AFTER the recent shock news that the 2016 Wyedean Forest Rally was to be dropped from the BTRDA National Championship, the Forest of Dean Motor Club are going to run their very popular Rally Time Trial on October 4th in the Mid-Wales motorsport complex of Sweet Lamb.

The event is the brainchild of Paul Willetts and Martyn Walby and, despite not running in 2014 due to exploring the possibility of bringing it closer to home, will now run later this year, allowing the organising team to get to work with the new MSA rules and regulations and to give people much needed experience.

"The event has proved very popular with competitors, as it’s a very relaxed fun day with no technical navigation so you can also take your sponsor, mechanic, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend for a ride or even scare the mother-in-law for the day”, said Willetts.

“It’s a good way to experience gravel rallying without breaking the bank. We were the first club to run a gravel Time Trial in the UK and other clubs have since followed suit.”

The format will be similar to previous years, with six stages over 30 miles.   

“We hope to get a full entry of 40 cars, we’ve had a lot of support from competitors after the news on the Wyedean broke, most of whom agree the club have been harshly treated with the way things were done".

Regulations for the event can be found on the motor club website www.fodmc.co.uk