Share your best experiences here :)

I remember leaving a brand new pair of trainers on the roof of our car at Margram park and then driving off! in 2002.
Meeting Sebastian Loeb when he was just a s1600 prodigy in Cardif at the parc ferme was also a great memory (you dont get that in f1!)

Last year, following Loeb down the M4 in my Land Rover (ragging the ar$e off it!). :cool:

Also last year, on friday night in the forest at Brechfa. We're sitting making a cup of tea (gone midnight) when a small newish looking hire van comes flying past doing easily over 70mph (on mud with road tyres).

I look at my mate and we both go "he was going a bit quick wasn't he?", seconds later there's a fcuking huge bang from round the corner and a big cheer. We leg it round the corner and the van's gone strait on at a bend in the track. He's gone off the track, between 2 cars (parked barely a cars width apart) and hit a tree/ditch stoving the front in. :rolleyes:

It was quite funny at the time, but could have been nasty. Fortunately no-one was hurt. Muppet!

Oh yeah, and sticking an Air Bomb inside a massive pumpkin was a giggle. Cue a huge bang and big chunks of pumpkin raining down all over the place! :D

Having a two handed wave off Tommi Makkinen driving down the M4 towards Cardiff!!! And we thought we were the loonies.....:cuckoo:

Where to start,
86, thanks for he 6R4 strut, got to close when a strut was being changed,the just lobed it behind him right onto my foot.
92- Pundershaw at night- thanks for the guy who was stood on the bend, and fell in the stream, every tourch around shone on him, he did take a bow.
93-The snow ball fight on the corner in scotland( well borders)
Oh and thanks for cancelling the hamtserly Forsest, we woke frezzing in a foot of snow-said na! but luckly it was off.
Carlise service was good, got right up to the chaps band had a chinwag with Dye LLLLLLLLLLLLwellin and Tony Mason( grumpy twat).
2002- cardiff giving some porn star tips to Nicky Grist, because he said he was going into TV.

2001, ragging the Love Bus around a stage, because this was the only way out- carpark blocked again. Stoped half way round and handed the beers out to the Mit****bisi drivers who had stuffed the car down a cliff.
98- enjoyed having to navigate our way around the A470 which WAS TURNED INTO A CARPARK through the mountains away from devils bridge.
To many to list really-its not just the cars but every thing that makes a rally!

Hearing Colin McRae coming through the forest for the first time ever...awesome.

Driving down the track off of the shakedown stage at Rheola and being overtaken by Colin McRae going at warp factor in his Focus WRC :eek:

Trying to get to Sweet Lamb in the traffic chaos of '99 and, on hearing it was closed diverting off to Myherin, then walking for ages, clambering down a long, very, very steep bank through lots of trees to get a fantastic spot, feeling smug, watching the first few cars in the dark then realising that Colin McRae's headlights were facing skywards - d'oh, crash, stage closed, pitch black, no torch, bugger, started raining stair-rods and continued all the way back to the car.

My fondest memories though are of paying a few quid to get in the car parks and going anywhere we liked ;) :D

LAST YEAR RACING COLIN DOWN THE DUEL LANE EXIT TO HALFWAY, JUST NUDGING AHEAD THEN HE,D FLOOR IT. BOTH HIM AND DERICK WAVING AS WE PASS HIM AGAIN THEN HE PULLS AWAY. THEN SEEING THE WORRIED LOOK ON THERE FACE AS THEM NUTTERS IN THE ASTRA ARE STILL THERE, WITH CAMCORDER RUNNING. LATTER SEEING HIM AGAIN DO A FULL 180 HANDBRAKE IN FRONT OF US AFTER TAKING A WRONG TURN ON THE WAY FROM RESOLVEN!

some good stories ! I just love the atmosphere of Rally GB seems to get better every year

the one year it sweet lamb when there was a "firework" fight<<<NUTTERS!!!!..and the awesome reaction when McCrae came into the "bowl"...you couldnt hear the car for air horns/cheering,and also when the minis came through.
2002 when me and my mmate walked into cardiff city hall,undetected and bumping into mcrae/makkinen/sainz etc......cool that was.
i could carry on........Tez
oh yeah and the minty lamb burgers from them vans..YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

My first rally! Network Q 97, Margam Park, Final Stage, Colin McRae in 555 Subaru WRC...awesome! Been hooked since!!

