Rally-Driver.com: HRCR announces new look for night rallying

HRCR announces new look for night rallying
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Elton on 19 January, 2008 12:00:00
 
The HRCR has announced a major shake-up in the format of its night rally
championship. The Maxsport Road Rally Championship will now contain a mix of
full-weekend, night and daytime events and will be run solely for cars in
Category 1 (pre '68).
Alongside the championship will be the new HRCR Silver Jubilee Challenge, which
will enable competitors in cars from all historic categories to claim points for
just about any night-based road rally to which HRCR members are invited. The
daytime HRCR Clubmans Rally Championship is unaffected by these changes.
Maxsport Road Rally Championship
The Maxsport Road Rally Championship will include night, day and full-weekend
events. These cover a wide seasonal and geographic spread and are established
events run to a high standard. Competitors will need to register as before and
pay a registration fee. Cars would need to comply with relevant technical
regulations and (for masters and experts entries) have a Historic Vehicle
Identification Form.
The best seven scores from 10 events will count, obliging successful crews to
contest at least two of the three disciplines. It will be possible to get seven
scores without entering the more expensive full-weekenders. Southern crews would
need to contest only two northern events, and vice-versa.
The rounds are:
Jan 19/20: Carpetbagger Rally (night), East Devon
Mar 8: Tour of Cheshire (day), Cheshire
Apr 11-13: TDC Irish Retro (weekend), Dublin
May 31: Hughes Rally (day), Kent
Jun 14/15: G & P Memorial (night), North Lancs
Jul 12: Ross Traders (day), Hereford/Glos
Aug 9/10: Devil’s Own (weekend), South Cumbria
Sep 13/14: Yorkshire Revival (weekend), North Yorks
Oct 11: Regis Rally (day), West Sussex
Dec 6/7: Welsh Retro (night), Brecon
The HRCR Silver Jubilee Challenge
The HRCR Silver Jubilee Challenge is a new initiative that enables competitors
to claim points from any of at least 40 National B or Clubsport historic-permit
night events to which the HRCR is invited.
A class-based points scoring system will count up to the best eight scores, and
takes account of the size of the class.
The Challenge is open to cars of all historic age categories complying with MSA
regulations.
To win an overall award UK crews will need to include within their claims at
least two events that are part of the Maxsport Championship to reduce the risk
of the top crews never meeting head to head.
Each of the individual rounds of the Maxsport Championship is open to all
categories even though the Maxsport Championship is only open to Category 1
cars. Registered Maxsport competitors would also be able to gain Silver Jubilee
points on the full-weekend and night rounds of the championship.
"Road rallying, and particularly night rallying, is regarded as a budget form
of motorsport," said Stan Appleton of the HRCR. "However in these days of the
£1 litre we are finding that the cost of travel to and from events is often
exceeding the combined cost of entry fees and on-event fuel. We looked at how we
could still provide a high-profile championship with top-flight events yet also
cater for those with more limited time and budgets. There are many night rally
competitors out there who are keen supporters of their own regional
championships but who get little wider recognition. The Challenge enables them
to compete against others in a similar position but perhaps at the other end of
the country."
Further details of both the Maxsport Road Rally Championship and the HRCR
Silver Jubilee Challenge are available from the Co-ordinator, Stan Appleton
(stan@hrcr.co.uk or 01423-712436).