Here's mud in your eye

Rallying is making a Great British comeback, as John Evans and sons find out in Duns

- John Evans

In 1974, the Lombard RAC Rally came through my local town of Cirencester. The drivers included Roger Clark and Stig Blomqvist. Everyone flocked to the route to watch. Fast forward 30 years to when my three sons were growing up and, rather than standing beside a road to marvel at the likes of Colin McRae and Richard Burns, they fired up their PS2s and got behind the wheel themselves. There are many reasons why UK rallying no longer draws big audiences, including the loss of Wales Rally GB in 2019, but could rally games be one of them?

Fortunately, the sport is fighting back. In November last year, crowds descended on the Roger Albert Clark Rally to watch drivers tackling some of the UK's best-loved stages. This August, international rallying returns in the form of the European Rally Championship, at Rali Ceredigion. In recent years, UK fans have been transfixed by Welsh driver Elfyn Evans as he continues his ascent of the WRC rankings.

Meanwhile, this year the refreshed Probite British Rally Championship has an all-new calendar of six rounds, broadcast on ITV4 and ITVX. Drivers include Chris Ingram, winner of the 2019 European Rally Championship, and, fresh from his first Junior European Rally Championship win, Max McRae, 19-year-old nephew of Colin. The first three rounds have taken place, leaving three more starting in August.

Wind back a few months and my eldest son, now 32, reckoned that he and his brothers ought to watch a rally for real. I thought the third round of the BRC the Beatson's Jim Clark Rally, in Duns - looked just the job: a great heritage and location and we had heard that, after a 10-year absence, the popular Langton water splash was back. It happened over two days in May but we could only make the second, a Saturday. Still, 140 cars and multiple stages on closed public roads meant there was be much to see. Here are our snapshots from the day...

10AM

LANGTON WATER SPLASH