for those that dont yet know, most of the drivers got points and fines yesterday from last years rally. However, 4 got banned for 6 months as well, they were:
Kris Meeke
Armin Schwarz
Freddie Loix
Daniel Carlson

its absolutely f@cking pathetic if you ask me, the wankers that enforced this should have there privvy parts removed and burned in front of them. (oh yeah - then they should be hung drawn and 1/4)

I thought Meeke got banned for 1 year?

I dont think so. The area that they were speeding ois a quite viallage with lots of children. One rule for all I say. Once I can see your point but they were caught up to seven times.

The cars were caught before they drove into the village Sarah, not while they were in it!

As for one of them being caught seven times, why was this allowed to happen? If they were causing a danger to local old folk and kids, why didn't the cops flag them down the first or second time they were caught?

As for Meeke, it is a 12 month ban, not 6...

[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/11/2003 3:23:31 PM]

Chris Meeke did get banned for 1 year. It was Freddy Loix that was caught 7 times. They were all caught going through a village halfway through the shakedown section. The shakedown section was split into two. There was a 2 mile off road section then the drivers had to use the road to get to the forest section and that is where they got caught. Loix got something like a £1500+ fine
and 6 month ban driving in the UK. Nice eh?

I can smell Bacon cooking again!

Regards, Alistair

How can you defend the drivers, some nearly double the 30 limit in a small village location???

They broke the limit and were dealt with in the proper manner - no excuses at all. The road sections are timed specifically to ensure the average speed is well below the limit moreso on the shakedown as there is no need to be rushing anyway.

Nice one map man

I agree many time sover the speed limit is not good, but why didn't the police help the drivers instead of trying to cash in on them. If it is a question of safety, is not prevention better than a cure, will they help them to get there safely next year or stand there with a speeding gun

you can't defend speeding at all....... but i liked the interview on the tv with Phil Mills....who said.......
"This rally is so important to the local area, it brings in millions of pounds not thousands to the local areas"......
Pity the old bill didn't think of that...... cause the news now is, we might not have a rally GB anymore.
The FIA are saying if the police don't think the local roads are safe to hold a rally, the rally GB will get the boot.
Thankyou South Wales Police........

As were talking about speeders, did anyone have a nice letter from South Wales Police this week? How many of you guys flew through Port Talbot's 50 mph speed limit to find one solitary speed camera at the end?

Nope :) Snooper helped us there :D

What makes me sick is the amount of money that they raised just from the speeding rally drivers. I think it was just under £7500.

A police spokesman also said that the mobile cameras from this years rally were not targeted at spectators or drivers. It was just like another day for them......... bollocks, absolute bollocks. On the A470 to get onto the M4 there were 2 cameras in a space of 5 miles! There's hardly ever a camera on that road and I use it every day. On the pissing M4 we counted in total 3 from Coryton to Margam Park. All of which were the mobile ones, not the stationary ones.

And as for the walk up that flaming mountain in Margam Park S2, well they could have warned us about the long walk. We were alright cus we left way too early but as the first car came round just after 1pm there were still people walking down it and were miles away. It wouldn't surprise me if half of them missed the stage. Anyway, had my moan, off out now.

You cant blame them for speeding for crying out loud they have just been going flat out on a stage!!!!

prepare to be ripped to bits!

These HIGHLY EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS who drive for a living in a state of the art car which could stop on a sixpence cannot actually see the speedo on most works cars, its a digital display in front of the co-driver. Dont know if this is the case for Chris Meekes car (suspect greasemonkey will tell me :-) )

BAN THE CO-DRIVER!!! :-)

Tommy Turbo you've got to be kidding. The Laws The Law whether your a top Rally driver( who must be said ought to know better and can lose not only his licence but his income) or 95 yr old Ernie who uses his car once a week to drive to the supermarket a mile from home.

They ought to double the fines in my opinion as well as impose custodial sentences for the more serious offences such as driving at 135mph.

Glad I left my job in Wales, quite frankly.
Sorry to say it, but I hope the Rally has to move out of the area.

That's the only way there will be political pressure put on the local Police Force to start acting sensibly. I cannot for the life of me understand SOME of the sitings of the favoured Safety Camera Vans in Wales. This time it was absolutely blatant.

Sod em all. Move it to the Midlands /Cumbria / Scotland for a couple of years.

And one free smarties tube for Flat 4x4 !

Just a thought....

If Kris Meeke and Freddie Loix and the like that got 6-12 months Driving ban in the UK... I've been reading up on a few things...

If you get banned from driving in one EU country you cannot drive in any other EU country. And as the UK is part of the EU.... You get the idea. The monte is not 6 months away!!!!!! How are the drivers going to get between stages let alone get/renew a competition licence without a valid road licence?????

mmmmmmmmm.....

