A record 100 entries will be taking part in the 18th annual Brean Rally at the village’s Leisure Park at the end of January – including a TV star.
The 2014 Brean Stages Rally will be held on Saturday January 25th and Sunday 26th at Brean Leisure Park.
Entered in his first rally at Brean will be the 2011 British Truck Racing Association champion driver, Dave Jenkins, who is best known for his recent exploits on TV driving a slip-streaming truck for bike racer Guy Martin in the Channel 4 programme Speed.
With a number of World Rally Cars among the entries, competition for top honours at Brean will be keenly contested over the 12 special stages.
The event will host rally crews from all around the UK, including a number of national rally champions, 19 year-old Aaron Newby from Cumbria, who is the 2013 Manx Rally Champion, with an impressive nine wins in his TEG Sport and Pirelli backed Subaru Impreza.
Also taking part is Richard Bliss from Weston who has recently been crowned Welsh Tarmac Rally Champion in his Honda Civic Type R. Alongside these will be Peter Lloyd, former 5 times winner of this event and Welsh Rally Champion driving his Subaru Impreza WRC S14 and Steve Furzeland, winner of this event in 2013 driving a Subaru Impreza WRC S12.
The rally actually gets under way for the competitors on Friday 24th January when the pre rally scrutineering is held. For the first time this will be held at the Weston College’s new Automotive Technology Centre on the Locking Road.
This facility will also be open to the public who will get the opportunity to view the rally cars and meet the drivers.
Six special stages will be completed throughout Saturday with a further six stages on Sunday and an added Trophy Rally incorporating those competitors who were unfortunate to retire from the rally on the Saturday stages and who manage to put things back together for the Sunday morning re-start.
The rally, organised by Club Rallysport West, was awarded the coveted South West ‘Rally of the Year’ in 2011 and has grown in stature and popularity over the years and now attracts some of the sports leading crews. The rally will again be the opening round of two major regional championship series, the Association of South Western Motor Clubs and the Cotswold Motor Sport Group.
Spectators are again welcome. On Friday 24th January, the Pre Rally Scrutineering will be held at the Weston College Automotive Technical Centre from 1pm until approximately 7pm. Car parking is available and admission is free.
On Saturday and Sunday 25 and 26 January, spectators are welcome into the Brean park and both indoor and outdoor catering facilities will be available over both days. The organisers have ensured that spectators are well looked after with three viewing areas, one of which has a covered grandstand giving excellent viewing across the inner field stages.
Brean is one of the very few venues in the South of the country where spectators can watch this exciting sport at close quarters. Spectators will be admitted to the park over both days of the rally with an admission charge of £5 (accompanied children under 12 will be admitted free) and car parking will be £5. Gates open on both days from 8.30am.
