“Organisers will learn from year one”
On the weekend that Rali Bae Ceredigion was rightly grabbing a lot of the rallying headlines, another closed-road stage rally was quietly but spectacularly breaking new ground in the heart of England.
The fact that the Three Shires Stages ran remarkably well to rave reviews from competitors signalled a huge achievement by an organising team from Cheltenham Motor Club with support from clubs across the region.
I’ve enjoyed closed-road rallying on the
Isle of Man, in Ireland and Belgium; often on sparsely populated roads in relatively remote areas. Yet here was an event designed to run in the affluent region where Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire meet.
I drove the five closed-road stages before the rally and was surprised by just how many houses were on the competitive route. Lots of people were going to have their Saturday impacted by the event, which ran three loops of six stages including the spectator stage in the grounds of Eastnor Castle. Having seen the route, which also took in some very narrow lanes, I feared that the chance of some stages being cancelled on the day was high. But how wrong I was.
In the final run-up to the rally some typically sensationalist, and largely incorrect, shockhorror local headlines did no one any favours, but the organisers held their nerve. They continued to answer the concerns of local residents and ran every stage as planned. Only one stage was cancelled for a handful of cars at the tail of the field after an accident. By the end of eight hours of rallying, the event was running just 20 minutes late.
Importantly, the reaction of the local community both on the day and afterwards has been remarkably positive. The locals I met were interested, happily tolerant and supportive of the event. Competitors reported an overwhelmingly positive reaction from waving and cheering residents.
The rally was the brainchild of father and son Jeff and Josh Wheeler, who live very close to one of the stages. They contacted Cheltenham Motor Club to get on board as the organising club. Support from as many as 25 motor clubs from the area helped make it all possible and plans are in place for it to become an annual event.
Of course, the organisers will learn from year one and will make changes. A couple of slightly longer stages would be good. But at a time when the Clacton event is joining the British Rally Championship, here is a closed-road event in England that is perfect for club-level competitors. Many of the crews competing 10 days ago were new to closed roads and the Three Shires made the step up from airfield events possible. It was a closed-road event for club competitors and a fantastic rally.