Right: The Perodua Kalisa of Karen Young - seen here on the World Cup Rally - are among the early Revival Rally entries.

Recent Revival Rally entries...

MG Rover have entered Tony Fall, the boss of Safety Devices, in a Rover 25 1.1, and will be painting it specially red and white.... Tony's works-rallying career has gone full circle, as he cut his teeth in the Mini Cooper works-team in the 1960s - the driver who gave the Mini its first big win on the Welsh Rally and who drove numerous Lombards has signed up for his works drive and will be accompanied by veteren co-driver Willy Cave, aged 77-and-three-quarters, who 50 years ago set out on the Monte Carlo Rally navigating a works MG Magnette, and last drove an RAC navigating Brian Culcheth to 18th overall and first in the up to 1300cc class in a Morris Marina. They will be joining the works team with Gwyndaf Evans and Pauline Gullick, and British Touring Car racer Anthony Reid, both in MG ZRs.

Former Lombard RAC Rally winner Neil Wilson, who navigated the late great Henri Toivenen to victory on the Lombard in a Lancia, has snatched a last-minute entry and will be driving a Ford Puma - he's asked if he qualifies for the Top Novice Award as he has never driven the British forests before, and switches from co-driving to driving. The answer was no.... Neil's co-driver is Richard Sears.

A flurry of Peugeots include... Ian Langridge and Jim Haywood in a Peugeot 206, class winners in last year's Welsh Road Rally Championship; Carl Hawkins and Iain Tullie from York in a Peugeot 106 - they are current road-rally champions in the North Western Car Club's championship; Keith Farrance and Graham Jinks in a Peugeot 106 - Keith has raced a Caterham for many years, and was also Formula First British Champion in 1988.

Ian Orford currently in BTRDA and WAMC championships, will be co-driving with Gee Warner.

With the rush on for the final few places available, Paul Merryweather has breezed into into the Rally Office to enter his ex-works MG ZR 1.4, which he hopes to collect from the factory any day now to drive on November's event.

MG have confirmed their star-driver line-up - works rally-driver Gwyndaf Evans and Pauline Gullick will lead their attack, supported by British Touring Car ace Anthony Reid, who is making his rallying debut, supported by motorsport manager Don Kettleborough.

William Warmisham with Jamie Thompson, and Tim Warburton with Stefan Arndt, have both entered Peugeot 205 Rallyes - the UK version. Tim has successfully driven a Nova to class-wins on stage events, and Stefan is currently a co-driver in the Evo championship.

Another red door-number for being an ex-RAC Rally competitor, will go to Tony Fall, former works driver of Mini-Coopers, Lancia Fulvias, Datsun 240Zs, he has no car and no co-driver but the boss of Safety Devices says it will all come together....

Clive Baty, who drove on the Lombard RAC in '88 so qualifies for our special red door-numbers, has entered the one-litre class with an ex-World Cup Toyota Yaris with Dave Lambourne.

Peter Jagger and 16-year-old student Seb Marshall, on his first rally, have entered a Peugeot 205 Rallye. Link to www.rallying4pudsey.co.uk to read about Peter & Seb's efforts to raise money for Children in Need.

Novices Doug Powell and Trevor Holland, have entered a Peugeot 106 - neither have rallied before but Doug is a former autotest expert.

John Ball and Eddie Grayson have entered a Metro in the one-litre class - the car was built for last year's Welsh Endurance Rally. Chris and Colin Valentine aim to give the Minis a hard time with a Hillman Imp - Colin has finished second in the BTRDA production-car trials championship. Steven Powell, three times outright winner of the Welsh Historic Rally Championship, and also winner of the HRCR road-rally championship, has entered a VW Polo 1.4.

TON-UP! We've topped 100-mark.. The latest to join us is the Rover 214i of James Edwards and Alex Dempsey, who drove this car on the ten-countries in ten-days London-Athens World Cup two years ago. Ian Freestone, who was up near the front on the recent Classic East African Safari in a push-rod Escort is looking for a suitable 1400cc for November.

Our first rear-wheel-drive entry.... A 1985, 1400cc Volvo 340 with BTRDA contender from '88 to '93, Richard Shepherd - he's coming out of retirement, along with Philip Keyte.

Peter Eaton from Maldon has entered a Skoda Fabia 1400, "the RAC Rally was always out of reach, having competed at club level for 30 years thank you for making it now a realistic possibility," he says on his entry form. He's looking for a co-driver - so too is Spencer Leach, who has entered a Vauxhall Astra, having been a class-winner in the ANCC Championship in '91, he's making a return to rallying (like a lot of entrants on the Revival Rally), not having competed for 13 years. It's taken this event to entice him back into the sport. These two entries now nudge us towards the 100 mark.

