Alderney motorsport weekend welcomed back with open arms

But no one has shown their love for the popular motoring festival in the northern isle quite like John Robert, who has competed in every event since its inception in 1991.

This year’s runs from Thursday to Saturday and Robert will be one of many who are keen to make up for lost time after problems related to Covid wiped out the 2021 edition – the only other year off came in 1999, for the unrelated reason of an unviable road surface.

What is it that keeps the motor sport veteran coming back?

‘It’s just the competitive weekend, with so many friends, and my ethos is to go and enjoy your sport with good company, good friends, and have a nice time,’ he said.

‘Alderney, to me, it’s about everybody being together, doing what we love and enjoying it.

‘The effort everybody puts in makes it work.’

Aside from being ever-present as a competitor, Robert works on the PA with Richard Pattimore, but he is just one cog in the running of a smooth Alderney weekend.

Robert is particularly keen to credit competition secretary Heather Robilliard, plus Steve Marquis – who sorts the shipping and vehicle transport, then sets venues up with his ‘gang of hillbillies’ – and Roger King, Paul Stanford, Emma and Scott Rayson and Andy Bougourd, who put in days of work setting up the timing.

The drivers and riders have also been amazing, but Robert is reluctant to name individuals.

Some people are impressing with far less advanced machinery than that of record-holders Nick Saunders or Darren Warwick.

‘In the last 30 years, there’s been so many people who have set the hill alight with blistering drives and rides,’ Robert said.

‘Where do you start picking people? It’s very dangerous – there’s been some very, very good performances.’

And the event exists because Paul Ninnim, then the Guernsey Kart and Motor Club president, and his committee decided on a whim to go to Alderney for a hill climb one year because the reservoir was unavailable.

Look on 31 years and that standalone hill climb has evolved into a three-day spectacle so embedded in the annual motor sport calendar.

Robert has seen that first-hand, starting with the introduction of a sprint in 1993, then in 2011 the adoption of a three-day format.

Two years after that came a significant change in the opening Fort Corblets sprint stage, which now has a big hairpin dropping towards the beach.

‘That’s more driver ability than just sitting there and going “vroom”,’ Robert said of a course where the in-form Saunders set a new record two years ago.

He believes that part of the appeal comes from having three ‘completely different’ events where different competitors can come out on top.

Day two consists of a varied speed event at Le Grand Val, where Saunders also holds the record.

‘The airport event is very tricky. I think it’s my favourite – I really like that because you go uphill then down, then a big right-hander at the end through an “S” into the finish.

‘That’s technical and you’ve got to get your timing spot on.

‘It’s not all about power, it’s about where you brake and your positioning.’

The weekend culminates in the fastest hill climb in the Channel Islands – Fort Tourgis. There, Darren Warwick remains the all-time king.

‘The Alderney hill climb is just pure speed.

‘I drove a Mallock up there many years ago and was going through the finish at 115-120 mph – that’s fast, that’s a fast track.’

Although Robert has reached dizzying speeds on the hill, he is not there for smashing records.

He describes himself bashfully as ‘one of the slower ones, at the back’.

Over all those years in Alderney many memories have been made, not all of which were on the track.

It is a very social event with plenty of celebration to top it off – though he feels that they do not quite party like they used to.

‘There’s been dancing on bonfires and people on mountain bikes riding through flames.

‘I was the mountain biker riding through the flames.

‘That was a long time ago, and I think people today have become a bit more subdued, but we’ve had some really good last nights up with the Alderney people – lots of them have been made part of it, which is really good for them.’

There were bunker parties, quarry parties and, until about 10 years ago, football matches against a local side.

Possibly his favourite memory was seeing three competitors towing two racing cars to the event on a moped, while two onlooking policemen made a double take before, as Robert pictures, dismissing it and saying, ‘Alderney’.

‘I think that’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen – that was just true motor sport, eh?’

Times are clearly changing, not least in the fact that the costs involved have risen sharply in recent years.

Potential participants are increasingly being ‘priced out’, Robert believes.

But that has not stopped around 75 competitors from signing up for this year’s milestone 30th edition of the event.

Saunders will, on paper at least, be a solid favourite.

The 1.6-litre race car star defied a lack of familiarity with the Alderney weekend to set three class records and two outright course bests last year.

But given the different demands of the three stages and a cracking field featuring other domestic greats such as Tim Tulie and Steve Brehaut, a clean sweep is not a given.

Robert goes as far as to say: ‘You could not put money on any of them.’

‘One might be faster at one event than the others, but for one to win the three events, that would be some challenge.

‘If the conditions are good, we will see some really fast times this year.’

That is not to mention the strength through the classes, including some quality motorcyclists, or a showing from Emma Rayson, who recently demolished the all-time women’s record at Le Val des Terres.

It is unfortunate that, due to logistical issues surrounding travel from Jersey, they will lose out on facing their usual inter-insular rivals.