Car rallyboost fortourismbusinesses

ONE of the biggest events in British rallying is expected to bring a six-figure boost to North Yorkshire’s economy when it is staged in the county next month.

Motor racing teams from across Great Britain and Europe will be competing in this year’s Roger Albert Clark Rally, and the economic benefits will be a welcome boost for hotels, bed and breakfasts and restaurants at a traditionally quiet time of year for business.

Racing teams, drivers and fans from across Europe are due to descend on the Pickering area for the start of the rally in the North Yorkshire market town on Friday, November 26.

An independent economic assessment has estimated that more than 100,000 will be spent in North Yorkshire as a direct result of the rally, while national and international media and TV exposure will provide a further boost.

Rally manager Colin Heppenstall, from the Yorkshire-based De Lacy Motor Club, said: “November is inevitably a slow time for tourism. The Roger Albert Clark Rally will fill around 15,000 hotel beds across the region, while restaurants and other regional businesses will also benefit.”

The rally course will continue in North Yorkshire during Saturday, November 27, before crossing the Pennines for an overnight halt in Carlisle.

Competitors will spend Sunday in the Scottish borders and the Dumfries area, before another night halt in Carlisle. The final day of the rally, on November 29, takes in the Kielder forest complex in Northumberland before finishing in Carlisle city centre.

The rally is named in honour of the late Roger Clark, one of the greatest British rally drivers in the history of the sport. Now in its seventh year, the rally re-lives the era of the early 1970s with a competition aimed at amateur competitors in cars taken mainly from that period.