British & Irish Championships 2024

[dodge33cymru]

Pretty awful trying to follow the NW Stages live so far.. delay starting, stages blocked, times very slow coming through, only one stage end interview and live pictures breaking up. Very disappointing after all the build up.

edit: removed my angry rant. Still annoyed at the comms, but I get that the actual issues on stages aren't the organiser's fault.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

[Fast Eddie WRC]

An update from the North West Stages organisers:

Due to unforseen circumstances and various incidents on the early stages, the morning loop of 5 stages has unfortunately had to be scrubbed. The action will restart in the afternoon after all the cars have been brought back to regroup. We can only apologise for the issues and we will endeavour to keep you informed as the action unfolds this afternoon.

[J4MIE]

Got up at 4:30, paid to get into two stages, seen nothing. Spectator areas are terrible and crammed. And the official social feeds are utterly useless. Absolutely no idea what's going on. Shambolic frankly.

You could always volunteer hundreds of hours of your time to help improve things next year? Team always looking out for new helpers.

If competitors wouldn’t block so many roads that would majorly help with things.

[Sal yet again]

Closed road rallying seems to work differently on mainland GB as it do to events in Ireland and the IOM etc. Other than areas that are deemed unsafe and marked as such it is pretty much acceptable for spectators to stand in fields, behind dry stone walls and if invited to stand in someone's front garden without paying for the privilige

I didnt make the trip today due to a number of circumstances however there do seem to have been a number of "premium" spectator spots with corresponding charges that sold out quickly and trust their view wasnt of the roofs of cars as they went past as I have read on the event FB page. Think we have to remember that the roads are picked first and foremost for the challenge for the crews and then trying to fit spectators around that with all the hoops that organisers have to jump thru is a major challenge

Interesting that the recent East Ridings stages that I did attend was relatively open with its info and even had a stage near Beverley town centre that attracted a good sized crowd.

If the event is going to be bi-annual then I trust the organisers will learn from today and come back stronger for both the crews and the fans in 2026

[AndyRAC]

Closed road rallying seems to work differently on mainland GB as it do to events in Ireland and the IOM etc. Other than areas that are deemed unsafe and marked as such it is pretty much acceptable for spectators to stand in fields, behind dry stone walls and if invited to stand in someone's front garden without paying for the privilige

I didn't make the trip today due to a number of circumstances however there do seem to have been a number of "premium" spectator spots with corresponding charges that sold out quickly and trust their view wasnt of the roofs of cars as they went past as I have read on the event FB page. Think we have to remember that the roads are picked first and foremost for the challenge for the crews and then trying to fit spectators around that with all the hoops that organisers have to jump thru is a major challenge

Closed road rallying is a new-ish thing for the mainland, so organisers have to take a more pragmatic view of spectator areas - unlike in other places. However, at BRC level spectators should/need be catered for far better. MSUK should be helping in this way.......

[Sal yet again]

The JCMR has had its issues of course so maybe if farmers/landowners are actively courted and let them know that perhaps they could make a few quid allowing people to watch from their land (safely of course) then maybe things can improve. Fields and land alongside the IOM TT course are often by paid entry and when Le Grand Depart took place in this Shire a few years back there were plenty of enterprising landowners welcoming people onto their land.

Rallying is an exciting sport that attracts people wanting to watch and as with most things in this country we pay for things we used to get for free so lets see how those aspects can be married together

[Fast Eddie WRC]

[J4MIE]

The reason it got changed to running every two years was that it was too much work for the organising team. When Dave Read passed away before the 2022 event, his replacement clocked up over 400 hours from eariy Jan to mid March. That is far more than a full time job.

Spoke to one of the organising team during the past week and they said they simply can’t do it again.

All the moaning people online won’t help their enthusiasm levels at all. They are rally fans just like you or me, and want their event to succeed.

[dodge33cymru]

The reason it got changed to running every two years was that it was too much work for the organising team. When Dave Read passed away before the 2022 event, his replacement clocked up over 400 hours from eariy Jan to mid March. That is far more than a full time job.

Spoke to one of the organising team during the past week and they said they simply can’t do it again.

All the moaning people online won’t help their enthusiasm levels at all. They are rally fans just like you or me, and want their event to succeed.

The thing that frustrated me most was the complete lack of any comms about what was happening. I've been on rallies where things have been cancelled and I can make alternative plans - this was just leaving everyone completely in the dark for no need.

I get that people have put more time and effort in to organise than I have to spectate and they're more frustrated than me, but on a purely personal level I get very few weekends that aren't parenting time (maybe 3 per year) at the moment and today was a complete write off.

I'm glad the afternoon loop went smoothly and look forward to watching the coverage of it next week; I hope this is some reward for a difficult event for the team.