16 replies to this topic

[Auroraf1]

Now come on chaps we all remember sitting down in the seventies on Saturday afternoon and waiting to see if Grandstand was covering Scrambling (when did it get renamed motor X?) or Rallycross.

Of course we would watch either, but it was always better if it was the latter.

What am I rambling about? Well I am trying to figure out if this form of motorsport has a classic movement?

I have managed to track that there was a revival part to a Lydden meeting in August and there is a mini cross revival group http://www.mini-cros...mdacalendar.php

But is there a group who run these old escorts minis etc?

I would love to here from them.

[cheapracer]

There's a poster around here with the nick 24Gerrard, he may have some info for you on the subject ..

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=72898

[RS2000]

With the price of some used shells for "classic" rally cars now, I sincerely hope a bunch of the over-finacially endowed are not going to use them in a branch of the sport that from a very early date involved far too much near-deliberate body contact to make it either fun or at all acceptable to the average amateur competitor.

[Catalina Park]

There's a poster around here with the nick 24Gerrard, he may have some info for you on the subject ..

http://forums.autosp...?showuser=72898

You cruel bastard.

[Tony Matthews]

You cruel bastard.

Yep. With knobs on.

[Tony Matthews]

I've just had a thought. The new Mongrel CR Bastard... wrong Forum, wrong thread..

[RTH]

Now come on chaps we all remember sitting down in the seventies on Saturday afternoon and waiting to see if Grandstand was covering Scrambling (when did it get renamed motor X?) or Rallycross.

Of course we would watch either, but it was always better if it was the latter.

Great days indeed and much missed, with Murray standing up to his knees in either mud or snow at Lydden, Keith Ripp ordering new bodyshells.
While we sat with our feet up in front of a roaring log fire with tea and hot buttered crumpets.
Bring back live Rallycross on winter Saturday afternoons.

[Duc-Man]

But is there a group who run these old escorts minis etc?

I would love to here from them.

I doubt that there are many survivors left.

With the price of some used shells for "classic" rally cars now, I sincerely hope a bunch of the over-finacially endowed are not going to use them in a branch of the sport that from a very early date involved far too much near-deliberate body contact to make it either fun or at all acceptable to the average amateur competitor.

I also doubt that there are that many idiots out there.

Rallycross was always a sport where you could use cars that were no good for anything else anymore. I'm pretty sure that some people that rode off some former rally cars are really pissed about the value the cars could have today.
Rallycross murdered already enough automotive history.

[john aston]

A bit of bile creeping in perhaps? It ain't Goodwood -no hoorays then- but Rallycross is alive and reasonably well- I will be going to the CRoft Rallycross GP early November and urge anyone at at loose end to do the same.Yes of course some cars get dented- bit like rallying then- but I'd rather see an old Mini go out in a blaze of glory than rot away frankly. And the machinery is seriously impressive-500bhp 4wd cars which spit flames and accelerate like bats out of hell. The 90s Internations Cups were some of the best meetings of any type I have attended - Gollop in 200 yard sideways drifts in his Metro 6R4 and all sorts of mad scandiwegians in Saabs and Volvos.

[RS2000]

No it ain't Goodwood. That was bad enough in the standards of driving by so-called professionals and received plenty of adverse comment here as a result.
Cars get dented - a bit like rallying. The whole point is that the norm in rallying is not to encounter your fellow competitor on a competitive section and make a very thinly disguised attempt to knock him or her off the road. Damage on rallies is almost entirely your own responsibility.
Rallycross was created for the great non-specialist TV viewer (yes, I know the very first such event was a bit different but the reality from 67 is so). Most competitors from other branches of the sport, especially autocross (the UK, not the US discipline), were uncomfortable with what it was from day one - a bad advert for motorsport as a whole and a dead end/impediment for amateur club sport. Deliberate body contact is for short ovals or the madness of the modern BTCC (where current driving standards developed under a promoter who the unelected overall national governing body then saw fit to make its Chairman - you couldn't make it up if you tried).
Bile? Too right! (and that's just rallycross in general, not the classic banger racing derivative...)

