There have been 4x4s in Rally Reykjavik for many years, Ian and Frances came back in 2002 with a LPG powered 100″ Land Rover. In Iceland 4x4s are generally called Jeeps or Jeepa to be accurate, the name deriving from the number of US military jeeps here during the second World War.

Then during 2009, with Iceland’s total financial meltdown only just thawing out, the TOMCAT franchise owners here in Iceland, the McKinstry family under the leadership of Steini , decided to put on a Jeepa only event, and thus the hillrally in Iceland was born. [To read more follow the link https://icelandcrosscountry.blog.is/blog/icelandcrosscountry/] Frances and Ian never mad that rally due to their planning on emigrate to Iceland in 2010.

In 2014 Ian and Tryggvi planned and put on the Icelandic All Terrain Rally, with just 7 entries, Johnnie Drysdale and Tony Rae, Ian Rochelle and Chris Hammond, Martin Gould and Dan Lofthouse, they rented a small Pinin and had a laugh. Chris Ratter was also over but he drove as opening car. Though a small number the concept proved a success.

FB advert here [https://www.facebook.com/135849863232488/posts/272038369613636/] amazing what Facebook keeps!  AKIS has a record of the event [https://www.akis.is/motor-og-sport-icelandic-all-terrain-rally/]  as does the newspaper MBL but it is in Icelandic. [https://www.mbl.is/bill/frettir/2014/09/16/jepparall_ad_haetti_skota_undir_handleidslu_skota/]

For many reasons, another event did not take place until 2021, again a small number but it proved to be a real winner with Bowler Motorsport who entered the first of the new Defender rally versions. Again 7 entries but only one Icelander, who won in a Jeep. Gudmunder’s social media posts caused quite a stir in Iceland. This hooked the CanAm dealership of Ellingsen. Susso Navarro and Keven Stubbs took back the message that Iceland was the place to go. We even had a Norwegian lady entry, Christina Dobloug. Results can be seen here http://datalink.is/Times/RallyResault/78 . We introduced a Hill Climb prize for the start of the Saturday morning stage. I have been to Rallye des Cimes and have seen the final Madeleine climb.  Ours is 5.5 km in length and climbs up to 700m (2300 feet) and it is not smooth!  Time 00:05:06

In 2022 we had 9 entries and crucially Gudmunder came back in Can Am Maverick XRC RR Turbo, he was leading the rally on Saturday night.  Sadly he fell quite ill on Saturday night and had to retire. The winning partnership of the Arctic Cat agents Steinþór/Gauti,  added  post after post in social media and their buggy buddies became interested. Without doubt their postings sold our event to Icelanders for 2023. Bowler where committed to bring their European championship here.  Rally Results http://datalink.is/Times/RallyResault/84 

The climb is now  7.2 km in length (we started sooner and went further at the top) and climbs over 700m (2500 feet) again not smooth! Time 00:07:10

2023 we went up to 18 entries, both UK and Iceland entries, Bowler Motorsport was a big entry and their Team Professionalism showed off both their expertise and added a little international class to the event. A Can-Am Maverick X3 XRC Turbo RR won the evnt driven by the pairing of Kristján Einar and  Guðni Freyr.

Rally Times http://datalink.is/Times/RallyResault/90

Next year, 2024, we are 10 years old, well sort of, and looks like being over 20 entries and a bigger event with over 500k of special stage spread over 4 days.  Though day one is a short prologue and Friday has just two long stages, Saturday and Sunday are typical multi length and many stages in the day.  And we ar moving to a new location area.  We are restricting entries to 25, so if interested book early and pay the fee.