But, back to the beginning. It’s been a long wait. True, PBRC Live was a welcome relief, and a very successful one at that, but 27 October 2002 to 25 April 2003 is a long, long time to go without any real PBRC action. I don’t know if rallying is any different from other sports, but it’s obvious that idle minds with no competition to stimulate them tend to find other outlets – usually involving a certain amount of criticism. It’s certainly been true this year, particularly whilst the new PBRC management committee found its feet before regaining the momentum that had been started last year. The continuing economic gloom hasn’t helped matters either, reducing the number of sponsors prepared to invest in rallying - world-wide, not just in the UK - thus limiting the number of teams who can afford to compete in the sport at the highest level.
The cancellation of the Rally of Wales was disappointing but, with fate having played its hand, it was somehow fitting that Gateshead should once again host the PBRC’s opening round. The organisers of the Pirelli-sponsored International Rally – Brian Kinghorn and his colleagues, ably supported by the Cumberland Sporting Car Club, Gateshead Council, and the Pirelli team – always do a superb job with this event (first run in 1975 as the Tour of Cumbria), and this year they brought in several new promotable features and a more compact, competitor-friendly format. City centre starts have their share of critics but, in terms of promotional opportunities and public support, a start close by the famous Millennium Bridge in Gateshead’s impressive Baltic Square is about as good as it gets – and the entry list certainly bore this out.
