[ERC] JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion 30.8-1.9.2024

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I'm an M-Sport fan, but parachuting in Jon Armstrong to score the BRC Teams points was already rather petty in their battle with the Castrol MEM Team.

I realised the reason for this and it does make sense. M-Sport had Max McRae as one of their BRC Rally2 drivers this season, but he is also doing the ERC Junior Ch'ship and that took priority in Rali Ceredigion.

Also Jon Armstrong was already doing the event as an ERC entry, so it made sense to register him for the BRC as the second M-Sport driver.

The fact he was told to drop time to allow Creighton the win on BRC Rd6 was also fine as any other team would do the same.

[Mirek]

Guys, how was the rally? I spent five days in the mountains and din't follow it at all. Did you enjoy?

[saco0o]

Guys, how was the rally? I spent five days in the mountains and din't follow it at all. Did you enjoy?

it was pretty good but the coolest part (imo) was that it was mixed with TWO rounds of the British Championship (rd5 on fri-sat, rd6 on sunday). paddon was a dominating force in ERC, won basically all the stages, one hand in the title. ingram won rd.5 of the BRC, which was cool (i cheer for this fella!), but he crashed out on sunday. (i think he was P3 in ERC?) there was some drama on sunday with msport doing some team orders (Armstrong/Creighton) to help his driver in the british championship (against Ingram).
the british championship fb page was covering parts of their event, loads of cool cars and fun characters, friendly people chatting a lot on the live chat. 10/10 for me.

[the sniper]

Guys, how was the rally? I spent five days in the mountains and din't follow it at all. Did you enjoy?

I only watched the Saturday stage side, but I thought the entry was actually pretty good. Nice to see a good number of quickly driven Rally4 over here too.

I'd say of this event, I think it's really good for what it is, particularly the efforts & aspirations of the organisers and quality of the route/roads for competitors, but it does pain me a little that with a very similar route, you could have a hell of a gravel rally... The route literally passes so many classic forest stages. As I was stood up on Nant-y-Moch in a nice enough spot, I couldn't help but look across at the gravel track out of Taliesin forest, not a forest that has been used during my time following the sport, but I've walked it and could think of a dozen corners where I'd love to spectate in there. I've also read/heard the stories from a corner that you could see from the end of Nant-y-Moch...

I appreciate this is a wider subject, but with modern rally cars, I really think you need to be in a really good spot on a normal tarmac stage (non-SSS/City showcase stage), outside of the WRC, for the sport to come across as a real spectacle. Whereas on gravel, pretty much any corner can offer something. In the case of Rali Ceredigion, or many of the new breed of UK tarmac rallies, I don't buy into the idea that most of these stages are any more accessible or visible to the public than forest stages. The stage in Aberystwyth is exactly what is needed on many UK rallies, but you could have included that on a gravel rally too. On gravel suspension/tyres, it'd probably be even more of a show for the public, as much as some competitors wouldn't want it.

Every spectator I spoke to about this thought the same, it just isn't up there with gravel rallying in terms of spectacle. I can totally see the appeal for competitors though, I could see myself entering in the future. If you don't consider the wider picture, I appreciate that's what many will consider is all that matters.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Guys, how was the rally? I spent five days in the mountains and din't follow it at all. Did you enjoy?

I loved it and the RallyTV coverage with being in the ERC really showed the rally and scenery to great effect.

Watching the many fan videos really showed how many supporters were out there and the popularity the sport still has in the UK.

Plus you could hear the fans reaction to the speed of the Rally2 cars and their ability on these amazing, challenging mountain roads.

[Mirek]

Watched the onboard from Armstrong's stage win and what a stage. I love it.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I've not seen this YT channel before but the guy does a good summary of the event from all angles:

https://youtu.be/surAi4RSbaA?si=BFfK7Gy6aWYFGV2n

[saco0o]

good channel!

it made me think about erc "news" and journalists.. i REALLY like (and rather) the way this forum is a collective effort to bring these erc news, especially because they normally comes from the drivers/team themselves instead of a journalist, but I wonder if is there any proper erc news coverage site/channel out there