P-05-1028 Relax the excessive restrictions to allow motor sport rallies to take place in Wales, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 23.11.20

Thank you for the opportunity to hear our views again.

Since the original petition – not much has changed. We have not been able to mobilise any motorsport events or further test events in Wales since a sprint event in Anglesey – and there still remains little if any sign of the certainty needed to kick start motorsport in Wales again for 2021.

I fully recognise the challenges that COVID presents and the peaks in demand that have been experienced recently – but it is disappointing to read that further test events cannot be considered until at least February 2021.

There’s nothing to suggest that a small scale test event promises to be a higher risk than is acceptable. A proposal is in place for a small scale rally test event on private forestry land – ideally in December.  Creatively, the event is split into two fields of 15 cars, with 30 cars in total.  Therefore, this limits the number to 30 for each competitive run of the rally stage.  With ample social distancing and strict social distancing controls in place to virtually eradicate person to person contact on the day – we hope that Welsh Government would look at something like this realistically and in a pragmatic method.  The event is being organised and run with the co-operation of a team of people experienced in running and delivering Wales Rally GB previously.

I don’t think there is much else we can add at this stage given the circumstances and current stance of Welsh Government.  I think any opportunity to discuss how we can trial a test event to help try and support the motorsport economy in Wales would be strongly welcomed.

Thanks,