The triumphant World Championship debut of the Rally ofMexico last week owed much to a British consultant, whohas helped to transform events all over the world.
Malcolm Neill, once a successful co-driver, but best knownfor his 14 years in charge of the Lombard RAC Rally and itssuccessors, has acted as consultant to the Rally of Mexicosince 2000.
He first met the organisers early in 2000 and the format anddesign of the event which he created remains essentiallyunchanged today.
For four years, Malcolm advised the Mexican organisers howbest to comply with the requirements of the FIA World RallyChampionship.
He created job descriptions and training modules for alloperational functions of a World Championship event, helped toensure that all documentation was to FIA standards and liaisedwith the FIA to ensure that the event met their requirementsand was successfully observed for WRC status.
Once the event had been created, Malcolm assisted with theresults systems, the communications system and many otheroperational matters. He also advised the organisers on eventmanagement structures, commercial activities and media services.
Malcolm then attended the Rally of Mexico for four years, toassist with the running of the rally and to offer on-the-spottraining.
The successful inclusion of Mexico in the FIA World RallyChampionship came soon after Malcolm had achieved a similarresult with the Rally of Turkey.
He was a consultant to the Turkish Automobile Sport Federationfrom 1995, initially developing what is now the Tofas Rallywithin the FIA European Championship: that event progressedfrom FIA Co-efficient 5 to 20 in just four years.
He also developed the Anatolian Rally as a World Championshipcandidate, starting in 1999: by 2003, this event had becomepart of the FIA World Championship as the Rally of Turkey.
Malcolm has also worked with the Rally of Jordan, which wasin difficulty due to declining standards. He formed a neworganising team, introduced new operational methods, improvedcommunications and then acted as Clerk of the Course in 2001and 2002.
He is currently a consultant to the Qatar Motor & Motor CycleFederation, assisting with all aspects of their operation asone of the FIA's national clubs (ASNs) and recently organisedthe much-acclaimed Qatar International Rally.
He will soon be returning to Qatar to help the Federationorganise a candidate event for the FIA Off Road World Cup,the Baja Qatar, in November.
A considerable amount of export business for UK companies andindividuals has resulted from these activities, including therental and sale of timing and communications equipment andservices such as mapping, printing and media services.
