Sata Rally Açores, Portugal  - 15th -17th July

Having made its debut on the full IRC series last year, the event now makes a welcome return in 2010. The rally is run on twisty gravel roads that afford spectacular views over the island’s coastline, making it a firm favourite amongst spectators and photographers.
 

Opposite Lock Rally  Saturday 24th July at Manby Showground, Lincolnshire

This event is a round of the ANCC Stage Rally Championship, Roadrunner Phoenix Awards ANEMMC Multi-Use Stage Rally Championship, Rainworth Skoda EMAMC Multi-Use Rally Championship, ANWCC Stage Rally Championship and the Yorkshire League. 

http://www.slaithwaitemc.co.uk/rallyinfo2009.htm

This event will have spaces for 70 cars tackling a 32 mile route.

http://www.greystokestages.co.uk/

Formerly known as the 1000 Lakes, Neste Oil Rally Finland is one of the most popular events on the WRC calendar. It’s also regarded by many people as 'the spiritual home of rally'. You only have to look at a WRC start list to see why...

The rally is a fast gravel affair, with high-speed runs along tree-lined tracks peppered with fast, flying ‘yumps’ that demand absolute, balls-out commitment.

Rally Finland is based in the bustling student town of Jyvaskyla, located in the lake district area in the centre of the country. To win here, you need a savvy combination of tactical nous, smooth and efficient technique and flat-out commitment to cope with the high speeds, fast kinks and mammoth jumps that litter the smooth, loose surface stages.

Over the years, the event has been dominated by the Scandinavians. They're used to driving on roads like these since they were knee-high to a grasshopper. That local experience counts.
www.nesteoilrallyfinland.fi

Rali Vinho Madeira, Portugal - 5th -7th August

Following the terrible storm that devastated the island of Madeira on 20 February, Madeirans, with the support of all the Portuguese people and the international community, are committed and determined to restore urgently the damage caused by the storm, and return the "Pearl of the Atlantic", the "Island of Flowers", to its natural state of beauty which has made it one of the most popular and renowned tourist destinations.

The people of Madeira await the rally  in the renovated and restored Madeira and the beautiful city of Funchal to witness yet another edition of the competitive Rali Vinho da Madeira in the first week of August, 2010. Witness for yourself the magnificent work of restructuring that is the result of the unity, strength and hope that triumphed on the very day that pain and anguish struck the island.

This classic asphalt event takes place with spectacular views at every turn. Thousands of spectators crowd the streets of Funchal for the spectator superspecial that is a highlight of the event.

http://www.ralivm.com/frontpage.cfm

The second asphalt rally of the 2010 season, Rally Deutschland is held in Germany’s wine-producing Mosel region, near to the historic city of Trier.

This may be a pure asphalt event, but it has one of the widest variety of sealed surfaces on the calendar. As such, it's a tricky rally that demands the very best from drivers.

The stage conditions are different on each day. Friday is made up of narrow and dirty vineyard access roads that feature a mix of straights and hairpins, making handbrake turn skills essential. Saturday’s stages are held on the rough concrete roads of the Baumholder military ranges, with the ever present hazard of huge concrete blocks designed to stop tanks straying from the road.

The final day features smooth, fast bitumen-coated roads and the ‘Circus Maximus’ Superspecial that runs right through the heart of Trier’s old city. All-in-all, it’s a challenging mix.

First included in the WRC in 2002, the Trier-based event has proved a happy hunting ground for Sebastien Loeb, who has won it on every occasion so far. This year the rally is back in the WRC calendar after a year out in 2009 in accordance with the FIA's event rotation system.
www.rallye-deutschland.de

Centenary Stages - Sunday 22nd August 2010, RAF Barkston Heath, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
 

Sheffield & Hallamshire Motor Club's Centenary Stages Rally, first held in 2004 to celebrate the club's first 100 years will run this year as the Rainworth Skoda Centenary Stages and returns to RAF Barkston Heath after a successful 2009 event.

The event is a round of the Rainworth Skoda EMAMC Multi-Use Rally Championship, Roadrunner Phoenix Awards ANEMMC Stage Rally Championship, and the ANWCC Stage Rally Championship.

The venue is non spectator so the only way to see the action is to marshal.

 
http://www.sheffieldandhallamshiremc.co.uk/centenary-stages-10.html
 

Barum Czech Rally Zlín / Czech Republic - 27th -29th August

The most famous rally in Eastern Europe always has thousands of spectators and a full entry list. The demanding asphalt roads of the Czech Republic test the skills of the crews and their powers of concentration. There is a wide mix of stages, from slow and technical sections to flat-out sections through the forest.