WGR

1991 was a good year, stuck in traffic between pundershaw and kershope when carlos goes flying past in is celica 1 min later i saw in my rear view mirror a lancia delta trying to do the same but a car was coming the other way,it pulled in behind me at warp factor 9 breaked and stoved into my rs 2000 pulled over and juha got out of the car could not beleave it offered to pay for the damage exchanged details he sighed my crumpled o.s.r put the remains of his lamp pod in my boot and he shot off (then went on to win the event )
96, - god nows what in pundershaw (slept over night in car ) at the bottom of snow coverd field watching people donut there imprezas. only to wake up with this big german bloke shining is 10kv torch in everyones cars funny thing was in the morning we saw him walking to the stage , go arse over tit on the black ice and split his head open (what a cheer from everyone) pushed ari vatanen out of that stage as well !
he went out with a broken wheel (1st stage of the event that year i think)

2002 Margam. Standing on a hillside about half a mile out of the park. Really sunny weather, long yellowy grass with the sun shining from behind the hill. Burns f*cks up at Margam gate (or is it post?) and backs into the shrubbery. A few mins for the word to get around that Burnsie is off, cue literally THOUSANDS of speccies seemingly out of nowhere swarming over the hill through the grasss. A Welsh chap stood next to us hit the nail on the head (in a strong south wales accent) "Its like a scene out of f*cking Zulu!!" LOL He was spot on! I'll never forget that :D

Martin

Memories memories.

@I am tez - I was at the Sweet Lamb firework fight too. It was really funny at first, but started to get a bit out of hand. Luckily I was on the higher side of the hill, things seemed safer up there.

Other highlights were watching an amazing Alistair McRae roll mid stage in Crychan - and then walking home with a piece of luminous yellow bumper.

I also remember someone filling a porta-loo with fireworks at Margham (at the bit where they come out of the forest and into the park). There was the biggest bang EVER, followed by plumes of smoke - and a huge cheer from the cloud.

I also remember all night fireworks at Resolfen two years ago, and arctic coldness at the forest section of Sweet Lamb in 2001.

can anyone remember how cold it was in wales in 93 ?
carparks were that frozen the car kept sliding with the handbrake on
fun watching the cars going broadside down the straights on the black ice though

Can't remember the exact years but :

Marshalling on Clumber Park, looking down the approach of the stage and waiting for all the cars to negociate the 90 left to come towards us and seeing McRae's Legacy go flying past the corner at speed and a rather loud crash followed by a huge cheer as he demolished the bus stop/shed on that corner. The second running of that stage a few minutes later showed us just what kind of unbelievable speed Mr McRae was capable of.

The year after marshalling on the exit of a fast right hander a little after the bridge on Clumber again and Colin coming screaming round the corner at a ridiculous speed and an impossibly sideways angle, that's the closest I've ever come to soiling myself on a rally.

93 - Marshalling on a stage in Scotland when it was very, very snowy most of the top cars tip-toed through without much of a problem but then the flow of cars started to dry up, we then got a call from the marshalls on the other side of the valley. When we went over there it became apparent that the competitors were struggling to make it up the long hill, we spent the next few hours trying every possible technique for getting a car up a hill on sheet ice, we were starting to feel the cold befoer that but we were certainly warmed up afterwards. Best part of the experience was when my mate sprawled himself on the bonnet of one of the cars to help it get traction and the driver then using the opportunity to drive all the way to the top of the hill with my rather nervous friend hanging on for dear life. He was nearly as white as the snow when he walked back down to us.

Waiting on Hamsterley for several hours for the cars to turn up then watching all the top guys go through, as we made our way back to the car the call came out from the watersplash that Carlos Sainz was coming and running late. I had seconds to reach into my pocket and grab my camera, pressing the button as soon as it left the confines of my coat I got the most amazing close-up picture of Sainz and Moya in action inside the car.

