Spanish lack of control

Bodysnatcher · 23 Mar 2002, 14:40 (Ref:242362)

day one saw the first stage cancelled
day 2 first two stages cancelled
and it looks like Sainz has gone off after hitting a spectator's car parked close to the stage.

The running of this rally leaves a lot to be desired, 3 out of 8 stages cancelled. Stage mileage is low enough as it is in the new media friendly world of rallying.
Spain - get your act together.

Bodysnatcher · 23 Mar 2002, 15:36 (Ref:242380)

Sounds like the event control is a total farce, some of the stages run today on Saturday (ie stage 10 where Sainz went off after hitting a spectator's car) have been criticised by the drivers as being unsuitable on safety grounds.

Better chance for a Canadian/US round next year, I reckon

Marcel ten Caat · 23 Mar 2002, 17:55 (Ref:242412)

according to people in the US the Cherokee Trails rally already had a problem with some kind of Forrest Commission this year...chances that they allow a World Championship Rally through the area are slim

Liz · 23 Mar 2002, 19:44 (Ref:242463)

I've heard that a Canadian Rally is virtually a lock. I hope so. It's amazing to me that more of the spectators aren't killed at Rally. One of these days they will ban everyone who isn't involved in the race and make them all watch on TV.

AndyF · 23 Mar 2002, 20:00 (Ref:242480)

Well, at least the organisers are taking safety more seriously, with stages in Monte, Corsica and Catalunya cancelled - it is better than running them when it is not safe!

Marcel ten Caat · 23 Mar 2002, 20:02 (Ref:242484)

true...but even better is to organise things well...even if that has to include to do like they do in england...sell tickets for highly crowded places

Liz · 24 Mar 2002, 00:57 (Ref:242588)

And give anyone who buys a ticket and then is instrumental in causing a stage to be cancelled, a one-race ban on attendance. And publish their names.

Bodysnatcher · 24 Mar 2002, 01:27 (Ref:242613)

Andy, I've got to disagree a bit with you.
The organisers are taking safety seriously, but too damn late.
The event organisation has failed badly if a stage is cancelled due to overcrowding, or, even worse as far as I can see, spectators cars parking their cars wherever they please down the stage.
Dave Richards did'nt seem too happy on Channel 4, nor the drivers and, most importantly, the team chiefs. Manufacturers pay big money to run in WRC, last minute cancellations and decreased exposure on TV are not what they want from this championship. Channel 4 team were'nt too happy either - scheduled 1 hr programme cut to half an hour - blamed specifically on the lack of competitive stage mileage to show. I know the programme is ambitious in trying to last an hour.. but thats another matter.
If WRC wants to be a world mass market sport, then days like today in Spain cannot be repeated.

PS stranger, most of the British rally is held in Wales

Speeddemon555 · 24 Mar 2002, 02:14 (Ref:242623)

They should try Pikes Peak, Colorado for a WRC event. Gravel and hilly roads.

SJ Spode · 24 Mar 2002, 10:27 (Ref:242747)

"If WRC wants to be a world mass market sport, then days like today in Spain cannot be repeated"

The problem is that the WRC in it's current form can't be a mass market sport, as unfortunately people won't do what the TV companies, manufacturers want them to do (ie; watch the rallies on TV and then go out and buy the cars). The rally fan wants to go out and see the cars, drivers in person & as rallies don't (yet) take place in purpose built arenas with grandstand seating these problems of access to the stages and speactator control are doing to get worse on all but the most out of the way events. Unfortunately I foresee problems on the Network Q this year with spectator interest increased after a season of C4 coverage.

With regards Spain I attended the rally there in 2000 and there were no problems.

The Leg down nr Tarragona is always going to be a problem because of it's proximity to Barcelona & the authorites tried to reduce the number of spectators by holding it on the Friday rather than the Saturday (no success).

With regards the Leg Two problems most seemed to be caused by the cars not the spectators themselves. The difficulty is that the rally is run on public roads, and they have only shut them in the early hours of the day the stages are being run. This year more people have camped out overnight and so the cars were already there. What they need to do is to restrict the traffic the day before a stage to those locals who need to use the road to get to their villages etc, and then sweep the road at regular intervals to get rid of any errant motors.

It would be a shame to lose the rally off the calendar & hopefully knee jerk reactions won;t take place.

