How a new 'old' challenge is capturing the spirit of British rallying lore

The UK no longer has a round on the World Rally Championship calendar, but the spirit of the RAC lives on – and shows there’s still a strong appetite for this gritty branch of motorsport. Motorsport.com was on hand to follow the mammoth endurance event unfold

Tom Howard Feb 20, 2024, 12:09 PM

Next year will be the 30th anniversary of Colin McRae famously winning the 1995 RAC Rally to become Britain’s first world rally champion in front of an estimated two million fans stage-side, propelling the sport to incredible heights in the UK. McRae’s exploits, coupled with the nature of the RAC Rally – thanks to the unique gravel challenges posed by famed Welsh stages such as Crychan, Myherin, Hafren and Sweet Lamb – added to the RAC’s standing as a revered event.

Sadly, the original RAC Rally (1932-97), which morphed into Rally of Great Britain and latterly Rally GB (1998-2019), no longer exists – the UK lost its place on the WRC calendar after 2019. But the event’s beating heart and its bespoke challenge live on through the Roger Albert Clark Rally – named after the 1972/1976 winner – which aims to encapsulate the charm of the original RAC through its 350-mile, five-day marathon for historic cars.

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Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.