Latest News2008 Rally News
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Middlesex County Automobile Club and Thame Motor Club would like to congratulate Jaz Bojko and Paul Bareham on their engagement at this years Rockingham Stages. The couple first met at last year's Rockingham Stages, where Jaz was marshalling the arrival control. On Saturday, Jaz was again marshalling the arrival control when Paul and his Driver, Richard Upton, arrived to start their first stage. We gather all were surprised when Paul, (strapped in the car) produced an engagement ring and asked for more than their due time! Ever the professional, Jaz replied "I can't answer now I'm too busy!!!" meaning Paul had to wait until after the stage to get the response he wanted. Completing a successful weekend, Richard and Paul took class 4 honours and fifth overall with a spectacular drive in their RWD Sierra Cosworth. |
25th November: Due to the entry list filling so early for the 2007 Rockingham Stages the seeded entry list and final instructions are now available. Click here for entry list & here for final instructions
30th October: The entry list for the 2007 Rockingham Stages now stands at 95. Any additional entries will now be held until close of entries with the final places selected by the organisers.
20th October: The entry list for the 2007 Rockingham Stages now stands at 60. There are only 20 guaranteed places remaining. Any additional entries will be held until close of entries with the final 20 places selected by the organisers.
1st October: The regulations and entry list are now online and available for download from the competitor's information page. This is a couple of weeks earlier than in previous years and as usual we expect the entry list to fill quickly. Remember only the first 80 entries get guaranteed places, the remainder are held until close of entries with the final 20 places selected by the organisers.
11th April: We are pleased to announce that we have secured the use of Rockingham Motor Speedway for the 4th running of the Rockingham Stages. As with previous year's events the rally will run on the second weekend of December, this year being 8th & 9th December. More details on the format of this year's event will follow later.
2006 Rally News
10th December: The Rockingham Stages has been won for the second year in a row by
Steve Simpson (Hyundai Accent WRC), this year co-driven by Simon Hunter. John Stone & Lee Carter (Hyundai Accent WRC)
were quickest on the opening stage but Simpson & Hunter took the lead on the second stage and steadily extended the gap
to finish 1m 39s ahead of Chris Davis & Brandon Parker (Darrian T90) in 2nd place with Graham Coffey & Howard
Pridmore (Su
baru
Impreza) 3rd. The early leaders, Stone & Carter, finished in 4th place. Click here for
full results.
The organisers would like to thank everyone who helped make the event a success and in particular the marshals who spent the whole day out in the cold and without whom the event would not have run. A special mention goes to the marshals on the pit straight who spent much of Sunday chasing the large white bales that were being blown around by the strong winds!
31st October: 80 Entries have been received by the end of October. There are now just 20 places remaining. As per Supplementary Regulations 9.9: - The first 80 entries will be accepted in order of receipt. 20 entries will be reserved at the organiser’s discretion. Any further entries received will be placed on a reserve list.
23rd October:
Just 6 days after publication of the regulations the entry list is over 1/3rd full, with 34 entries received. Note that only
the first 80 entries are guaranteed a place on the rally. The remaining entries for the final 20 places are at the
organiser's discretion.
17th October: The regulations for the 2006 Rockingham Stages are now available to download from this website. Go to the competitor's information page for details. Last year the entry list was full in just 16 days, so get your entry in quickly to avoid disappointment.
13th October: The 2006 Rockingham Stages will now take place. Following successful negotiations with the venue owners we are pleased to announce the 3rd running of the Rockingham Stages. The format of the rally will be similar to last year. Regulations will be published, on this website, within the next week.
2005 Rally News
11th December: The 2005 Rockingham Stages has been won by Steve Simpson & Mark Booth (Hyundai Accent WRC). In a close battle over two days of stages they managed to hold off the challenge from last year's winners John Stone & Lee Carter (MG Metro 6R4) to win the rally by the margin of just 15 seconds. Click here for full results.
3rd December: The use of 4WD cars in rallying continues to increase and this year exactly 25% of the entry is in the 4WD category. There is a great selection of machinery in this class spanning many years of 4WD development from the modern WRC cars to the more than 20-year-old MG Metro 6R4 and the original 4WD rally car, the Audi quattro. The breakdown of cars in this class are: -
Audi quattro - 2 entries.
Ford Escort Cosworth - 9 entries (including 2 WRC versions).
Hyundai Accent WRC - 1 entry.
MG Metro 6R4 - 3 entries.
Subaru Impreza - 9 entries (including 2 WRC versions).
