Preview, round one: Robin Hood Historic Forest Stages RallyThe most competitive entry in the history of the championship will make the opening round of the 2008 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship one of the most eagerly awaited rallies of 2008.Two former World Rally champions will grace the entry as over 90 cars line up for the Alternative Sign Centre Robin Hood Historic Forest Stages over the weekend of 8/9 March. It is a truly stunning entry for the opening round of the BHRC and comes very close to matching the record 100-car entry for the 2007 event. The field is packed with fabulous cars and drivers; historic stage rallying just gets better and better!Category 1As usual, the oldest cars in category one (pre '68) will run first on the road and heading the field away will be Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride in their familiar Porsche 911. However, a pair of Sunbeam Tigers will be chasing very hard as Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies are pursued by Paul Kynaston/Gary Bulley. This will be the first time that the two Tigers have gone fully head to head, as their only previous meeting on the Somerset Historic Stages was cut short when Kynaston hit engine trouble. Now, after a long break, Kynaston is back for the event he has won four times before and is determined to show Watts had it should be done. Chasing the three sports cars will be the rapid Lotus Cortinas of Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson and Bob Bean/Malcolm Smithson, and with Bean celebrating his 70th birthday on the first day of the rally it will be a special occasion for the rapid pensioner.Class B2 is set to be a straight fight between the Mini Cooper S of defending class champions Terry Cree/Richard Shores and the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton, and there is likely to be very little to split the two rapid 1300cc cars.Meanwhile, the up to 1-litre class B1 is very well supported with a Mini Cooper, two Saab 96s and three Imps. John Parker/Robert Harrison will star in their two-stroke Saab, while former Mini crew Mike Barratt and Jody Watson switch to a Sunbeam Stiletto.Category 2With two former World Rally champions in the top three cars, the category two entry is quite incredible. Add in some of the fastest Mk1 Escorts around and several very rapid Porsche 911s and the stage is set for a mighty contest.Heading the field will be Stig Blomqvist and Pauline Gullick in the Escort from David Sutton's team and the legendary Swede will be very tough to beat. Meanwhile, two cars back will be fellow Swedish legend Bjorn Waldegard in the VK-backed Lancia Stratos, with Peter Martin guiding the 1979 World Champion through the stages.Splitting the Swedes will be the Escort of Mark Solloway/Den Golding and this could be the fastest car of all in category 2. However, more potential winners in Escorts include defending BHRC champions David Stokes/Guy Weaver, Ernie Graham/Robin Kellard and Jeremy Easson/Alun Cook, so it really is wide open. Then there is the Porsche contingent to consider, with Steven Smith/John Nichols and Andrew Haddon/Mark Crisp sure to set a fierce pace as they go up against the Escorts.However, category 2 is not just about classes C4 and C5. The 2-litre C3 category is shaping up to deliver some mighty contests this season, although potential frontrunners Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes will miss this event as they prepare their Escort Mk1 with a fresh Pinto engine.Russell Morgan and Martin Kenyon should be the benchmark in their Escort Mk1, but they have plenty of challengers including the Escorts of James Young/David Young, Tim Jones/Don James, Neal James/Kevin Jones and Ian Drummond/Tom Ward.Class C2 is well and truly up for grabs at the moment, with the pace likely to be set by Kevin Broadhurst and Andrew Turner (Escort Mk1). Trying to make it a family double will be youngsters Adam Morgan and Chris Kenyon, who will run alongside their class C3 leading fathers.Category 3The standard of entry in category 3 is every bit as good with four-time British Rally champion Jimmy McRae starting first in the Prepfab Porsche 911. This freshly prepared car is one of the first 911s to run on a gravel event in category 3 and is sure to give the Mk2 Escorts a major fight for category spoils. As before, Andy Richardson partners McRae in the Stobart-backed entry.Lining up behind McRae will be a gaggle of 14 Mk2 Escorts, all of them capable of challenging for victory. Picking a pacesetter here isn’t easy, but Irish flyers Martin McCormack and Liam Moynihan will be sensationally quick. So too, will be Julian Reynolds and Ian Oakey, while Peter Slights/Joyce Champion can never be discounted. Add in dark horses Richard Hill/Patrick Cooper and Paul Griffiths/George Gwynn, along with established contenders like Dick Slaughter/Geoff Dearing and Jason Lepley/Howard Pridmore and the fans are in for a real treat.Class D3 for the 2-litre non-multi valve cars should also deliver a tremendous contest, with the fastest cars getting up amongst the BD-powered cars in D5. Top seeds are Will Onions/Tim Hobbs in their RS2000, but Arwel Evans/Arwel Jenkins and Richard Lane/Frank Richer are strong contenders.Elsewhere in category 3, welcome variety to the Escort pack will be provided by the Open Ascona of Steve Magson/Geoff Atkinson, the Sunbeam Lotuses of Julian Burch/tba and Adrian Seabridge/Daniel Seabridge and the Vauxhall Chevettes of Roger Kilty/Lynette Banks and Mark Creswell/Rachel Brockington.The Robin Hood is organised by Lindholme Motor Sports Club Ltd and for more details about the event, please visit the website at: www.robinhoodforeststages.co.uk