By Paul Evans

Four Welsh motor clubs are in discussion with authorities to run a Covid-19 compliant test rally next month, on secure private land in Denbighshire.

North Wales Car Club, Clwyd Vale Motor Club, Bala & District Motor Club and Harlech & District Motor Club have come together to organise a small, socially distanced, event that they are confident will conform to current Welsh government coronavirus regulations.

If given the go head, the event on Saturday 12 December will be only the second forest gravel rally to take place in Wales this year, after the coronavirus outbreak took hold soon after the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally in February.

The proposed test rally will take place in a forest complex next to Llyn Bran lake, near Sportsman’s Arms.

There will be four stages of around four miles each in length, with the service area located within the confines of the same forestry venue, all within an area closed off by a perimeter fence.

Unlike other proposed test rallies that were designed as driver only events, this one will allow co-drivers.

Only 15 cars will be allowed to compete, thus limiting the number of competitors to 30 – in line with the maximum number of people allowed to gather for an event.

No spectators will be allowed and the strictly controlled and limited number of volunteer mechanics, marshals and officials will be subject to a temperature test before entering the forest complex.

The event has receiving the backing of motorsport’s governing body, Motorsport UK, which is happy that the plans comply with its own comprehensive Covid-19 guidelines.

A similar test event, the M-Sport Return to Rallying Stages, ran successfully in Greystoke forest in Cumbria back in August.

Whilst at least four other proposed test rallies have tried and failed to convince the Welsh government that they could run an event without the risk of spreading the virus amongst competitors, officials and the local community, this latest test rally proposal in North Wales has made more progress – to the point where it is optimistic that it will be allowed to take place.

And if the test rally was to run, the organisers would share the knowledge and information gained by running it with other Welsh motor clubs, making it a potential game changer in restarting rallying in Wales.

Coronavirus has already begun to affect next year’s rally calendar, however, with February’s Cambrian Rally postponed to October 2021 and the opening round of the Welsh Road Rally Championship, the Rali Bro Caron (scheduled to run on 6/7 March), cancelled.

It’s estimated that grass roots clubman rallying generates around £15M to the Welsh economy each year, much of it in rural areas – virtually all of which has been lost in 2020.