In this month’s Revolution, we explore the return to the motorsport calendar of the British Cross Country Championship, known as the BXCC, for the first time since 2021.

Revolution is available online, as a PDF download and on the Revolution app (for both iOS and Android devices). 

The pinnacle of Cross Country motorsport in the UK, it will combine elements of rallying and off-roading and with a new format, some new venues, and a group of eager competitors that have already pledged their support, it is set to be most exciting yet.

The championship organising team at That’s Motorsport have put together a selection of venues capable of running the larger, longer events worthy of a British Championship.
The calendar, which is almost finalised, will include up to six rounds, and will begin on April 6th near York.

Championship organiser Jon Aston will announce more details at the reboot party on January 12th, but until then he says: “There are a few surprises in store, and there is one
change that has never ever been done before! It is pretty exciting. I have floated the idea around and it seems to be well received, so that will provide some added interest!”

Last time out, the BXCC Championship was won by Adrian Marfell and Paul Bartleman, but after a challenging time with COVID-19, where two seasons had to be curtailed,
the organisers switched focus onto other events, such as organising the Welsh Borders Hill Rally, which made a successful debut in 2022 – see Revolution Issue #40 HERE.

Cross Country was hit badly by the COVID pandemic, but is recovering well and is thriving again at Club level, and Aston believes a national championship can only help further build the base of the sport. He has pulled together a new organising team comprising himself, his wife Moira and good friend Dave Brodie, and they have committed to make the top level a flagship for the discipline.

“This is the right time to bring it back,” says Aston. “There is a huge desire for a British Championship. Lots of clubs are putting on some excellent events all around the country and they are very popular, but none are run as national permitted events. There is a desire from people to take part in more events around the country and the BXCC will be able to offer that experience.

“We have put together an exciting set of events, we are ready to reboot. Before we announced we were doing this, I rang about ten of the main people involved in Cross Country in
the UK and told them it was coming back and all of them responded in pretty much the same way: ‘brilliant!’”

That’s Motorsport ran the British Cross Country Championship between 2019 and 2021 and has also organised the Welsh Borders Hill Rally and the Land Rover Bowler Challenge
Championship. The club will organise and run all the BXCC events for 2024, while continuing to run the Bowler Championships and setting up a new Yorkshire Hill Rally.

The BXCC events will be a mix of fast rally type gravel sections and some technical and rough terrain, with free camping for competitors and volunteers. They will be run by Motorsport UK licensed officials and all rounds will be filmed, with footage shown on Motorsport UK TV, a variety of social platforms, and on Sporty Stuff channel (Sky 437) and FreeSat Channel 250.

The BXCC will run as a National Permitted Championship, and there will also be a Trophy Championship running alongside, which can be entered by Clubman (or higher) licence holders. The season will end with an annual dinner dance and awards ceremony, with the overall winners being invited to the Motorsport UK Night of Champions.

Aston has promised “at least one” new venue, with a second new one expected to be confirmed soon. All events can be entered as a one-off on a taster basis, or as part of the whole
Championship, and Aston adds: “We really want to encourage a mix of existing competitors and new people to come along.

“We have some former BXCC competitors committed who have not raced since 2021 because they prefer to do the bigger and longer events; we have some who just want to compete and will race wherever there is an event on that suits them; and I expect there will be a number of newcomers who have done a few years of Club racing and feel it is time to go up a gear.”

“This is all about the bigger picture of the sport and helping to grow awareness of Cross Country as a discipline. Cross Country is UK motorsport’s best kept secret! We hope it will encourage newcomers to get involved, not just in the BXCC, but also joining other Clubs so that, overall, we can help to make the sport bigger and even more popular across the country.”

“There is a lot of excitement and I hope it will help put Cross Country back on a good course for the future. I just want it to be fun for everyone! We need to bring this back and create a Championship that is attractive to as many people as possible. You cannot please everyone all the time, but I hope what we have put together will prove very popular.”

Entries are due to open on 22nd January 2024 @19:00. Full details are available at https://crosscountryuk.org/competitors/