Detour #100: Retracing the RAC Rally, UK
The car of the moment following the route of the 1993 Network Q RAC rally along the finest roads England, Wales and Scotland have to offer – strap in!
Epic roads are out there. You just need the excuse to go and drive them.
Mine in this instance include the WRC-inspired Toyota GR Yaris, Propaganda’s Jewelled on repeat in my head and memories of Top Gear Rally Report watching Tony Mason cheerfully rattling off stage results from a dark forest at god knows what hour, usually in the middle of a blizzard.
Bringing it up to date, the WRC version of the Yaris is a proven winner at Wales Rally GB in the hands of Ott Tänak. A roadtrip celebrating that would be fine but, in reality, little more than a lap of the ‘Evo Triangle’ and an ice cream on the sea front in Llandudno. Not to diminish Tänak’s achievement, but I’ve got bigger ambitions.
Looking further back, the last time Toyota won a WRC round on British soil was in 1993 with the Celica of Juha Kankkunen and Nicky Grist. Back then it was a proper tour of the UK, starting in the Midlands before heading into the Welsh forests, through Cumbria and the Lake District into the borders and returning via the Yorkshire forests.
Go, go, go! Rally start at Centenary Square, Birmingham
From the ceremonial start in Birmingham the first day toured spectator friendly country estates like Tatton, Chatsworth and Clumber. Best will in the world I don’t have time for that, but Donington (which hosted stages on the opening and closing days) let me onto the old Melbourne loop for a pic and Sutton Park outside Birmingham is another easy tick. You can’t drive in its grounds, but I recognise a 90-left from a YouTube onboard and park the Yaris at a suitably Kankkunen inspired angle.
A short Detour to Donington
The diversion to Nicky Grist Motorsport takes me off-route, but is worth it to meet the man who navigated Kankkunen to that win. And geek out over his original Team Toyota Europe service schedule, listing in exquisite detail every single lay-by, filling station and service stop on the 1,626-mile route they followed. It’s a wonderful artefact, but Nicky’s stories are even more fascinating.
Rally heroes assemble. Toyota GR Yaris, Toyota Celica GT4 and Nicky Grist
After an overnight in Oswestry I’m into the ‘real’ route, heading for Dyfnant. The dam at Llyn Vyrnwn is impressive in the morning light and the early hour permits a fun lap of the lake that might well be a trudge in tourist season. From there it’s back onto rolling mid-Wales B-roads, twisting this way and that between tall hedges and along the bottom of lush valleys.
These open out towards Llanidloes and Sweet Lamb, before a meandering singletrack road through the heart of Hafren and onto a dizzying, ridgeline blast to Dyfi, via Machynlleth – all famous stage names from over the years. The Gwyndaf Evans Motors dealer sticker on the Fiesta alongside us at lunch is further evidence we’re in rally country, Evans senior taking a class win in ’93 in his Group N Escort Cosworth while son Elfyn is, of course, currently chasing glory of his own in our Yaris’s rally brother.
Wonderful Wales. Dylife to Machynlleth
Narrow lanes like the one to Penmachno might not sound too inviting but open sightlines and the rally-inspired chuckability (and soft suspension) of the Yaris make them a hoot, the odd pitter patter of gravel in the wheel arches an appropriate accompaniment. In a hot-hatch, Caterham, MX-5 or something similarly compact they’re the most fun you can have at 30mph. And the scenery is breathtaking.
A short stretch of A5 east of Betws leads to Llyn Brenig, where I saw Tänak celebrating his win a couple of years back. There’s no time to linger, though, given the transfer up the M6 that awaits.
Busy roads and strict speed restrictions limit the appeal of the Lakes as a driving destination, though the scenery makes up for it. Grizedale was a notorious car killer back in the day and Kankkunen and Grist were banking on the lead McRae had opened in Wales to end in a Cumbrian ditch, per his usual style. But the Scotsman kept his cool and left the Lakes still in front, my prize for surviving Grizedale being stunning views of a snow-capped Helvellyn as I drop down to Ambleside and then a second overnight outside Carlisle. Now a Premier Inn, the Toyota schedule reveals some of the team stayed here back in 1993 when it was a Forte Posthouse. The receptionist politely feigns interest in this nugget of fascinating rally trivia as I check in.
