The 2004 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship will get off to a magnificent start with the Alternative Sign Centre Robin Hood Historic Forest Stages on 6/7 March.
From an entry of over 90 cars for the historic section of the rally, nearly 30 cars will be competing in the historic (category 1) division of the BHRC, while almost 50 cars will contest the post-historic (category 2) division.
As ever, the older cars will run first on the forest stages of Nottinghamshire, with four stages running in the dark of Saturday evening and a further nine stages on Sunday.
Historic (category 1)
No less than four Porsche 911s will lead the historic section away, with Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride heading the field. Their 911 has just been rebuilt by Francis Tuthill's team, but Nutt knows that he faces a tough challenge from Porsche newcomers Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson and Porsche regular Geoff Stewart. Tuthill himself will start a BHRC round for the first time in 18 months, running at number 4 in his 911.
Offering the biggest challenge to the Porsches will be the Lotus Cortinas of Chris and Hilary Green and veteran Bob Bean/Bill Stevenson. Battling against the Lotus Cortinas will be the spectacular Volvo Amazon of Graham Waite/Gary Titchmarsh, while the Cortina GT pack will fight over class B3 spoils. The cars of Ronnie Roughead, Jonathan Gale and Keith Reed should be closely matched in the class battle.
Mini Coopers are likely to dominate class B2, with Dave Foster/Terry March and Mike Barrett/Michelle Calvert to the fore, while class B1 should be topped by the Hillman Imp of John Morris/Chris Flavell.
Post-historic (category 2)
The post-historic line-up is packed with quality cars and drivers and it is the Escort RS1600 of Richard Gower/Carl Williamson that will lead the field away. Chasing hard will be the similar car of David Stokes/Den Golding and Stokes will be keen to erase the memory of an early retirement on the 2003 event. "We ought to give those stages a miss, really," joked Stokes of the Rother Valley stages that put him out with damaged suspension after an off a year ago.
Local ace Stephen Hall starts third in a borrowed Escort Mk1 with Aggie Foster alongside. In his first event in an Escort for two decades, Hall is hoping that local knowledge will make up for his lack of familiarity with the car. First of the post-historic Porsches will be the 911 of Stuart Rolt/Kevin Devine, while more potent Escorts are in the hands of Ernie Graham/Robin Kellard and Ray Bellm/Marc Jones. However, the car that could really upset the Escort party is the Datsun 240Z of Dominic Frattaroli/Tim Hobbs, which has the pace for an outright victory.
The C3 class is likely to be a contest between the flying Escort RS2000 of Steve Smith/John Nichol and the Saab 99 of Andrew Street/Jez Mason, but the Hillman Avenger of Philip Atkinson/Simon Coates will be on the attack as ever. A gaggle of 1600cc Escorts will fight over class C2, including the cars of Kevin Broadhurst, John Worthing, while the Avenger of Tony Shields/Graham Whitaker will also be a contender.