(attendee at Lydden rallycross 1967 and never again)

[h4887]

Now come on chaps we all remember sitting down in the seventies on Saturday afternoon and waiting to see if Grandstand was covering Scrambling (when did it get renamed motor X?) or Rallycross.
Of course we would watch either, but it was always better if it was the latter.

And failing motor sport, there was always Kent Walton to fall back on, so to speak...

[elansprint72]

No it ain't Goodwood. That was bad enough in the standards of driving by so-called professionals and received plenty of adverse comment here as a result.
Cars get dented - a bit like rallying. The whole point is that the norm in rallying is not to encounter your fellow competitor on a competitive section and make a very thinly disguised attempt to knock him or her off the road. Damage on rallies is almost entirely your own responsibility.
Rallycross was created for the great non-specialist TV viewer (yes, I know the very first such event was a bit different but the reality from 67 is so). Most competitors from other branches of the sport, especially autocross (the UK, not the US discipline), were uncomfortable with what it was from day one - a bad advert for motorsport as a whole and a dead end/impediment for amateur club sport. Deliberate body contact is for short ovals or the madness of the modern BTCC (where current driving standards developed under a promoter who the unelected overall national governing body then saw fit to make its Chairman - you couldn't make it up if you tried).
Bile? Too right! (and that's just rallycross in general, not the classic banger racing derivative...)

(attendee at Lydden rallycross 1967 and never again)

[Lee Nicolle]

No it ain't Goodwood. That was bad enough in the standards of driving by so-called professionals and received plenty of adverse comment here as a result.
Cars get dented - a bit like rallying. The whole point is that the norm in rallying is not to encounter your fellow competitor on a competitive section and make a very thinly disguised attempt to knock him or her off the road. Damage on rallies is almost entirely your own responsibility.
Rallycross was created for the great non-specialist TV viewer (yes, I know the very first such event was a bit different but the reality from 67 is so). Most competitors from other branches of the sport, especially autocross (the UK, not the US discipline), were uncomfortable with what it was from day one - a bad advert for motorsport as a whole and a dead end/impediment for amateur club sport. Deliberate body contact is for short ovals or the madness of the modern BTCC (where current driving standards developed under a promoter who the unelected overall national governing body then saw fit to make its Chairman - you couldn't make it up if you tried).
Bile? Too right! (and that's just rallycross in general, not the classic banger racing derivative...)

(attendee at Lydden rallycross 1967 and never again)

Rallycross was always far better for the spectator than rallying,, and a bloody sight safer too.And the specialist cars were a good bit quicker than the rallycars
Though I have seen the loonys in what purports to be rallycross in recent times which was hi speed demo derbys.
It died out here on Oz in the early eighties and we did not and would not be allowed to drive like that. Occasional contact happened but we never trashed cars like I have seen on You Tube.

[john aston]

Oh well ..looks like I will just have to enjoy it with all the other enthusiasts who share my interest. My motor sport church is obviously broader than many. For what it's worth it's amateur stuff with approachable drivers and virtually formula libre cars compared to the conformity of so many spec formulae - bit like drag racing. And a breath of fresh air away from the stuffier corners of the sport.

[sterling49]

Agree with you John, my motorsport is a broadchurch also, and if I was nearer, I would make the trip, Croft used to hold some fabulous meetings, I saw all of mine eitherat lydden (from the beginning) or Brands in the Schanche (sp) days...............

[glyn parham]

Sadly RS2000's comments ring bells even though I was just becoming a know it all teenager when rallycross really started to get off the ground.

I am sure that weather conditions helped to get the bumping and boring going as events were held during the winter, whereas autocross and the good old Players No6 Championship were run in the summer and could be cancelled if the weather was too bad. I daresay TV loved the crash and bash and with Murray commentating it all added up as good armchair entertainment.

Glyn

[Tony Matthews]

And failing motor sport, there was always Kent Walton to fall back on, so to speak...

Funny how smells, colours, sounds and, occasionally, names can open the door to an aged memory bank...