Discussion
Tickets arrived today.
Anyone else got theirs?
David
P.S. There is two Rally GB threads going on - here lies the other one.
Anyone else got theirs?
David
P.S. There is two Rally GB threads going on - here lies the other one.
Edited by Gingerbread Man on Wednesday 14th November 17:22
Just back from Rally Ireland where we watched Shakedown, and stages 4,7,10,11,14 and 19.
Never once did we pay to enter a stage (15 Euro to get into service though) and 99% of spectators moved as soon as they were asked to by the marshals/safety cars/FIA observers.
If they didn't move the first time they got a torrent of "Gerrof the fookin rood" from the rest of the spectators who definately didn't want the stages cancelled.
All in all excellent event, and i'll be fooked if i'm going to Wales to get stuck in traffic, pay £20 to park and then get herded into a cattle pen 40 feet from the stage.
The place we watched on the SS4 of Rally Ireland you could touch the cars as they went past coming into a hairpin left and read the pacenotes, and we were stood above them in a field.
Sad that the once great RAC is now such a joke. The Irish were still calling it the RAC - Rally Around Cardiff which is sad but true now.
Never once did we pay to enter a stage (15 Euro to get into service though) and 99% of spectators moved as soon as they were asked to by the marshals/safety cars/FIA observers.
If they didn't move the first time they got a torrent of "Gerrof the fookin rood" from the rest of the spectators who definately didn't want the stages cancelled.
All in all excellent event, and i'll be fooked if i'm going to Wales to get stuck in traffic, pay £20 to park and then get herded into a cattle pen 40 feet from the stage.
The place we watched on the SS4 of Rally Ireland you could touch the cars as they went past coming into a hairpin left and read the pacenotes, and we were stood above them in a field.
Sad that the once great RAC is now such a joke. The Irish were still calling it the RAC - Rally Around Cardiff which is sad but true now.
BigMansZetec said:
Good to here some feedback about Rally Ireland. Was looking at going this year instead of Wales. Didn't realise that tickets were free, that really is good.
From what you say it sounds well organised, so I will definately look into it for next year.
It's very good, not a round of the WRC next year, but it will be in 2009 I believe.From what you say it sounds well organised, so I will definately look into it for next year.
2 big pieces of advice.
1. Drive the stages a few days before, pick a good place to watch and walk there.
2. Get there early, like 3 hours before car 1 so you can have a fairly leisurely stroll down the stage to your spot without jumping out the way everytime and official comes along.
Fantastic though, i'd go again.
Nic Jones said:
Just back from Rally Ireland where we watched Shakedown, and stages 4,7,10,11,14 and 19.
Never once did we pay to enter a stage (15 Euro to get into service though) and 99% of spectators moved as soon as they were asked to by the marshals/safety cars/FIA observers.
If they didn't move the first time they got a torrent of "Gerrof the fookin rood" from the rest of the spectators who definately didn't want the stages cancelled.
All in all excellent event, and i'll be fooked if i'm going to Wales to get stuck in traffic, pay £20 to park and then get herded into a cattle pen 40 feet from the stage.
The place we watched on the SS4 of Rally Ireland you could touch the cars as they went past coming into a hairpin left and read the pacenotes, and we were stood above them in a field.
Must admit, (and I've worked on quite a few WRC events) that I thought Rally Ireland was a resounding sucess, and is a good model for the UK to adopt.Never once did we pay to enter a stage (15 Euro to get into service though) and 99% of spectators moved as soon as they were asked to by the marshals/safety cars/FIA observers.
If they didn't move the first time they got a torrent of "Gerrof the fookin rood" from the rest of the spectators who definately didn't want the stages cancelled.
All in all excellent event, and i'll be fooked if i'm going to Wales to get stuck in traffic, pay £20 to park and then get herded into a cattle pen 40 feet from the stage.
The place we watched on the SS4 of Rally Ireland you could touch the cars as they went past coming into a hairpin left and read the pacenotes, and we were stood above them in a field.
I think the the way the Wales Rally is organised leaves a lot to be desired, especially with regards to the ticketing of viewing places, still as mentioned an OS map and knwledge of the route will get you to the free places.
One point I would criticise Rally Ireland on though was the Service Park, I think it's possibly the worst I've seen so far. Way too small and distributed all over the place. (All of the privateers were way of the main crews up behind the Clarion Hotel)
I was extremely fortunate with Rally Ireland, I made a few calls the night before and turned up on spec to meet an old friend who gave me a couple of these:
Needless to say me and the Mrs had our noses into just about every aspect of the Rally, though mainly with one of these I tend to hang out at the start or flying finish. I was utterly lazy this year and didn't bother to drive any of the stages, mainly because living here they're just country lanes that I can drive anytime outside my own home. (I remember Greece one year where I drove nearly every stage that the driver did)
Finally, it was funny sitting in the Hotel Bar one evening, poor Marcus with his head in his hands. Hirvonen was funny though, sat watching the TV covereage when a bit of the in car footage came on the TV showed him nearly taking the Ford through a hedge. It was a bit of an incident that he'd obviously failed to report to his team as instantly some guy ran over and started beating him round the head.
Anyway, great event and full credit to Ireland for for making it what it was. (I was party to some technical interesting difficulties beyond the organisers duties that I can't mention here)
Anyone up for a meet in 2009, let me know and we'll see what we can arrange.
mystomachehurts said:
One point I would criticise Rally Ireland on though was the Service Park, I think it's possibly the worst I've seen so far. Way too small and distributed all over the place. (All of the privateers were way of the main crews up behind the Clarion Hotel)
Yup, the only disappointment was the service area to be honest. But no less than was expected, the big reason I prefer it when we are out servicing on the BRC rounds is the service areas are so much more open (and free to us! 
