Wales rally gb 2015

[EstWRC]

Bluuford Any weather predictions? Its very important this time. :P

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Pretty wet in Wales at the moment...

[MrJan]

no need to overdramatise a situation.

I'm not, and you suggesting that proves my point on how clueless a lot of people are. The MSA are very serious about the steps taken for spectator safety and restricting incidents. Yes there will always be crashes and injury, and there will generally be rallying, but in terms of spectator events it really is at serious risk. The risk of competitors isn't the issue that is causing the problems, it's injury to spectators or media that is the threat. As vice chair of a motor club I'm aware of the type of information that is coming out from the MSA, and it's going to soon limit the number of clubs that are able to/want to organise events.

The issues are three fold really, the lesser of the three is the threat from the MSA, they won't stop rallies as such but will soon implement tighter restrictions on organisers. The second issue is having to get more people to marshal on en event, which will soon be required. It's already a struggle to get enough volunteers together to run an event. To highlight this, I received a message this week from the organisers of the Somerset Stages who are looking for marshals for their event which runs in April, so clubs are moving towards needing 6 months to come up with volunteers. However the biggest problem is going to be finding landowners that allow events to be run on their patch, at least at an affordable rate. The Forestry Commission already charge a large fee per mile per competitor, but it's soon going to get to the point where it's not worth the risk to them to have their tracks trashed and the possibility of bad publicity, and certainly not when they can make more money from allowing cyclists, walkers and adventure people to use the same facilities.

So it's nothing to do with rallying being banned due to deaths (and certainly not the death of competitors, we all know that's a risk) but it is to do with the restrictions on the sport getting to a point where the majority of club events simply aren't viable any more.

[janvanvurpa]

I' The Forestry Commission already charge a large fee per mile per competitor,
.

HerraJanni, can you say--or PM me---what that charge is? Is it the same if its an nice old MkII Escort or a modern turbo 4wd car?

[MrJan]

HerraJanni, can you say--or PM me---what that charge is? Is it the same if its an nice old MkII Escort or a modern turbo 4wd car?

Don't know the exact figures, but it ain't cheap. True it isn't as much as a WRC or R5...but it certainly affects those that compete in Saxos, 106s and 205s, rallying is about more than the top 20 of every event.

[cmac]

Don't know the exact figures, but it ain't cheap. True it isn't as much as a WRC or R5...but it certainly affects those that compete in Saxos, 106s and 205s, rallying is about more than the top 20 of every event.

I can remember in motorsport news 2 years ago and the figure they quoted the cost at was £1100 per mile.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

COLIN MCRAE TRIBUTE TAKES CENTRE STAGE AT NEXT WEEK'S WALES RALLY GB

http://www.walesrallygb.com/news/3413.php#.VjuL87fhCM9

[SubaruNorway]

Hopefully the organizers won't pack the spectators up in dangerous spots like where Latvala and Meeke almost went off last year then.
Is it really that bad though, when i watch onboards from last year there are spectators everywhere. You have to walk around the marshalls in Sweden and Finland too sometimes to get to the spot you want, often those are the safest spots since there's not lots of people pushing you closer to the road if you want to see anything.

I don't think I've had one person recommend Wales to me, hopefully it will change some day

[Simmi]

Hopefully the organizers won't pack the spectators up in dangerous spots like where Latvala and Meeke almost went off last year then.
Is it really that bad though, when i watch onboards from last year there are spectators everywhere. You have to walk around the marshalls in Sweden and Finland too sometimes to get to the spot you want, often those are the safest spots since there's not lots of people pushing you closer to the road if you want to see anything.

I don't think I've had one person recommend Wales to me, hopefully it will change some day

In previous years it has been similar to other rallies where you can walk and pick a spot. Not really had any issues to be honest in the last few years as long as you are sensible. Marshals will come and tell you if you can't stand in a certain area. I've never had anyone tell me I can't walk into a stage. I know it has happened a fair bit in Brenig before - but then again I make sure I arrive early enough for it not to be an issue. So I wouldn't let it put you off the rally - it's not really any different to any other rallies I've been in apart from the fact that stage entry access is so limited. But that's largely down to the nature of where the stages are.

People are expecting more of a clampdown this year given what has been stated above. But honestly if there is some big Rally GB safety push I've not seen any evidence of it. I attended Germany and Catalunya in the back half of this year and they both made a big push on safety videos across social media. I've not seen any of that from Wales GB which is surprising given what is at stake. Single day national events have made far greater noise.

So with that said I'm not expecting the event to be much different this year.

[dodge33cymru]

You and me both.

anyone know the latest that the 'forest passes' (day tickets) can be ordered by? Not sure about going on Thursday for Shakedown with the lack of other action on Thursday.