Hello and Welcome to this RAC Rally preview
Scotland's 27 year old Colin McRae is the bookies favourite to win this year Network Q RAC Rally, the final round of the World Rally Championship which starts in Chester on Sunday November 19th.
McRae, who broke the Scandinavian hold on the event when he won last year, starts the four day event level on points with his Subaru team mate Carlos Sainz of Spain. If neither finish the 28 stage forestry event in England, Scotland and Wales Sainz will take the title as he has a better record on this year's series.
Mitsubishi provide the main opposition with their Scandinavian pair Kenneth Eriksson and Tommi Makinen in their Lancer Evolution cars and their target is to win the equally important Manufacturers title where they have a narrow two point lead.
Ford have Frenchman Francois Delecour, Belgian's Bruno Thiry and last year's British Champion Malcolm Wilson in Escort RS Cosworths but are not expected to be on the pace of the Japanese.
A total of 189 cars are expected to make the start. They tackle seven stages on November 18th mainly in private parkland across Lancashire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire but include a visit to the Donington Park race circuit for a three mile cross country stage.
Leeds is the overnight halt for the first time and the action begins in earnest on Monday November19th when the route includes the 37 mile long stage in the infamous Kielder forest. This is claimed to be the longest stage ever used in a modern World Championship event.
The biggest car is a Vauxhall Carlton which started life as a taxicab and the slowest is the Rusian Trabant which has a two cylinder two stroke 600 engine developing 30bhp. East German Michael Kahlfuss finished last a year's of. He was three and a half hours behind McRae!!
This unsponsored rally report is provided by three enthusiasts. They would like to provide YOU with a weekly round-up of all the major motor sport action in Europe next year-so log on daily please.
A round up of the highlights, the unusual and the amusing from each day's action plus a Top 10 leaderboard will be available from 0900hrs GMT on November 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd.
Derek Hill, 100665.1037@compuserve.com
Return to:
|NetworkQ Index|Stage Rallying in the UK| The UKMotorSport Index|