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21-738: The championship is recognised as an official Championship by Motorsport UK which is the governing body of Motorsport in Great Britain. The current format consists of the Motorsport UK Supercars (600Hp+ Vehicles with 4WD based upon hatchbacks), The Supernational and All4Mini's, the BMW Mini Class, the Retro Rallycross, the Swift Sport, Swift Junior championship and RX150s. The first Rallycross event

42-459: A bid to enter a Formula One team for the 2008 season and on 28 April 2006, Prodrive were officially granted entry when the FIA announced the list of entrants to the 2008 Formula One World Championship . However, on 22 November 2007, he was forced to announce that Prodrive F1 would not be competing in the 2008 Formula One World Championship after a lack of clarity over the legality of 'customer cars' and

63-700: A former team principal of the BAR and Benetton Formula One teams. Richards won the 1981 World Rally Championship as a co-driver to Ari Vatanen . In 1987 Prodrive entered into what was to become a long-standing partnership with BMW in the British Touring Car Championship. They took the Class B title three times, from 1988 to 1990, winning outright in 1988 with Frank Sytner . Richards became chief executive of Benetton Formula in 1998 , replacing Flavio Briatore . He left after just

84-560: A year by the time it dropped the British round of the European Rallycross Championship from its roster a decade later. The British Rallycross Grand Prix was the last event to be shown by the national broadcaster but that too ended after the 1994 event – the last to be run at Brands Hatch and in the event's traditional winter slot. Rallycross spread to Europe within a couple of years of its creation and in 1973

105-557: A year in his post and was replaced by Rocco Benetton for 1999 . When the British American Racing (BAR) team was restructuring after the departure of Craig Pollock in 2001, the owners, British American Tobacco (BAT), brought in Prodrive to run the team with Richards as its Team Principal. Under his direction there was an immediate improvement in performance, ultimately leading to the team taking second place in

126-755: Is documented in the new memorandum and articles of association. Motorsport UK events organise the British Grand Prix , the Rally of Great Britain and from 2016 the British Rally Championship , some of the flagship motor sports events in the United Kingdom. Motorsport UK and its subsidiaries employ over 55 full-time staff. Motorsport UK began as the Royal Automobile Club 's (RAC) Motor Sports Association in

147-484: The 2007 Belgian Grand Prix , less than 24 hours after his former WRC driver, Colin McRae , perished in a similar accident along with his son and two others. Based on Prodrive's statement after the incident, Richards was piloting Prodrive's Eurocopter EC 135 . Both Richards and his wife Karen walked away unharmed. In the 2005 New Year Honours , Richards was appointed a CBE for his services to motorsport. In 2017, he

168-495: The Auto-Cycle Union , nor does it cover banger racing ; but provides governance and representation for 12 other forms such as rallying , circuit racing , drifting , hill climbing and karting . It has power under UK legislation to issue permits to event organisers wishing to close public highways for motorsport uses. The organisation claims its mission is to increase the number of participants in motorsport within

189-574: The British Grand Prix in Silverstone scheduled to be held in July (in any event, he was sacked by his team). In 2024, the federation raised £60,000 to buy a Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer for the Armed Forces of Ukraine . David Richards (motorsport) David Pender Richards CBE is the chairman of Prodrive and chairman of Motorsport UK . He is former chairman of Aston Martin and

210-608: The Motor Sports Association ( MSA ), is a national membership organisation and governing body for four-wheel motorsport in the United Kingdom. Legally, it is a not-for-profit private company limited by guarantee. Motorsport UK is recognised as the only motorsport governing body in the United Kingdom by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It is not concerned with motorcycle or sidecar competitions, which are governed by

231-400: The 'Embassy European Trophy' was won by Scotsman John Taylor in an Escort RS1600. The first officially sanctioned European Rallycross Championship followed in 1976 – won by Austria's Franz Wurz in a Lancia Stratos – the same year that Britain got its official British Rallycross Championship, won by Trevor Hopkins in an Escort RS1800. Motorsport UK Motorsport UK , formerly known as

