The History of the Dukeries Rally
1960 was the first Dukeries Rally with a 'restricted' RAC permit, although there had been a 'closed to club' event with this title the previous year.The event ran on October 16th 1960 as a night road rally using the local roads in Nottinghamshire and had an entry fee of £0-15s-0d (75p). It was immediately observed as a potential round of the fledgling East Midlands Association of Motor Clubs Rally Championship which it entered in 1961.
Jim Porter's recollections of these early events were of "tricky navigation with 50 car entries using Ford Anglias and 850 Minis trying to find the correct route amongst the maze of 'not as map' roads and tracks within Clumber Park".In an effort to find more competitive rally territory the event moved into Derbyshire during the mid 1960's and by 1967 the organisers added special stages to an already tough event.By 1969 the reputation of the event for good organisation had attracted the BTRDA Silver Star Championship and in 1970 the event was upgraded to 'National' and was a qualifying round of the Motoring News Castrol National Championship and the BTRDA Gold Star Championship.
A typical rally itinerary of this period taken from the 1970 event was:-
Early evening start from Nottingham, 5 stages south of Nottingham including Donington
(before the race circuit was rebuilt) and the road around Blackbrook Reservoir. Fuel halt at
Hulland followed by 6 selectives in Derbyshire / Staffordshire. After the first leg, the
leader was Brian Bell (yes the same Brian Bell who won the event 22 yrs later) who also
set fastest time on the first selective before retiring with a broken half shaft. Another
fuel halt at Buxton followed by 5 more selectives in Derbyshire. Fuel in Matlock at dawn and
then 6 forest stages in Felley, Annersley, Harlow, Strawberry Hill and Clipstone and further
stages at Lamb Pens, MOD land at Bilhaugh and finally 3 laps of Scofton Airfield. The finish
was at The Old Bell, Barnby Moor for a late breakfast and awards. The total distance was
just over 400 miles and in that year the event was won by Chris Benyon and Lyn Andrews in a
Ford Escort Twin Cam.
By 1972 the event was part of the British National Championship and had moved to an all stage format. (Entry fee £10.) However to obtain the required 80+ stage miles the event had to make use of some disused airfields and farm roads on the Nottinghamshire / Lincolnshire border to supplement the Forestry stages in Sherwood Forest. This was the era dominated by Roger Clark / Jim Porter in the Esso Uniflow Escorts. (LVX 941J)
1976 saw radical changes when the event was rescheduled in March (only 5 months after the 1975 event) and started at midnight on Saturday from the new Idlewell Centre in Sutton in Ashfield with half of the stages run in the dark, before a lunchtime finish back at the Idlwells Centre. Although this night time format had many advantages and provided competitors with an extra challenge there were a number of drawbacks and by 1978 the event had returned to the more usual Saturday daylight format. 1979 was another notable year when in addition to the BTRDA and East Midlands championships the event was a round of the Ford Escort 1300 championship and the Fabergé Fiesta Ladies Challenge. Some 270 entries were received for the 130 starting places.
During the late 1970's and early 80's the event gradually became more compact and used less non forest stages. This process was helped by two organisational successes; (i) obtaining use of a 5 mile stage in the Birklands, known as 'Portland' in recognition of the freehold owner Portland Estate, and (ii) the use of the mixed surface roads in Clumber Park, owned and managed by the National Trust. This was the format use for the Dukeries Silver Jubilee rally in 1984. (Entry fee £83.)
Since 1987 the event has run to the present format using the Mansfield Civic Centre as the Start, Finish and Rally HQ, using 45 miles of special stages mainly within the Sherwood Forest area.
The Dukeries Rally connections with the BTRDA go back to 1969 when the event was part of the then BTRDA Silver Star Championship. When BTRDA revised its Gold Star Rally Championship in 1972, the Dukeries was included, and during the 1970's and early 1980's the Dukeries Rally winner often went on to become the BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion. (Trevor Smith, Pete Doughty) Changes to the BTRDA championships in 1987 saw the Dukeries Rally become part of the very first BTRDA Clubmans Championship. Seven years later in 1993 radical changes in the BTRDA Rally Series saw the Dukeries Rally included as a round of both the Gold Star and Silver Star Championships, with the Formula 2 cars running in advance of the non F2 cars. The 1994 Dukeries Rally was voted 'best event' in the BTRDA Rally Series and again in the 1990's several winners of 'The Dukeries' went on to become BTRDA Champions. (Matthew Clark, Andy Burton, Brian Bell)
The 2001 Dukeries Rally was the first forest stage rally to run in the UK after the Foot and Mouth epidemic had stopped all rallying for 4 months. The event attracted a full entry and was won by the then National Champions Marcus Dodd / John Binnie in a Subaru Impreza. Until 2002 only one crew had won the Dukeries Rally three times; Roger Clark and Jim Porter in 1962, 1972 & 1973. The Clark family have scored 5 victories in total with Roger's sons Matthew in 1993 and Oliver in 1997 following in the family tradition. However 2002 saw long time Dukeries club member Brian Bell equalling the Roger Clark record of three wins (1992, 1999 and 2002). Brian is also surely the driver who has competed on the greatest number of Dukeries Rallies, approximately 28, between 1966 and 2005. 2003 saw another team of hat-trick winners with Andy Burton / Rob Morgan in the fearsome Peugeot Cosworth winning the event for the third time on their way to becoming the 2003 BTRDA Gold Star Champions. Again in 2004 the event winners Graham Middleton / John Morgan (Hyundai Accent WRC) went on to win the converted BTRDA Gold Star Championship. Graham and John came back in 2005 and repeated their Dukeries Rally victory.
In 2006 it was local businessman Steve Perez with Scott Martin in the VK Ford Focus WRC that won the event that Steve had first competed in as a Co-driver back in 1983.
The 2007 event will be remembered for the thunderstorms which flooded out the new Rally HQ at Southwell Racecourse and forced the cancellation of the Rainbow Hill stage. However the event organisers overcame these challenges to run the event which was won by Will Nicholls / Nick Broom in a Subaru Impreza.
Event Sponsors:
Since 1969 the Dukeries Rally has always been fortunate to have a main event sponsor.
- 1969 - 1970 BP
- 1971 - 1975 Esso Uniflow
- 1976 - 1977 Esso & Mansfield Observer
- 1978 - 1980 Tyreservices GB
- 1981 - 1987 Sutherland Foods
- 1988 - 1995 John Harrisons of Lowdham
- 1996 - 2003 Sutton Auto Factors / Autospares Group
- 2004 - present Rainworth Skoda