Ponder this …. while you are standing expectantly in the forests surrounded by like-minded souls. Enjoy the moment and the camaraderie, the noise and the sight of rally cars in their natural habitat, for who knows when it might end?
At a time when local car clubs and rally organisers are struggling to find challenging (and affordable!) stages with good roads and the various forestry organisations across the four ‘home’ countries are seeking to reduce access for motor sport whilst increasing access for every other sporting and leisure pursuit it is heartening to see what Colin Heppenstall and his team have achieved.
Given this level of interest and the ongoing struggle faced by clubs in the various national and regional championships, the sport’s governing body needs to do more to support these clubs. Someone needs to take the forest managements, the majority of which are owned by the tax paying public aside, and remind them of the Government’s ‘Sport for All’ pledges. That includes motor sport, specifically rallying.
The biggest ‘landowners’ are the various Government funded (by us the taxpayer) forestry estates across Scotland, England and Wales, followed by the National Trust, Ministry of Defence, Crown Estate and perhaps surprisingly the RSPB. Whereas the NT and Crown Estates wouldn’t be expected to look favourably upon our activities, the MoD is rather more helpful (when it can) and it is worth mentioning the RSPB in this context. Because of this organisation’s size and clout it can exert a lot of influence in the corridors of power, similarly the Nature Conservancy is a powerful lobbying group and there are others and they all have their own interests at heart. These interests do not necessarily coincide with ours, in many case quite the opposite.
This is what our own sporting governing body is up against. Every time we hear certain forests are unavailable or routes have to be changed at short notice because of nesting birds, rare animals, threatened flora, newts and butterflies, our interests drop down the list of priorities. Fair enough, but sometimes one can’t help wondering if some of these denials of motor sporting use are trotted out as excuses.
And then there are the other forest users whose groups encompass walkers, bikers, fishers, shooters and goodness knows what else and we really are the scabby cat in the corner – oops can’t say that, it would upset the RSPCA!
So enjoy this weekend and here’s a couple of early thoughts – a knighthood for Seb Perez? Sir Soundalot the ideal title? And if the Gruffalo had a rally car, it would surely be Higgy’s TR7, eh? Yup, there are plenty four pots on the road but there is little to beat the shrill crescendo of a V6 or the rasping rip of an angry V8.
Rallying. It’s not just about the sight and the smells, eh? Here’s hoping all the Scrutineers’ electronic sound meters fail!
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/
