Nicky Grist Stages

Rally Info

First time that the Nicky Grist Stages have been part of the MSA British Rally Championship and the first time since 1987 that the Championship has had a mixed surface event.  The first day of the event will run alongside the BTRDA Championship on gravel before crews set their cars up for asphalt and tackle the tarmac roads that make up the Eypnt Military Ranges area.

This is the format that the Welsh International Rally used to follow for many years and it is nice to be able to ‘turn the clock’ back for our 2016 competitors.

Welshman, Tom Cave is one of the few competitors to have competed on the gravel stages, the tarmac stages and to also have experience of mixed surface events having competed in WRC Rally Spain for the last two years.

Tom has broken down the different elements for us below:

On the Nicky Grist…
“The gravel stages were Wales Rally GB stages for many years, they’re renowned to be very quick stages with a very hard compact surface. The Halfway stage is really tricky and Route 60 which runs over the top of Epynt usually catches a few people out.”

On Epynt…
“They’re very unique, smooth and narrow. Not very forgiving either, very tricky. They’re very slippery in the wet, that is another challenge. It’s a very specialised place Epynt with plenty of jumps and crests.”

On running a mixed surface…
“It’s nice to have a different challenge, to have mixed surface events adds in the factor of setting the car up for each day and it makes the job that little bit harder for driver and co-driver. The spectacle will be entertaining for the fans as it hasn’t ran for a long time, a split surface event in the British Rally Championship.”

Outline Time Schedule
Friday 8 July
08:30 BRC Gravel Recce sign on
12:30 Asphalt Recce sign on
15:00 Scrutineering and documentation opens
Saturday 9 July
08:31 First Car leaves MC0
15:30 First Car back to RWS Builth Wells
Sunday 10 July
08:31 First Car leaves MC 3
13:00 First Car back to RWS Builth Wells