RALLY driver Roger Chilman recently decided to turn his farm into a racetrack and made a special video to thank his sponsors.

The idea of 'Farmkhana' came to him during lockdown, when most of the UK rallying was cancelled.

The family farm which he runs in partnership with his parents and brother was the perfect backdrop for such a venture and to have some fun in his Escort RS1800.

The 1,500-acre farm in North Herefordshire consists of an arable business, with a poultry and renewable enterprise which houses 350,000 broilers in ten poultry sheds grown on contract with Avara Foods.

The buildings, farm tracks and grass areas provided a very tricky stage for the talented farmer to put his skills to the test and the addition of New Holland tractors, forklifts and a Claas Combine made sure Chilman had to keep his wits about him.

"If I make a mess of this on camera I'll only have myself to blame as I've designed the special stage," laughed Chilman before filming started.

The whole thing was professionally filmed and edited by British Rally Media led by Rhodri Lewis, and has proved hugely successful with over 300,000 viewings in the first ten days of release.

This was great news for the sponsors most of whom have done work on the family farm over the last 25 years.

Chilman said: "Morspan have built all of the poultry sheds, Connop & Son have laid all the concrete and Securcom Security are our electrical contractors.

"It was great to have a bit of fun and give something back to sponsors and it was imperative to say thank you to these people, and it's proved very popular. "

The 'Farmkhana' idea also attracted a new sponsor in the shape of Dansford, a North Herefordshire concrete equipment dealer who sells nationally.

Sadly, Covid-19 has put pay to Chilman returning to New Zealand for the Silver Fern Rally, the seven-day marathon, where he finished second in 2018.

But the focus now turns to 2021 and a return to the five-day RAC Rally, where two third place finishes were achieved in both 2017 and 2019.

The plan is to use events that cover the route of the RAC, to familiarise himself with the stages, and perhaps add an Irish event plus a trip to Belgium, but the RAC is the main goal.

"I would like to thank everyone who made the Farmkhana possible and I hope the people who have seen it enjoyed it and it hopefully brought a bit of enjoyment in these difficult times, and hopefully it won't be too long before we can get back to some normality," added Chilman.

Check out Roger Chilman Mk11 or British Rally Media Facebook pages for the brilliant Farmkhana.