Rally GB to stay in Wales for another 5 Years - 10-Tenths Motorsport Forum

rdjones · 15 Sep 2005, 15:08

I have just seen on BBC News Online that Rally GB is going to stay in Wales for another 5 years:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4249218.stm

IMO Rally GB should be the Rally of Great Britan, not the Rally of South Wales, its a real shame that the classic stages in North Wales, Kilder, the Lake District and North Yorkshire are not used by the world greatest rally drivers ever year.

**Cryos** · 15 Sep 2005, 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdjones

I have just seen on BBC News Online that Rally GB is going to stay in Wales for another 5 years:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4249218.stm

IMO Rally GB should be the Rally of Great Britan, not the Rally of South Wales, its a real shame that the classic stages in North Wales, Kilder, the Lake District and North Yorkshire are not used by the world greatest rally drivers ever year.

I thought GB was Scotland, England and Wales ?

if it was "World Rally Championship: Rally of ENGLAND" then i would give it to you but seing as wales is apart of GB.

IMO the GB should just be greatfull that they have a Round of the WRC

richard_sykes · 15 Sep 2005, 15:37

Why spread it over the country. More people have been going.

rdjones · 15 Sep 2005, 15:41

I can well remember the days when the RAC (sorry it will also be the RAC in my eyes) used to have the Sunday Stages around Clumber Park, Chatsworth, Rother Valley, Sutton Park etc before moving on to Kilder and South Scotland, and then down to Wales or North Yorkshire, which is a real Rally of Great Britan. I those day's I understand up to a Million people used to turn out and watch the rally.

Not the current format which at the end of the day is made for TV, expect the highlights of this year's rally here in the UK are tucked away well after midnight.

**BertMk2** · 15 Sep 2005, 15:51

Ah - Chatsworth! That always used to be on the TV didn't it? (Good stuff too

) Although the longer more spread out version of the rally was great I can understand why they do the shorter more localised events now. The single service area makes things easier for the teams and there's also a lot less overall mileage on the event - there's far less road mileage for the crews as the stages aren't so spread out.

The WRC is now a semi-sanitised form of rallying with stages purely for the benefit of the casual observer (super specials, viewing areas). I'm not totally against that as it does make the sport more accessible to joe public but for the die-hard rally fan it has lost some of its shine.

rdjones · 15 Sep 2005, 16:04

I can see where you are coming from BertMk2 I really can. I just think that the world championship should be a test for man and machine, which I do think the current event's are.

Looking at this weekend's event there is only 17 stages, 6 tomorrow, 7 on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. back in the good old day's they used to do 15/16 stages a day during the event and at times of the day and night, where as on this year's event the action doesn't get underway on Saturday morning until about 10.30.

redshoes · 15 Sep 2005, 17:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by rdjones

IMO Rally GB should be the Rally of Great Britan, not the Rally of South Wales

It's a much used if somewhat incorrect arguement. Rally Australia only visits a small corner of Australia, Rally Deutschland restricts itself to a small part of Germany, etc etc. Why then should Rally GB be any different?

Given the modern WRC regulations the old RAC marathons are a thing of the past never to be repeated, aside from classic events like the Roger Clark Rally that is.

**silver bullet** · 15 Sep 2005, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshoes

It's a much used if somewhat incorrect arguement. Rally Australia only visits a small corner of Australia, Rally Deutschland restricts itself to a small part of Germany, etc etc. Why then should Rally GB be any different?

Given the modern WRC regulations the old RAC marathons are a thing of the past never to be repeated, aside from classic events like the Roger Clark Rally that is.

redshoes is quite correct the FIA want compact rallys, most of the other WRC's are based in the same area year after year. Did any othe area of the UK express an interest in staging the rally GB, if not then good luck to Cardiff for hosting in when no one else wants to.
That said I wish it was like the good old days travelling the country watching where you wanted not being shepherded into spectator pens, oh the classic stages Twiglees, Dalby, Grisedale, Hamsterly, Penmachno............ excuse me I've got a lump in my throat, roll on the Roger Albert Clark

ascarmarshal · 15 Sep 2005, 18:11

I can't understand why the MSA and the local organisers want to charge a firtune to watch and park. I went to the Rally Catalunya 2 years ago and evrything was free. Rip off Britain.

rdjones · 15 Sep 2005, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by silver bullet

redshoes is quite correct the FIA want compact rallys, most of the other WRC's are based in the same area year after year. Did any othe area of the UK express an interest in staging the rally GB, if not then good luck to Cardiff for hosting in when no one else wants to.

