Rally Day at Castle Combe
The 2021 event kicked off with a early 07:00 misty start as friend Andrew Cooper provided 569's Anthony with thrilling ride from Fairford across to Castle Combe in his fabulous Renault 5 Turbo Tour de Corse. The car recently repaired following a small 'nudge' at last years Race Retro was back to looking as good as new and more.
​
Andrew's main focus on the day was to support Brynmor Pierce who is managing the Rally Revival event due to take place on October 16 at Weston Park.
Rallying Stars of past and present.
Wales is well known for producing many big name rallying stars but none more so than Nicky Grist, the legendary co-driver for rallying world champions Colin McRae and Juha Kankkunen now runs his own Motorsport clothing and equipment company www.nickygrist.com
Nicky has supported the Rally Day event many times and was very much a fans favourite as he freely walked the paddock meeting and chatting with everyone. Also attending was three time British Rally Champion Mark Higgins and current WRC star Craig Breen.
Rallying Royalty on show
Taking a prime front row seat was the BGM stable and their usual outstanding display of iconic rally cars. Missing from this years line up was the Racing 6R4 Metro but replacing with the same worthy status was Hannu Mikkola's Group B Audi Sport Quattro S1 E2, winner of the Mantta 200 Rally in 1985.
Also on show was a wonderful collection of Richards Burns championship cars, the pair of 206 WRC cars a particular favourite. Anthony was lucky enough to chat with David Williams who managed Richard Burns at both Subaru and Peugeot.
All the luck of the Irish.
It's not every day you would get the chance to drive Richard Burns actual Peugeot 206 WRC car. Current rallying star Craig Breen had that pleasure although not driven at pace during the parade lap of the Legends stage. Breen was second on track close behind Jo Burns (Richard's sister) in a pristine limited edition RB Subaru followed by an impressive line up to include, McRae's Subaru Legacy RS and Ford Focus RS WRC02. Marcus Grondholm's Pikes Peak Ford Fiesta and Ari Vatanen's Paris-Dakar winning Citroen ZX.
New kids on the block - Rally Reply
The Rally Reply guys provided fans and drivers with a fabulous collection of motorsport merchandise. From funky orange glasses and t-shirts to FIA approved Martini Racing rally suits and SPARCO race products.
The guys also had on display a Biasion built Lancia Delta Integrale 16V Group A and a wonderful M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally4 driven on track by Rally Replay's Adam Midgehall.
Pugtastic!
Kevin Furber and Andy Medicott in the 208 R5.
​
The car formerly driven by Francois Delecour in 2014