Kevin Wilson and Paul Caunt are in a Citroen AXGT, Kevin has been rallying for 18 years, he's a past ANCC Road-Rally Championship winner and gained a class win on the '96 Network Q. James Matthews has entered a Peugeot 205XS and is looking for a co-driver.... Tom Rooke from Driffield and Mark Church from Hull have entered a Skoda Favorit.... Paul Train and Roger Stanford are thinking of running a Peugeot but not yet decided, and Ivor and Richard Johnson from Portballintrae in Country Antrim who last competed on the Donegal Rally in '85 are looking for a Suzuki Swift.

Another factory entry... MG Sport and Racing have entered, and will be declaring their driver line-up shortly.... watch this space as the final places are snapped up rapidly following the successful recent Motorsport News Rally Forums.

Father and son team, Michael and Jason Byrom from North Devon are bringing an 1100cc Rover Metro.

Another Peugeot postbag has entries from brothers Richard & Robert Dipple from Dorset with a Peugeot 106SXi along with Freddy Camp & Bob Rutherford also from down west who'll be in 1995 106XS. Essex pairing Chris Rees & Malcolm Heymer kept them company in the same post-bag but haven't chosen a car yet.

Another car to wear the distinctive red door numbers is the well-rallied Peugeot 106 of Rory McNeile and Peter Hopkins, both crew members were on the '95 RAC Rally, and finished 12th on the 2001 World Cup Rally.

Tow entries arrived together - Drew Goodspeed has entered a Honda Civic 1400cc; Alan Bale and Trudi Silvey are newcomers on their first-ever rally with a Rover Metro.

Alan Wakeman, who drove the '85 RAC Rally, has teamed up with Ian Perry, a road-rally exponent of note, in a Citroen AX or the one-litre class.... Don Whitehurst, has driven no less than 11 RAC Rallies, and teams up with Terry Atherton, who has competed on seven - so, the biggest-possible red numbers for their Peugeot 106, which being a de-luxe model should come with suitably extra-large door panels.

Robert Evett who drove the '88 Lombard RAC Rally among a string of British events has entered a Vauxhall Nova. Another Nova is entered by Roy Gravestock and Tim Ball - Roy competed on the RAC Rally in 1990, with three further efforts, finishing four times, and was British Rallycross Champion in the stock-hatch category four years ago - so that's two more wearing the distinctive red door-numbers for being original ex-RAC Rally competitors.

Yet another Vauxhall - this time from Vauxhall main-dealer Nigel and Christine Gray, with a Corsa Sport.... making the switch from historic-rallying. The car was up for sale.... it's now being prepared for The Revival Rally, after which it goes back to the showroom as "one careful owner".... (the others weren't so careful).

The Revival Rally is attracting young and old, newcomer and older hands..... and now two retired schoolteachers on their first ever British rally, Sue Howell and Molly Falcon have asked their local Peugeot garage to find them a 205. Sue and Molly finished the London to Athens World Cup in fine style, so three days of tough rallying around Britain will be a breeze.

Making a return to rallying after a 25-year-retirement, Michael James and Geoffrey Hayes have bought a Peugeot 205 for £400.... they have competed together in night road-rallies and stage events in the '70s and 80's.

Ronnie Roughhead and Ian Canavan have entered a one-litre Toyota Yaris that was built with works-assistance for the 2001 World Cup Rally. Ronnie drove on the '86 Lombard RAC Rally, and has rallied with Ian for 25 years in road and stage events.

The entry list reaches the 70 mark with the latest entry, a Nissan Micra from Richard and Jon Sandilands.

Eager to beat the pants off fellow scribes from Motorsport News and Autosport comes an official entry for Autocar magazine - with Paul Barker of the newsdesk and Adam Towler from the road-testing team, in a Peugeot 206.

A Skoda Felicia from Ann and Brian Weir will be wearing red door-numbers, they have both competed on the Lombard RAC several times - the car came fourth on the Welsh Enduro last year.

Mike Biss hustled a big Rover SD1 through the trees on the '84 Lombard and more recently came second in last year's British autotest championship. Mike has signed up the highly experiened Cath Woodman to navigate their Holden Barina Sri.

Rod Palmer is an ex-"Motoring News" Rally Championship-winning co-driver, so his coming out of retirement should see no excuses - he's to sit alongside preparation-expert Paul Bennings, in a Proton Compact 1300.

