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Lydden Hill hosting UK’s first event in celebration of rallycross with all-star cast at Lydden Legend Festival including Monte Carlo Rally winner Francois Delecour and multi European Rallycross champion Kenneth Hansen

05:00, 19 July 2024

It’s party time at Lydden Hill this weekend as the Kent circuit hosts the UK’s first event dedicated to celebrating rallycross - the Lydden Legend Festival.

A combination of rallying and circuit racing, rallycross was first created at Lydden back in February 1967 with coverage on ITV’s World of Sport.

Lydden Hill is a regular venue for the British Rallycross Championship's Five Nations Trophy
Lydden Hill is a regular venue for the British Rallycross Championship's Five Nations Trophy

Test events followed ahead of the World of Sport Rallycross Championship in autumn 1967. Three of the sjx rounds were held at Lydden and the title was won by Tony Chappell.

These days Lydden sees plenty of fast and furious action including as one of the venues for the British Rallycross Championship Five Nations Trophy, and the circuit’s Legend Festival team have put on a spectacular line-up this Saturday and Sunday.

Driving a Will Gollop-built Peugeot 306 Supercar in the 90s Supercar category, 14-time European Rallycross champion Kenneth Hansen claimed his final outright top-flight rallycross victory at Lydden Hill’s European Championship event in 2009.

Meanwhile, Monte Carlo Rally winner Francois Delecour, who finished on the podium on his rallycross debut at Bergerac, France in 1992, drives the car that won the final on that very day, the Ford RS200 owned by four-time British RX champion Pat Doran.

The Group B rallycross and rally icons will include MG Metro 6R4s, RS200s, Audi Quattros, Peugeot 205 T16s, a Lancia Delta S4 Group B, Supercars, WRC and Group A machinery and Liam Doran is driving his X Games gold medal-winning Citroen C4 while the weekend also features a double-header of Five Nations Championship action.

In addition to the cars and stars in action on track, the festival plays host to a number of legendary VIP guests including six-time British Rallycross champion Dermot Carnegie and former Ladies World Rally champion Louise Aitken-Walker.

Admission tickets are available at a reduced rate in advance online at lyddenhill.co.uk. Full price tickets are available at the gate over the weekend.

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