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Big off for rally leader
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Big off for rally leader
The BRC and overall Ypres Rally win goes to Fourmaux. Not really in doubt after Lefebvre crashed out.
I know that Special Stage have said previously that they have turned down work where they have been asked to provide post stage coverage only because it's not what they as fans of the sport would want to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
No, they are right; post stage coverage is a bit 90s/00s. Nothing against Matt and the team, but it's not great that our supposed 'premier' series can't have proper live coverage.
There was some live coverage at the previous rounds and maybe Ypres being part of the Belgian Championship prevented it.
I watched some live action and interviews on You Tube which seemed like the event's official coverage:
https://youtube.com/@RacingAction
https://www.britishrallychampionship...fling-of-2023/
Some changes to the Cambrian Rally; a shame the Friday night tarmac stages have been binned due to requests from competitors.
I hope the 10 miler to end the National rally will be Clocaenog Mid.
Unlikely though as “… all the stages are in the forests of Conwy county” and Cloc-Mid falls outside of Conwy :(
There's no such county as Conwy & there never has been. It's Clwyd now and was Flintshire and Denbighshire in the (distant) past. The event sponsor is Conwy County Borough Council. A County Borough is a type of local authority within a traditional county but with local control over some taxation and service delivery.Quote:
"all the stages are in the forests of Conwy county”
The press release also says:implying that some parts of Clocaenog will be used.Quote:
"An added benefit for sponsors is the provision of a hospitality facility at the Llyn Brenig Visitor Centre …"
That’s splitting hairs a bit isn’t it? As far as I can tell Counties and County Boroughs all fall under the grouping ‘Principal Areas’, and when Visit Conwy encourage us to visit Conwy I think we all know where they mean.
The Alwen and Brenig parts of Clocaenog are definitely within Conwy County (borough) borders, but the -mid and -east sections of Clocaenog are not. Were the Cambrian organisers making the claim that all stages were within Conwy last year when Cloc East ran?
In the past a County Borough fell within a County and had partial autonomy (bit like the WAG & Wesminster). The new Welsh County Boroughs would appear to have full County status which makes me wonder why they bothered including the word "Borough" in the title. It's an Old-English word, which seems even odder for Wales :confused:
I can't recall a claim over the route being entirely within the county ever being made, whether the eastern part of Clocaenog was used or not. I can see the advantage of not using the middle and eastern parts from the organisers point of view as it saves having to deal with another local authority while planning the event.
Has anybody used the middle section of Clocaenog since the wind turbines went in?
I'm guessing the 10 miler would be Brenig, plus the western part of Clocaenog; you actually turn left alongside the lake through some gates and take in part of the forest and then come out near the dam; I rode it on my MTB a few days before RallyGB back in 2018/19.
Or, close the 'B' road and run Brenig & Alwen together as one stage.
Yes, which they did in 2018.
Had the misfortune to make my first ever visit to a Rally Day at Castle Combe on Saturday. Luckily the weather behaved but the show itself was lacklustre at best with only a handful of "Clubmans" cars circulating and one "feature stage" with some replica Quattros and a couple of Impreza WRCs to liven things up. Julian Porter and Howard Davies tried their best but with not even a current Rally 2 car or a single MK2 Escort present they ran out of anything meaningful to try and talk about. Very sparse trade stands and a few owners clubs displays couldnt really justify the entrance fee. Appreciate that there was talk earlier this year of a new demo type event in the UK and that this was just one venue's attempt however if that is the best the UK has to offer then we are screwed.
I'm sure all those involved are well meaning, but it needs a massive rethink; it's a tired old format - and not particularly well promoted (well there's a surprise).
We need a proper weekend event at a central UK venue - when WRC teams, etc can turn up. Add in a competitive element, like the Hill Climb competition at the Goodwood festival....
But not on the Cambrian!Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Sorry to hear that, for you and the organisers. It almost seems inconceivable that there wasn't Mk2 Escort! Crikey, a first for a UK event...? Feel lucky to have gone in 2017, with the likes of the 2017 WRC Fiesta, R5s, Group As (Inc. ST185 Celica), Group Bs, Escorts, as well as the likes of Wilson, Grist, Evans, Tanak and Latvala wondering about... Almost recommended Rallyday to a colleague looking to attend their first event and take their kids, glad I didn't now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal yet again
Like British rallying in general, it's very hard to come back once you fall too far.
That's really disappointing to hear. They have been quite good in the past.
It seems the promotion was really poor - like I only heard about it on the day it started from social media. If the possible attendees were the same no wonder it was lacking in cars.
The country has loads of Rally2 car owners, mostly doing BTRDA or MN Circuit events, so there's no excuse. And I know Chris Ingram was there but even he didnt/couldn't show off a Rally2 car !
Maybe it was the move to a summer date or promoter greed/issues however lots of people I talked to on the day and have seen comment on social media in the aftermath have said this was the final nail in the coffin for them. The lament in Julian's voice couldnt be hidden that there wasnt more modern machinery or even a MK2 so it wasnt that everyone was on message all day!
Not going to Goodwood FOS this year and that may be a mistake as understand there will be a sizeable rallying presence there however if the powers that be want a "proper" rally based show event they just cant leave it to the market to decide it would appear.
Rally Day video:
https://youtu.be/VNhX1c3baKg
162km for this year’s Rali Ceredigion:
https://www.raliceredigion.co.uk/fil...ly-guide.pdf?2
Looks like only the Aberystwyth and Nant-y-Moch stages remain from the previous two years, though I wonder if Cwmerfyn is a modified route of Pendam…
It’s great to see much more new stage mileage possible and that it is possible for a UK mainland stage rally to run over 80/100 ish kms.