Now for something different: A Subaru Justy 1200 entry from Adrian Mayall and Robert Hayden, who are more normally seen on stage events behind the wheel of an even more unusual rallycar.... an Alfa 33.

Recent post brought us an entry from Mat Fowle and Peter Joy, in yet another Peugeot 106. Both competed on the Lombard RAC Rally and qualify for the special red door numbers. Mat is a past class-winner in the BTRDA Championship, and more recently Peter, who used to co-drive for Tony Pond, has been seen in a Lotus Elite on the longer historic events. In the same post-bag, Phil Bingham and Duncan Williams, who made their rallying debut on the London-Athens World Cup. Phil and Duncan are bringing a Proton Compact.

Philip Atkinson has entered an MG ZR - Philip is another red door-number qualifier having competed on the Lombard RAC in '81 and '82. Garry Preston and Mike Sones have entered a Mini Cooper S - Garry was fourth on the Ypres Retro last year, and is a past MSA Production Car Trial Champion. Mike is a former MSA Autotest Championship winner.

Another Peugeot - is there any Peugeot 106 out there not planning to join us? Hardly a day goes by without someone sending us a Peugeot 106 entry.... the latest is from Andy Bown and Nigel Wakeling, who drove into the top 20 on the London-Sahara-London three years ago, and also competed on last year's Welsh Endurance Rally.

Entries hit the 60-mark on March 15th, with one from John Wright and Caroline Grubb, in a Peugeot XS 205. John has taken part in several road-rallies and stage events.

Sophie Robinson points out that the recent TV coverage given to the World Cup Rally in Tunisia is "more national TV than all the rest of British rallying put together" - and we are pleased to confirm that David Winstanley reckons the Revival Rally will make a great programme series, and his works-supported MG will be back.

Our lovely post-lady felt we needed something different - not yet another Vauxhall, not another Peugeot - so, brought us an entry from Julian Rhodes and Jonathan Belford, with our first Renault Megane Coupe 16-valve 1.4... in black it won't stand much chance of appearing in the TV film at night, but, at least it's different.

In order not to upset the Vauxhall Brigade, she also brought us an entry for a Vauxhall Tigra, from Graham Parkinson, co-driven by Andrew Duerden.... who even wears a Vauxhall hat and tie for his day-job..

In order for the rival Peugeot Army not feel outdone by this postbag, we then found an envelope to discover the latest Peugeot 106 Rallye, entered by Andrew Howard, a solicitor, and private detective Steven McIlroy, who are both newcomers to rallying, on their first event. New entries continue to roll-in - but, we stop when we get to 100.

The entries keep on coming... Yet another Vauxhall Corsa entry (surely the most popular choice of manufacturer for this event as the entry rapidly fills up) from Malcolm Grubb and Steven Grubb from Egham, Surrey - Malcolm has been a regular road and stage rally competitor since 1969.

David Lomax who navigated on the Lombard RAC in 1989 and Nigel Long have entered a Peugeot 106 Rallye....entries now nudging towards the 60 mark and it's only March, clearly we could be well over-subscribed at this rate of progress.

Another entry is from CSMA member Clive Alcock from Wigton Motor Club who has been a spectator on nearly every RAC Rally since 1975, and is now down to drive a rare sight indeed - a Lancia Delta 1300.

Dale Glover from Kings Lynn has entered a Vauxhall Nova, surely the most popular car on the list so far. We passed the 50-entries mark with Roger and Michael Stevens in a two year old Seat Ibiza have entered - they were a top-ten finisher on the World Cup Rally on the London-Athens edition winning the Novice Award at the same time.

Peter Valentine will be marking he 40th anniversary of his first entry on the RAC Rally by driving a 1990 Mini Cooper - the former winner of the 1975 Motoring News championship will be accompanied by his son, Michael, who has been the winning navigator on the Gremlin and Welsh Retro. With red-door numbers for being a past RAC entrant, this could be one to watch.

Roger and Michael Stevens are bringing their Seat Ibiza and father and son pairing Michael and Peter Valentine will be in a 1293cc Mini Cooper. It will be the 40th Anniversary of Michael competing on the RAC rally.

Driving a Nissan Micra will be 18 year old Elliot Stafford. Elliot has just graduated from the Ford Academy for young drivers. And, after competing in the World Cup Rally last year IT consultant Felix Wright will be in a Ford Focus with project engineer John Hall.

