Crash course in rallying
The idea of the sport is that whoever completes the timed sections (stages) the quickest will win. As ever, this is a huge oversimplification.
The rally will include:
• “stages” These are where the real competition takes place. They will be on roads or tracks that are not open to the public - in the case of Wales it is just about all either Forestry Commission land or military ranges. The drivers are counted down from 10 seconds, and then get to drive as fast as they can down the track (aka “through the stage”) until they get to the other end. They are timed to fractions of a second. There will be several stages per day, and the times at the end of them all are added up to make the total time for the rally. The person with the shortest time wins. They are denoted on the timetable by their name and “Special Stage” number e.g. SS2 Hafren 1 (which is where I’m planning to be).
• "road sections" (so called because they usually take place on public roads and involve getting from A to B). These will not be timed per se, but there will be a set time for each car to begin and end the road section. Getting the timing wrong (in either direction) will result in penalties, usually in the form of time added to the competitive time accrued as above. Usually these sections are deliberately timed to give the drivers a lot of time to get from A to B, and sometimes they will carry out makeshift repairs during. I think (but don’t quote me on this) that they all have to be timed based on an average speed of no more than 30mph.
• “service” This is where the cars are seen to by the mechanics and the driver and co-driver get to have a quick break/discuss progress with the team boss. They are strictly timed and can take place only where designated (Swansea service park and Builth Wells showground, from memory). The driver/co-driver can work on the car themselves at any time with any tools they are carrying or bits of surrounding scenery/clothing (I have seen windscreen wipers operated with shoelaces and bent bits of suspension thumped straight with rocks before now), but the only place that they are allowed to hand it over to the pros with the tools is during the service. Like the road sections, if the timing isn’t adhered to, penalties will be given.
• “Parc Ferme” The cars are locked up overnight and aren’t allowed to be worked on.
• “Shakedown” This is a practice stage for the drivers to get their eye in before the event, and times don’t count as it’s before the rally begins properly.
The itinerary for Rally Wales can be found at:
http://www.walesrallygb.com/spectators/information.php Each car will have a driver and a co-driver. The driver’s role is pretty self-explanatory. The co-driver (aka navigator) is there to tell the driver where to go and to ensure that the timings are adhered to and the paperwork sorted out. So on the road section he will be directing the route in a “take your next right” kind of way and making sure that he checks into and out of the relevant time controls at the allotted minute. On a stage he will be reading out pace notes, which are notes about what the road is about to do. Each driver and co-driver will follow whatever scheme works the best for them. This allows the driver to drive faster than he (and it almost always is a he) would otherwise be able to.
The cars are, of course, specially prepared for the rally according to a big book of rules. They are carefully checked for adherence to those rules by a scrutineer. The rules for the WRC are so strict that a couple of years ago Ford were penalised for having the wrong thickness of glass in their rear windows! One of the more obvious features is the roll cage, which is a cage of metal bars inside the car to prevent it from caving in if it rolls over or slides into a tree sideways. If a roll cage sustains damage then the car will not be allowed to continue.
There are many different classes and championships within the rally. The main ones are:
• WRC (World Rally Championship) cars, which are only loosely based on what you can get on the forecourt. They are just about all 4WD and turbo powered.
• JWRC (Junior World Rally Championship) which is with lower-powered front wheel drive cars and is for the younger drivers.
• PWRC (Production car World Rally Championship). These are much more like the road cars with safety features added.
• SWRC (Super 2000 World Rally Championship). This is being run with cars with a 2000cc engine capacity in preparation for the WRC being restricted to this from next season.
• Historics. On Saturday and Sunday there will be a class of historic rally cars running after the main rally. These will be cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s all out for a bit of a giggle.
• Forces Challenge. Every year teams from the Army, Navy and RAF do the rally in Land Rovers and compete against one another. They are mad.
Other points of interest
To put it in context, Rally Wales is the last round of the World Rally Championship, further details of which may be found at www.wrc.com It is mainly run on gravel roads, rather than tarmac. The TV channel Dave will be doing a preview of the rally in its Access All Areas programme (usually about 6pm) the Sunday preceding it.
Citroen has the manufacturer’s cup and Sebastien Loeb has already won this year’s driver’s championship, but there’s a three way fight for second place in the latter, which will be decided by this rally. The championship table is here:
http://www.wrc.com/results/ The points work the same as F1 i.e. 25 for a win, 18 for a second place, 15 for a third etc.
Rally Wales is the current incarnation of what used to be known as the RAC Rally and then the Network Q Rally. This is the British round of the WRC, and is one of the longest running and most prestigious in the championship. It has a reputation for being slippery, cold, wet, muddy, sometimes icy, usually foggy and often unforgiving - but most of the drivers profess to love it.
