Rally GB

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Rally GB, or Rally Great Britain, is the largest and most high profile motor rally in the United Kingdom. It is a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, and is based in and around the city of Cardiff in Wales. From its first running in 1933 until the 53rd event in 1998, it was known as the RAC Rally until adopting its current name in 1999.

1 History
2 Scandinavian successes
3 Title sponsors
4 2005
5 Results
6 External links
7 Footnotes

[edit] History

[edit] 1932 Torquay Rally

The forerunner of the event was the 1932 Torquay Rally, which was the first major rally of the modern era in Great Britain. 341 competitors in unmodified cars navigated via ten waypoints points spread around a 1,000 mile route. As well as completing the route to a time schedule the competitors were required to perform special tests and a Concours d'Elegance was held at the finish in Torquay. There was no official winner, although Colonel A H Loughborough in a Lanchester 15/18 was recorded in having the fewest penalty points in the decisive test at the finish, to drive 100 yards at the slowest speed.^[1]

[edit] Pre- & post-war years

The first officially-designated RAC Rally was held the following year and followed a similar format, but with Hastings as the chosen finish. Over three hundred competitors entered, and this time Miss Kitty Brunel, driving an AC Ace, was the diver with the fewest penalties.

The race was run annually until 1939, after which the outbreak of the Second World War forced its suspension. However, it resumed in 1951, and has been contested every year since with only two exceptions, 1957 (Suez Crisis) and 1967 (Foot and Mouth Disease). This latter incident was on the eve of the event, so competitors staged a mock rally at the Bagshot proving ground as consolation for the press and television (ATV had been persuaded to provide major coverage with in-car cameras for the first time). This one-off event was the direct ancestor of Rallycross.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Forest stages

In 1960, organising secretary Jack Kemsley negotiated with the Forestry Commission to allow a two mile section of forest road in Argyll, Scotland to be used as a competitive section. It proved enormously successful, and the following year forest roads all over the country were opened up to the drivers. This, combined with the introduction of special timing clocks and seeding of entries, secured the rally's future, and cemented its reputation as one of the most gruelling and unpredictable fixtures on the calendar.^[2]

[edit] Mickey Mouse stages

In 1971, 'Spectator Stages' were introduced and, by 1975 had become an important part of the event, usually at stately homes and other public venues like Sutton Park. The first day was, by then, devoted to these stages. Drivers did not enjoy them, and referred to them disparagingly as "Mickey Mouse stages" because of the lack of challenge they offered,^[3]^[4] but nonetheless they contributed to the results. More recently, they have given way to the 'Super Special Stages', which are equally maligned by the drivers, but just as popular with spectators.

[edit] Group B

The 1986 RAC Rally was the last European event for Group B vehicles. These highly-tuned turbocharged cars were to be banned as they were deemed too powerful and dangerous, in light of the various accidents in which they were involved. In the end, the Peugeot 205 T16s of Timo Salonen, Juha Kankkunen and Mikael Sundström took three of the top four places, with only Markku Alen's second position in the Lancia Delta S4 preventing a monopoly of the podium.

There were 83 finishers out of 150 starters in 1986, compared to year of worst attrition in 1981 when only 54 of the 151 starters reached the end. This was in stark contrast to the early years: in 1938, there were only 6 retirements from 237 starters.

[edit] Scandinavian successes

Scandinavian drivers have enjoyed rich pickings in the RAC Rally, even allowing for their general dominance of the sport. Home drivers won the first six runnings of the race from 1953, when an outright winnner was first declared. However, in 1960 Erik Carlsson of Sweden, drove his Saab 96 to a hat-trick of victories in 1960–62, and of the six drivers to have won three or more titles since then, all but two — Colin McRae (1994, '95, '97) and Richard Burns (1998–2000) — have been Swedes, Finns or Norwegians. The record for most victories is four, shared by Hannu Mikkola (1978–79, '81–82) and Petter Solberg (2002–05), whose consecutive streak is unique.

