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Support Wales Rally GB

Topics: Wales Rally GB

Support Wales Rally GB

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
September 26, 2013

Since its inception in 1932, the rally has been contested 68 times. Enforced stoppages have included World War 2, the Suez Crisis in 1957 and the Foot and Mouth epidemic of 1967. Wales Rally GB is the British and 13th and final round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) and we urge you to support it. Perhaps that way we might get better media response to the Championship as a whole, not to mention the IRC, ERC etc.

To date, it is one of only two events (Finland‘s the other one) to have retained its status as both a qualifying and scoring round of the WRC since the championship was established in 1973.

Wales Rally GB is held annually and is organised and promoted by International Motor Sports Ltd, the commercial arm of the Berkshire-based Motor Sports Association, the governing body of motor sport in the UK. The Welsh Government has been principal funding partner since 2003 and the event’s official website is www.walesrallygb.com.

This year an exciting new ‘Rally Makers’ programme has been announced, aimed at further enhancing the spectator experience at this year’s refreshed event from 14-17 November. Britain’s round of the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship has moved to a new headquarters in Deeside, north Wales which has heralded the reintroduction of some classic Welsh forest stages. The move also signals the welcome return of family-friendly spectator stages at easily-accessible venues such as Chirk Castle and Kinmel Park and a large number of other initiatives.

The latest of these significant schemes is the provision of teams of well-briefed volunteer Rally Makers who will ensure the thousands of visitors from the UK and beyond all enjoy the high-profile event whether they be ticket-buyers, visiting officials, VIP guests or competitors.

The Rally Makers will take on a wide variety of roles across Wales Rally GB from welcoming fans to providing advice on where best watch to the spectacular high-speed action. Dressed in distinctive Welsh Dragon-red clothing, Rally Makers will be easily identifiable and each team will include Welsh speakers as well as others fluent in various European languages such as French and German.

All the Rally Makers have been recruited locally from three groups – Flintshire Local Voluntary Council, Rhyl College (Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl) and the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs – and teams comprise of both male and female members with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years old.

“Anyone lucky enough to have experienced the brilliant Games Makers at last year’s Olympics knows just how important the army of volunteers was to the overall success of London 2012 – I’m confident our Rally Makers will contribute similarly to the overall enjoyment of Wales Rally GB,” said Andrew Coe, Chief Executive of event organisers International Motor Sports Ltd. “Working alongside and complementing the existing rally marshals in promoting and delivering a safe event for everyone, these new Rally Makers will play an integral role in enhancing Wales Rally GB’s reputation as a welcoming and spectator-friendly event.” Drivewrite will be there.