De Lacy Motor Club History

 

 

 

 

The De Lacy Motor Club Ltd.

“Rally House”

Old Great North Road Brotherton

Knottingley

WF11 9EF

Memories of the inaugural Roger Albert Clark Rally in 2004
 - Was it really that long ago??

 

On the 23rd October 1952 at a meeting of 20 “founder members”, the De Lacy Motor Club was formed and with the permission of the De Lacy Family, adopted the name of the original Motor Club formed in 1911 by Lord De Lacy of Pontefract. To this day a number of those founding members, are still members of the club. 

Some of the first recorded events of the club were:

  • Navigation Event 29th March 1953

  • Rally 17th May 1953

  • Gymkhana 15th July 1953

  • Standard Car Trial 20th September 1953

In those days the club used to meet at the Queens Hotel in Pontefract and during the 1950s it moved to it’s first clubhouse. This was in Ferrybridge and is located somewhere under the current A1!  This burial, as a result of the development of the A1 dual carriageway in the 1960s meant that the club was on the move again. In 1964 the current clubhouse known to us all as the “Rallyhouse” was purchased. This was the old school in Brotherton which was renovated, converted and donated by some of the founding members of the club.

 

We are one of the very few Motor Sport Affiliated clubs in the UK with it's own premises. Our clubhouse, capable of catering for over one hundred people, is often used by other clubs for meetings and briefings and has a lively social calendar. Amongst the benefits of our clubhouse are it's own car park, spacious interior and of course its licensed and fully stocked bar!  Attached premises are utilised by a motorsport communications company

 

Our members down the decades have added to our trophy cabinet and we have items on display which evoke memories of the halcyon days of long distance rallying.

 

As far as the motorsport commitment of the club is concerned, we have a long history of successful Rally organisation.  Over the years the club has organised some of the best Rallying in the UK we are well known for our organisational expertise.

 

De Lacy organised the Seven Dales Rally road rally, which was always well subscribed. This event was a very popular event at the beginning of the year and has seen some very famous winners in its time. Amongst those winners was Roger Clark so it is with pride that as a club we are currently involved in the running of the Roger Albert Clark Rally.

 

The Seven Dales, to later be known as the Mintex Seven Dales rally, became the vehicle for the club to become involved in stage rallying and the event, under the sponsorship of a number of different companies, was the opening round of the British Rally Championship for many years. The Rally first ran in the Forests of North Yorkshire in 1972.  Some of the companies we are pleased to have worked closely with are Mintex, National Breakdown, Cartel Communications and Talkland Communications.

 

De Lacy motor club remains a very active club in both the organisation of our own events and marshalling on those of other clubs. We regularly supply a large number of qualified radio crews for other events across the country and we have twelve radio crews currently registered, together with 2 regional radio co-ordinators. We will always respond to any requests for assistance on events and our members can be seen out on events large and small across the country most weekends.