The itinerary is out: http://www.walesrallygb.com/news/3554.php#.V06wvueLS-t
Not as bad as last year, I think I'm going back. :)
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The itinerary is out: http://www.walesrallygb.com/news/3554.php#.V06wvueLS-t
Not as bad as last year, I think I'm going back. :)
Good itinerary and selection of stages. Only disappointment for me is the lack of Service at Deeside during the days... but with the need to improve the percentage of stage miles vs liaison it was inevitable I suppose.
I've been to Cholmondley Castle several times and I think it will be a nice improvement over Chirk for the 'RallyFest'. :)
Nothing special to be honest. MNews were hyping it up, but all we got are 2 new stages; Cholmondeley plus the return of Pantperthog.
Personally, It's become far too 'samey' - the same stages, similar layout year on year - it's needs a refresh. Sadly, unless a new sponsor turns up, it seems we're stuck.
I think they are taking the 'if it aint broke, dont fix it' line ...Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
What other stages do you think they could have used ?
WRC.com
'The tests are classics but with a twist – they will be driven in the opposite direction to normal. Hafren and Sweet Lamb have not been used in this format since 1995 while Myherin has never been tackled this way. Pantperthog has not featured in the rally since 1997...'
Works for me; the biggest disappointment for me is the lack of Thursday night stages (again, but they were special in 2013 and gave added incentive to go to Shakedown) and lack of night in general. Saturday in particular is finished in the forests shortly after noon.
I think I'll do Friday and Saturday, but because of the lack of stages on Thursday and Saturday evenings I'll give Thursday and Sunday a miss again.
Loved Myherin last year and will definitely go there again, Saturday I'll decide later; thoroughly enjoyed Gartheinog a couple of years back.
Does anyone know if the Shakedown stage was announced? I'm guessing Clocaenog again, but the 2013 stage was also excellent.
Yes shakedown is in Clogaenog again.
Cholmondely might be alright as the rally fest stage, they have a 1.2 mile Sprint course, but they could do a 2.5 mile stage or longer if they do laps, which seems most likely. Plus, they do something similar to Goodwood FoS, so they are well trained at catering for large crowds of motorsport fans. There's a brilliant pub across the road; the area is generally very good for country pubs.
In 1994/95 Hafren was run in both directions; first run was about 9:00am and again at 4/5:00pm......Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Chink of light for the future? Chalmondley (pronounced CHUMLEE) is in ENGLAND!!!
Yeah then bring Harewood House back for 2017, then move the stages to North York Moors for 2018, then shift up to Kielder for 2019, then by 2020 they'll be up in the Cairngorms :D
Next time I go watch the annual November Rally ,is when it comes back home as the "Rally of Great Brittain" ,and uses Yorkshire ,Keilder,the lower Highlands,and Cumbria ,As long as it's held in Wales I will stay at home
Even if it moves out of Wales a WRC round will never cover that much ground again.Quote:
Originally Posted by driveace
Geographically Rally D'Italia in Sardina has covered such a spread as might include Kielder, Scots Borders and Yorkshire. Rally HQ would need to be NewcastleQuote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Let’s be honest – the event needs a much bigger geographical spread. The sport is miles off the radar – keeping it in Wales/ or one region is not the solution.
Compare to the Tour of Britain cycle race – the organisers tryto visit as many areas as possible; even over a few years – and still there arecomplaints. But they’re selling the sport to a huge number of followers. Is RallyGB doing this? The simple answer is no.
Well reading the articles recently it does seem like WRC Promoter are applying pressure to move the rally into England to unlock a bigger population. If there are 13 other rounds vying for a place then that's the kind of thing that might force the MSA to look elsewhere. The biggest question is does any other region actually want to fund the rally?
I know Yorkshire were looking at international rallying with this mooted ERC round that never materialised. Ironically they ended up putting money behind cycling. Certainly the Tour of Britain covers a lot of ground but cycling as a sport is set up completely differently. It's the moving roadshow that the WRC used to be. And even the ToB has some criticism from teams for the long transfers from one stage to another.
The central WRC service park kills this ambition. Sardinia might have run a big route but they soon got told to get back in their box and will be out of the championship within a few years. We've seen WRC team bosses crying at the prospect of staying in more than one hotel room on a rally - so I think for the moment we're just dreaming if we want a sprawling Rally GB.
Somewhere in the north-east for the rally hq allowing the stages to be split between North York Moors and Kielder might work. There's the potential to reach greater popolation centres plus more than one local area council can throw their weight behind it. If no one complains you could have one day of long road sections to get to The Lake District :D
Any plan would need to take into account the FIA's 25 percent rule - which means a quarter of the total route has to be competitive mileage.
The liaisons in the current format are actually deemed too long by the governing body :(
I was just thinking the distance between Deeside and Hafren/Sweetlamb must be pretty far
Hence the remote midday service. Alghero to Simanna is a pretty long drive (done it twice before so I can say it's less than Newcastle - Penrith)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack4688`
Before everyone gets carried away with dreams about returning to Kielder and North Yorkshire Moors, please get back to basics. Unless you fancy a championship full of stages with chicanes and sections in car parks, these regions are not suitable for the WRC. And with the 2017 rules almost here, they will be even less suitable in the future.
Yeah, no complaints about where it is now, if it has to be in one place. Quite what they'd achieve by moving it, I don't know.