Yep but... is this not the country where everybody sweares this is not Europe ?

Every time I refer to Belgium, France, Germany etc, I am being told that is "Europe". When I say this is Europe too, I'm generally being shot at (even a policeman got angry at me once for that one !)...

So Meeke will suffer, the others will have the laugh of their life with those Welsh sods.

well every time i come to Wales there are speed cameras aimed at the rally spectators. i went to the Harry Flatters in the summer at Epynt and as soon as you come out back onto the normal raods the old bill were there with the speed guns...... The Bulldog the same........ and then i have been to events in the north of England and not seen a copper all weekend on the BRC rounds.
yes, it would be a shame if we loose the rally gb, but the only people to blame if we do lose it will be the old bill.
Every car driver in the world speed at some time or another and if they say they don't...... well they are liers.

johny_5 sorry m8 but you are a prize c0ck 5uck3r

wot a bunch of dickheads! if u got caught speeding but the car behind u didnt! how pi***d off would you be?

i know id be going mental! they know the laws of the road and whether the co driver could only see the speedo or not it doesnt matter!

they were speeding, they were caught! simple as! are they complaining about it? no! its the bunch of tossers that cant explore their machines capabilities on the main roads that are complaining!

ok the police may have over reacted, but i have never ever heard any1 moan about something soooo much when they cant change anything anyways!

they were caught on a section of 30 mph road that they would have been on for over a mile! people have died there and i for one fully back the police over that siting!

I think the thing that is getting on everyones tit$ is the fact the the cameras are set up in a way that they will maximise revenue not the fact that drivers were caught speeding.

I agree that if you are caught speeding in a dangerouse area or 30 mph zone then you kinda deserve it. If you miss a camera at the side of the road it could have been a kiddy or an oldy crossing etc.

Ask your selves this though, If they had a copper in high vis clothing where the camera was, do you think the drivers would have slowed down? I do.

They could have put a card board cut out of a traffic car where that van was for a fraction of the cost and it would have stopped speeding much than than a white or blue unmarked van sniping at cars from an unseen point.

On the roads one traffic car parked up or driving at the speed limit would have slowed traffic down or put ****$ up anyone speeding.

As g/monkey has already said, once through a camera in a thirty zone is dody enough if its deemed a dangerous place but to sit there and let cars pass up to 7 times is just plain and simple revenue grabbing entrapment.images/smilies/mad.gif

May be if we get away with it this year they should fit speed limiters to the cars like you get in pit lane use on touring cars etc. The drivers and co drivers should both be responsible for this and should be used in there route notes etc.

No excuses from anyone then.

Just my 10 bobs worth.

No doubt get my eyes gouged with a blunt stick but what the fcuk.
Ste.

p.s.

Big up the Northern Copper Traffic policy.

Still wont help move rally gb, wales gb though.

AWOOOOOOGA.

Anyone know the extent of spectators being busted?

I was kinda expecting the police to be out with there bloody radar guns so stuck almost religiously to the speed limit.

One thing I always notice on the Rally GB is that everyone (probably exceptions admitidly) drives very well & considerately. One example of many was last years Rally GB in a small convoy between stages driving a Golf VR6 with a Clio 172, scooby and a few others making good progress (not speeding by more than a few mph here and there) and not getting in each others way or upsetting other road users. It was like formation flying! Great stuff. Shame about the other 362 days of the year surrounded by inconsiderate w*nkers, tailgaters & people driving at 40 everywhere regardless of whether they're going past a busy school or on the M4!!!

Shame the police don't actually police anymore. It's just about revenue!

Benson.......chill...................you nob

Hi Johnny_5 ! Thought they'd banned you from this site with all the grief you've already given people here. Told you, this is not Greenpeace ! Go back to your woolen socks !

Anyway, on the ban, except that it's ridiculous, Loix, Schwarz and co won't have any problems since they're not English and hence can drive anywhere, except England... What's the problem ?

Agree with E-V-O VII. It was a very big coincidence they were hidden in so many places.

I also liked the remark in the press that it was all about "reduction of casualties"... Just wonder how many accidents there were with casualties amongst the rally-spectators (or crew) during the last 3 editions of Rally GB. Can anybody say ? One word: pissheads !

And Scoff couldn't be more right. This area just deserves to have the rally ditched and then they can cry for help from the EU again (because at that moment Rule Britannia is EU again...).



[Edited by kwispel - 11/12/2003 9:54:27 PM]

Kwispel/Scoff, you say the area "just deserves" to have the event taken away; but what makes you think it would be any different anywhere else?? Mobile speed cameras are not just confined to the South Wales area, the Think! campaign is a nation-wide objective and the cameras would follow the event even if it moved to another part of the country (which isn't goin to happen - so get over it).

[Edited by ReSoLvEn RFC - 11/12/2003 11:12:37 PM]