DUKE Stages receives closed road permission

Druidale Motor Club has this week received approval in principal for long-formulated plans to run their flagship event, next months Duke Stages, as a closed-roads stage rally.

The event has run for 6 years with a mixture of closed road and off-road terrain making up the competitive element; however this move will mark the first time that the club has run a full event on closed public roads.

The rally will run on Saturday 13th September and will also be the fourth round of the Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship, one of the islands highest profile motorsport series.

Subject to final approval from the relevant government authorities, crews will tackle stages at Jurby Airfield and four sections of roads in the north of the island. The event will be based at Jurby, which will also host the service area.

Entries are open from today (Thursday) with the entry forms and regulations available for download from the clubs website at www.druidalemc.org.im. Paper copies can be obtained from Eurocars Motorsport, Peel Road in Douglas and the Onchan Squash Club.

The club is imposing a maximum entry of 45 crews for the event, and they will be taken on a first come, first received basis. Anyone planning to contest the rally is therefore advised to submit them as soon as possible.

Druidale Motor Club chairman Rob Fagg is delighted that the clubs work has come to fruition.

“It has not been without a lot of deliberation that the club has moved away from the traditional format, but after cancelling last year’s event due to a lack of entries, it was decided to try a closed road format. The new format has been pushed forward by the younger members of the committee and I am glad to see their hard work paying off.”

Supplementing the clubs own officials will be key members of the organising teams of the existing closed roads car rallies on the island.

The rally will continue to benefit from the support of sponsor Duke Marketing, and in particular Managing Director Peter Duke. 

"I am delighted that the club has got the show back on track this year after the unfortunate cancellation in 2007’ says Peter. Our sponsorship of the Duke Stages was originally intended to help the club develop an extra forest rally to give our up-and-coming crews some loose surface experience - essential if they are going to advance in national and international competition.  However, the new format based on roads in and around Jurby will no doubt be very popular with the majority of local competitors who have cars suited to tarmac events."

"The problem with many of our forest trails is that they are still too rough for many local cars which are set up and really only suited to smooth surfaces. I hope that over the next year or two it will be possible for the Island to offer forest stages that match the best in the UK and Europe.  Then we'd have bigger local entries and a lot more visitors too."

• The event has applied to the sports governing body, the MSA, to allow crews to use high octane fuel in their vehicles, in line with current regulations. Competitors are being advised though to check if using this fuel affects there eligibility for the Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship.
   

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