Welcome to the first Newsletter for the 40th Anniversary event and what a fabulous rally it is going to be! Once again we are delighted to welcome Roberts Garages as our Title Sponsor – it’s fantastic to be partnering with them – keep a look out for competitions and promotions in the lead up to the event.
A huge thank you to the Jersey Rally Committee who have been working extremely hard behind the scenes for many months already – under the leadership of Chairman Richard Falle. Monthly meetings have been long and detailed with a huge amount of planning and coordination taking place. The PR exercise was completed in July with the 8 stages over the Friday and Saturday of the rally finalised. With close on 1,800 properties having been visited and fewer than 45 objections registered, the PR work has been a huge success. A big thank-you goes out to all those leading and doing the PR work. The 8 stages involve 80 competitive miles and 145 road miles. Work is ongoing to document these onto both Digimaps (a great electronic tool) and also in the physical world with volunteers working hard on the likes of road books, tulips, stage diagrams etc It looks like we are going to be seeing more of the central and west of the Island than of the east this year.
The first individual Stage Sponsors have now signed up and we are also very grateful to them for their support, particularly in these challenging times. In return, your support for their businesses would be much appreciated – so remember to make full use of the services provided by Elite DPF CI, Sign Solutions, SGB Hire, Fetch & Karrie and Romerils. Watch our website and our facebook page for details of these and further individual sponsors and how you can support them.
We’ve had an amazing response to entries opening – with the list virtually full in the first week and including a healthy numbers of previous winners ! The organisers are working hard to manage the challenge of such demand for the 40th Anniversary event with 90 rally teams set to leave the start line on the Friday lunchtime. Some stats for you all – there are currently 44 Jersey teams, 16 Guernsey teams and 27 teams from England and Wales plus 2 “mixed teams” where English or Isle of Wight drivers have gone for the local knowledge with Jersey navigators. That’s a lot of visitors many of whom will be enjoying the hospitality of our rally hotel – the Merton – in St Helier (although other accommodation is also available!).
It’s no surprise that Ford remains the favourite marque (42 cars ranging from the earliest “Anglia” through the ultra rapid RWD Escorts to the Fiestas) – with Ford the most consistent marque to win the event over the 40 years. Peugeot has 12 cars at the moment with many in the FWD2 class, and 9 for BMW. Hondas remain popular with 5 coming to the start line and then 3 each from Vauxhall (including the winner of the 1983 Rally), Citroen and Subaru. There are 2 Mini’s so far – with more on the reserve list, and also 2 for Triumph and for Darrian. Finally the variety of machines for this year’s event is hugely enhanced by one from each of Renault, Toyota, Lotus, Porsche, Proton and Mazda.
The entries close on 31 August 2023 and we currently have 9 reserves who will be keeping everything crossed that they get a run – an amazing reserve list includes former class winners, some key local drivers and a national rally champion.
For Jersey competitors it’s time to start confirming your marshals are able and willing – the marshalling forms are now online and we would ask that you update these as soon as you are able so we can start managing and planning the marshalling logistics.
Accommodation is available at the Merton Hotel – quote the Jersey Rally for a favourable rate. Remember also that tables for the Rally Dinner & Awards will start filling up soon – again contact the Merton Hotel and ask for the Rally Dinner.
Finally, some of our competitors will be out gaining valuable mileage on events in the lead-up to the Roberts Garages Jersey Rally now. Well done to Ian Godney, Steve Ellis, and Jeremy Baudains – all in the top 20 over the Epynt Ranges recently in the usual challenging Welsh weather ! David Kynaston also took 8th overall in the Historic Rally event at Epynt and Roger and Tommi Henderson put up some good times in their Fiesta Rally2. Check out our Facebook page for the update on the Bovington Stages held recently.
Finally, the Rally Committee agreed at its first meeting to adopt a statement outlining what we want to achieve with this year’s event. We, as a Committee, are all committed to this and hope that all those who participate, in whatever form, will also share its sentiments.
Our objective is,
To organise the 2023 Jersey Rally that is safe, fun, compliant and competitive for all competitors, officials, marshals, spectators, and crews whilst acting in a respectful and supportive spirit.