I can fully understand the reason's why the FIA want to have the "Spirit rallies" and not the classic endurance of years gone pasted and its a shame that they are now gone for ever. As for other places hosting Rally GB I remember reading a few years back that places like Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Blackpool all wanted to hold it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silver bullet

That said I wish it was like the good old days travelling the country watching where you wanted not being shepherded into spectator pens, oh the classic stages Twiglees, Dalby, Grisedale, Hamsterly, Penmachno............ excuse me I've got a lump in my throat, roll on the Roger Albert Clark

I'll be out and about on at least 3 days of the Roger Albert Clark and I can't wait, if it's anything like last year it will be fantastic.

Scottboyd · 16 Sep 2005, 11:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by redshoes

It's a much used if somewhat incorrect arguement. Rally Australia only visits a small corner of Australia, Rally Deutschland restricts itself to a small part of Germany, etc etc. Why then should Rally GB be any different?

Given the modern WRC regulations the old RAC marathons are a thing of the past never to be repeated, aside from classic events like the Roger Clark Rally that is.

Because Germany and australia have no semi independent countrys with their own parliements and laws making up the name germany or australia if it were called wales rally or rally wales I wouldnt complain. Its the same as the English who use the union jack as their national flag its just wrong and as for the numbers being up I rememer going to see it keilder and glentrool and up to aberdeen and ive never seen so many people at a rally(in wales there is more gatso's than people)

redshoes · 16 Sep 2005, 11:57

Doesn't need to be called the Rally Wales, it's the Rally GB because it's run in GB by the GB motorsports authority. Until such time as Wales gains full independence it's still part of GB.

It's like the F1 British GP, which only gets run in England. Should that be run at Pembrey and Knockhill as well?

Scottboyd · 16 Sep 2005, 12:24

No but I think there are better forrests on the north of England / south of Scotland

Svierge · 18 Sep 2005, 21:55

I'm not a regular visitor to the rally section, so hello people. My own 2p's worth is that I still won't be bothering to venture onto the RAC if they continue to hold it in a tiny corner of Wales, using only 9 different stages.

You guys have probably said all this before on here, but rallying for me used to be about heros driving incredible cars. My father used to take me to Weston Park on the Sunday 'Mickey Mouse' stages, then we went to Worcester (near my parents' home) to see them leaving service on Sunday night (standing with huge crowds on roundabouts), before heading out to Sweet Lamb on Monday where we'd pay £10 per car to get in and get as close as you possibly could to the action - along with thousands and thousands of similar bobble hatted loons. It was incredible. Now? Frankly, I don't want to spend a fortune and be herded around the place, watching at the unspeakably dull Walters Arena farce.

The RAC has become a pale imitation of itself - as has much of WRC. The 1000 Lakes is still very good, but that's about it. It's such a shame. In order to bring rallying to the masses the FIA has destroyed an incredibly popular sport.

When I was 8 I saw Hannu Mikkola driving a quattro on the '81 RAC. It made the ground shake and made a noise that I could scarcely comprehend. I wanted one. Now, at 32, there's a quattro on my drive and I'm still amazed that I have one every time I get in it. The other day I was sitting at some traffic lights next to a Peugeot 307 CC and pondered what had become of rallying. Doubt there are many 8 year old boys lusting after those...

Sorry about the above rant, which deviated wildly off topic, but the state of world rallying these days angers and saddens me so much.

GolddustMini · 18 Sep 2005, 23:10

i made that observation Svierge on friday, the forrests are littered with people wearing subaru and mitsubishi jackets, but no one wearing jackets emblazened with "Peugeot" or "Citroen" why? because theres a certain prestige in owning an impreza or an evo, that just doesnt come with the others. i bet 8 year old rally fans dribble at the thought of owning one of those, much like your Quattro dream. the Pugeot is an ugly thing and i cant stand Citroens. the architipal rally machines of the last decade and a half has clearly been the subaru impreza and Evos, as well as (for me anyway) the Ford escort - in the michelin malcolm wilson livery.

i dont honestly think the pugs etc will be remembered in the future, not in the same way as the group B monsters of the 80's, the minis and cortinas etc of the 50's and 60's and the escorts of the 70's i guess at the moment this era is summed up by the impreza's and the lancer evo's

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