Don't think I wouldn't love to see it as a national event again though, it's missing something at the moment but so will all events with the daft modern cookie -cutter format.
Morning all,
You may have heard we've brought Rally GB back to Chester city centre...the event will be the culmination of a week long festival...please visit www.thecrw.co.uk for full details..
Hope you can join us to enjoy the spectacle.
Regards
Bryn Pierce
Event Director
Great to see the WRC back in Chester... brings back special memories of the RAC Rally there in my early days of following the event.
Maybe this will lead to a possible street stage held there in the future... now that would be amazing.
Congrats on making that happen Bryn. I'm sure a lot of work went into pulling that off.
Excuse me but if Kielder isn't suitable for WRC then Finland certainly isn't. Chicanes are not absolutely necessary if the configurations of stages from the available roads are carefully thought through. My belief is much of the problem experienced on the Pirelli was to do with configuring the stages to enable ease of marshalling with the numbers available. For WRC many more marshals are usually available - the oldies who come for their once a year reminder of why they don't do it every week!Quote:
Originally Posted by semsem
No need for chicanes, just employ boggey times in order to get insurance... makes some people happy since THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT !!!! JEEEEZZZZ....
hard to get accomadation this year with the weekend the rally is on..everyone has upped the prices
With a fairly stable route and the rise of sites like Booking.com I can't be the only one who is sorting accommodation around December/January time. You can cancel near enough 24 hours before you go and most places don't require you to pay anything until you arrive. No stress, no brainer.Quote:
Originally Posted by christy but
In most countries the best deals can still be found on places that aren't on booking.com. Booking.com charges around 15 to 20% to the owners, if I'm not mistaken, so a lot of people still don't want to have their business on it as long as they have enough customers. Try for example on Google Maps zooming on a certain location/area you are interested in, and type "hotel" "bed and breakfast" or anything else in the search bar. That's the way I found a lot of interesting deals for many different rallies.
Hi
This year I want to go to the Rallying but have never been before
What's the best way to do if you want to see the most action? Is it best to go on all of the days or are there some days that are better than others.
Also we are from the midlands so will need to arrange places to stay. Is it best to stay in 1 place or use different B&B's etc depending on where the action is?
Any help would be very much appreciated
Thursday Shakedown , Friday and Saturday are all good - Sunday is pretty much uncompetitive and a proportion of the top guys will have retired.
B&B near the action (or within 20 miles) is definitely the way to do it.
Hello guys, thank you for the info that you posted in this thread. I'll be going to Wales rally on Saturday and Sunday and it's my first time so i'm here to beg for help from someone that is more used to this event than me.
In your experience is it worthwhile going to the Deeside Rally village? if you go there let's say at 9 am on friday can you still see some car or are they all already gone?
In your opinion what is the best stage on Saturday and Sunday?
And also, can you choose your own spot to watch the rally (paying attention to safety of course) or are there designated areas only?
Thank you very much for any help that you may provide!
Welcome to the forum.Quote:
Originally Posted by pulsar
Best place to start is the timetable - http://www.walesrallygb.com/document..._Route_1.4.pdf
Key is the first car due timings on the far right. So you can see for example that on Friday the cars leave early. Much better to go to service in the evening as you'll see the cars being worked on.
That said I'd always prioritize stages first - and if you can get to service it's a bonus. Regroups can actually be a lot better for getting closer to the drivers/cars.
Regarding Saturday it depends what you want to do. I'd recommend getting into the forests to see it. Dyfi or Gartheinog are your best bets as you'll see the cars twice - plus the national rally if you want to watch that. If you don't fancy trekking into the forest then you could try the Cholmondeley spectator stage I guess. For a lot of people their first taste of Rally GB was stages like that. But forests are where the real action is.
If you get to the stages early enough you can walk in and find a spot - providing the marshals will let you stand there. Be prepared for a lot of walking.
Miki Biasion is the first driver confirmed for the Group B gathering at Cholmondeley.
So the Group B cars are confirmed as driving the stage, not just on display ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Simmi
Some will be moving, others won't but it's quite vague at the moment. More drivers expected according to this - http://www.walesrallygb.com/news/3619.php#.V9AMqvkrLIUQuote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Looks difficult to spend a morning in the forests and then get over there in time on the Saturday. For sure all the Group B stuff will take place before the WRCs get there. Normally I'd avoid a stage like that like the plague, but I'm in a bit of an autograph hunting period at the moment.
"Fans attending the Cholmondeley stage, which closes the Saturday leg at the season’s penultimate round, will enjoy the sight of more than 20 iconic Group B cars either as part of a static display or performing demonstration runs over the same roads that will host the 2016 WRC stars a few hours later." :)
http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/septe...9--12-12-.html
Maybe biased but i'd emplore people to come along to Chester on the Friday evening...we've lots planned including autograph sessions with the top crews, big screens, live acts etc etc..should be really good and a great atmosphere.
Not a lot of Info regarding the activities in Chester, but here's the Timings info on the official itinerary:
Friday 28 Oct.
8B Chester Eastgate - In - 19:05
8C Chester Eastgate - Out - 19:25
8D Parc Fermé & Technical Zone - In - 19:45
8E Parc Fermé Out - Flexi Service - In - 19:55
8F Flexi Service Out - Parc Fermé - In 20:40
All cars must be returned to Parc Fermé no later than 23:00