SELBY AND DISTRICT MOTOR CLUB

The origins of Selby and District Motor Club go back to the 1950's when car and motor cycle enthusiasts would meet, however during 1963, they affiliated to the RAC in order to run a road rally by the name of The Three Swans Rally, the first event that the club organised that invited members from other clubs.    The Three Swans incidentally also form the club badge and originate from the origins of Selby and are depicted on a stained glass window in the 900 year old Selby Abbey. The club had various meeting places during the early years.

During 1969, the opportunity arose to rent a disused RAF building on the wartime Halifax bomber base at Breighton some 8 miles east of Selby and 16 miles South East of York. The site was very attractive in that in addition to the building there was a substantial amount of concrete available for club auto tests, Gymkhanas etc outside the front door, sadly much of that, as with many other old airfield tracks have long since disappeared. 

The building needed much restoration work including laying on water and electricity supplies, digging cess pits, and converting small rooms into larger ones etc. All the work required was done by the members themselves and the club became one of a small minority in the area to meet in its own purpose adapted premises.  A bar licence was granted soon after. 

During the mid 1970's the opportunity presented itself to purchase the clubhouse along with a substantial and suitable area for car parking. The members of the time dug deep and raised the purchase price with financial loans from members topped up with a bank loan, and so the club became the proud owners of their clubhouse. The club has always boasted a friendly atmosphere where any new faces are always made welcome.

A decline in membership in the early 1970's prompted the committee  of  the  time  to organise  a  'Rallying For Beginners' series  with the intention of recruiting new  members by giving them a free five night insight to rallying rules, regulations,  car preparation,  navigation  etc. The series was so successful that the membership has hovered around the 200 mark ever since, the 'RFB' series still runs each spring,  for anyone  interested,  the dates of the 1988 series are 22nd April, 13th May, 27th May, 24th June and 8th July.

The original Three Swans road rally lapsed but was revived during 1977 and ran every mid January until 1987, (a victim of the newly introduced road rally rules). The Three Swans was always keenly contested and usually  formed rounds of all of the regions  road  rally  championships, it was  always classed as the 'one to do', the  weather conditions on the Yorkshire wolds and moors inevitably  testing  both  the  organisers and competitors alike.     

With the demise of 'road rallying', the club turned it's attention to a single venue  stage rally, the first one offered during 1987, the event continued to run until 1998 eventually using Elvington airfield but that venue ceased to be available and we are still on the lookout for a motorsport venue that is cheap enough to use. We started to run road rallies again in 1993 using the new navigational ‘plot and bash’ rules and they were established as a regular event in the local championships until we ran out of organisers in 2006.  We are always looking to put on new events both social and competitive and marshal on many and varied events in our locality.

The club has an excellent competitive following, this being reflected by  them  being  winners  of the keenly contested and prized Shell Oils League in 1985 and 1987 with a  number of second places in recent years.