SATURDAY’S motor rally across Castlemorton Common has attracted mixed reactions, with some residents criticising the event while motoring enthusiasts were in favour.

Stella Bayliss, who lives at Eight Oaks on the common, said the road outside her farm was closed from 7am to 4pm due to the rally, which made work ‘impossible’.

She said: “We were led to believe this was a classic car rally. These were not a few classic cars, this was a massive event.

“On race day, we watched the first 120 cars pass by, some of them stalled at the start and one even forgot to shut their car door, the fumes from the vehicles was not nice, the noise was also extremely loud and could be heard three miles away in Longdon.”

But motor sports enthusiasts have defended the rally.

Ian Green of Hanley Swan said: “ I’ve just returned from the Eastnor Park section of the rally having been surrounded by happy enthusiasts having a great outing to see the cars tearing along the track. Such events are not everybody’s cup of tea but then if we were all the same what a dull world if would be.

“I recall the Milk Race going through the centre of Great Malvern. Hundreds of spectators watched the cyclists, Malvern was enjoying huge national press attention. However, the next week, nothing but moans from shopkeepers saying no-one could enter their shops. So to those who felt they were trapped in their houses for a brief while, could I ask them to live and let live.”

The event, the Three Shire Stages rally, was organised by the Cheltenham Motor Club, which was approached for comment by the Gazette but did not respond.