THIS Sunday sees Appleby's Dougi Hall in his Escort Mk 2, lead the 90 cars away from Penrith Truckstop for the WA Developments Pendragon Stages Rally.

Behind Hall will be some of the cream of British rallying which includes last year's winner Mark Jasper, Neil Buckley, Lyndon Barton, Giles Brookbank and Daniel Harper in the Minisport Cooper S.

Local crews hoping to take on the national competition includes William Stobart, Nigel Clegg - who drove Dougi's Escort to fourth place in last year's event - as well as last year's high flying Mark Shaw/Ken William, who have replaced the Sunbeam with a Toyota Celica GT4.

Using the event as a shakedown for the 2004 Tour of Mull are Kendal's Dave Thwaites in the immaculate ProPrep Escort MK 2, Paul Miller/Helen Davies and Ian Curwen in his newly aquired Astra.

Spectators will be able to see the action first hand at Lowther Wildlife Park, Hackthorpe, near Penrith at the Topper Super Special, which the event will visit four times throughout the day.