Visiting WRC events (what's your experience?)

[tommeke_B]

The 2012 season has come to an end. Last year I created a thread about visiting WRC rallies. Unfortunately a moderator (his name doesn't need to be mentioned, but I'll say he's not active on the rally-part of the forum) deleted all my posts (and threads) by accident... So also this nice topic was gone, together with everything forum-members wrote on it... I hope I can bring it back and I hope people will be just as enthousiast as they were last year. I would like to readpeople's thoughts about WRC events (or other very big rallies, like IRC, a historic RAC, Rallylegend and so on) and everything around it (all the positive and negative comments are welcome), what has changed through the years, in certain events. Why you would certainly go back, why you shouldn't, what you would do next time, etc etc...

Also this should be the perfect topic for people who have questions about certain events (especially if they plan to go to a rally they never visited before).

I've been to Finland, France and Sardinia this year, I'll write a post about it later.

I hope to get some response on this one.

[Mintexmemory]

Thanks T_B I did Catalunya this year for the second time and previously have been to Ireland, Germany, Sardinia as well as Ypres and of course GB. The sharing of info is one of the very best things this forum can do and I'm happy to share any help I can give to other forum members.

[ToughMac]

Didn't make it to any events this year but did make it to rally Spain last year. Have to say it was a very enjoyable and well run event, stages easy to get to and for the most part very spectator friendly. Only drawback was as Salou was a bit quite with the rally being run at the end of the holiday season and even later this year. Always like having a buzz around the host town but there seemed to be very little around apart from service and headquarters. Hope to get to some events next year and hope that VW will give it that extra bit of spice.

[Rallyper]

I´ve done Greece and Finland this year. Greece for the first time. I met some very nice friends there and it was a nice experience being at that event. Also as a visitor at Ford team, which made a deeper knowledge of all the things that will have to be coordinated during a WRC-event.

Then Finland of course. Always an exciting and good rally for visitors. I told you before that I regard Finland as the best rally in the WRC. Having said that inspite haven´t been on every round.
There´s so much you could say about NORF, and I´m sure we´ll come back to that in this topic further on.

[MartijnS]

We have done six WRC's this year.

Portugal: not going back next year. Difficult cause you're not allowed to walk on the stages at all most of the times. Stages are pretty nice though

Greece: second time and definitely going back there. Awesome rally, great stages, lots of freedom to go wherever you want and good itenary.

Germany: have been there a lot as it's close to home. Still a nice rally to visit

Wales: expensive, a lot of waiting, not much entries this year, but we had a blast! Great action here and there Good fun. Definitely going back there again.

Sardegna: first time and definitely not the last. Great rally, nice stages, good timing.

Spain: 3rd time Spain this year. Still worth going there, cool shakedown, nice stages on friday and also the tarmac is not that boring at all. Good mix and nice end of this season for us.

We skipped France this year and didn't really miss it. Possibly going to Finland next year for the first time.

[GigiGalliNo1]

Get to NZ guys!! You'll love it!

[tommeke_B]

I would love to... But for the price of the airflight only I can see 3 European WRC events...

[Hartusvuori]

This is a great subject for topic. Really broughts up the best sides of forum like this.

This year we did WRC Finland of course (5th time for me full-on stage to stage spectating, 27th time altogether), WRC Germany (1st time) and IRC Czech (3rd time). On top of that a handful of local events. I'm already eyeing next year's calendar with hopes of doing at least two events abroad, perhaps both WRC (let's see how ERC turns out). I will most likely return to Trier, and it'll be difficult to stay out of Zlin, that've grown as a second home event to me, but perhaps the other event next year is something else. We'll see. There are many events I'd like to visit and also the ones I've visited, I'd like to return, so... too little time and money.

Here's my stories from this year's rallies: Finland, Germanyand Czech.

[Fly_Half]

We only did one WRC event this year and that was my home event, Wales Rally GB. The shortcomings of the event have been well documented elsewhere, and it's pretty clear it needs a complete overhaul - firstly going back to it's traditional end of season slot. Wales Rally GB without the cold, horizontal rain in a Welsh forest just isn't right. The organisers have promised to look at every aspect of the event, so let's hope they deliver.

The other main event we did was Boucles de Spa early in the year, and we had a complete disaster. Crap weather, crap stages, numerous stage cancellations, too many spectators causing huge delays. It was a complete nightmare and I don't think I'd bother going back again unfortunately. That being said the atmosphere in the town the night before was superb.

Hoping to do either Greece or Germany next year!

[James Graham]

I haven't been to Wales Rally GB for a few years now. I've spectated and marshaled (cheapest way to see the rally) on the event probably twenty times. Living in the UK it is my 'local' WRC round but the cost to spectate is now crazy which is a shame as it is a great rally to watch with some really fast stages which really show the commitment of the top crews. I've got some great memories from over the years though and I'll hopefully make it back to Wales in 2013.

The only other WRC round I have watched is Cyprus and that was by accident. I was out there for a friends wedding and as rally cars were my day job I wasn't keen to go and watch, preferring instead to read and drink beer by the pool. My girlfriend was a rally nut though and she found out the rally was on and pestered me to take her and the rest of the wedding party out to spectate. I didn't have any info on the event so we got horribly lost in the Troodos mountains and the section of one of the stages we were on was like the Safari so the cars weren't too spectacular to watch. Still, I had friends at M-Sport who let us in to enjoy some hospitality which seemed to go down well with everyone.

I spent some time living in New Zealand recently but I left about a month before the rally came to town so I was a bit bummed about missing that.

Rally Finland is definitely on my bucket list though.