THE official route for Tendring’s trailblazing motor rally has been exclusively revealed to the Gazette by an organiser.

The Corbeau Seats race, which will be held in Clacton on April 22, with special stages spread out across the district, has now been approved by Essex Highways.

The event, organised by Chelmsford Motor Club, and the title sponsor, Corbeau Seats, will be the first to make use of a new legislation which allows closed road motorsport in England.

The event will allow road legal cars, with safety and performance modifications, to compete.

Drivers will be started one at a time at about 30 second intervals and will be timed over the course.

The race will consist of three loops of five different stages totalling about 45 stage miles and 100 road link miles.

Tony Clements, event director, pictured, said: “We wanted roads which are twisted and narrow to keep the average speed down by drivers. We have chosen roads with a combination of bends and as less houses on them as possible.”

The winner will be the driver with the lowest combined time across all the stages.

The first special stage is in Tendring, from Tendring Green to Stones Green, the second is in Bradfield from Spinnel’s Lane to Heath Road, and the third stage is in Lawford from Grange Road to Little Bromley Road.

The fourth is in Great Bromley from Barlon Road to Stone Road, and the final stage is in Great Bentley from St Mary’s Road to Dead Lane.

The event is being staged in Clacton, on the Western Esplanade where drivers will start before making their way to the special routes.

Mr Clements said the event is set to bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Tendring area.

He said: “There will be 120 competing teams with each team having a driver, co-driver and support team of three or four people.

“We probably have 50 senior organisers and between 500 and 1000 marshals coming in, spending money and maybe staying over night.

“Just from the organisers side of things we have calculated that the spend will be £150,000 to £250,000.

“In addition, our best guess is that we will have five to ten thousand spectators coming.”

He said they could bring in about £250,000 to £350,000 through paying for parking, food, drinks and accommodation over the weekend of the rally.

He added: “Because there has been so much interest in the rally, we expect to have 120 teams enter the rally within an hour.

“I think it is going to fill up instantly and we have been inundated with enquiries from across the country.”

He said the event has gathered interest as it is the first-of-its-kind for England.

Teams can enter the rally when the entrance part of website goes live on Sunday.

For more information, visit, www.corbeauseatsrally.co.uk.