Star of the current TV series on Men and Motors as the World Cup documentary reports of the antics in Tunisia, Stephen Cooper, has entered his Suzuki Swift Gti.. John and Gill Cotton, second overall on the Welsh Endurance Rally last year, have entered a Citroen AX - Gill won the World Cup Rally alongside Alistair Caldwell on the ten-countries-in-ten-days London-Athens in 2002, and qualifies for red door numbers as she competed on the RAC Rally in '88, '89, and '96.

Two more Vauxhalls enter the fray: Martin Holdsworth from Pudsey, who used to rally Escorts, and Richard Mellor, also from West Yorkshire, are coming out of retirement to drive a Vauxhall Nova 1200. And Norfolk vet Stephen Hodge and Jonathan Soames-Waring who finished 10th on the World Cup Rally to Morocco three years ago have entered a 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa.

David Missen of Dereham, and Mark Atkins. David and Mark have rallied together since university days in the '70s and are bringing an MG ZR105. Stowmarket farmer Gee Warner has entered a Proton Satria 1300. Mike East from Farnham has competed on over 60 events and has bought Peugeot 106 specially for the MSA's new Endurance Rally formula. Roger Davidson will be sitting along side Mike. Roger has been rallying for over 25 years and has won many road rallies in the hot seat.

Another postbag brings Chris Burge and Martyn Sansdm with the little ex-Sophie Robinson Daihatsu Cuore. Only 989cc but nimble enough to set the best time at Blenheim, we seem to remember. Robin Eyre-Maunsel, who was a regular winner in Hillman Avengers back in the days when everyone knew all about Group One. Robin, from Ireland, has teamed up with regular co-driver Peter Scott in a Citroen AX Gti. Fifth overall on the World Cup Rally, his first big rally, was no mean feat for 17 year old Matt Heal. "Mum says I can have another go if the A-levels come out well," so Matt and his father Paul have entered in the same 1300cc Proton that they used on the Welsh Enduro and the World Cup Rally to the Sahara last year.

Bringing the list up to 40 paid-up entries or deposits is an Astra 1400, from Alastair Barnes and Simon Ayris - "I've competed in lots of different events but this is something different.... we are both looking forward to a long tough rally, both of us watched the original RAC Rallies so long ago we were wearing short-trousers, so this goes a long way to meeting long-held ambitions."

Former Scottish Rally Champion in Formula Two, Alistair McVittie, and Douglas Kerr, have entered a VW Polo. Philip Harris of Kingsbridge, Devon, has past road rallying experience and recently tried his hand at stage events, has entered a Fiat Cinquecento 1100. Winner of the Welsh Endurance Rally, Owen Turner, has entered a Rover Metrol 1.4 along with Graham Raeburn, son of the former profesional co-driver Nigel (who is also hoping to be joining us), and Cliff and Niall Porter has entered a red and white '97 Mini Cooper. Nick Pollitt from Lichfield with Andrew Lees have entered a Peugeot 206, Nick is a former BTRDA production car trial champion.

A VW Polo from Robert Belcher, with Jeremy Buckler of Henley's famous Angel on the Bridge pub is another recent entry, along with father and son team Mike and Andy Hall, who have opted for a Vauxhall Nova, the Nova is looking like becoming the most popular choice of car for this event. Dave Maryon will be in the Peugeot 206 he stroked along to fourth overall on the recent World Cup Rally, partnered by Ken Powell from Canada; Daniel Middleton and Liam Robinson in a Peugeot 205, and two Skoda Rapids, the last of the rear-engined cars, with Martyn Roberts and Alan Sheppard, and James Parman and Mark Hamilton. David Johnson who finished third overall twice on World Cup Rallies - both the Morocco and the London-Athens editions - has entered the same car for yet more punishment, the under-rated Proton Satria in the 1300cc class.

Several other new entries have arrived in a rush: At the Autosport Show, Terrance Reynolds and Mike Smith, from Bermuda, have entered a Ford Focus. Sophie Robinson, who finished third overall - her best ever result - on the World Cup Rally into Tunisia, has entered the VW Polo she has campaigned in the Polo Championship. Roger Harwood from Mercedes has entered a very unusual rallycar - with works assistance he has entered a Mercedes A-Class - good to see something so different. Co-driver in the Mercedes is Stuart Coomber. Roger and Stuart are said to have been resting since rallying together in Standard 10s, Minis and Imps.

Julian Morris from Kenilworth has entered a Peugeot 205, the same car he drove on the London to Athens World Cup Rally, and we have also received another Mini entry - Frank Willard from Crowborough is a newcomer to rallying and with Stuart Lawrence is preparing a 998cc Mini.

