RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years
Report by David Harbey – Part Two 1985 – 86
25 January 2025
Lombard RAC Rally 1985
1985 was the first big year for me and my wife following the RAC Rally. We were still pre-children, so we planned a multi-day trip. Monday would be Clipstone. We would meet work colleague Chris and his mate at Dalby, then do the Ford at Hamsterley. I say we, as the wonderful and ever-patient Mrs Harbey was coming with me in the Golf GTI.
Clumber Park
We’d sleep in the car, Monday night near Castle O’er in Scotland, then head back south to my parents in Derbyshire. Wednesday we would do Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. No sat nav, Google Maps, mobile phones – what were we thinking ?
The good news was Chris had done this several times and knew where he was going, and we had the RallyPak with details of where the stages were. More importantly, Chris knew where to park for minimal walking into the stages.
Hamsterley
The Ford at Hamsterley was a popular location even late at night and was somewhat experimental for me – as you will see. Having said that, interestingly, the scanner picks up more detail from the 35mm slide than the naked eye …
Castle O’er
A brisk drive following Chris in his Sunbeam Ti over the top of the Pennines to Castle O’er followed – with moonlight and a little dusting of snow – so that by the time we got there, I was buzzing rather than ready to go to sleep.
As I mentioned, Chris knew where to park for the shortest walk into the stage – and what a location ! We were in a clearing in the trees. The cars could be heard echoing through the forest, as they had the afternoon before in Dalby, long before we saw them.
They burst out of the trees to take a right turn then a downhill left past where we were standing. Possibly one marshal, no red tape, just be sensible.
It’s the location for probably my favourite rally photo – the Mikael Sundstrom 205T16 absolutely on it. In the Peugeot UK entry, he was lying fourth overall. Until he rolled the car two stages later …
As the sun rose, the light warmed up for the later runners. Just the most glorious spot to shoot rally cars
Clumber Park
We decided not to rush down to the Lake District stages after Monday’s marathon and rather had a good lunch in a pub in Canonbie and then headed south. Wednesday would dawn very cold and icy in Clumber as the surviving crews made the way back towards the finish in Nottingham.
Lombard RAC Rally 1986
Roll on 1986 and another multi day RAC Rally trip was planned – including a night in the car at Castle O’er again. First though was the short trip to Chatsworth from Bakewell where Dad was now the Methodist Minister following his career in the motor trade.
Just one photo survives from the Sunday spectator stage – of the original Stig at speed in the Ford RS200. Very much in my preferred style these days of blurry wheels and background !
Stang
Monday morning was an early start for Special Stage Stang just off the A66. What a great parade of the best of the Group B cars in their last year.
Kielder
Then killer Kielder – and the obligatory Eklund shot – in the MG Metro 6R4 on Falstone. Stig Andervang was fast in the RS200 but would later retire – the results say mechanical damage, but I seem to recall a story about an altercation with a fellow competitor …
Hamsterley
My parents were joining us this year and had gone instead for Hamsterley (arguably much better in the light).
Ogre Hill
Then, I think, they went to Ogre Hill in Kielder. Did I say there was a Lancia or two on the rally …
We must have met up before Castle O’er the next morning, which had a much earlier stage start time than in the previous year.
Grizedale
After that, we again took different routes to watch the RAC Rally special stages. Mrs H and I ended up at the start of Grizedale 2 in the Lake District, watching the Group B cars fire off the line.
Kankunnen had rolled in Grizedale 1. Mrs H makes an appearance in trendy orange over-trousers and a blue cagoule in a couple of the shots. No “technical” outdoor clothing in those days …
Dovey
A drive down to mid-Wales saw us at Special Stage 41 Dovey on Wednesday morning, where we stayed to watch some of the later runners.
There are other photos of my Dad’s – not sure which stage, but this shot of the 205T16 with snow-covered mountains is just glorious.
We had seen and heard the glory days of Group B rallying, and it was good ! Group A followed – initially, it all seemed a bit tame, but with a little development, impressive speed was achieved. The final part of our retrospective RAC Rally report will be published soon.
Photos are 35mm slides scanned from David Harbey and Albert Harbey archives.
Thanks to David Harbey for this report RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years Part Two.
RAC Rally – a retrospective of various years Part One can be found here.
You can contact David via the links below.
