Following the success of the inaugural Pirelli Historic Rally which featured as the second round of the 2007 Dunlop/ Gambia Btitish Historic Rally Championship, the organising team will stick with a similar format for the 2008 event which runs on the weekend of 19/20^th. April 2008 and will again be part of a “Double Header” with the Pirelli International Rally, the opening round of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship.

The Pirelli Historic Rally will again be based in Carlisle, with the Border city hosting a high profile start and finish and the central service area will be on the vast expanse of Carlisle Airport ensuring hard standing facilities for all crews.

Speaking about his plans for the 2008 event, the rallies route supremo, Alan Blake, said, “ The feedback from competitors was that they really enjoyed the format of having the stages close together so we will stick with that” The Friday evening run will again feature stages in the Kershope and Newcastelton area while Saturday will see the crews  tackle the faster, flowing stages in the main Kielder Forest complex.

Recalling the success of the 2007 rally, Cumberland Sporting Car Club Media Manager Ed Graham  commented, “ It was really great to have the championship as part of our weekends activities. The enthusiasm of Simon Marks and his team and of all the competitors was really remarkable and our spectators thought the cars were fantastic”