WRC Rally NI Is UK’s Best Hope Going Forward
Sadly there will be not be a round of the 2021 WRC in the UK. Time was finally called on the proposed Rally Northern Ireland last month. Funding for the Belfast-based event could not be found at this time due to the current critical state of the Coronavirus pandemic. The Rally was due to run in August but that slot on the WRC calendar has now been filled by Ypres Rally Belgium. Whether that country is able to get Covid-19 under control by then remains to be seen!
The hope of the FIA, WRC Promoter and the rally teams is that a date on the 2022 calendar can be secured by Rally NI. Bobby Willis has dedicated his life to organising a WRC event in Northern Ireland. With backing from North Antrim MP Ian Paisley and other interested parties, Willis has very high hopes of a challenging closed-road event taking place when the pandemic is no longer a threat. A summer date would be ideal but that would be a huge bonus. Wales Rally GB has run its course and the World is ready for a free-to-watch Tarmac Classic. The WRC Promoter managing director Jona Siegel said “It is sad we cannot enjoy the beauty of Northern Ireland this year”.
If Rally Northern Ireland DOESN’T happen soon, then the UK may kiss goodbye to the World Rally Championship, possibly for good! The Welsh government are not interested in supporting an event in the principality. Other regions of the United Kingdom do not appear to have expressed any interest in organising a WRC event.
There is though, a major snag. The NI Executive at Stormont may not have any money to invest in a Northern Ireland WRC project as soon as next year. In dealing with the ongoing protracted Coronavirus pandemic, the NI government is reportedly broke! That’s why I think a date in 2023 is much more realistic.
What a feel-good event the World Rally Championship counter would be for a country which has experienced such a hard time lately. The rally would attract around 120,000 spectators to witness the World’s best drivers in action on the best tarmac stages to be found anywhere! Tourism NI would of course be very supportive of an event which should attract up to 120,000 spectators. Hotels and the rest of the hospitality industry would be overflowing, just what is needed following the recent bad times! Let’s hope it eventually comes to pass!
Back to the present time. There is no good news! Due to the on going effects of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdown restrictions are in place in Northern Ireland until at least 5th March 2021. Consequently no rallies (or indeed any form of motorsport) will be permitted to run during this period and beyond until the NI Executive decrees otherwise.
Round one of the NI Rally Championship due to be held at Kirkistown on Sat.13th Feb. has been cancelled by North Armagh MC.
Omagh Motor Club have also cancelled their Fivemiletown Rally on Sat. 20th Feb. which would have been the first round of the 2021 NI Gravel Rally Challenge.
Round two of the NI Rally Championship, the Bishopscourt Stages scheduled for Sat. 6th March has been postponed. Rally organisers Ballynahinch and District Motor Club are very much hoping to reschedule the popular McGrady Insurance sponsored event to a date later in the year.
With a lockdown also in place in Southern Ireland until at least 5th March, the first and second rounds of the Irish Tarmac Championship, the Galway Rally (7th February) and the West Cork Rally scheduled for 20th-21st March have both been cancelled.
The Circuit of Ireland Rally due to run at Easter (2nd-3rd April) has also been cancelled. The UAC event should have opened the 2021 British Rally Championship and would have been the third round of the Irish Tarmac Championship. Citing the continuing uncertainty around large-scale gatherings taking place both in Ireland and across the globe which would have the potential to increase the spread of coronavirus, the organisers state that they had no option but to cancel the rally for this year.
COI Clerk of the Course, Nigel Hughes, said “We cannot expect local residents to allow the roads to be closed during this dreadful pandemic which is claiming lives daily. 2021 was to have been the 90th Anniversary of the ‘Circuit’. With the vaccination programme now in full swing, hopefully 2022 will facilitate the anniversary celebrations and the smooth and safe running of the rally on 15th and 16th of April”.
I am afraid many other event organisers in Ireland will be making similar difficult decisions regarding their events throughout the rest of 2021. Covid-19 hasn’t gone away you know!
Twenty years ago foot and mouth disease had called a halt to all stage rally in Northern Ireland. The Eurocables Rally at Kirkistown in February 2001 was the last event to be held here. There were 130 starters and we used a new lights and beams electronic timing system for the first time. Despite some teething problems the experiment went well. It was a very cold day and I had a full complement of timekeepers who did a sterling job.
I have just last month attended a webinar organised by Motorsport UK in which a new stage rally timing system was explained. Apparently no time cards are used and timekeepers can sit in their cars while just keeping a master sheet and monitoring the electronic arrival, starts and finishes. Great news for us marshals, especially if the weather is inclement. Covid-19 was responsible for the changes coming so soon but they would have happened eventually. All we need now are some stages to try it out on! I am not holding my breath.
