RS – will be towed in by period service vehicles.
And if staring at a beautifully turned-out silver Bedford van doesn’t take you back to 1981, then Rallyday organiser Tom Davis is happy to transport you to 1983 instead.
“That was a big year for Castle Combe,” said Davis.
“In 1983, the RAC Rally ran a stage through here. Given the number of Group B cars we’ve got coming this year, it seemed only fitting that we tried to recreate that first year of Group B on Britain’s round of the world championship.
“So, we’ve recreated as much of the 1983 RAC Rally stage as possible for Saturday. At 1235hrs the Rallyday Legends Stage will be created, taking the cars from the back of the paddock out past our scrutineering area and on a route which will really show the cars off to the public. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this stage, but it’ll all be worth it. Being there to see cars like these being driven in anger on a stage not used since 1983 will be special.”
That all-new Legends Stage runs for an hour and 10 minutes at lunchtime, but either side of it there will be the usual wall-to-wall rally action all day long.