Rallying is extremely popular in the Czech Republic with crowds of enthusiastic fans standing along the route of special stages. This event is situated in Moravian town Zlín and since 1983 has been a part of European Rally Championship and also since 2007, a part of Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Last year there were 98 competitors from 11 European countries on the start. The overall winners were  the Belgian drivers Freddy Loix and Robin Buysmans with the Kronos Racing Peugeot 207 S 2000.

http://www.barum.rally.cz/index.php?lng=en

At close of entries in 2009 Mablethorpe & DMC and Carlton & DMC had received only 23 confirmed entries. This low number meant that the event was financially and organisationally non-viable.  The clubs hope to be able to run the event in 2010 on this date.
 

Rally Principe de Asturias, Spain - 9th -11th September

This event now celebrates its third season as part of the IRC but it has been a mainstay of the renowned Spanish Rally Championship for many years. The rally is based in Oviedo – a centre for motorsport in Spain thanks to Formula 1’s Fernando Alonso – and covers a variety of fast and twisty asphalt stages.

http://www.rallyprincipe.com/2009eng/index.htm

YORKSHIRE REVIVAL RALLY 2010 - 11th/12th September 2010

Ilkley and District Motor Club have been running an event for the past four years which they have called the Yorkshire Revival Rally. The original Yorkshire Rally was run by the YSCC and was based for many years in the town of Ilkley. The event ran without a break during the 1950’s and 1960’s attracting entries of 180 cars, including works and works supported teams from the Rootes Group, BMC, Jowett etc.  Perhaps the most memorable winner was Pat Moss in 1962 when  she won the event outright in a works Mini Cooper.

The Revival Event will run to Historic Rally format featuring Tests run during daylight hours followed by a night navigational event.  With a similar format to the 2009 event, it will start at around lunchtime on the 11th, with tests on private land on the Saturday afternoon, followed by a full night Navigational Rally, using classic Yorkshire lanes and finishing with breakfast on Sunday morning.

The event will have a National B status but there will also be a Clubmans event of just the tests, which will finish on Saturday evening.

The 2010 event has particular significance for IDMC as this is their centenary year and they are consequently hoping for an excellent entry.

http://www.ilkleymotorclub.org.uk/yrr/index.html

After making its WRC debut in 2004, Rally Japan has quickly become a popular fixture in the calendar, and one which attracts a huge number of dedicated fans from the host county.

Japan and rallying are almost intrinsically linked, with Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Mazda, Nissan and, perhaps most notably, Subaru all having tasted success in the sport. The Japanese rally fans, as with most sports, are loyal, knowledgeable and extremely enthusiastic.

The rally is based on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's islands, and from 2004 to 2007 used the twisty, narrow and soft gravel stages of the Tokachi region, close to the city of Obihiro.

For the most recent edition in 2008, however, the event moved to a new base in the city of Sapporo, Hokkaido’s main city, and a selection of brand new gravel stages in the surrounding countryside and forests. It also featured one of the most spectacular Super Specials of the year; which ran inside and outside the futuristic looking Sapporo Dome sports stadium.

Rally Japan returns to the WRC calendar this year after a year out in 2009 in accordance with the FIA's event rotation system.
www.rallyjapan.jp

Rallye Sanremo, Italy - 23rd -25th September

One of the most famous names from the World Rally Championship uses the well-known mountain roads above the glamorous town of Sanremo. The event traditionally opens with some long night stages on Thursday, adding yet another thrilling dimension to the IRC.

The first running of this event was back in 1928 under the name International Rallye of Sanremo and was won, as it was also the following year, by Romanian army major Urdaneau in a Fiat 520.

Over the years the name of the competition has changed several times being called:

• Rallye dei Fiori in 1961 having been reprised after a break of more than 32 years. Victory went to the de Villa brothers from Ventimiglia in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
•  Rallye di Sanremo, the original historic name, in 1968 when it was won by Toivonen Sr. in a Porsche 911.
• Rallye d'Italia Sanremo-Sestriere only for the two years 1970 and 1971, the winners being Therier and Andersson both in a Renault Alpine and the reason for joining with the Rallye of Sestriere.
• Rallye di Sanremo from 1972 marking a return again to the original name. The winner was a doc from Sanremo, Amilcare Balestrieri, who took the victory in a Lancia Fulvia HF.

