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To a large degree, Stage rallies on airfields are now (as someone recently put it) "sprints with company". Thats one of the reasons for the explosion of interest in the new Enduro category by more traditional rally crews. As Bert Mk2 has explained, a stage rally can use a far more interesting route on an airfield than a sprint can. Most sprints (and hill climbs) have to cater for racing cars that can't cope with much beyond a billiard table surface (and demand additional safety measures that put costs up for all, including saloons that dont need them). Having said that, too many speed event organisers shy away from twistier track layouts and attempt to create race circuits out of available airfield layouts.
The way ahead may well be a type of event that combines "single venue" (officially "multi-use" stage rallies) with the sprint format. We already have the term Rally Sprint for a few loose events. Some sprints now struggle for entries as venue costs increase and value for money falls. Vehicle eligibility regs for speed events in the mod prod category are not so far away from club rally regs with original block the main difference but poorly enforced. Events that could draw entries from both disciplines might save some venues but the downside would be making some even more oversubscribed. At the end of the day, the real problem in making that one last step is the over-influence of the single-seater brigade in the speed event world (look at the make up of the unelected MSC committees for starters). We all know of potential speed venues that would never get a track licence for single seaters but are too short for a stage rally. There has to be a middle course if we are to make the best use of the limited venues available.
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