)msh said:
Needless to say me and the Mrs had our noses into just about every aspect of the Rally, though mainly with one of these I tend to hang out at the start or flying finish. I was utterly lazy this year and didn't bother to drive any of the stages, mainly because living here they're just country lanes that I can drive anytime outside my own home. (I remember Greece one year where I drove nearly every stage that the driver did)
That was the really nice thing, being able to drive the stages on the same day as recce (lost count of the number of recce crews we moved over to let through!)Also that is the best way to pick the good viewing spots rather than off a map.
msh said:
Anyone up for a meet in 2009, let me know and we'll see what we can arrange.
Sounds good to me, plenty of room in chez MSH is there? 
Edited by Nic Jones on Friday 30th November 11:24
Nic Jones said:
Sounds good to me, plenty of room in chez MSH is there?
If you don't mind driving 170 miles up to the stages each day We were totally broke on the run up to this Rally and had to borrow 300 Euro off a mate to cover the costs. We actually camped to save some money!
If it hadn't of been for the offer of free passes I doubt we would have gone. As said, I'm a complete snob when it comes to these events now - I've been spoilt too mucg in the past
Listening to Raly Radio I'm kinda wishing I'd headed off to Wales now.
toomuchbeer said:
does anyone know TV schedule for the rally? I don't seem to be able to find any coverage.......
Eurosport are showing a half hour round up of the day called Rally World, today it was on at 10.30pm. Tomorrow they'll show it at 11pm and on Sunday it will be aired at 10.30pm.
V Twenty said:
toomuchbeer said:
does anyone know TV schedule for the rally? I don't seem to be able to find any coverage.......
And I suppose there will be the usual 1 hour slot on ITV4 Sunday aftarnoon about 5pm.
Oh for the good old days of nightly Rally Report updates and the live Sunday Super Special on TV.
Edited by MonkeyHanger on Saturday 1st December 21:46
Ahonen said:
frazer guest said:
I've just come. Think I need a cigarette now.
)Well this weekend was the first time I spectated on a WRC event.
Went to Rheola 2 last night but was very wet and foggy so not so great.
Went to Halfway today (paid) and had a good day. Weather wasn't too bad most of the time, and we found good spots for watching both runs. Quite a few people out there, but I expected more.
Well done to the driver of no. 41 Impreza who got the car vertical and nearly off on a wide 90 right (3m drop on outside) but still kept his foot down and held it together. Greer went off sideways and rolled, and a C2 (94?) understeered over the same corner (all persons ok). The C2 driver then went up the road to slow the others down, so that corner wasn't so good then.
I was appalled by some of the spectators though: setting off fireworks in the forest, lighting fires in irresponsible places, littering, general anti-social behaviour and bad language. I hadn't realised that marshals didn't deal with those kinds of things. I heard one chav in the car park ask his mate "have you got the slingshot?"!.
Would have appreciated if the marshals had told us when the 2nd run was cancelled, as we stood there for quite a long time before asking one of them.
Some bad crashes: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/2994/wrc-rally-g...
ETA after reading the rest of the thread:
Yes I disagree with paying to watch. I found the measures taken to ensure you paid to be very large (coning off parking, closing roads).
The car parks on Halfway were nowhere near full - not what I expected.
The stages are almost identical to the 2005 ones (which I have maps for), which were very useful for finding good spectating points.
I'm thinking about recceing the stages sometime before next year, to see where all the good spots are.
Those of you who said that you drove on all the stages, how were you allowed to do that?
Went to Rheola 2 last night but was very wet and foggy so not so great.
Went to Halfway today (paid) and had a good day. Weather wasn't too bad most of the time, and we found good spots for watching both runs. Quite a few people out there, but I expected more.
Well done to the driver of no. 41 Impreza who got the car vertical and nearly off on a wide 90 right (3m drop on outside) but still kept his foot down and held it together. Greer went off sideways and rolled, and a C2 (94?) understeered over the same corner (all persons ok). The C2 driver then went up the road to slow the others down, so that corner wasn't so good then.
I was appalled by some of the spectators though: setting off fireworks in the forest, lighting fires in irresponsible places, littering, general anti-social behaviour and bad language. I hadn't realised that marshals didn't deal with those kinds of things. I heard one chav in the car park ask his mate "have you got the slingshot?"!.
Would have appreciated if the marshals had told us when the 2nd run was cancelled, as we stood there for quite a long time before asking one of them.
Some bad crashes: http://www.motorsportmad.com/view/2994/wrc-rally-g...
ETA after reading the rest of the thread:
Yes I disagree with paying to watch. I found the measures taken to ensure you paid to be very large (coning off parking, closing roads).
The car parks on Halfway were nowhere near full - not what I expected.
The stages are almost identical to the 2005 ones (which I have maps for), which were very useful for finding good spectating points.
I'm thinking about recceing the stages sometime before next year, to see where all the good spots are.
Those of you who said that you drove on all the stages, how were you allowed to do that?
Edited by robwales on Saturday 1st December 23:31
well done hirvonen, commiserations marcus and well done again Sebastian.
however for me the best result was matt wilson, finishing sixth, beating atkinson in a straight fight.. seems to me that the kid has turned a corner (no pun intended)... i just hope he is allowed to try a bit harder next year on the rallies and that he can start to make some real progress..
however for me the best result was matt wilson, finishing sixth, beating atkinson in a straight fight.. seems to me that the kid has turned a corner (no pun intended)... i just hope he is allowed to try a bit harder next year on the rallies and that he can start to make some real progress..
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