For the fourth consecutive year the championship is being sponsored by AS Performance, the motor sport specialist based at Birtley in the North East of England.
The championship is promoted and run by the Tyneside Motor Sport Group on behalf of the Association of North East and Cumbria Car Clubs. The idea of the championship was to provide an alternative to the predominately gravel based ANECCC Stage Championship. And so the series was born in 1985 as it ran with events around the North East of England. But with the passage of time, the series’ reputation has gone from strength to strength and the catchment area for rallies expanded from the North East of England to cover events in mid Scotland looking north and Lancashire / Yorkshire in the south. Throughout the last 25 years, the Otterburn Ranges have been the backbone of the series as events have come and gone yet we continue to provide good competition for rallying clubmen on sealed surfaces in the North of England area.
Another strength is that during it’s existence there have only been 3 co-ordinators and they have all been local competitors in the past too. Their enthusiasm for providing a championship for the clubman is reflected in it’s continued popularity.
Over the years, the championship has provided many worthy winners such as John Pye, Richard Mawson, David Robson, George Grieve, Bob Dennis, Bob Grant, Michael Glendinning and Barry Lindsay. Barry who along with his dad Michael Lindsay are our current champions, recently won the championship for the fifth time. The cars have been varied too ... from the famous Ford Escort, in a few different guises, to Peugeot 106 / 205 and Subaru’s world-beater, the Impreza. And there have been many sponsors too such as Swift Motorsport, Cowie Lease, Golden Chip, Tyrespot and of course AS Performance who have all supported the series during it’s lifetime.
If you’re interested in competitive, clubman rallying on good sealed surfaces at venues in the North of England and Southern Scotland, then why not come and join us. For more information, contact David Shield the championship co-ordinator. Full details can be found in the Links page.
