Motor Racing: Rallying to a Troubled Cause

Anyone puzzled by an increasing lack of interest in the world rally championship in Britain might find it useful to take a step back in time this weekend and visit the Roger Albert Clark Rally as it slithers its way back and forth across the Scottish border. The event's title - named after an Englishman considered to be one of the world's most entertaining drivers in the 1970s - gives an immediate clue.

The lack of regular participation by a leading British driver in the world championship was highlighted when Colin McRae made a rare appearance in Rally GB in September, and again last weekend in the final round. When the 1995 world champion did outrageous things with a Skoda while fighting for second place in Western Australia until clutch trouble intervened on the last day, it justified the surge in media interest while summing up the championship's overall lack of appeal. Having a driver of McRae's dramatic quality remaining on the bench says everything about a sport that has failed to match its undoubted quality with crowd-pulling quantity.

As things stand, Subaru and Ford are the only official works teams entered for the 2006. Citroen, the dominant team this year, have officially withdrawn but will support a private entry for their champion, Sebastien Loeb. Mitsubishi will reveal their plans on 15 December and Skoda are considering options that may have been damaged by the embarrassment of having McRae retire with a fundamental fault at the eleventh hour on Sunday.

There is the possibility of a Ford B team. And that is about it. Blink and you will miss the passage of the leading contenders when the season kicks off from Monte Carlo in January. Twenty years ago, the difficulty was in deciding who to omit from an overcrowded entry. The RAC Rally - as the British event was then known and for which, this weekend, Clark's initials form a convenient and evocative abbreviation - fielded cars from 10 works teams among 155 starters.

Significantly, they ran Britain's round of the world championship at this time of year. The move to September in 2004 had the dubious intention of offering better weather. This was as daft as suggesting professional mountaineers might wish to tackle the Peak District because it is less difficult than the Alps.

Given a dramatic fall in spectator and media numbers in the past two years, it is hardly surprising the British round will return to the end of the 2006 season. But that, in the view of many enthusiasts, is only half the battle. Rally GB will continue to be held in a small area in south Wales while continuing to avoid British rallying's treacherous heartland in Northumberland and southern Scotland. This weekend's RAC Rally has addressed that shortfall by sending competitors into the depths of the dreaded Kielder Forest - and sending them in for lengthy periods, often in darkness. Following preliminary tests in Yorkshire yesterday, the event begins in earnest today with forest stages in Kielder and around Dumfries, followed by a return to Kielder and Croft racetrack on Tuesday.

The additional touch of authenticity will come from the cars as Ford Escorts, Lotus Cortinas, Triumph TR7s, Porsche 911s and a Lancia Stratos belt out their redolent sound through the pine trees. And, just for good measure, Stig Blomqvist, winner of the RAC Rally and 1984 world champion, will be joined by Jimmy McRae (Colin's father) and more recent British champions as they revive memories of days when some of us were spectators, frozen to the spot but warm in spirit.

All the more reason to take advantage of the organisers' wish to cater for anyone who is a glutton for punishment as, for example, tomorrow's leg gets under way from Carlisle at 5am. Early mornings are not my thing but, generous to a fault on behalf of The Observer, I will be navigating ITV's F1 pundit Tony Jardine as we trace the wheel tracks of the greats in our Skoda. To ensure a complete legitimacy with the past, pace notes are not allowed. I will be giving my driver warning of what lies ahead in the forests based on map-reading skills that, according to my geography master, were pathetic 40 years ago and can scarcely have improved with age and the advent of satellite navigation.

Our Skoda Fabia may be in the production class, but a reputation for reliability should see us through gravel roads that caused such mayhem as the favourites regularly fell by the wayside two decades ago. If we successfully complete nearly 200 miles of special stages and reach the finish in Sheffield on Tuesday night, Jardine and I will have relived an important piece of British rallying history. But to suggest we will also have given Skoda some consolation for the disappointment in Australia would be as impertinent as claiming that all is well with international rallying, both at home and abroad.