[edit] Title sponsors

Until 1970, there was no overt sponsorship, but in that year advertising decals appeared on cars and the Daily Mirror newspaper sponsored the event. This deal lasted four years before Lombard North Central took over in 1974. The event became known as the Lombard RAC Rally, and Lombard's name became synonymous with the event.

Following Lombard's withdrawal of sponsorship after nineteen years, the rally became known as the Network Q RAC Rally and then the Network Q Rally of Great Britain. The rally has moved its operational base to Cardiff and competitive stage mileage is concentrated in Wales. With sponsorship from the Welsh Development Agency, the event is now known as Wales Rally GB.

However, with such an extensive history covering the whole country, there were demands for the "glory days" of the old RAC Rally. In this spirit, two events have recently been established, and cover the same classic stages which are no longer part of the WRC itinerary. The RAC Revival Rally uses modern, but less powerful cars, while the Roger Albert Clark Rally is a historic event using only pre-1972 machinery, and named after the first home winner of the race as a World Championship event.

[edit] 2005

The 2005 Wales Rally GB was the twelfth event on the WRC schedule for 2005. It was held on September 16–18, 2005.

On stage fifteen, Peugeot driver Markko Märtin crashed, and while he was unharmed, his co-driver Michael Park sustained fatal injuries, the first such death in the sport in over a decade. Sébastien Loeb was leading at the time, and would have won the rally and the World Championship, but chose not to win under such tragic circumstances. He voluntarily incurred a two minute time penalty after the final stage which dropped him to third position, leaving Petter Solberg to be declared the victor.