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252-457: The 2004 F1 Constructors' Championship. Richards also brought Jenson Button to the team and made him lead driver providing the majority of their championship points in 2004. This success led to BAT selling a 45% share of the team to Honda in late 2004. With Prodrive having completed its management contract with BAT, Richards stood down as Team Principal and Prodrive's then managing director Nick Fry assumed this role. His Prodrive company entered

273-532: The November foot and mouth disease actually prevented some drivers attending the first Rallycross event to be staged at Croft, near Darlington in County Durham, on 30 December 1967. There is a link to the abandoned RAC British Rally of 1967. A televised Rallycross had been organised to take place following the rally. However, following its cancellation, most of the foreign drivers and teams left Britain and

294-458: The Rallycross lost many of its expected star entries. The event still took place and was won by Rootes Group driver Andrew Cowan. With the bit firmly between its teeth, ITV ran a championship season through the winter of 1967–68, the winner of which, and the first man ever to win a Rallycross championship was Welshman Tony Chappell. ITV's monopoly on the sport, its man Reed had thought up,

315-545: The UK. It also claims to have within its community 720 affiliated motor clubs, 30,000 competition licence holders, 10,000 volunteer marshals and 4,000 officials, whilst authorising 5,000 event permits every year. Motorsport UK is managed and organised by its board of directors, chaired by David Richards CBE . In March 2019 the constitution of Motorsport UK was changed by a unanimous vote of the council to bring it in line with Sport England 's code of governance and best practice. This

336-466: The following year. The MSA was rebranded as Motorsport UK in 2018, introducing its own new aim to increase participation as well as regulate the sport. In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Motorsport UK barred Russian and Belarusian drivers from competing in British motorsport events, thus preventing Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin from participating in the upcoming 2022 edition of

357-649: The late 1970s. Until this time motorsport events in the UK had been organised by motor clubs or independent parties who could implement their own rules with oversight by the RAC’s Competitions Committee. In 1975 the committee was replaced by the Motor Sports Council who standardised rules and their enforcement throughout the country. The RAC Motor Sports Association was legally formed in December 1977, and began organising and promoting events

378-582: The new sport. The first event was won by Vic Elford – already a successful rally driver and someone who would go on to drive in F1 and have great success as a sports car racer – driving a Porsche 911 owned by AFN, at that time the official Porsche importer for Great Britain. It is claimed that the foot and mouth outbreak of 1967, which caused the cancellation of that year's RAC Rally , gave rise to Rallycross. However, Rallycross had been born in February 1967 and

399-519: The threat of possible legal action. On 12 March 2007, Richards led a consortium of investors including Investment Dar and Adeem Investment , raising $ 925 million to finance the purchase of Aston Martin from Ford . Richards subsequently became chairman of the car company. He stepped down from this role at the end of 2013. On 16 September 2007 Richards and his wife, Karen, survived a forced landing in their helicopter in Essex whilst returning from

420-637: Was lost in August 1968 when the BBC struck a deal with Lydden owner Bill Chesson giving them virtually exclusive access to events at the Kentish track. ITV moved North, basing itself at Croft and later added events at Cadwell Park, near Louth in Lincolnshire. The television companies first fought over Rallycross then ignored it. ITV was gone by the middle '70s and BBC's coverage had declined to one or two events

441-627: Was organised at Lydden circuit, near Canterbury in Kent, on Saturday 4 February 1967. Originally intended as a one off conceived by Robert Reed, a producer on ABC TV's World of Sport programme and organised for the broadcaster by the Tunbridge Wells centre of the 750 Motor Club under the leadership of Bud Smith, the event was such a huge success that more TV specials soon followed. And it wasn't long before 'clubmans' events were being run for autocross, race and rally drivers who'd become captivated by

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