Lee Janotta · 25 Mar 2002, 00:24 (Ref:243268)

Quote:

Originally posted by Liz
I've heard that a Canadian Rally is virtually a lock. I hope so. It's amazing to me that more of the spectators aren't killed at Rally. One of these days they will ban everyone who isn't involved in the race and make them all watch on TV.

Any word on which province is supposed to host it Liz? I hope it's in Ontario, easiest trip for me.

Wish I knew someone in Colorado to seriously scout possible stages for the Mile-High Rally. But perhaps someday we can get an event there. Aside from Sno*Drift, the current American rallies wouldn't make for anything special... And it's about time the US had a really impressive spot on an international calendar.

Liz · 25 Mar 2002, 00:50 (Ref:243284)

Rally Charlevois is the one I heard that would go onto the WRC calendar (for our non NAFTA friends, that is in Quebec.)

They were talking about it at the Auto Show in Toronto and everyone seemed sure that within 2 years it would be a done deal.

Lee Janotta · 25 Mar 2002, 02:57 (Ref:243323)

Quebec? Aww cripes... Figures they'd hold it in part of North America that thinks it's in Europe!

Sometimes I think the FIA does things just to annoy us.

Lee Janotta · 25 Mar 2002, 03:04 (Ref:243328)

Quebec? Aww cripes... Figures they'd hold it in part of North America that thinks it's in Europe!

Sometimes I think the FIA does things just to annoy us.

Liz · 25 Mar 2002, 17:54 (Ref:243756)

Charlevoix is a good rally though; they are using it now as a regional.

Do you think, Simon, that since Sainz was taken out by an errant spectator's car being parked in a bad place, this will make them take more notice and clean up the area more quickly? Seems to me that if the marshalls forbade parking on the stages at all and made people walk in, that would deal with both problems. Some people just won't walk that far even to see really good racing.

M Coupe · 26 Mar 2002, 20:59 (Ref:244685)

Liz,

The problem is how early the spectators get there. I drove down with friends to watch the Monte in 1994, and the roads on which the stage run were closed about 2 hours before the 1st car and were reopened when the course closing car went through. It is very easy to arrive very early and just park up.

However on the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland (The only closed road event on mainland Britain) they close the roads very early (3-4 hours) and anyone who parks a car on the stage is forcably ejected by the police. I've actually seen the police follow the opening corse car through to kick someone off to keep the raly running ( I still think the police driver enjoyed himself too much).

bulldogspirit · 26 Mar 2002, 22:43 (Ref:244768)

Maybe an idea to lower crowd numbers on stages would be not to repeat the stages. In Spain every stage is run twice in a day, encouraging spectators to effectively set-up camp on a stage, guaranteeing 2 stages for the price of 1. However if there were say 6 different stages instead of only 3 then not only would spectators be spread, but they'd be less likely to park ON stages as they may wish to move on to a different stage for later.
However surely the rally organisers have good reason to repeat stages, does anyone know exactly why? I'd guess for TV (being a cynic), or maybe because the road infrastructure in Catalunya can't be relied upon to allow the competitors to travel easily between stages.

SJ Spode · 27 Mar 2002, 09:17 (Ref:244963)

Quote:

Originally posted by bulldogspirit
However surely the rally organisers have good reason to repeat stages, does anyone know exactly why? I'd guess for TV (being a cynic), or maybe because the road infrastructure in Catalunya can't be relied upon to allow the competitors to travel easily between stages.

You've got it right on both counts + it helps with the central servicing locations.

SJ Spode · 27 Mar 2002, 09:20 (Ref:244965)

Yes Liz, it can only help.

I think as M Coupe says the solution is to close the roads to non-essential traffic the day before a stage is to run & to regularly sweep the roads to remove any cars that people take chances by parking

M Coupe · 27 Mar 2002, 21:16 (Ref:245425)

I understand comments about running stages twice and agree they make people park up for the day, however on an event it means the roads between the stages are kept clear, it just needs decent parking areas (I almost said like the RAC).
Anyone who went to the RAC a few years ago will remember the cronic traffic problems, one of the reasons I'd rather visit a euro event than a local one.

Personally I hate the way rallying is going, I used to enjoy following the RAC around the UK, from the Stately homes in the Midlands up to Kielder and then into Wales. The new regulations prevent that type of event now and part of the reason for using stages more than once is because they can't use more than 25% (IIRC) new stages each year, so the events become stale.

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