Lombard Rally Festival - Grimsthorpe Castle
Report by David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography
9th July 2023
Earlier in the year I was commissioned to cover one the first Lombard Rally Festivals of the year which took place on April 1ston a cold and windy day at Duncombe Park near Helmsley in North Yorkshire.
Consequently, I was asked to fill a similar role, which I was very pleased to do, this time at Grimsthorpe Castle last weekend. The latest Lombard Rally Festival took place alongside the ever growing Baston Car and Bike Show.
My personal affection with rallying goes back many years, to my first foray into the Dalby Forest in 1984 where I witnessed Ari Vatanen in his Peugeot 205 T16 taking on rival Hannu Mikkola in his Audi Quattro in the original Lombard RAC Rally.
I was so impressed with the rallying, the skilled driving and amazing cars that I attended every day on every RAC Rally for the next 25 years! For many of these years I was the motorsport correspondent for the Hull Daily Mail, which involved sleeping in the car at the end of November, waking to ice on the inside of the windscreen and trekking miles of forest tracks in pursuit of my rallying heroes for a good photograph.
Fortunately, attending the Rally Festival at Grimsthorpe did not involve such adventures and I’m pleased to say the weather was significantly different, with a cloudy start to the day soon improving to give some very welcome warm sunshine.
Having covered the Vintage Speed Trials at Grimsthorpe last weekend I didn’t need the services of my Sat-Nav to guide me there, so I took a leisurely and quiet drive down, albeit with an early start, through the beautiful Lincolnshire countryside to the Castle which is steeped in history.
Parts of the impressive castle date back to the early 13th century when it was built for the then Earl of Lincoln. It has been the home of the Willoughby family since 1516 when it was granted to them by King Henry VIII, who reportedly visited the castle in 1541.
Unlike the Duncombe test in April, which had taken place on a mixed surface, the rally stage to be used at Grimsthorpe was all-tarmac. The Stages would take the competitors through the heart of the impressive 3,000-acre estate which contains a medieval deer park with many large oak trees planted in the 17th century. The park once formed part of the Great Lincolnshire Forest and also features an impressive lake and gardens designed and built by the famous landscape architect “Capability” Brown.
The Festivals, which are the brainchild of Tim Nash who competed on the Lombard RAC Rally in the 70’s, aim to re-create the "Sunday Runs" or “Mickey Mouse” stages as they were sometimes referred to. These stages were held in the late 1970s or early 1980s in the grounds of stately homes and attracted enormous numbers of spectators.
The "Sunday Runs" were very popular, allowing the fans to visit a more accessible location at the weekend rather than taking leave from work and trekking into a remote forest stage midweek.
The modern Lombard Rally Festivals bring the rally cars to a similar venue and set up in the style of a period rally stage where the drivers demonstrate the cars under controlled conditions.
The aim is to tap into the growing interest in historic rally cars, which are now a group of cars that are often not able to be rallied competitively. Most are too valuable to be rallied in anger and fall outside current motorsport regulations in the UK. Or more simply, their owners do not want to damage them due to difficulties in obtaining replacement parts but still want to use them as they were meant to be used.
The Fords which made up the backbone of British Rallying from the 1960s until the 1990s were out in force. Along with a Lotus Cortina and lots of examples of the all-conquering Ford Escort, the marque which won the Lombard Rally from 1972 all the way through to 1979. In 1981 a Ford Escort RS1800 carried the legendary Ari Vatanen to victory in the World Rally Championship.
Fans of historic rally sport were also able to watch cars on the day from the 1960s iconic Minis to the Group B era of Audi Quattros and MG Metro 6R4 plus many more.
The stage, covering almost 3 miles was used 8 times, 4 in each direction, part of which ran through a tree-lined valley known as the Valley of God situated alongside the former site of the 12th century Vaudey Abbey, which was used as a bombing range in the Second World War!
“Competitors” had to negotiate the narrow Vaudey Bridge, a long and undulating straight, giving the opportunity for drivers to put their right foot down, a couple of tight chicanes, and a steady decline/incline, depending on which direction the stage was being run in.
A technical section close to the Castle features a 90 degree bend alongside the lake and gave me plenty of opportunities to capture them in action.
For some of the drivers it provided an opportunity to leisurely demonstrate their prized possessions, but there were a significant number taking part who were quite prepared to drive, shall we say “enthusiastically” along the single-track ribbon of tarmac, providing some entertaining viewing for a sizeable group of enthusiastic spectators.
The car that took my eye was the MG Metro 6R4 taking part. The 6R4 (6 cylinder R rally 4 wheel drive) will not take any awards for its looks. It was a pure out and out Austin Rover competition car that retained a couple of panels from the original Metro body, but enough to clearly identify it as a Metro, and was built with the active assistance of Williams GP Engineering who at the time the project was started (1981) were at the pinnacle of F1 success.
