[WRC] Safari Rally Kenya 2021

[dimviii]

Sean Cardovillis
@sean_cardo

Hell's Gate stage.

[denkimi]

In 10 years time we have 2 day rally's of no more than 200 km's.

Why not do single day rally's of just 3 stages and 50km, that would be perfect to show on tv. Who cares about fans anyway.

[Tauri_J]

AfricaFlag of KenyaFlag of United KingdomFlag of South Africa
@kukuandchips

Just seen some pictures of soy sambu after a recce, very badly rutted already

I expect a lot complaining but they are best drivers in the world and should just shut up and drive.

[Rallyper]

Anyone could win this. It´s just about luck and skills...

[dimviii]

WRC freak
@FakeHinkelstein

Loving some of #SafariRallyKenya comunications: "Never put your hand in a hole or under a rock as these are the homes of snakes, scorpions and spiders"
"There are lots of baboons in the area who can be aggressive when looking for food. Keep all your snacks well hidden" #wrc

[mknight]

In 10 years time we have 2 day rally's of no more than 200 km's.

Why not do single day rally's of just 3 stages and 50km, that would be perfect to show on tv. Who cares about fans anyway.

10 years ago average rally length was a bit over 350 km. At that rate, going to 200 km would take some 50-60 years minimum.

[AnttiL]

10 years ago average rally length was a bit over 350 km. At that rate, going to 200 km would take some 50-60 years minimum.

Rally maximum lengths:
1986: 500 km
1997: 400 km
2005: 360 km
2009: 400 km
2010: 500 km
2019: 350 km

Events after 2010 which have exceeded 400 km are (length mentioned if over 450 km)
2010 Germany
2011 Catalunya
2012 Alsace, Catalunya, Mexico, Acropolis, New Zealand, Monte Carlo, Portugal, Argentina (502 km)
2013 Monte (468 km), Argentina
2014 Argentina

So, the rules have allowed 400-500 km rallies from 2010 to 2018, but rarely the organizers were able to get such kilometres. Why? It's not worth the extra effort.

Exactly a year ago I interviewed some rallying people and collected comments from drivers etc. and basically the outcome was that the current format is perfect and should not be shortened or lengthened (although just after this article came out we started getting these shortened COVID-era events).

https://itgetsfasternow.com/2020/06/...in-three-days/

[AnttiL]

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@kukuandchips

Just seen some pictures of soy sambu after a recce, very badly rutted already

Wow, thats insane...this proves my point that those tracks will not clean, as there is not a hard base to come out.

[scn]

If it's so simple and cheap, why did this year's Acropolis become so short?

I would claim extra recce days would be needed almost certainly for a 500 km route. Of course it depends on how dense the route is. As for extra costs, every stage you arrange requires personnel, marshalls, medical personnel, that is not free. And of course the road repairs.

There is route with repeated stages that does not need extra recce days. And also some of the existing stages can become longer. For example, there is no logical reason why on Sunday they put the 33km of Pirgos only once. And it is rather ridiculous to call "Tarzan" a special stage with only 17 km. The true Tarzan has at least double. There is no financial explanation why they stop the Elatia stage at its 11th km, while they can have the whole true Elatia stage which can be from 34 to 40 km. There is no financial reason why they do not put much longer format of Loutraki stage and no financial reason why they do it only once. Also Eleftherohori has a format that can reach many more km. It is a curious thing they put this short version, because money is the same. The wonderful Gravia stage could be done twice without any increase in cost. It just needs a decision that cars will have more km without service park. But THIS would be a true endurance rally.
It CAN be done, with very small increase in cost.
Sprint events like Finland, Argentina, New Zealand are one aspect. The other aspect, the true endurance events, is not here anymore. To my opinion, it needs to come back.

[AnttiL]

Right, I forgot Acropolis will have many single run stages. They could add 112 km by running all the single-runs twice. However, that could make the itinerary very tight with the long liaisons?