2011 MSA British Historic Rally Championship

BHRC "Spirit of Clubmen" winners announced

Posted: January 6, 2012 2:33 PM

The three winners of the Holton Homes 'Spirit of Clubmen' Awards within the Kololi Beach Club MSA British Historic Rally Championship have been announced.

John Moxon, David Kirby and Will Rowlands will all receive a fully paid entry fee for a round of the 2012 championship thanks to the support of Holton Homes, the company of BHRC contender Peter Egerton.

The three drivers, one from each category, were selected by an expert panel, which looked for crews that typify the ethos of clubmen, competing in a self-prepared car and running on limited funds. The panel also considered crews that had endured more than their share of misfortune across the season.

Category One award winner John Moxon, and his co-driving brother Stephen, started to contest a few more events in 2011 in their Volvo Amazon as retirement was allowing them more time to spend rallying. Unfortunately, their season ended when the Volvo nosed into a building in Ulster, and was then pushed further into it when a Subaru in the modern event went off in the same place. The free entry will be a great incentive as they progress a pretty major rebuild of the Amazon.

Category Two award winner David Kirby is the youngest regular competitor in the BHRC and had a great 2011 season in his Ford Escort Mk1 Mexico, co-driven by 17-year old Ben Friend. However, funds were tight and David had to pick and choose the events he could afford to do, so the Holton Homes award will be a real boost to his 2012 campaign.

Category Three award winner Will Rowlands had a tough start to his career in historic rallying with a beautifully built, 16-valve Ford Escort Mk2. His 2010 season was a nightmare with gearbox and other expensive car woes, but in 2011 he came back and had good runs on a couple of the gravel rallies and on his first asphalt event, the Harry Flatters Rally.

"All three winners are most deserving recipients of the Holton Homes Award," said championship co-ordinator Simon Marks. "Rallying at any level is not cheap, and this generous award will make a real difference to these three crews. We are extremely grateful to Holton Homes for providing the awards."

The Holton Homes 'Spirit of Clubmen' Awards will be repeated at the end of the 2012 season, with three more crews selected to receive paid entries into BHRC events in 2013.

Isle of Man not to be replaced in 2011 BHRC

Posted: September 23, 2011 12:12 PM

Following the news that the 2011 Rally Isle of Man has been cancelled, organisers of the Dunlop/WONAGO MSA British Historic Rally Championship have confirmed that the event will not be replaced in the 2011 schedule and that this year’s championship will now be held over seven events.

The Rally Isle of Man, scheduled for 28/29 October, was to have been the final round of the championship, but that honour will now fall to the Colin McRae Stages on Saturday 1 October.

In line with the championship regulations, scores will now be counted from competitors’ best five results from the seven rounds.

“We are very, very sorry to learn of cancellation of the Rally Isle of Man,” said BHRC manager Simon Marks.
“The event has provided very well for us in recent years but the advent of much tighter times financially, plus the move to the October date, appear to have been two large steps too far for us all this year.”

The schedule for the 2012 BHRC will be announced within the next week.

Isle of Man International Rally - CANCELLED

Statement from the BHRC re Stefaan Stouf and Joris Erard

Posted: May 8, 2011 12:02 PM

The organising committee of the Dunlop/WONAGO MSA British Historic Rally Championship is delighted to confirm that Stefaan Stouf and Joris Erard will be able to continue contesting the 2011 championship and scoring championship points.

The licence query relating to their participation in the championship has been resolved.

The BHRC would like to thank those who spent time researching this matter and the MSA for giving a swift and positive clarification.

Holton Homes supports the clubmen in BHRC

Posted: January 27, 2011 12:44 PM

Clubmen competitors in the 2011 Dunlop/WONAGO MSA British Historic Rally Championship will be competing for the Holton Homes 'Spirit of Clubmen' Awards, which will give three crews a free entry into a 2012 championship round. Three crews, one from each category, will be selected by an expert panel, which will be looking for crews that typify the ethos of clubmen, competing in a self-prepared car and running on limited funds. The panel will also consider crews that have endured more than their share of misfortune across the season.

Supported by Holton Homes, the company of BHRC contender Peter Egerton, the 'Spirit of Clubmen' award will present three fully paid entry fees for 2012; one to the category 1 cars, one to the category 2 cars and one to the category 3 cars. Each award is worth around £500. Crews will need to start at least three events in 2011 to qualify for the awards.

"We wanted to make a difference to crews running on limited finances," said Egerton.
"I'm pleased to be able to put something back into the sport and I hope that these awards could make the difference between a crew entering a rally and being forced to miss it."

"This is a fantastic scheme to recognise and reward the effort of the lower-budget clubmen competing in the BHRC - the continued presence of such competitors adding hugely to the interest and atmosphere of the series," said series co-ordinator Simon Marks.
"We are very grateful to Holton Homes for continuing its support of these awards."

2011 TV deal confirmed for BHRC

Posted: January 18, 2011 11:46 AM

All eight rounds of the Dunlop/WONAGO MSA British Historic Rally Championship will be televised in 2011, with dedicated hour-long programmes on Motors TV following each round as well as an extended end-of-season review programme.