The car was built to Group B international rally specifications and this group included such well-known competitors from other manufacturers such as the Audi Quattro Sport, Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia Delta S4 and Ford RS200.
Notably, the big difference with the Metro compared to all others in this group was the fact that it was the only one using a larger capacity naturally aspirated engine. This was a special one off 2997cc V6 engine which was originally loosely based on the Rover V8. Most of the other rally cars of the time were using smaller capacity forced induction (turbo) engines to generate the high bhp the Group B international rally cars were renowned for.
To comply with homologation rules of the period, cars had to be made in a production run of at least 200, plus for an ‘Evolution’ model a further 20 cars must have been made.
Interestingly, records show that only 205 were made in total, and most cars were built to what is known as the ‘Clubman’ specification.
The top spec factory car was known as the ‘International’ spec and could achieve a 0 to 60mph time of around 3.0 to 3.2 seconds.
The most powerful, and in some aspects, the most successful versions of the 6R4 were seen in the hands of Will Gollop in international Rallycross, where his turbocharged 700 plus bhp version scored many international victories and took him to several titles.
The MG Metro will not be remembered as an MG classic but there is no mistaking that the MG Metro 6R4 is one of the greatest rally cars of all time, and deserves to be recognised as such.
Another particular car and driver combination to note was the Lancia Delta Integrale driven by Sweden’s Bror Danielsson. Bror took part in the Lombard RAC Rally a number of times in the 1970s, recording his best result in 1976, when he finished 10th overall, and 1st in the Group 1 ”showroom” category in his Opel Kadett.
The 1976 Lombard RAC Rally which covered 76 special stages (Yes, 76 !!!) over 5 days in England, Wales and Scotland was won by Britain’s Roger Clark in his Escort RS 1800 Mk II, with an impressive entry list that included most of the most famous names in rallying from that era.
The Lancia Delta Integrale driven by Bror is an example of what is arguably the greatest rally car ever built, which dominated the Group A World Rally Championship, scoring 46 WRC victories and winning the constructors championship a record six times in a row from 1987 to 1992. The Lancia Delta Integrale also took Juha Kankkunen (1987 and 1991) and Miki Biasion (1988 and 1989) to the driver’s championship titles making Lancia the most successful marque in the history of the WRC, and the Delta the most successful car.
On returning to the impressive Castle between stage runs the cars were on display in the courtyard and in the main Paddock area alongside the Stage Finish/Start line, allowing the spectators a close up view
One car that particularly that caught the public’s eye was car #1 the Audi Quattro S1 E2. Both on and off stage it looked and sounded impressive.
The Rally Festival and the cars taking part and on parade formed an integral part of the Baston Car and Bike Show, which stretched out from the ornate front gates of the courtyard along the full length of the tree-lined 1/3 mile driveway of the Castle.
During the previous week Grimsthorpe Castle had hosted vintage racing cars, including an ERA built in nearby Bourne in 1937 which was the fore-runner to the UK-based Formula 1 teams. But now the tree lined avenue was host to a wide array of cars and bikes both new and old.
The Baston Car and Bike Show has been in existence for ten years but very soon after its introduction it outgrew its original Baston site.
As a consequence, the organisers approached car enthusiast and the co-heir of Grimsthorpe Castle, Sebastian Miller about the possibility of holding the event in the Castle grounds. He agreed to play host to the show which now includes many car manufacturers and dealers selling their latest models, as well as a variety of clubs, motorsport displays and fellow car enthusiasts making it an impressive and highly popular show.
As if there was not enough motoring content to keep visitors happy, (and there was an awful lot on view !!), there was live music being played for most of the day, a wide choice of catering stalls, including the Bar, which was very popular, and the Castle and its surrounding gardens which were open to the public.
Adding to the event at lunchtime many visitors’ eyes were drawn to the skies when a Lancaster Bomber, so closely connected with the county of Lincolnshire, and one of only two airworthy examples left, from the 7,377 built, flew overhead, making several passes over the show site.
The two events, running alongside each other, gave motoring enthusiasts a marvellous opportunity to enjoy their interest and were, based on the crowds in attendance, highly popular.
Although those attending will have to wait a further twelve months to visit the 2024 event, those who prefer rallying will get further opportunities to attend Lombard RAC Rally Festivals planned later in the year, including the sixth Bath – based Rally Festival, which will take place over two days on October 20th / 21st.
After two consecutive weeks covering events at Grimsthorpe Castle :DEEGEE: Motorsport Photography will be taking a well-earned mid-Summer rest, returning to snap the action at Cadwell Park’s Ginetta Race Weekend at the end of the month, which will preclude a hectic August schedule planned, including two, three and four wheel action.
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