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- 1932 First RAC Rally. Torquay finishing point. 341 starters. Class winner: Col A H Loughborough (Lanchester).
- 1934 - 351 finishers!
- 1939 Brighton finishing point. 200 starters, 192 finishers. As in all seven previous rallies, no outright winner declared.
- World War II
- 1951 RAC Rally resumes. Bournemouth finishing point. No outright winner declared. Best performance: Ian Appleyard (Jaguar XK120)
- 1953 Hastings finishing point. Outright winner declared for the first time: Ian Appleyard/Mrs P Appleyard (Jaguar XK120)
- 1954 Increased emphasis on navigation with night work in Wales and Derbyshire. ‘Only’164 of 229 starters reach finish in Blackpool.
- 1955 Bad weather brings chaos and damages already poor reputation of rally as mere navigational treasure hunt compared to increasing status of rallies in Europe.
- 1957 Rally cancelled due to Suez Crisis and petrol rationing.
- 1958 More indignation as only seven of 130 finishers at Hastings complete route without penalty due to weather and complex navigation tests in Wales.
- 1959 Jack Kemsley takes charge. Date shifted to November. Accent on driving tests reduced. Tough route to Scottish Highlands, Wales. Finish London. 16 Foreign crews enter. Snow in Scotland causes trouble. Protest at finish!
- 1960 Kemsley introduces first Special Stage: Monument Hill (2 miles) in Scotland, plus two others, in the 2,064 mile route. Tulip road book introduced.
- 1961 200 miles of 2,000 miles route held on Forestry Commission land. Introduction of names such as Kielder, Dyfi and Radnor. No longer ‘Rally of the Tests’ but ‘Rally of the Forests’.
- 1962 38 Special Stages. Hat trick for Eric Carlsson (Saab).
- 1965 57 Special Stages (400 miles). Practising and note-taking banned. Positions calculated on elapsed time and no longer on points.
- 1966 Forestry Commission ask for ‘compensation’. Support from Lombard. GP drivers Graham Hill (Mini Cooper S) and Jim Clark (Lotus Cortina) take part.
- 1967 Event wins sponsorship from ‘The Sun’ and interest of ATV with eight Outside Broadcast units but cancelled due to Foot and Mouth.
- 1968 115 starters: 85 Special Stages.
- 1970 2,300 miles. First leg: 48 hours (London-North East-Scotland-Lake District-Blackpool). Second leg: 36 hours. (Blackpool-Wales-West Country-London). GPO telephone recorded reports introduced.
- 1971 First ‘showcase’ stage for paying public at Harewood House. Snow brings total chaos in Scotland. Exposes woeful lack of communications.
- 1972 Jim Porter becomes Deputy Clerk of Course. Streamlines organisation. Introduces figure of 8 route. 1800 miles. 72 Special Stages, sponsored by Unipart. Servicing forbidden near Special Stages. Event ‘huge success’. Won by Roger Clark.
- 1974 Becomes Lombard RAC Rally.
- 1975 Timo Makinen/Henry Liddon score hat trick.
- 1976 Bath Rally HQ. Two 36-hour legs, 1900 miles, 75 Special Stages (370 miles). 200 starters. Roger Clark wins.
- 1977 Sunday start with spectator stages. Starts from Wembley. Moves to York. 68 Special Stages (460 miles). Dedicated on-site computer used for results.
- 1979 Chester start and finish. Two 36-hour loops, starting with spectator stages then straight into forests. Event reduced by one day. 1700 miles.
- 1980 Bath start-finish. Overnight halt Windermere.
- 1981 Phil Short assists Jim Porter.
- 1982 Fourth win for Hannu Mikkola.
- 1983 Saturday start from Bath. Complaints about 42 stage miles over 11 stages. Stig Blomqvist (Audi) wins by 10 minutes.
- 1985 Outrage among works teams over Dave Whittock’s route (still without pace notes). Rally starts straight into Special Stage at Wollaton Park, Nottingham. 2205 miles, 63 Special Stages (549 miles).
- 1986 Bath start/finish. Night halts Harrogate, Edinburgh, Liverpool.
- 1987 Pace notes on Sunday stages. FIA limitations on hours and mileage. 1625 miles. 48 Special Stages (319 miles). Four days - with very early starts.
- 1988 Impressive 5th place from Armin Schwarz on his debut with Audi 200 Quattro. Most exciting WRC rally of the season; three different leaders even on the final day.
- 1989 SS1 began on Start podium in Nottingham’s Wollaton Park. 55 stages, 374 competitive miles. 44 year old Airikkala, seeded No 19 wins. 187 starters; 84 finish.
