WHY RALLY GB NEEDS A FUTURE
For those in the know, the news that Rally GB will be missing from the World Rally Championship lineup in 2021 was hardly a surprise. But the fact it has now been rubber-stamped means that there has to be some frantic work in the background to make sure that the globe’s finest mixed-surface drivers can be seen on these shores in the future. An event in the British Isles has been part of the World Rally Championship since it was first created back in 1973. That is quite some heritage. The stages and the challenge on offer in rallying in the UK is something that all of the top-flight drivers enjoy, and it is unthinkable that a round will be missing from the calendar for long.
The desire to get a replacement for Wales Rally GB, which has run its term when it comes from backing from the bigwigs in the principality, rests solely with Northern Ireland.
There is a huge passion to get the WRC a new home in Northern Ireland and hundreds of hours of work has already gone in to the planning of such a round. However, the clock has run out and when the music has stopped, GB has been left off the line-up for 2021. Given the perilous state of the national rallying scene at the moment, this is a kick in the teeth that the discipline doesn’t need right now.
We have our fingers and everything else crossed that the plans to relocate the event to Northern Ireland reach fruition. Far from being merely a feather in the cap for this country to host a WRC round, it is the pinnacle that sits on top of all the levels of rallying in the UK. That mean its place on the calendar is simply crucial.
Elsewhere in this issue, we pose the MN readers’ questions to sportscar king Oliver Gavin. He tells us of his path through junior single-seater racing that took him agonisingly close to a seat in Formula 1: he actually had one until the rug was pulled from under his feet. Nevertheless, he was picked up by Chevrolet and has gone on to amass a collection of silverware that any British racer would be envious of.
Paul Lawrence looks at the remarkable story of the recreation of Slippery Anne, a hillclimbing Austin 7 special that evokes memories from a different generation. Luke Barry explores the passion UK rally drivers have for tackling events in Belgium, while Graham Keilloh unearths the story of up-and-coming single-seater racer Alex Quinn.