When you see other championships going down the same route - such as the WRC and you will see other rally championships going down the route of a control tyre too, then that is heartening. The benefits are not just from a sporting perspective either. I think people underestimate those black things that touch the surface and what has happened this year is that the competitors’ have enjoyed a very good product, at a very good price and with it comes prize money too. I think so far we have given away £25,000 to all the competitors and obviously there is that fantastic prize of a works drive in next year’s British Rally Championship for one of those lucky finalists - the Pirelli Star driver finalists. It has got some great benefits then and it is working really well.
Crash.net:
The calendar for 2008 was confirmed recently. Are you happy with it or would you like to have seen an extra event in there?
MT:
The calendar for next year looks really good. We have worked closely with each of the rallies. We got them all around a table and said: ‘Guys, what is your vision?’ and ‘this is our vision and lets work together’.
The Trackrod has moved back into its traditional weekend, which was the third weekend in September. It was thrown out by Rally GB moving to September a few years ago. So the Trackrod has gone back, which really helps them and as a result of that the Ulster has moved into the third weekend in August. So they have all worked together. Now we have got six rallies with a good spread across the championship season and next year’s calendar looks positive.
