Revving up for the off
4th October 2007Final preparations are being made for the 30th staging of Trackrod Rally Yorkshire on October 6th which is building up to be a truly cosmopolitan affair with drivers from as far a field as Japan, Finland, Zimbabwe and Kuwait already on the entry list.
Around 180 cars in total are expected to roar into the North York Moors Forests for a variety of events – led by the International Rally Yorkshire, which forms round five of the 2007 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Championship.
Ambitious Japanese driver Kazutomo Kusama and young Finnish flyer Vesa Mikkola, son of 1983 World Rally Champion Hannu Mikkola, seem poised to keep Britain’s young talent under pressure as they battle for points in the British Junior Championship and R2 Category for two-wheel drive cars up to 2000cc.
Welsh-based Manxman and Stobart TEG Sport Subaru Impreza pilot Mark Higgins will take a slender three-point overall championship lead into the 185-mile/11-stage rally, organized by Trackrod Motor Club (Leeds) with the assistance on the day of almost every other club in the region.
But the British Championship regulations allow each driver to drop his two lowest scores at the end of the season and that brings a number of other competitors into serious contention.
Mitsubishi Motors works driver Guy Wilks, from Darlington, has an equal number of victories to Higgins thus far (two) so another good score on his local event will do his claim to the title no harm at all, although mechanical failure on the last round in Ireland was a blow.
All drivers in the UK’s premier rally series are restricted to using Group N cars but more modified vehicles, including World Rally Cars, are allowed in the Trackrod National Rally which follows the ‘main’ event and half a dozen or so all action Landrovers.
Preceding the ‘International’ and ‘National’ will be the popular Trackrod Historic Cup, featuring a diverse range of cars registered before 1982 (and many (in Category 1)prior to 1968!
Last but by no means least of the entourage are competitors in the Trackrod Clubman’s Trophy, a separate rally for the grass roots enthusiasts that are the backbone of every club, which forms a round of four regional championships.