EAST Lancashire rally crews head north to the Scottish Borders this weekend to contest the Jim Clark Rally, the only event currently permitted to run over closed roads in mainland Britain.

Blackburn’s 2300 Club, who pioneered closed road rallying on the Isle of Mull, are hoping a change in legislation will enable them to run a similar event in the Ribble Valley.

If such an event were run it would put millions of pounds into the local economy.

Nigel Worswick and Clive Molyneux, who are both 2300 Club members, are contesting the National Rally, one of five rallies taking place this weekend to attracted entrants from the UK, Finland, Estonia and Australia.

They are competing in the Ford Escort WRC, in which they have previously claimed three top 10 finishes, finishing third in 2007.

Since then the car has undergone a number of upgrades.

Worswick, from Great Harwood, said: “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s one of the few events on which we can run the car as it was intended. It would be great if a similar event could be run using the country roads around here.”

Blackburn’s John Stone, who currently leads the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, is on tenterhooks after a leak was discovered in the fuel tank of his Legend Fires Skoda Fabia WRC.

With a replacement tank not guaranteed to arrive in time it has cast doubt over the hopes of Stone and Lee Carter matching the podium finish they scored on last year’s National Rally.

Stone said: “We were told initially it would arrive Tuesday. It didn’t.”

Another Blackburn driver, Phil Scholes, hopes to keep his double championship bid alive in the Fiesta Sport Challenge and British Rally Championship Challenge.

Scholes is currently in first and second place respectively and has a third different co-driver in as many rallies, with Withnell’s Paul Swinscoe reading the notes on his Jim Clark Challenge Rally debut.

Swinscoe will also contest Sunday’s Jim Clark Reivers Rally alongside Nigel Feeney in a Subaru Impreza WRC as the pair bid to score Scottish Rally Championship points.

Slaidburn’s Russell Thompson and co-driver Andy Murphy contest the Challenge Rally in their Renault Clio, and aside from Scholes, also face local competition from Blackburn’s Terry Martin, who is co-driving Richard Archer.

Alastair Fisher and Barrowford’s Daniel Barritt are contesting the Jim Clark International Rally in order to get some tarmac practice in their Ford Fiesta R2 in preparation for their FIA WRC Academy challenge.