Watching the Nicky Grist on You Tube; looked at the speccy information and it appears that Route 60 is not used and Crychan is no longer a spectator stage. Can't say I'd ever been to Llyn Login before.....
First time I'd been over the south side of Halfway, slim pickings in terms of decent spectating spots.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Talking of stages, I'm personally really looking forward to the Woodpecker as they're using Ceri/Kerry for a stage, which I don't think has been used for two decades but was often used in the past. I imagine it'll only be a 5 or 6km stage as much of the tacks used previously in there aren't usable any more.
Another random stage question I've been meaning to look into, does anybody know where 'Esgair Berfaud' is on Friday of the RAC? The times could just about allow for a stage anywhere from Brechfa to Esgair Dafydd. I'd love it to be the latter, an 8km stage up there, over the Cwm Henog forestry trunk road, but suspect it may be something in Crychan? Apologies if I've missed something obvious.
I was having a look for it over the weekend. Couldn’t find any mention of ‘Esgair Berfaud’ anywhere on the internet. Then I had a bit of a trawl through OS maps on bing maps and found ‘Esgair’ is fairly common, not just used in Esgair Dafydd.
The only clue really is the difference in time between that stage and the first Hafren stage - it could well be Esgair Dafydd under a different name or even nearer Carmarthen. Is the overnight halt after leg 1 back in Carmarthen or does it move north/east from there?
I found it much easier to figure out that Glencaird Hill and Arroch Hill are in fact two halves of Glentrool
If the weather in September is anything like this lovely rallying weather we’ve been having in July (no I’m being serious) then I might give the Woodpecker a go too. It’s been my most local rally for a couple of years now, but getting choked by dust doesn’t interest me the slightest bit!
Look at an OS Landranger map of Esgair Dafydd, then look two miles or so to the west.
I would say they’re referring to, but have mis-spelled, Esgair Berfedd.
Isn't this the stage with the 'ski slope'? I recall going there on the Mid Wales stages back in June 2005Quote:
Originally Posted by the sniper
I did spot that, I wondered if it was intentionally cryptic by RACMC to call it that or whether it is an alternate spelling - but still no reference anywhere on the internet to ‘Berfaud’ makes me think otherwise.Quote:
Originally Posted by ouvreur
There’s also three stages on leg 1 called ‘no spectators’ which I’m assuming is Glasfynydd - but is it all three runs or is there another short stage somewhere?
Rather confusingly though there's another reference to a 'Esgair-Berfedd' in the south eastern bit of Crychan: https://www.geograph.org.uk/showmap....ref=SN84743714Quote:
Originally Posted by ouvreur
There's certain a big hill in there!Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Should have booked to go to Goodwood FOS instead of Rallyday! Looks like all 3 WRC teams will be present!
That's right. Presumably they'll do the rally stage as well as up the hill. It should be fun to watch and compare the times.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal yet again
I also heard that Steve Rimmer the owner of Dirtfish is bringing quite a few of his car collection (Group B mostly) and the McRae's will be there.
Tickets are sold out but there's usually TV and YT coverage.
Toyota were in the first batch of rally cars up the hill this morning - Evans in the Rally1 car and demo runs of the Yaris Rally2 and GR Yaris Hydrogen driven by Rowan Atkinson!
You can watch some live rally car coverage at:
Fri 8.30 & 17.15
Sat 10.20 & 17.30
Sun 9.55 & 17.15
https://www.youtube.com/live/s1x2sVTm3EI?feature=share
.
Fatal accident Sligo.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2...in-race-crash/
Ceredigion really has got every chance with the praise its had since it started, plus being a TER event last year and ex-BRC boss Iain Campbell now running the ERC.Quote:
Originally Posted by HKSjbg
If this cant get a major rally series back in the UK nothing can.
Fingers really crossed even if the September date clashes with my wedding anniversary so I cant attend! I just hope that the usual whinging about previous entrants not been able to get a spot of the start list due to those pesky Europeans doesnt happen again..
I recall the IRC Rally Scotland, and UK drivers were hardly in abundance on the entry list.....Always moaning about something....
Interesting format for Galloway hills rally with the normal 45 mile rally and an optional second leg in the dark. Will give a good insight into the desire for night stages and longer events for clubmen. Will have to wait till regs are out to see the additional cost for doing the extra night leg.
http://gallowayhillsrally.co.uk/all-...734E0oUJa-GqIM
They say it will only be an extra £1 per mile for the night leg, which given that the first six stages amounts to 43 miles should be £21-50 for the extra 21½ miles. The money doesn't add up though, unless they're running the extra at a loss. The MSUK permit fees are £88-00 for a 45+ mile Interclub event compared with £59-50 for less than 45 miles, so the increase in permit fee is £28-50 and that's before the increased forestry charge for the additional use. For those that aren't aware, the permit fee is payable for every starter and covers the organisers third-party insurance, amongst other things.
It might work as a one-off to see if there is the demand but I can't see it becoming common unless there is a significantly bigger price increase for the extra miles in future.
Even the regular rally is starting quite late - 4pm!
I wonder if this is in an effort to encourage MSUK to re-think their permit fee pricing structure. There was something on that in Motorsport News a few months ago when they did a big feature on the future of British rallying. I may have been the Rally North Wales clerk of the course who said it if I remember correctly.