Toyota Celica GT4 - 1 entry.
30th November: The final seeded entry list has been published. The rally has a full entry of 100 crews plus 6 reserves.
30th October: The entry is now oversubscribed with over 100 entries received. Any further entries submitted will now be placed on the reserve list.
24th October: Entries now up to 80. The final 20 places will be selected from the remaining entries at the organisers discretion (in accordance with Supplementary Regulations 9.8) after close of entries. Any further entries received will be placed on a reserve list.
23rd October: Entries now stand at 74 (including last year's winners John Stone & Lee Carter in their MG Metro 6R4). There are now just 7 guaranteed places remaining (plus 20 from the remainder to be selected by the organisers after close of entries).
20th October: Just 8 days after publication of the regulations we have received 61 entries. With the first 80 entries being accepted in order of receipt and the remaining 20 places at the organisers discretion, there are now just 19 guaranteed places remaining.
14th October: The entry list is filling up quickly. We have received 22 entries in the first 48 hours since the regulations were published.
12th October: The regulations & entry form have been published today and are available to download from this website. Last year the entry was completely full in just 11 days. So get your entry in fast to avoid disappointment! You will get at least 90 stage miles over 10 stages (including 2 night stages), all on top quality roads for an entry fee of just £199.
4th October: The stage layouts have been submitted to the MSA for approval and will be at least 90 stage miles. We have submitted layouts to the MSA that could (subject to approval) comprise up to 100 stage miles. The event regulations will be published within the next week and will be available to download from this website. For those competitors unlucky enough to retire on the Saturday stages, there will also be a Trophy Rally over the 6 Sunday Stages.
8th April: We are now able to confirm that the 2005 Rockingham Stages will be a 2-day rally offering 10 stages and around 85 stage miles. The rally will be held on Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th December.
The provisional timetable is that Scrutineering & Documentation will take place on Saturday morning (between 08:00 & 12:30) followed by 4 stages starting at about 13:30. The second pair of stages on Saturday will only start after dark so all competitors run both stages in the dark.
Reseeding will take place overnight and competitors will restart at 09:00 (any competitor who retires on Saturday will be permitted to restart on Sunday, with time penalties). There will then be 6 stages on Sunday with prize giving late afternoon.
22nd March 2005: Last year the first ever stage rally to be run at the superb venue of Rockingham Motor Speedway, Corby, Northhamptonshire took place. We have today, signed the contract with Rockingham to run the 2005 rally. For 2005 the event will be running on Sunday, 11th December. At present the rally will be at least a 1-day, 8-stage, 70 stage mile event. However we are currently looking at extending the event to a 2-day format with 10 stages and around 85 stage miles, for virtually the same price.
If you are looking to compete on the event would you be more or less likely to do the rally if it was a 2-day format? Please let us know your views on this.
2004 Rally News
16th December 2004: The winners of the marshals draw for two ½-day rally courses
provided by Vision Motorsport were:-
Peter Wright (LLMC) and Sam Perring (Plymouth MC).
12th December: An estimated crowd of nearly 1000, twice the expected figure, braved
the winter weather to witness the first running of a stage rally at Rockingham today.
Blackpool's John Stone and Lee Carter took the top honours in their class 5 MG Metro 6R4, ahead of Steve Simpson and Mark
Booth's ex-Freddie Loix Hyundai Accent WRC, by the narrow margin of just 3 seconds.
Robert Lowe and Stephen Shephard were the first two wheel drive competitors home, taking 5th overall and top honours in
Class 3 in their immaculate Ford Escort MKII. The leading Class 4 car was just behind them in 6th place, with Welsh duo
David Allmark and J Tate in their Ford Escort MKII.
The leading Class 2 pairing were Tim Seipal and Louise Clark in the MG ZR who finished in a credible 8th overall, 6 places
ahead of their nearest rivals, Ian Brooks and Matt Sunderland in their Peugeot 106GTi.
In the smallest engined class, Owen Cule and Jason Mann brought their little Citroen AX Sport home in 33rd overall and 1st
in class, four places in front of their nearest rivals.
Late running forced the cancellation of stage 6 but the remaining seven stages ran to time, with 45 of the 75 starters
making it to the finish of the rally. The final car to take the chequered flag belonged to Rockingham safety marshal Mike
O'Connor and his wife Ellie in their Ford Fiesta MKI.
"It has been a fantastic event, with everyone really enjoying the spectacle of the first ever Rockingham Stages
Rally," said Rockingham spokesman Jeff Carter. "The competitors and the organisers have really done a superb job
and the feedback we have been getting from them is they want to do this again next year."
