The entry list for the Get Connected! Wyedean Forest Rally (Saturday February 7) contains a larger-than-usual number of cars contesting the 1400cc category, with their drivers exhibiting an equally wide range of experience!

On the one hand, there is Andy Dawson who broke Graham Elsmore’s erstwhile domination of the event with victory back in 1978 at the wheel of a Datsun Violet while, on the other, 17-year old Martha Aitken, the niece of 1990 Ladies World Rally Champion Louise, will be contesting her first-ever rally.

Dawson’s return to the scene of his former triumph in a Ginetta G20 will enable him to see at first-hand just how competitive the current crop of small-engined rally cars really are! Aitken, meanwhile, has entered the ‘Rally First’ section in a 1-litre Nissan Micra.

This particular constituent of the BTRDA Rally Series, of which the Wyedean is the opening round, was first introduced last year as a relatively inexpensive means of attracting new people into the sport and to give those looking to return after an absence a chance to reacquaint themselves with it.

By the numbers of such crews already committed to travel to the rally’s base at Chepstow Racecourse over the first weekend in February, the concept is an outstanding success and, in the current global financial situation, likely to increase in popularity in the coming months.

Rally organisers, Forest of Dean Motor Club Ltd, is waiting to see if defending champion Andy Burton will return this time, but the rest of last year’s final top five – Nik Elsmore (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9), Will Nicholls (Subaru Impreza WRC), event sponsor Damian Cole (Hyundai Accent WRC) and 2008 BTRDA Gold Star Championship winner Hugh Hunter (Ford Focus WRC) have already committed to an appearance.