Jim Clark Rally promises thrills in Borders

Clark made his name on some of the world's greatest racetracks, but the roads around the Berwickshire county town of Duns were where he honed much of his driving skill, with or without the knowledge of the local constabulary. From 6pm tonight until Sunday evening there are no such worries for drivers bidding to negotiate some of the twisty main roads and country climbs at speeds of over 100 mph, as the Jim Clark Memorial Rally is now well-known as mainland Britain's only event on officially closed public roads.

A new addition also means rally fans can follow cars from the comfort of their own home. This will be the first major rally in which cars have been fitted with hi-tech equipment that allows their progress to be monitored on a live, continuous basis.

The system will be linked into the timing controls and consequently the computation of results, and it will be possible for people to access the live on-screen information through Google Earth. All competitors in the International, Challenge and Land Rover rallies will be tracked, along with the top ten and a number of others in Sunday's 137-car Reivers rally.

Rally manager Colin Pagan said: "This is an exciting innovation and we're proud that the Jim Clark is the first major rally in this country to attempt such an ambitious move. We knew the system would play an important part in our control of the various events during the weekend, with faster and more accurate results, and a greater means of monitoring safety. But now rally fans at home, or out and about with their lap-tops, will be able to see the live on-screen progress of the cars as they tackle the stages across Berwickshire."

The vast array of over 250 cars will be parked up at Kelso Racecourse today and through tonight and tomorrow evening, but the competitive action starts from Duns. Heading the field that spins off at 6pm through a special stage in the town centre itself is the international rally, the big guns of the rallying world, which promises to be a fascinating challenge of the 'new versus the old' of British rallying. Top seeds this weekend are Pirelli Tegsport's Keith Cronin from Bantry in Ireland and his Enniskillen co-driver Barry McNulty in a Subaru Impreza.

Cronin won the 2009 British Rally Championship in his first year and won this year's opening round in Wales, but hot on the 23-year-old's heels this weekend is Gwyndaf Evans, the 50-year-old former British champion from Wales, who has co-driver Chris Patterson alongside in his Lancer. Evans won the second round, the Pirelli in Cumbria.

However, both failed to finish the other rounds, so leading the championship are Belfast's Jonathan Greer and Dai Roberts, who start at seventh tonight in their Lancer, with second-placed Icelandic Daniel Sigurdoarson tenth off the start ramp in another Lancer.

The international field includes a clutch of Finnish teams, Australian driver Molly Taylor and most of the leading rallying teams from across Britain and Ireland, but top Scottish favourites are Duns driver Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton from Inverness, who run in the No5 car for Pirelli Tegsport, which is, like Cronin's, a powerful Subaru Impreza. The Borderers are currently seventh in the British Championship with four rounds to go.

Those teams are destined to provide some wild moments. Where the wacky is more likely to come in is when the other five rallies get moving, with over 100 cars of all shapes and sizes also setting off tonight in the Land Rover, National and Challenge events, and then the big 'Reivers Rally' bringing 137 cars out on Sunday.

Dumfries' Scottish champion David Bogie and Kevin Rae from Hawick lead the Reivers Rally, with Thorburn and Beaton returning for a potential double.

Follow the safety guidelines and spectators this weekend will witness some incredible driving. For those of a nervous disposition, the computer and Google Earth tracking system might be sufficient.