18th November: We understand that rumours are circulating among potential marshals and radio crews that they will be unable to take their vehicles onto the circuit and will be bussed to their posts. While this is true for Race meetings it DOES NOT APPLY to the rally. All the radio cars and most of the marshals will be able to use their vehicles. There may be a few points where marshals will be unable to park their vehicles - but that is no different to any other stage rally. It is a shame that these rumours spread without any consultation with the organisers'.
11th November: Although the entry list is now full we still need more marshals to help on the day. If you are planning to come along could you please contact the chief marshal as we need to know how many people to expect and it helps with planning marshals posts etc. If you are a competitor and your entry was unsuccessful why not offer your services as a marshal? Details are on the marshals page.
7th November: The entry list is now FULL. The entries secretary will be contacting the additional entries that have been received so far to discuss being placed on the reserve list. News of reserves will be added as it becomes available.
3rd November: The entry list is filling up fast with 67 entries received in the first week since the regulations were published. We have arranged for Saturday scrutineering, noise test & signing-on to be held at Rockingham from 15:00 to 17:30. Vehicles and trailers can be left at the venue overnight if required. A sample stage layout is available here.
31st October: The Entries Secretary has received 54 entries in the first three days since the regulations were published. So with only 21 places remaining available anyone wishing to enter had better get their entry in quickly!
30th October: We have had many people asking if anti-lag will be permitted. We have deleted the normal 'popping and banging' wording from the regulations, which excludes anti-lag, so it is included by default.
27th October: The regulations & entry form have been published today and are available to download from this website. With over 114 requests for regulations and just 75 places available we expect the entry list to fill up quickly. So if you plan to enter you are recommended to return your entry form and fee as soon as possible. The list of entries will be published on this website as they are received.
25th October: The entries secretary has now received a total of 114 requests for regulations, with just 75 places available! The regulations and entry form are in the process of being finalised and will be available to download from this website within the next 2 days.
25th October: MSA Permit number 26961 has been issued for this event.
9th October: The Rockingham Stages will now be open to paying spectators. The spectator viewing area will be restricted to the main grandstand only. Anyone attending is asked to please park as directed near the main gate and make their way to the main grandstand and not attempt to gain access to the stage. Note that the stage and service area uses parts of the main car park and access to the grandstand entails crossing the stage, please only cross as directed. In addition the road behind the grandstand is being used by competitors for stage access, please use caution in this area.
2nd October: A decision has been made to restrict the number of starters to 75 (it was initially planned to run 90 cars). Due to Rockingham's conditions of use Stage 1 cannot start before 10:00. It was therefore felt that in order that the competitors get the maximum running that the number of starters is limited. This will ensure that we are able to keep to the rally timetable and also complete the event by the time set by the local council, which is a condition of Rockingham's standard operation.
1st October: The stage layouts are now complete and waiting approval from the Rockingham circuit owners. As soon as the layouts have been printed a copy of them will be posted on this website.
29th September: As at the 29th September we have received a total of 89 requests for regulations. The regulations are in the process of being finalised and will be available soon.
31st July: A meeting between the Rockingham circuit owners and the rally organising team has taken place and agreement has been made on the use of the roads, location of controls, service area etc. The service area is to be positioned behind the main grandstand with a section of the stages running outside the oval and running through the main access tunnel with the majority of the stages using the oval, inner circuits and pit lane roads. The stage layouts are currently being prepared and should be posted here during August.
7th July: A meeting between the circuit owners and organising clubs will take place next week to enable us to finalise the stage layouts and other details of the rally. The stage layouts will be published on this website as soon as they are available.
6th July: We have had many people asking if anti-lag will be permitted. This issue has been raised with the circuit owners and we can report that they are currently looking favourably at the use of anti-lag. A final decision on this will be included in the regs.
6th July: The entries secretary reports that he has so far received 42 requests for regs. (the regs. are not expected to be published before the end of September or early October). Proposed cars so far include several 6R4s, BMW M3's, Nova's and Mk II Escorts.
May 2004: The first stage rally to be run at the superb venue of Rockingham Motor Speedway, Corby, Northhamptonshire is to take place on Sunday 12th December 2004. The event is a joint promotion between Thame Motorsport Club and Middlesex County Automobile Club. The venue offers a great selection of top quality roads and the stages are planned to include a combination of the perimeter tracks, in-field circuit and portions of the banked oval. More information to follow.