- 1990 Colin McRae (Sierra 4x4) 6th and best British driver. Strongest WRC entry since 1979 Monte Carlo. 1st victory for Sainz. Gwyndaf Evans (Ford) wins Group N.
- 1991 Harrogate Start/Finish. Chester overnight halts. 37 stages; 348 competitive miles. Kankkunen’s average speed 60.30mph.
- 1992 Lombard’s farewell £100,000 prize for a British winner goes unclaimed. Alister McRae wins Group N in Shell Scholarship Sierra. Huge spectator turnout in Scottish Borders caused Stage 24 to be cancelled.
- 1993 Network Q welcomed as title sponsor. Birmingham Start/Finish. Over-night halts in Lancaster and Gateshead. Heavy snow and hard ice in Scottish Borders. Kankkunen achieves 20th WRC victory.
- 1994 50th running of the event. Colin McRae becomes first British winner for 18 years (since Roger Clark in 1976). Winning margin; 3 minutes; 23 seconds. Chester Start/Finish. Harrogate overnight.
- 1995 Fastest-ever rally; McRae’s average speed 61.58mph (98.53kph). McRae (27) becomes youngest World Rally Champion. Subaru 1-2-3 for second year and win their first WRC manufacturers title.
- 1996 WRC 2 litre qualifier only. Ice and snow cover many stages. Schwarz wins for Toyota. 50 year old Blomqvist third in 2WD, 1600cc Škoda Felicia - 25 years after he first won the event in a Saab. SEAT win WRC F2 title.
- 1997 Cheltenham & Racecourse new rally hosts. For the first time all forest stages are in Wales. Silverstone Rallysprint circuit featured for the first time. Third win for Colin McRae.
- 1998 Name change; no longer RAC Rally but Rally of Great Britain. First day all mixed surface stages. Five stages at Silverstone. 100th rally for Vatanen. 1st win for Burns. Oil patch and concrete block combine to end Makinen‘s rally. Sainz retires on last stage.
- 1999 Last year in Cheltenham. Shortest WRC event in terms of time between recce and prize giving (7 days). Different service parks for Manufactures and privateers. Last WRC appearance for Toyota Team Europe. End of World 2 litre Series.
- 2000 Cardiff new HQ. All 17 Stages in Wales (15 Forestry Commission and two visits to the purpose-built Thyssen Rallysprint in Cardiff Bay). Introduction of spectator tickets for all Stages. Entry reduced to 150 cars. Burns completes a hat-trick of victories and
sets new record for winners average speed; 64.02mph. (102.44kph).
- 2001 Richard Burns becomes first Englishman to win the World Rally Championship. Rally format based around one service area on Welsh Development Agency (WDA) site at Felindre, near Swansea. Entry further reduced to 120 cars. First full scale trial of ISC
vehicle Tracking system.
- 2002 Unseasonably warm and sunny. Walters Arena, a kilometre of new road in Rheola - featuring a watersplash and jump - is created especially for spectators. Deceptive corner on Epynt military road claims Grönholm, Paasonen and Kuchar. First World Championship win for Petter Solberg and - appropriately - his Welsh codriver Phil Mills. 10th and final year of title sponsorship by Network Q. Daniel Sola (Citroën Saxo) wins inaugural Junior World Rally Championship.
- 2003 Welsh Assembly Government is new title sponsor. Four drivers in contention for the World Championship; Burns, Loeb, Sainz and Solberg. Burns forced out by illness and replaced by Freddy Loix. Solberg achieves back-to-back victory and secures World Championship. Carlsson wins JWRC but Brice Tirabassi is champion - despite retiring. Makinen announces retirement. Last WRC event for the “classic” Mini. Fastest ever Rally GB; winner’s average speed 108.19kph.
- 2004 Change of date to September does not improve weather conditions, still wet and muddy. Close battle between Loeb and P. Solberg only decided on last forest stage in Solberg’s favour.
- 2005 Close competition in the stages overshadowed on final morning by death of codriver Michael Park. Loeb, voluntarily incurred time penalty (to defer finalising Drivers World Championship) handing a fourth consecutive victory to Petter Solberg. Rally HQ
moved to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, which hosted the first indoor Special Stage.
- 2006 The 62nd running of the rally and all 17 Special Stages completed without disruption or serious accidents. The final round of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship, Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge and the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International. Finland’s Marcus Grönholm gives BP-Ford their first Rally of Great Britain victory for 27 years, winning the FIA Manufacturers Championship.
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