Of course, the streets have never changed. There are stages that take place on gravel tracks in Tuscany and on the asphalt roads of Genova, Savona, Torino and Asti, but at the heart of the event has always been the special stages in the hills of Ponente Ligure. The narrow, winding streets are punishing and test drivers to their limits, but high speeds can be reached on those streets, grazing walls and guardrails, whilst always looking for that perfect exit from a bend and to pull away to the maximum.

http://acisanremo.it/rallysanremo/indexuk.htm

This year marks a big change for the French round of the World Rally Championship, which moves from a long term home on the island of Corsica to a new base in the Alsace region, near the German border.

The Tour de Corse has been part of the World Rally Championship since the inaugural 1973 season. It quickly gained a fearsome reputation for its mountainous route, while its sinuous asphalt stages earned it the nickname 'the rally of 10,000 corners.'

The rally was absent from the series in 2009, as part of the FIA's event rotation system, but in October that year France's governing body of motorsport, the FFSA, took the decision to move the event from Corsica altogether, to a new location near Strasbourg.

France’s new WRC round will be Rallye Alsace -Vosges - formerly a French Championship round which last ran in May 2009.
www.rallyedefrance.com

Rally of Scotland - 14th - 16th October

Scotland staged the final round of the prestigious Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) over the weekend of Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November 2009, forming a centrepiece event within the Homecoming Scotland 2009 celebrations.

The event, secured by EventScotland the national events agency working in partnership with International Motor Sports together with Stirling and Perth and Kinross Councils, was first announced in October 2008 by Scotland's First Minister, the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP.

The route took in some of Scotland’s most iconic and historic landmarks across two of Scotland’s most picturesque constituencies: Stirling and Perth and Kinross.  The ceremonial start took place in the grounds of Scone Palace in Perth which is the former coronation site of Scotland’s kings and queens.  The event also visited the Service Parks at Blair Castle and Stirling City Centre before the ceremonial finish on the esplanade of Stirling Castle. 

Starting on Thursday November 19th, the RACMSA Rally of Scotland also covered three historic Forestry Commission Scotland pathways used for previous Motor Sport events in Scotland.

http://www.rallyscotland.tv/index.asp

The event is due to run from Friday Evening to Sunday morning in three discrete sections. The cars compete against the clock over the public roads, which the police close to the public during the event. The roads are all tarmac, but also all only single track lanes with lots of hairpins, steep hills and big drops!

This event is one of the biggest social events in Mull's calendar each year but this year the event is in doubt after a meeting on 4th March, at which committee members of the 2300 Club decided unanimously that the Tour of Mull will not take place in October 2010.

http://www.2300club.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=541

For many years Spain's round of the WRC was based on the Costa Brava, north of Barcelona. But that all changed in 2005 when the event moved to the other side of the Catalan capital to a new home on the Costa Daurada, where it's remained ever since.

The event's nature hasn't changed much, however, with the wide, sweeping asphalt roads providing the fastest sealed-surface stages of the season. Racing driving techniques can pay dividends on the fast asphalt stages as drivers aim for smooth lines through the turns to maximise their speed.

The event is based in the PortAventura theme park, in the town of Salou in the Tarragona region. It's extremely popular with spectators - especially the Spanish who were weaned on years of success for double champion and 26-times rally winner Carlos Sainz.
www.rallyracc.com

First run in 1932, the Rally of Great Britain is one of the oldest rallies in the world and was known for many years as the RAC Rally. The event has been a qualifying round of the WRC every year since the series was established in 1973.

From its early beginnings as a national event that roamed around the country and included stages in the North-East, Scotland, the Lake District, the North-West and the Midlands, the action, particularly since 2000, has been focussed on Wales.

The gravel forest stages of south and mid-Wales are fast and flowing and, when wet, can become as slippery as any in the world. And in a country famed for its lush greenery, rain, and lots it, is always a possibility. As well as the forestry roads, the event features stages on exposed military land to the north of Brecon, which are prone to fog. Accurate pace notes are essential throughout.

As it has in recent years, the Welsh capital Cardiff hosts the ceremonial start and the finish, as well as the Service Park - which moved from Swansea to Cardiff Bay for the first time in 2009.
www.rallygb.org

Christmas Stages 27th December
http://www.northallerton-ac.co.uk/xmas/index.html