I first followed the event around the country back in 1988. I remember staying in a B&B in deepest Cumbria. I had to drive down a track and open three gates to the farm where I spent a comfortable night and enjoyed a cooked breakfast for the princely sum of £6.50. Many people feel that the current WRC event has been sanitised, which it has to a degree but as SDMC has always been involved in organising events perhaps it will be possible to appreciate why this change has been necessary. Recent events on WRC rounds have shown the massive accidents that can take place and that stages have been cancelled on safety grounds.
When you watch the in-car footage it appears that the spectators are few and far between but the designated areas were a way back from the track. Once the 000 car had opened the stage the new rules dictated that no spectators were allowed on the live stage. This was an excellent idea after the mountain biking you get on the Sunseeker stages and the video camera brigade on the Spotted Dick and Custard standing in hazardous places.
I have visited special stages in 1991 (Chatsworth) and 1993 (Donnington) and followed the event again in 1997/1999. Consequently I have never managed to get used to the most recent sponsor Network Q, although who will supply course cars in 2003 for the Rally of Wales GB I don’t know?
I have always harboured a desire to marshal on this event and left the decision fairly late this year. The first thing I discovered was that you had to be licensed by the MSA to participate. The MSA had run a number of training seminars over the summer and after the Spotted Dick & Custard stages we were given details of a training weekend at Rushmore on same weekend as the Brighton Speed Trials so missed it.
I managed to gain a fast track entry to Grade 1 and my friend Tim was graded as a 2. I have extracted a guide to how this all works and this should be included as separate article either in this or a later Acorn. Our thanks go to Andy Elcomb and to Mike Farnworth of the BRMC for their help in this process.
We chose only to marshal on the Saturday and Sunday and were told that they needed people on Resolven for both days. This stage is the longest of the rally (at about 38 miles) and is the closest you will get to Killer Kielder in Wales. Our MSA Licences turned up on the Thursday before the event but no passes or final instructions (so just like Longcross then???). A couple of frantic calls to the stage commander and we got the map refs for the entrance to the stage and the stage start. One slight drawback was that signing on was from 8pm to 4am on the Friday night/Saturday morning.
We arrived at the stage start to find that we were not down on the signing on sheet but were allocated post 19 – a medium speed left-hander halfway into the stage. Driving my new company car - a Jeep Cherokee we made good progress into the stage (by now it was gone midnight) until we missed the split at junction 12 going left instead of right in the fog and ending up at junction 22. We were amazed to see how rutted the track was bearing in mind that the stage would host 75 cars on Saturday and the remaining 55 on Sunday plus all the FIA, gravel crew and safety cars before it was done. We parked up at our post, it having taken us about 25 minutes to reach it, as 30mph seemed fast and 40mph was insane. We later found out that most of the saloon cars took the best part of an hour due to their low ground clearance to reach the post.
An early wake up at 5am with 15 gravel cars and about a dozen Fronteras signalled the start of our day. Sleeping in the car had had no adverse effects.
We found ourselves amongst a large contingent of Sutton and Cheam members who had marshalled at Brechfa on the day before. As you know SS4 was cancelled due to spectator safety issues. Despite the designated viewing areas some spectators managed to find their way into a box junction. There was an incident in which a car still managed to touch a spectator who was knocked to the ground. He complained his leg felt strange and the stage was stopped whilst a rescue unit attended. Once he was examined no bruising or other damage could be found but a damp knee on his trousers. Due to the stoppage, which was approximately 20 mins, some spectators got restless and went for a walk on the still live stage. No closing car had been through at this time. When the marshals asked these punters to move, allegedly one punched a marshal. Naturally this concluded the stage and consequently no refund to the people who had paid £20 per person to be there. Well no such problems on Saturday in Resolven fortunately.
Having seen WRC cars previously on events like the Sunseeker & Kent, all I can say is it was akin to watching a 12 car then seeing real rallying. The likes of McRae and Burns wringing the last ounce of speed out of their cars and the smell of lightly warmed WRC car is like nothing else. Gwyndaf Evans was incredible in his British car (better than anything the Germans could offer on this event eh Sam?).
After Resolven we went to Felindre (the service park). We did some car parking duties and then managed to look after the Ford Service Area as they all came in for the final service before the Super Special. Gone are the days that crews charge around the countryside in Transits loaded with tyres and jerry cans on the roof. WRC events dictate that there is one central service area. Colin McRae is quoted in this weeks MN as saying he is in favour of this idea but would like to see some tyre change and re-fuel only service points in order to extend the range of the rally. During the free time we had we watched the Citroen crew re-prepare Radstrom’s car and fit a new engine so McRae could test it on the following Monday. We also saw MSD repair Schwarz’s Hyundai including panel beating and respraying the rear ¼ panel that had been affected by the fire, which had caused his earlier retirement.
Sunday began at 2.30am when we left our hotel in Caerphilly to drive the 40 odd miles to the stage. Today I was the Sector Marshal for post 19 in charge of 4 marshals, which was all good experience.
The day didn’t bode well when the radio car (essential anywhere there are spectators) had to move to the next post. We managed to get his mobile phone number off of him as we still had a signal remarkably in the forest on ours but did not need it in the end.
We had a few spectators trying their luck but once we explained that we had been asked to keep them behind the tape and that we didn't want the stage to be stopped they took heed. The only verbal exchange was between a guy with a camera who had a media pass but no tabard but refused to show it. There were also a couple of French fans that thought they could go where they wanted but after the third time of asking they finally got the hint.
All in all it was a very enjoyable day. As the first car came through at 7.56am it seemed strange to be going home at 9.30am!!
I have always felt that after being a marshal (Brands 1988-1992) and latterly competing, spectating anywhere is far too clinical and you need to be involved. So maybe there will be an MSA safety night one evening at the Bell and SDMC will be represented en-mass in 2003.