[edit] Results

Year	Event	Finish	Winner(s)	Vehicle
1933	RAC Rally	Hastings	Miss Kitty Brunell	AC Ace
1934	RAC Rally	Bournemouth	F R G Spikins	Singer Le Mans
1935	RAC Rally	Eastbourne	Results unknown
1936	RAC Rally	Torquay	C E A Westcott	Austin 7
1937	RAC Rally	Hastings	Jack Harrop	Jaguar SS100
1938	RAC Rally	Blackpool	Jack Harrop	Jaguar SS100
1939	RAC Rally	Brighton	Abiegeg Fane	BMW 328
1940–50		No Rally held
1951	1st RAC Rally	Bournemouth	Ian Appleyard Mrs. Pat Appleyard	Jaguar XK120
1952	2nd RAC Rally	Scarborough	Godfrey Imhof Mrs. Barbara Frayling	Allard-Cadillac J2
1953	3rd RAC Rally	Hastings	Ian Appleyard Mrs. Pat Appleyard	Jaguar XK120
1954	4th RAC Rally	Blackpool	John Wallwork Harold Brooks	Triumph TR2
1955	5th RAC Rally	Hastings	Jimmy Ray Brian Horrocks	Standard Ten
1956	6th RAC Rally	Blackpool	Lyndon Sims Rupert Jones Tony Ambrose	Aston Martin DB2
1957		No Rally held
1958	7th RAC Rally	Hastings	Peter Harper Dr Bill Deane	Sunbeam Rapier
1959	8th RAC Rally	London	Gerald Burgess Sam Croft-Pearson	Ford Zephyr Six
1960	9th RAC Rally	Brands Hatch	Erik Carlsson Stuart Turner	Saab 96
1961	10th RAC Rally	Brighton	Erik Carlsson John Brown	Saab 96
1962	11th RAC Rally	Bournemouth	Erik Carlsson David Stone	Saab 96
1963	12th RAC Rally	Bournemouth	Tom Trana Sune Lundström	Volvo PV544
1964	13th RAC Rally	London	Tom Trana Gunnar Thermanius	Volvo PV544
1965	14th RAC Rally	London	Rauno Aaltonen Tony Ambrose	BMC Mini Cooper S 1275
1966	15th RAC Rally	London	Bengt Söderström Gunnar Palm	Lotus Cortina
1967	16th RAC Rally	Cancelled
1968	17th RAC Rally	London	Simo Lampinen John Davenport	Saab 96 V4
1969	18th RAC Rally	London	Harry Kallström Gunnar Haggbom	Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupé HF
1970	19th Daily Mirror RAC Rally	London	Harry Kallström Gunnar Haggbom	Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Coupé HF
1971	20th Daily Mirror RAC Rally	Harrogate	Stig Blomqvist Arne Hertz	Saab 96 V4
1972	21st Daily Mirror RAC Rally	York	Roger Clark Tony Mason	Ford Escort RS1600
1973	22nd Daily Mirror RAC Rally	York	Timo Mäkinen Henry Liddon	Ford Escort RS1600
1974	23rd Lombard RAC Rally	York	Timo Mäkinen Henry Liddon	Ford Escort RS1600
1975	24th Lombard RAC Rally	York	Timo Mäkinen Henry Liddon	Ford Escort RS1800
1976	25th Lombard RAC Rally	Bath	Roger Clark Stuart Pegg	Ford Escort RS1800
1977	26th Lombard RAC Rally	York	Björn Waldegård Hans Thorszelius	Ford Escort RS1800
1978	27th Lombard RAC Rally	Birmingham	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Ford Escort RS1800
1979	28th Lombard RAC Rally	Chester	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Ford Escort RS1800
1980	29th Lombard RAC Rally	Bath	Henri Toivonen Paul White	Talbot Sunbeam Lotus
1981	30th Lombard RAC Rally	Chester	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Audi Quattro
1982	31st Lombard RAC Rally	York	Hannu Mikkola Arne Hertz	Audi Quattro
1983	32nd Lombard RAC Rally	Bath	Stig Blomqvist Björn Cederberg	Audi Quattro A2
1984	33rd Lombard RAC Rally	Chester	Ari Vatanen Terry Harryman	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
1985	34th Lombard RAC Rally	Nottingham	Henri Toivonen Neil Wilson	Lancia Delta S4
1986	35th Lombard RAC Rally	Bath	Timo Salonen Seppo Harjanne	Peugeot 205 Turbo 16
1987	36th Lombard RAC Rally	Chester	Juha Kankkunen Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta HF 4WD
1988	37th Lombard RAC Rally	Harrogate	Markku Alen Ilkka Kivimäki	Lancia Delta Integrale
1989	38th Lombard RAC Rally	Nottingham	Pentti Airikkala Ronan McNamee	Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1990	46th Lombard RAC Rally	Harrogate	Carlos Sainz Luis Moya	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1991	47th Lombard RAC Rally	Harrogate	Juha Kankkunen Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta Integrale 16V
1992	48th Lombard RAC Rally	Chester	Carlos Sainz Luis Moya	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1993	49th Network Q RAC Rally	Birmingham	Juha Kankkunen Nicky Grist	Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD
1994	50th Network Q RAC Rally	Chester	Colin McRae Derek Ringer	Subaru Impreza 555
1995	51st Network Q RAC Rally	Chester	Colin McRae Derek Ringer	Subaru Impreza 555
1996	52nd Network Q RAC Rally	Chester	Armin Schwarz Denis Giraudet	Toyota Celica GT-Four
1997	53rd Network Q RAC Rally	Cheltenham	Colin McRae Nicky Grist	Subaru Impreza WRC
1998	54th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	Cheltenham	Richard Burns Robert Reid	Mitsubishi Carisma GT Evo 5
1999	55th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	Cheltenham	Richard Burns Robert Reid	Subaru Impreza WRC
2000	56th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Richard Burns Robert Reid	Subaru Impreza WRC
2001	57th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
2002	58th Network Q Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Petter Solberg Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC
2003	59th Wales Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Petter Solberg Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC
2004	60th Wales Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Petter Solberg Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC
2005	61st Wales Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Petter Solberg Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC
2006	62nd Wales Rally of Great Britain	Cardiff	Marcus Grönholm Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC 06