We are doing a lot of work, with support from the forestry bodies, to help events and to unlock additional opportunities. There’ s more outside of that scope as well, which we hope to share soon.

Another positive are the successes of events like the SMC stages at Anglesey, which had a full entry and over 30 reserves, the Severn Valley Stages – which was also the first round of the British Rally Championship( BRC) – starting with around 115 entries, and the Manx National Rally has received an entry of 220 cars, one of the biggest entries we’ ve seen on an event for a long time.

This isn’ t isolated growth, there are several examples out there; yes, the market is still dictating which events do best but overall, we are optimistic. There are so many lessons and best practices that we as a sport can be better at sharing, helping each other to achieve success.

For this year we’ ll be trying to help organisers as much as we can. Over the last two years we evolved the regulations relating to competitors to reposition the sport a little bit, and encourage organic growth, and now we are looking at the organisational side. Some of our current guidance probably doesn’ t reflect best practice and the reality of how things now work on the ground and so we need to correct this.

Rallying needs fresh guidance that new organisers can pick up at day one, taking them through the entire process. It will also help those who have been in the sport for a long time, reflecting their experiences and knowledge to promote best practice. With this we can continue to build the world-class events that we all know we can deliver.

The 2026 British Rally Championship began its campaign on the Severn Valley Stages this month

Revolution Magazine 21