Swansea Bay - CANCELLED

Rally Cancelled

Posted: June 22, 2012 11:58 AM

Port Talbot Motor Club regrets to announce the cancellation of the Swansea Bay Rally scheduled for mid June. Despite well over thirty years of success, and being established as a round of many leading championships, this years event has sadly not received sufficient entries from the various Championships in which the 2012 rally was included.

As many major established events have found to their cost, resulting in either cancellations or large financial losses to the organising motor club, the year past has been - and remains - a very difficult one in which rally events can remain viable and survive.

Port Talbot Motor Club kept faith with the commitment to run the Swansea Bay Rally in 2011, when a cancellation might have been the most sensible - if not desirable - course of action. As with the majority of motor clubs, run by enthusiasts for enthusiast, profit margins are not the raison d'etre for the clubs existence, but rather to promote motorsport.

That said, no motor club can expect to survive if it runs an event when massive financial losses are the only result of that motorsporting promotion. Thus - faced with a potential loss of a five figure sum if the rally went ahead with an entry level far below a break even figure, the Officers of Port Talbot Motor Club have been left with no alternative other than cancellation.

Clerk of the Course Alan Stoneman said
"We regret this very difficult decision, but there was no alternative. Entries - particularly from the Historic field - were simply not forthcoming. We also greatly regret not to be able to repay the support of our various sponsors, including the City & County of Swansea and Pro-Art Signs, and the various Championships that included the rally in their 2012 series. The Swansea Bay was the only major motorsporting event remaining within the city & County of Swansea, and we fully intend that it will resume that position in 2013, though it cannot do so without the additional commitment of competitors"

Club Website

Posted: June 22, 2012 11:57 AM

• Swansea Bay Rally