It wouldn’t be an RAC Rally without the British weather. Grizedale looking grizzly.
Striking out from Carlisle the roads are awesome from the get-go, undulating across rich agricultural land with decent sightlines between tall hedges and imposing stone farms. Before long I’m back into the forests, though, passing through Kershope on another straight, tree-lined singletrack road, spiced up with sudden, corkscrew twists and fleets of oncoming logging trucks. In my head I can almost hear Grist’s unmistakable lilting pace notes, but caution myself against going full Kankkunen.
As the trees give way to pasture I’ve crossed into Scotland, joining the B6357 that more or less follows the border up to Hawick. The landscape, towns and farms have a toughness that contrasts with what we’ve left behind in Cumbria. “Reiver territory!” remarks snapper Sim, referring to the region’s lawless history of cross-border raiders and skirmishes. Back in 1993 the cars that had survived this far were in for their hardest tests, too, the 25-mile Kershope stage an opener for those in Wauchope, Kielder and the legendary blast through Pundershaw. In conversation with Malcolm Wilson ahead of the trip he recalls this as one of his favourite stages, his third place overall in his privately entered Escort RS Cosworth his best result in his home event.
Wales has set a high benchmark but the driving here is next level. The Hawick road rises and falls, tracking babbling burns along valley floors before twisting over forested hill tops with endless, 360-degree views and real sense of remoteness. ‘Proper’ Scotland is rightly lauded as a driving destination but right here, just a couple of miles over the border, is up there with the best I’ve enjoyed anywhere in the UK, the roads smooth, open and totally deserted.
Breaking for the border
Kielder beckons though, the route back into England looking more like a farm track at its outset. Long sightlines mean the width isn’t a handicap and, into Kielder proper, it dramatically opens out into a wide and beautifully surfaced road coiling through the trees. It feels more like northern Europe, the mash-up of an all-day English breakfast on waffles at the Kielder cafe adding to the culinary and geographical confusion. Breaking out of the forest and into the vastness of rural Northumberland the views go on forever, the skies huge and the road stretching to the distant horizon over rugged farmland and barren moors alike.
Dropping down into Stanhope, the next stop is Hamsterley, another legendary name from RAC rally history. It’s now home to mountain bike trails and a more sedate ‘forest drive’, which I tick off at a respectful pace before another lengthy transfer down the A1 for the North Yorkshire finale.
A foray in to the forest at Hamsterley
Sutton Bank, Helmsley and the road beyond to Pickering are busy but Cropton Forest lies off the beaten track and was the first of four stages held here in 1993. Passing through quaint little North Yorkshire villages the road thins and then spears off into the gloom of the forest, plunging through numerous fords before breaking out into the heather and heading north toward tourist hotspots like Danby and Goathland. This bit is deserted, though, the choppy surface dealt with by the Yaris’s rally-inspired suspension. If that sounds a bit involved the parallel Blakey Ridge road a few miles to the east is just as scenic, while also more open and better surfaced. Take your pick.
Charging through Cropton Forest towards the finish
As usual the Whitby to Pickering road is slow going but the turning to Dalby offers salvation. The final forest stage, this was also the second longest of the event, Grist remembering Kankkunen finally letting the Celica off the leash to build a bit of a safety margin for his lead before the final spectator stages.
That clearly won’t endear me to anyone, so I potter round the forest drive chasing a break in the clouds for Sim before emerging onto a seemingly never-ending lane back to the Pickering road. Completists looking to finish the whole route should now continue south to Scunthorpe, where the penultimate stage was held around the steelworks on what Grist remembers as a fun, flat out blast on coal dust and cinders. It’s now a landfill, though, and home is calling.
The scale and variety of roads and scenery has been simply breathtaking, but without the rally as inspiration I’d have never stitched them together in this way. I’m glad I did though, and the opportunity to give the Yaris a chance to live up to the considerable hype is also a treat.
Like I said, wherever you find yourself in the world the roads are out there. You just need the excuse to take the detour.
What’s yours?
Words Dan Trent Twitter | Instagram
Photography Sim Mainey Instagram
