As the New Year approaches, thoughts are already turning to the 2014 rallying year with Registrations now open for the Manx Rally Championship upon publication of the Championship Regulations.
For an eighth consecutive year the series will be sponsored by the Eurocars group under the banner of Eurocars Motorsport. The group is one of the biggest car dealers on the island with franchises for Citroen, Peugeot and Renault amongst others.
 
2013 saw the emergence of a new star on the Manx roads with 19 year old Lancastrian Arron Newby winning the title at the first attempt in his Pirelli TEG Sport Subaru Impreza. Partnered by local navigator Rob Fagg, the pair won four of the seven rounds including the season opening Chris Kelly Memorial Rally and the Manx International. Arron has already stated his intention to return in 2014 to defend his crown but there are certain to be a few locals who will be keen to stake their claim.
 
Amongst those is Steve Colley, now established in top rank of Manx rallying. Having secured a new sponsor Steve plans to compete a full campaign, and the speed that he and new co-driver Andrew Cowley showed over the final two rounds this season will put them right in the mix.

Add in such names as three times champion Nigel Cannell, former Ford Rallye Sport Ka Champion Andrew Leece, and Sean Kelly and the series certainly has the potential to be one of the best for a number of years.

...and that's only the tip of the iceberg, the Championship has also shown that a well driven two wheel drive car can be right in contention for the title too, with both the overall and class positions on each event used to score points.

Kex Walker in the BMW has been in the title fight come the last round for several seasons, and on multiple occasions taken the runners up spot including 2013. George Collister could be one to spring a surprise in his recently acquired BMW while the fast improving Andrew Dudgeon showed just what he is capable of on the Pokerstars Rally back in November.
 
With the Chris Kelly Memorial Rally merging with the Manx National, the Championship will be held across six events for 2014, with Rally Isle of Man again forming a double header. Running from March to November the MRC offers a true challenge with half of the events being run over two or more days.
 
It all kicks off in early March with the Druidale Motor Club organised 4Hire Jurby Stages, which has moved from its June date to create a move even spread of events throughout the year and fill the void left by the Chris Kelly Memorial Rally. Entries for this are due to open in January and there is already interest from a number of UK crews.

Thereafter it's time to take on the big guns of British asphalt rallying on the Manx Auto Sport Manx National Rally, with mid-summer featuring the only gravel round of the series, the Dave Corris Autos Forest Stages. Come September it's one of the ultimate challenges in rallying, the three day Rally Isle of Man, and the series comes to a thrilling finale with November's Pokerstars Rally.

Crews will be battling for class, junior and team titles as well as the overall crown, with the best four of the six possible scores to count.

Registration, which closes at documentation for the Dave Corris Autos Stages, can be completed online at www.manxrc.com
It's FREE, so there's no reason to delay, put your name down right away!