Rally Cars Return to Filey After a Two Year Wait

Filey will be playing host to rally cars once again this weekend as the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire returns to the town.

The race stages are taking place in Dalby and Cropton Forests but the start and finish events are in Filey and open to the public.

Keith McGhee is one of the organisers, he says there is a great opportunity to see the cars up close at Friday evening's 6pm start event and at the parade finish on Saturday afternoon at 3pm.

The rally will be the fourth round of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship as well as a round of the Fuchs British Historic Rally Championship and the BTRDA Rally Series .

The rally includes stages on the Friday evening for the BRC and historic competitors with a total of 57 miles of stages. The BTRDA contenders will cover 45 miles on Saturday and all stages will be single use.

Competitors will start arriving at midday Friday for pre-event scrutineering and administration checks at the Filey Brigg Country Park, which will also feature as the Central Service Area on Saturday.

The competitive element of the rally takes place on closed forestry commission roads, mostly within the Dalby and Langdale complexes.

During the three previous Filey-based stagings, the event has attracted, on average, around 130 crews who are mostly from the UK but also from Europe and even further afield.

Keith says the event is being be used to test Forestry England’s capacity for re-starting large scale events.

Rod Parkin, Trackrod Rally Yorkshire Clerk of Course, said:

“We are pleased to have taken a full entry of 180 cars. A route survey conducted at the weekend found the famous Yorkshire forests to be in superb condition, having been un-used for nearly two years. The Forestry Commission has done a fabulous job in repairing any sections of road that needed work"

Trackrod Rally Yorkshire comprises of four separate sections, largely running concurrently with each other: -

• 1) TRACKROD RALLY YORKSHIRE comprising round four of the UK’s premier rally series.
• 2) TRACKROD HISTORIC CUP comprising the Fuchs Lubricants Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship and Northern Historic Gravel Rally Championship, open to cars built between 1967 and 1990. This events take place on the Friday night and Saturday.
• 3) TRACKROD FOREST STAGES comprising the final round of the MRF BTRDA Rally Series, Motorsport UK 2020 English Rally Championship and various local championships, open to any car. This event takes place on the Saturday only and follows the same route as the Historic event.
• 4) TRACKROD LANDROVER CHALLENGE open to the Armed Forces and Landrovers. This event runs at the end of the rally and follows the same route as the Historic Competitors on Friday and Saturday.

As in previous years, the Historic and British Championship competitors will assemble on Friday evening at 18.00hrs on the Filey seafront for a ceremonial start, being flagged away by the Mayor at 19.00hrs before the traditional spectacular night stage in Dalby Forest.

Spectators and the general public are free to take photographs with the cars, obtain autographs and speak with the crews before they start the event.

On Saturday, after 22 stage miles and 40 road miles the crews will arrive at Filey Brigg Country for a service halt to replace tyres, any faulty components and undertake any necessary remedial work to the cars. They will then return to the forests for a further 22 miles of competitive action before returning to Filey from 15.00hrs for the finish.