Best rally stages
For heart-in-the-mouth driving action, little can touch these five special stages, says Rob Scorah . Get them right and you’ll feel like a hero; get them wrong and it could get quite expensive…
1. Pikes Peak/Myherin, Mid-Wales rally
Nestled in the Cambrian Mountains, this section of the Mid-Wales Stages is surely one of the archetypal gravel courses. Not to be confused with the somewhat more dramatic Colorado hillclimb, the track rises to an elevation of some 1800ft and would, if you weren’t so preoccupied, offer breathtaking views across the Cambrian range.
Beginning in woodland, the surface will range from partially metalled to rough-hewn gravel. The early part presents the steepest ascents, the road broadening out into long inclined hairpins. You’ll hear ‘don’t cut’ a lot from your co-driver in this intermittently tree-lined section.
Towards the top, you emerge from the woods and as the wind turbines come into view, the track becomes broader and wider. The bends are longer and more easily sighted.
From here on – back into trees then out on to high moorland – there are some very rapid sections. The unwary might be caught out by some invisible crests that lighten the back end into shallow turns.
Also, once in the fast groove, heed your co-driver’s warnings of (unsighted) tightening turns in the last wooded section.
2. Molls gap, Killarney Historic rally
Under normal circumstances, the N71, the Ring of Kerry, is a fine road from which to see the lakes, moors and mountains of County Kerry, but on the Killarney Historic Rally you’ll find it a workout for your arms and shoulders, and your reactions. Think YorkshireDerbyshire B-road for most of its length; the punches from this stage might not land hard, but they’ll come in quick succession and one could easily unseat you.
To begin, it will be all crest into turn into partially-sighted bend, with the odd offset camber thrown in for good measure. Nothing is ever as straight or as flat as it first appears. Gradually the straights lengthen – a little – and you can start to see a line through the ensemble of curves.
By the waters of Looscaunagh Lough things have sped up, but don’t let your guard down.
If you do you’ll likely lose it on the shallow left-hander at the end of the lake.
Now comes a long fast ascent to The Gap with straightforward and comparatively open bends. Over the top, the descent is also quick, with craggy rock rising to the left and a stone wall (with big drop) to your right.
This is the fastest section. Some of these bends could catch you out if you come to them nose-heavy with downhill momentum. Keep your concentration up – this part isn’t easy, but it’s certainly rewarding.
3. The Classic, Isle of Man Rally
The final stage of the Isle of Man Rally is known as the ‘Classic’. In its 15 minutes, it will throw almost every type of rallying at you.
Beginning in Druiddale, the narrow tarmaccum-gravel single-track road allows no margin for error or drift. There are no trees or cliffs, but the unyielding moorland grass verges could easily spin you or put you on your roof. And endless small bumps and crests will wrong-foot you if you let the oscillation build.
At Brandywell Cottage (such lovely names), you get on to better, two-lane tarmac, but here begins a long, fast downhill moorland descent full of blind crests and hairpins. It becomes very twisty and narrow at the bottom, where you’ll encounter cattle grids, stone bridges and lots of non-bendy stone walls.
Through the Manx farmland and Cronk Ny Mona, it’s less of a switchback, but very narrow and high sided; hedgerows, trees, walls. You can’t see what’s coming and you must hear how your co-driver grades the bends. It eventually broadens out. This can be quick but you still can’t see more than 40 yards ahead and certainly not round corners. Watch out for the Abbeylands Jump.
For the last two miles, the stage joins the T T course – don’t spin it in your eagerness to get onto wide, smooth tarmac. From now on it’s straight road racing, but don’t drop your guard and let the odd hairpin knock you off. Gruelling fun, but Ford Galaxie owners stay away.
4. Mil Cumbres, Carrera Panamericana
Mexico’s Carrera Panamericana is a cross between a tarmac rally and a Gumball event. It’s the Mille Miglia with teeth. Its Mil Cumbres ( Thousand Peaks) mountain stage takes place on the Querétaro to Morelia section – some 9000ft up in the pine-covered Michoacán highlands. So think Molls Gap with more trees, Ford Falcons and better weather.
This is a fast downhill slalom on decent two-lane tarmac, probably with a steep woodland bank to your right and trees/bushes that often conceal drops to your left.
Don’t go off into the boonies. If you’re not local, the chances are the first you know of these roads is your co-driver calling the rather simplistic Carrera road book corner grading. Expect some usefully banked, sharper-thanyou’d-anticipate curves. But also look out for the odd blind switchback ensemble of tightening right-into-lefts and vice-versa.
If all the stages were like this, you’d bring a MkII Escort, but because of the sheer slog of the PanAm, you’ll likely be in some nose-heavy V8 brute. Happy trails, amigos.
5. Gale Rigg, Trackrod Forest Stages
The stage kicks off on what is little more than a grass-centred farm track, almost claustrophobically hemmed in by young trees. Immediately, you are into a series of tight bends, but with sufficient straights in between to give the small crests enough leverage to unsettle you on the loose surface.
This is probably the roughest part of the stage, and the area of densest tree growth. It soon opens out on to bracken-covered hillside and a wider, part-metalled track. Now begins a shallow ascent, long hairpins, and then back onto gravel.
From now on, it’s very much a power stage with longs bends. But such is your speed that your co-driver is likely to be your only warning of them. There are some long straights coming up – easily half a mile, with several chicanes to calm things down.
The views of road and forest open out, but the track deteriorates. It’s still fast, but slippy, so watch out for your rear gliding sideways in the downhill section. Things are perhaps more straightforward in the final section, though the stands of felled trees look a bit fearsome. Check your car’s sump guard and your own tooth fillings at the finish.