If you get a chance, could you see if you could plug
http://www.gomotorsport.net/ ? It’s a website set up by the MSA (Motor Sport Association) to promote all types of motorsport in the UK, with a view to getting more people involved. It’s a good place to start for anyone who wants to know what they need to do to get into just about any form of motorsport.
The Welsh interest in the rally is Tom Cave (www.tomcaveracing.com). Tom is a 19 year old from Aberdovey who shocked the rallying community by competing in Rally Wales only a few days after passing his driving test a couple of years ago. He’s had quite a lot of media attention since, and I suspect that he will generate a fair amount of interest amongst the Welsh in particular.
Margam Park - the rally traditionally used to use Margam Park as its last stage, but hasn’t done so since the death of the popular British co-driver Michael “Beef” Park there in 2005.
There have been two British World Rally Champion Drivers: Colin McRae and Richard Burns. Unfortunately Colin died in a helicopter accident and Richard was killed by a cancerous brain tumour, both within the last few years. You may see fundraising material for the cancer charity set up as a result of the latter: www.richardburnsfoundation.com/
WRC Teams & Drivers
Things have gone a bit bats in recent years, with major manufacturers like Subaru pulling out, so Ford and Citroen have filled in the gaps.
CITROEN (C4)
Sebastien Loeb: This Frenchman has won just about everything, lots. He has already won the championship for this year, which was his 7th championship - more than anyone else has ever won. He is probably the best rally driver ever, and is very likely to win this event. And he’s top totty. However, he’s better on tarmac than he is on gravel, so it’s not a done deal.
Dani Sordo: This young Spaniard looked like the bright new hope a few years ago, but he has failed to deliver, having failed to win any WRC rallies at all. He has been an excellent wing man to Loeb, finishing second on several occasions, but he is currently without a drive for next year (NB this may alter by the time of the rally).
Sebastien Ogier: This Frenchman is Citroen’s new bright young hope, and has moved from their second team to replace Dani Sordo in their first team. He has won a couple of rallies this year and is currently second in the championship. He is looking very competent generally, but is not expected to win this rally as he’s better on tarmac. Wouldn’t completely count him out though.
Kimi Raikonnen: As in the Finnish ex Formula One world champion. When he lost his Ferrari drive in F1 he thought he’d give rallying a go. This is his first season, and he’s quite enjoying the steep learning curve. He’s not in any danger of winning, and may not even get to the end as he appears to be quite fond of ditches and trees. Everyone is waiting to see whether he’ll do another season next year or go back to F1.
FORD (Focus)
Mikko Hirvonen: This Finn was widely expected to be the man who gave Sebastien Loeb a run for his money, but has had an atrocious year and really seems to be going off the boil now. However, when he has a good day he’s very good, and he’s not someone I would discount.
Jari Matti Latvala: This Finn is meant to be Ford’s second driver, but has been better than Hirvonen this year. He is immensely quick when he’s on form, but sometimes has trouble keeping the car on the road. Of course, to finish first, you must first finish! I’d put him down as a strong contender for victory on this rally.
Khalid Al Qassimi: He’s an Arab prince of some sort and seems to have his drive based on the amount of money he’s given the team. Note the Abu Dhabi sponsorship all over everything. Struggles to get top ten finishes.
Matthew Wilson: This Brit is talented, but in my view he only has the drive in the Ford Stobart team (i.e. Ford’s second team) because his Dad runs it. He consistently puts in performances between about 5th and 8th in rallies, although there is a (very) slow improvement apparent. He is the only Brit who is likely to feature in the top ten.
Henning Solberg: This Norwegian has always been in the shadow of his younger brother Petter (see below) and isn’t likely to come out of it any time soon. He will probably finish in the lower half of the top ten, or even the early teens.
OTHER WRC DRIVERS
Petter Solberg: This Norwegian is well known for being an outgoing entertainer, and is accordingly very popular. He won the championship in 2003 when driving for Subaru, but their exit from the sport left him without a drive, so he cobbled some money together and set up his own team. At the moment he’s running a Citroen C4. Recently he parted company with his long term (Welsh) co-driver Phil Mills, and replaced him with Chris Patterson, a very experienced Irishman. He is really hungry for his first win since becoming a privateer, and has been on good form this year. This rally is one of his favourites, and I think he’ll be on the podium with Loeb and Latvala come the end.
Ken Block: This American internet cool guy is running a Ford Focus under the label “Monster Rally Team” (as in the energy drink). It’s his first season, and he’s on a very steep learning curve, with quite a long way to go. He’s something of a star though, and very popular. If he ends up in the top 5 I will eat my hat, but he’s always excellent entertainment.
I can talk about this for hours (or possibly days), so please let me know if you have any questions.