Well if you go to GB, bring plenty of money! It's the most expensive round for tickets in the WRC. However, it's a lot more relaxed than it was a few years ago regarding moving out of the 'pens'.
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Well if you go to GB, bring plenty of money! It's the most expensive round for tickets in the WRC. However, it's a lot more relaxed than it was a few years ago regarding moving out of the 'pens'.
As for the money side of things Finland rally pass cost me €55 compared with £90 for GB. However, in Finland there was a €5 charge every time you parked the car, and €8 for the stupid bus stage (Myhinppa) - like Jamie above we missed the whole of the first running, despite being in the queue for the bus 2 hours before the stage, got into the stage just in time for second run, and people were waiting to leave. When after about 20 cars we decided to leave the queue for the departing bus was getting so long that spectators were on the stage at a crossing point!! We decided to walk, the 8 kms back to the car park. Imagine the reaction (especially on British Rally Forum) had that occured in GB. Have been to Finland several times before,(and has been my favourite) sad to say 2010 will be my last for a long time. Crowds and traffic jams, costs, fuel at €1,41 per litre, let alone food and drink prices....... it was as expensive as GB, and that event has taken a lot of bad press re costs for spectating.
well 90-100 BPs are not that expensive compared to other well organised events that have tickets, the only drawback is that the championships will be over by then so the only reason to visit the rally will be to see if solberg manages to win it in his last appearance in the WRC.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
Oh dear, it seems the Finns have cottoned on to the fact there's plenty of money to be made from the Rally.
I think that the main problem with our marchals, is that many are there for the first time, nowdays its difficult to find volunteers so they bring people in from all over the country.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
Also the spectator safety has become much stricter lately, I had a long talk about this a few years back with our Feds. ex. Boss A. Syvälahti, and the guy who fly the chopper before they start the stage, the chopper guy said then that FIA will take theese things more seriously, Like we can see by now, rallies who cant match certain level getts dropped like Monte, they did run a rally for years with 40-60% shortage of marchals.
I hope all of you who was present send feedback to AKK, what you think about this year's rally, it was only a test, because of the anniversery rally.
My feedback has already been sent to AKK. Dont get me wrong, the stages and commitment of the drivers, even down to the last C2 and Fiesta was brilliant. It was the crowds, marshalls, and costs, plus the two day format I didnt like. Also noted that central Finland hasnt escaped the recession, lots of closed businesses, from roadside grilli to factory units closed.
I usually go in good time to the stages, and often have a talk with the marshalls, actually its quite easy, if they are new its just to tell them how the cars take the line in that particular place, same goes with good spectating spots, no problem with those either sofar in any rally.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
My most sad experience regarding extra high security was the start of Sirkkamäki, where we had to walk beside the road for about 1 k about 90 minutes before first car. In some other stages the marshals where quite relaxed though. But generally it´s diifficult to move on in the stages before first car.
Regarding costs Finland is no way more expensive than others. And the feeling around the event is still just great!
As a experienced rallyfan you have to learn to act about 180 degrees from every man. Then you have no problems with queing and things.
(that means off course not that you´re visiting stages at other times, than when they´re used... :D )
Most of "no go"-areas in absurd places are caused from the fact that the landowner hasn't allowed any public to go to that area.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
For couple of years there has been a clear rule for walking on the road: 1 hour before start road is closed from public. It has worked well but this year there were problems due to the historic-cars, road was closed for walking actually an hour before their starting time (for example in Sirkkamäki) and it was not clearly mentioned.
Yet still the biggest problem with the marshals is, as someone already said, the fact that they are not familiar with this event or even with the whole rally thing. They have instructions and they just follow them... And it's not easy for them too!
And as we have huge crowds, there's a big part of audience (finnish&foreign) who have never been to a rally, and it's a big concern for the organisers. There's no way you could keep it as free as in some less crowded rallys or we would have huge amounts of stage cancellations, or worse, horrific accidents.
Anyway, didn't have any problems, loose schedule, small roads and relaxed mind are the thins to remember in Rally Finland.
talking to them is the solution but it gets difficult to communicate when you are not a local and get your point across.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomi
I very rarely spectate from the spots indicated by the guides. what i do is i run through the stages i want to see on shakedown day mark the valid parking places and then search for something interesting close by....the fact that the marshals in some events won't allow walking through the stage even 2-3 hours before the start really annoys me, so i prefer events with more relaxed spectating rules ususally in mediterranean/balkan/south europe countries.