An early New Year postbag contained three entries: Charlie Campey is bringing a Peugeot 106 XSi as driven on the World Cup Rally to Tunisia with his sister Faye Campey who handles the navigating and the maps - in 2002 they came 9th on their first-ever event, the London-Athens World Cup. Christopher Day and Ric Chalmers have entered our third Mini Cooper, a '98 model, the same car that enabled them to win the Pendle Witch-Way, and second on the CSMA rally. Mike Harrington is a newcomer and has bought a Peugeot 206. He is now off to Peugeot's special-tuning department in Coventry for the complete kit they have just announced to turn a standard 206 into a 1400cc-rally-car.

In a Citroen AXGT, John Flynn has done 8 RACs and also previously won the Targa Rusticana, Rallye Bristowe and the Welsh Retro... with Richard Wise who tackled no less than 13 RAC Rallies - that makes 21 RACs between them... As a mark of distinction, every car that has a crew member who is a genuine RAC Rally "original" will carry special red competition door numbers.... several entrants already qualify for this, but Richard's past form perhaps deserves a medal! Bringing a '64 1275cc Mk1 Mini Cooper is Bryan Purves from East Grinstead and Tim Brenchley from Seaford. Bryan and Tim have competed on several historic events in the past including the Winter Challenge and Rally of the Tests. Terry and Phil Douce from Caterham have changed their earlier plan to bring a Lada and now reckon to drive a 1-litre Vauxhall Nova.

... and earlier...
First entry to arrive was from David Winstanley, who drove his works-supported MG ZR to second overall on the World Cup Rally through the Sahara in Tunisia - look out for his filming on Men and Motors, the eight-part TV series starts on January 18. Former Ford Ka championship-contender Jane Edgington has entered a one-litre Citroen AX, a police driving instructor, Jane bought this car for just £65, proof that the new Endurance Rally formula really can provide low-cost motor-sport! Paul Ashton from Oldham and Will Warmisham from Rochdale have a Peugeot 205 Rallye, the pair drove a one-litre Nissan Micra on the London-to-Athens World Cup Rally a couple of years back, finishing second in class, and their spectacular antics also won them a lot of air time on the TV film.... John Elphick and John Banks are both retired but their top-20 results with their works-supported Mazda 323 show they have no intention of allowing life to slow them down...

Gordon Fraser, a taxi-firm proprietor, and Alan Moffat, one of his taxi drivers from Merseyside have entered a Vauxhall Corsa; Andy Glossop who has filmed the Rally UK TV series has entered a Ford Puma with Chris Taylor... Andy and Sue Rugg have entered three World Cup Rallies and last year’s Welsh Endurance Rally together and are now set on the Revival Rally in their Peugeot 206... David Smith and Peter Johnson have entered another Vauxhall Corsa, Dave has won the CSMA Curtis Bennet road-rally in Wales, Peter has won several ACSMC road-rallies, both as a driver and navigator back in the 1970s and ‘80s, and has twice finished in the top twenty on the Cork International.

District Nurse Karen Young and Nigel Young from Wakeham, Dorset (no relation to the rally-manager) have entered their works-supported Perodua Kalisa in the one-litre class.... Karen drove this car on the London-to-Athens World Cup Rally and went well.... good to see the one-litre class attracting entries already! Andy Actman is bringing his works-supported Daihatsu Sirion, which so nearly carried him to victory on the World Cup Rally in Tunisia but lost a rear wheel when a rear stub-axle snapped close to the finish....”I’m really looking forward to this, three days and nights around Britain will be quite magical - let’s hope the weather is truly terrible!”. Leicestershire farmer Trevor Skinner, and his son Ben, have entered their venerable Nissan Micra, which has driven two World Cup Rallies, plus Ben's first event, last summer's Welsh Endurance Rally.

The vice-chairman of the csma competition's committee, Peter Gregory, drove the RAC Rally 13 times. Peter and team-mate Graeme Presswell have competed on more than 250 road-rallies together and are busy looking for a Vauxhall Corsa Si for The Revival Rally. "If it's anything like as challenging as the old RAC then we could hardly miss out on this." James Tyson from Milnthorpe, Cumbria, and Neil Harrison from Sedgwick are preparing a 1989 Mini 1275 - also waving the flag for BMC we have heard from Basil Wales, former boss of Special Tuning, who says he is tempted to compete.... but is certainly up for a spot of marshalling. We've said yes. Doug Brown, who once put in a storming drive in the Monte Carlo Challenge in a side-valve Ford Pop, has entered a Vauxhall Nova 1.3SR with Alan Pettit on board as his co-driver.