About next Rallye des Alpes

Dear Friends,

At the end of the 51st Rallye des Alpes in Fuschlsee, I said that it was unlikely that there would be a Rally des Alpes in 2008. This has now turned out to be the case, but for all of you who have enjoyed, supported and participated our rally in the past, I would like to give you hope for the future.

There are two major reasons for not holding the rally in 2008. The first is that the organising team feel that we need to change the date on which the rally is held. This has nothing to do with the downpour that we had in Geneva at the start of the 2007 event ! The fact is that European roads are becoming more crowded during the summer and this no longer means just during the statutory holidays. We would like to move to a date that has equally good weather but less traffic on the roads. Those of you who have been doing our rally for some years will know that we used to start on a Sunday morning but eventually moved that to Monday to avoid the increased circulation on traditional Alpine passes that occurs at a weekend.

So the debate has been whether to move to September or to earlier in the year. And the discussion continues without, so far, a clear resolution. Feel free to express yourselves !

All this coincides with the fact that now and during 2008, my company, Supercomm Languages & Communication, will be opening new language centres in and outside Switzerland, probably starting with London. This is going to take up a lot of my time – and that of my direct family – leaving us little opportunity to make the changes to the Rallye des Alpes that we want to implement so that it retains its unique character, high standards and a good level of enjoyment for all its entrants.

The consequence of this is that we plan to return in 2009 with the 52nd Rallye des Alpes. It is not the first time in its long history that it has taken a sabbatical, but it is the first such break since I started running the revived event in 1989. I hope you can understand what we are trying to achieve and I assure you that we will make clear our intentions with plenty of time for you to include the Rallye des Alpes in your 2009 plans.

In the meantime, we shall use what spare time we have to discuss future events with our team – which still includes Robert Rorife and John Davenport – to make sure that our return to the international rally stage is a successful and memorable one for all concerned.

Enjoy your sport, we shall miss you next July, but look forward to seeing you again.

Yours sincerely,

Raymond Gassmann