The BHRC will continue to benefit from exceptional TV coverage as well as DVDs of each round, an end of season compilation DVD and brief post-event web reports. Fans of historic rallying will be able to see all the gravel and asphalt action in a season that takes the championship from the forests of Mid Wales to the closed public roads of the Isle of Man.

Backing for the TV coverage comes from title sponsors Dunlop and WONAGO as well as TV partners including Sherwood Engines (www.sherwoodengines.co.uk), Tuthill Porsche (www.francistuthill.co.uk) and West Wales Rally Spares (www.westwalesrallyspares.co.uk).

Championship manager Simon Marks welcomed the 2011 arrangement: "I am delighted that the BHRC will again benefit from extensive TV coverage. We know that the historic cars are very popular with the fans on events, and the TV package will bring the spectacle of historic rallying to a wider audience. We are extremely grateful to our TV partners for helping make this possible."

More details about broadcast schedules will be published in due course.

BHRC kicks off in style at Gaydon Open Day

Posted: January 18, 2011 11:45 AM

HRCR Open Day (Gaydon) - (Sat) 15 Jan 11

BHRC heads for Colin McRae Stages

Posted: January 5, 2011 4:50 PM

The Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship will head to Scotland in 2011 with the announcement that the Colin McRae Stages (Saturday 1 October) will replace the Trackrod Historic Cup in the schedule for the coming season.

As part of the BHRC's on-going consultation process with crews, and following an end of season poll, the 2011 championship will now include the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, organised by Coltness Car Club as its penultimate round. This event will run on Saturday 1 October and the event organisers have welcomed the championship to Scotland, and their rally in particular.

The Trackrod Historic Cup, which had been included in the provisional 2011 calendar, will not now be a round. The BHRC wishes Trackrod MC good fortune with its September event.

Simon Marks, Co-ordinator of the Dunlop/WONAGO.com British Historic Rally Championship said:
"We have taken on board our contenders' wishes and sought out a new gravel round for the championship. We are sure that the Colin McRae Stages will offer an exciting and enticing rally when we travel to Perth in October. We thank Trackrod Motor Club for all their efforts in hosting the championship for the last ten years."

2011 BHRC calendar unveiled

Posted: September 28, 2010 12:16 PM

A revised calendar, which has taken the event crowding out of the middle of the year, and an additional round for the Gravel Cup are the key features of the 2011 Dunlop/WONAGO.com MSA British Historic Rally Championship.

The core BHRC retains the same mix of eight events, with five gravel and three asphalt events counting towards the prestigious MSA British Historic Rally Championship. The Ulster Rally, which was new on the calendar for 2010, has been retained following an overwhelmingly positive response from competitors.

With the Mid Wales Stages moving to early March to become the opening round and the Rally Isle of Man moving to late October to become the final round, the season has been stretched to eight months. This should help competitors' budgeting and the new Isle of Man date should help with the time away from family and business during mid-summer. The main BHRC now has a 10-week summer break, coming at the halfway point of the schedule.

"We are very pleased to unveil this calendar," said championship manager Simon Marks. "We've got a much better spread of events and have been able to extend the championship season and reduce the mid-season crowding of previous years."

Last year, MSA awarded a new five-year contract to the Historic Rally Car Register to manage the championship, which came as the HRCR completed a 10-year stint at the helm of the BHRC. The current agreement will take the championship through until at least 2014 under the same management.

Asphalt and Gravel Cups continue

In addition to the main BHRC, the separate asphalt and gravel competitions will continue, having proved popular with competitors who prefer to compete on only one surface.

To offer the gravel competitors a mid-season event, the Swansea Bay Rally has been added to the Gravel Cup to bring the schedule up to six rallies. The Harry Flatters Rally on Epynt will again be a round of the Asphalt Cup, which is held over four events.

Championship Rounds (Revised)

Posted: September 28, 2010 12:14 PM

BHRC

1. Mid Wales Stages (gravel) Sun 6 March 2010
2. Bulldog Rally (gravel) Sat 2 April 2010
3. Pirelli Historic Rally (gravel) Sat 30 April 2010
4. Severn Valley Stages (gravel) Sat 4 June 2010
5. Ulster Historic Rally (asphalt) Fri/Sat 19/20 August 2010
6. Tour of Flanders (asphalt) Fri/Sat 9/10 Sept 2010
7. Colin McRae Stages (gravel) Sat 1 Oct 2010
8. Isle of Man Historic Rally (asphalt) Fri/Sat 29/30 October 2010

1. Mid Wales Stages Sun 6 March 2010
2. Bulldog Rally Sat 2 April 2010
3. Pirelli Historic Rally Sat 30 April 2010
4. Severn Valley Stages Sat 4 June 2010
5. Swansea Bay Rally Sat 16 July 2010
6. Colin McRae Stages (gravel) Sat 1 Oct 2010

1. Harry Flatters Rally Sun 31 July 2010
2. Ulster Historic Rally Fri/Sat 19/20 August 2010
3. Tour of Flanders Fri/Sat 9/10 Sept 2010
4. Isle of Man Historic Rally Fri/Sat 29/30 October 2010

Historic Rally Car Register (BHRC)