Skoda Rally Blog

As anyone who knows me (and indeed anyone who will listen) will tell you, I have loved doing Rally GB.  It’s not only been achieving (in a sense) a boyhood dream, but the experience itself has been a brilliant one for me; from the highs of just being there in 2006, to the horror and hell of 2007 (which was hell at the time but taught me a lot), having a great run in 2008, and of course the truly rollercoaster experience of 2010, I have managed to finish 3 times, and do something that very few people will do.  But the FIA’s rules are rules, and that meant that the car would be ineligible as of 31st December 2010.  The original rules gave a car up to 7 years after it went out of production (the Felicia stopped in 2001, I believe), so 2008 was supposed to be the end.  A change (in rules, I assume, I never got an answer from the FIA) led to the car being allowed in until 2010, but then the writing was on the wall.  As a result there was probably far more interest in us than you would expect from such a low-budget, low-achievement team, but it was, after all, our swan-song.

To that end I finally bit the bullet a few days ago, and sold the Recce car, something I regretted almost instantly as soon as the snow came down again.  But there was far worse to come; I got a message from someone telling me to go check the FIA’s website out;  one thing to be said for the FIA is that all documents and regulations are published on their website, so you can usually find an answer to technical issues (or rather, information as answers are usually a little more oblique).  One of the many documents that is of interest is on this page:

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/sport/Pages/Homologations.aspx

This is the list of homologations – i.e. the vehicles which are currently certified for International competition such as the WRC.  And as I’d been told, I checked the document, and found that….

… the Felicia has been extended for another 2 years.  According to this, we could enter Rally GB another 2 times.  That would be fantastic, as far as I’m concerned.  There are obviously bridges to cross before then, both in terms of finance (although I have been careful this year with money, so I can’t see that being an enormous problem), seeing if everyone else is up for it again, and also to get the engine quicker in the car as well (as there are other parts of the new homologation which I could take advantage of to do this), but if I can, I will be there next year.