Roger Albert Clark Rally

The biannual epic that is the Raoger Albert Clark Rally saw a superb event with twists and turns throughout. Just over a week before it started 2019 winner Marty McCormack withdrew due to business commitments. On the opening stage Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Escort MkII) were joint fastest, with Paul Barrett & Gordon Noble (Escort MkII), before going fastest on stage 2. They then held the lead through the opening night and the crazy Friday in Kielder, which saw Storm Arwen play havoc with the event. Several crews, many marshals and some fans were all left trapped by fallen trees and frozen conditions. Those that did get back to their digs also had the variable of power cuts which would take over a week to fully resolve.

Melvyn Evans Motorsport wins the British Rally Championship Teams title at its first attempt

Melvyn Evans Motorsport has won the British Rally Championship Teams title at the first time of trying, after an incredible season of success preparing and running a pair of Volkswagen Polo GTI R5s.

Creighton clinches Junior British Rally Championship title

– William Creighton wins the coveted 2021 Junior British Rally Championship title on his home round last weekend, the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally
– The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy ace finally takes the honours after being a two-time runner up
– Moira driver also receives a World Rally Championship prize drive in 2022 in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2

Osian Pryce aims for RAC Rally victory after finishing runner-up in the British Rally Championship

Osian Pryce will bounce straight back from finishing runner-up in the British Rally Championship by aiming for victory on the Roger Albert Clark Rally.

This year’s five-day and 351 stage mile event will be the longest special stage rally in Great Britain for 30 years (since the 1991 Lombard RAC Rally in fact) and Osian will contest the event for the first time in a RallyXtreme Ford Escort Mk2.

He gave the car a shakedown run on the recent Rallynuts Stages and finished ninth overall and won the historic class by 38 seconds.

Matt Edwards becomes British Rally Champion for a record-breaking third time in a row

Matt Edwards has won the British Rally Championship drivers’ title for a record-breaking third time in a row after taking his Yuasa Rally Team Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 to a sensational victory on the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally (Saturday 20 November).

Overnight and midday rain made the fast and bumpy closed country lanes of County Down extremely slippery, yet Matt never put a scratch on the car as he won the 94-stage mile event by over two and a half minutes!

Whilst Matt writes his name into the BRC record books, Darren Garrod wins the co-drivers title for a second time, having also guided Matt to his first title in 2018.

The Ulster Rally saw an incredible fight between Matt and his Melvyn Evans Motorsport stablemate and BRC title rival Osian Pryce.

Disappointed Bird makes his mark at Monza

Cumbrian driver Frank Bird’s hopes of an impressive result on his World Rally Championship debut were dashed on the penultimate stage of the second day of the FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza when suspension damage forced him out.

Along with Lake District-based co-driver Jack Morton, Bird, from Penrith, was contesting the final round of the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship in the WRC3 class on the Italian event in the Dom Buckley Motorsport-prepared and Frank Bird Poultry-backed Ford Fiesta Rally2 with assistance from Hager, Fuchs Titan Oils, Aico and Yuasa.

Brown bows out as British Rallycross Championship MINI champion

Rochdale racer Steve Brown has been named as the 2021 Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy BMW MINI champion after the latest round [6-7 November] at Lydden Hill Race Circuit in Kent.

Brown grabbed hold of the lead of the championship earlier this year at Pembrey in Wales and after a solid performance throughout the latter half of the season, was able to hold onto the top spot as the championship headed to the penultimate round in the South East.

Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with discovery+, makes triumphant return to Birmingham’s NEC

* 63,328 enthusiasts attended over the three show days.
* Triumph cars and a Triumph motorbike won all of the headline awards.
* Motoring TV stars entertained the crowds on the discovery+ Live Stage.
* Next year’s Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, held 11-13 Nov 22

The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with discovery+, made a ‘triumphant’ return to Birmingham’s NEC over the weekend after last year’s postponement due to Covid.

A 1969 Triumph TR6 owned by Gary McVeigh won the coveted Meguiar’s Club Showcase trophy, while Jake Clappison followed in his dad Paul’s footsteps to win the public vote in the Lancaster Insurance Pride of Ownership competition with his 1979 Triumph Spitfire. John and Jackie Cotterill won the Bike Pride of Ownership award with their Triumph Speed Twin motorcycle.

Frank Bird to make World Rally Championship debut

Cumbrian driver Frank Bird is heading for Italy where he will make his World Rally Championship debut in this forthcoming weekend’s FORUM8 ACI Rally Monza which hosts the spectacular finale to the 2021 FIA World Rally Championship.

The asphalt event will take place from Thursday to Sunday and will be based at the famous Autodromo Nazionale de Monza race circuit near Milan, in the north of the country, where it will form the 12th and final round of the year.

Bespoke Rallies dodges the Cumbre Vieja Volcano to make history in the Canary Islands

Leading international classic rally organiser Bespoke Rallies has a string of firsts to its name, and has just added another with Grand Tour Canarias – a successful 19-day, seven-island expedition of the Canary archipelago, including La Palma while the Cumbre Vieja volcano was in full flow.

Never before has such an event taken in all seven of the region’s main islands, hopping between the familiar destinations of Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife before heading west to the lesser-known haunts of La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera.