RALLYING IN 1955

Spectator-friendly city centre stages, powerstage bonus points and dedicated PR schedules and media zones? Forget it. Souped up manufacturer-honed cars with tenths of a second on the stopwatch splitting the drivers in stages? Think again. Bespoke special stages in the woods even?

Not yet. Wind the clock back 65 years and rallying was almost unrecognisable to how it is today.

Unlike most other forms of motorsport where drivers pit themselves against each other on the same piece of Tarmac, rallying has, and ultimately always will be, a true test of how effectively man and machine can work in harmony together against the elements that are thrown at them. Battling, bruising and bewildering at times too, the driver who best perfects the blend between outright speed and managing their car to the finish has always been the one who reaches the top.

However, the manner