Driving over a cattlegrid near Grizedale and then watching all four Wheel trims of the car casually overtake us on either side.

Meeting Petter Solberg in the Service Park last year, what a top bloke.

Holding up quite a few spectators on the exit of a car park as my car struggled for traction up what I assumed was a very icy hill, it wasn't until I turned the corner halfway up and the sun stopped shining on the instrument panel that I realised the handbrake was still on and I'd been dragging the rear of the car for several hundred metres. I've never lived that one down and perhaps rightly so :)

YEAH BEEN FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS AND GETTING THE EVENT PASS THIS YEAR.
2000- RACINNG FROM SCHOOL IN MY DADS M8S VAN WITH THEM GOING TO SEEN THE EVENING STAGE IN MARGAM. THE SMELL THE ATMOSPHERE. AMMAZING.
2001- WATCHING THE STAGE IN MARGAM SITINNG ON A HILL SURROUND BY THOUSANDS OF RALLY FANS. SEEING AURIOL CUTTING A HAIR PIN AND SLIDING ROUND IT BACKWARDS.
2002- WALKING FROM PORT TALBOT ON MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND TO TOP OF MARGAM. AND WATCHING THE RALLY CARS AND SEEING COLIN MCRAE UP CLOSE DRIVING IT WAS A DREAM.
2003- ME AND 2 M8S GOING FOR SATURDAY, WAKING UP LATE, THEN RACING TO CRYCHAN IN THE MK2 1988 POLO COUPE S. THAT THING WAS AMAZING. AT 6.00 IN MORNING GOING UP A ONE WAY STREET IN BRECON FINDING A SHORT CUT. THEN GETTING TO THE STAGE ON TIME AN LEADING A CONVOY OF CARS DOWN FORESTY ROADS. I SHOWED A SCOOBY WHATS A GD RALLY CAR RACING ALONG THE ROADS. THEN TAKING MORE SHORT CUTS AND SEEING THE MINI. WOT A CAR. THIS IS THE FAVOURITE YEAR. IAM ON MY OWN THIS YEAR AS MY BEST MATE IS TAKING HIS GIRLFRIEND TO UNI. I STILL HAVE FUN.
CUM ON SOLBERG.
IAM BLACK GOLF MK2 DRIVER WITH DENT COS SUM W**KER HITS ME TODAY.

i was at the rhododendrons in margam when burnsie stacked it in 2002, one second bout 10 peeps on the corner having a laugh next minute hundreds and i got on the tv :) saw myself stood on the bank from the incar view as he went off.

We were just around the corner out of sight of that, typical :rolleyes:

We were just around the corner out of sight of that, typical :rolleyes:

So was I.

:Suspiciou

I was a bit further up the track near the gateway in the stone wall that lots of drivers crash into. But none did while i was there.

:rolleyes:

I forgot my Burn's story as well. I was flooring my car between stages about 6 years back, as I was tight for making the next stage. The dreaded blue lights appeared behind me and my heart sank.

"Caught at 110mph plus, on rally weekend = ban", was the thought on my mind.

Dejected, I slowed and moved to the inside lane and was ready to stop in the next lay by....when......from nowhere Burns FLEEEEWWW past in his Scooby with another police escort on his tail. Turned out the first squad car was just there to 'clear' me, and all because Burns was running even later than me!

It was awesome!

The 2nd or 3rd year it was in Cheltenham we worked on the Racecourse stages in the morning and I was fixing an arrow on the entrance to the narrow section between bails with cars whizzing past me at full pelt. Had a phone call off a friend next morning to say he had seen me on the Top Gear update the previous evening and the commentator had said " Thank you Mr Marshal" . We then drove over to Sweetlamb and had electrical problems with my Sierra, had been awake for 27hours, arrived in Sweetlamb, signed on and partway through the stage my Elecectrics died on me. I had my dad in front of me with his trusty red nova and a friend behind in his XR2 giving me light to get me to the stage as it was now very earliy in the morning, it was lashing it down with rain, the screen was misting and I had an inch at the base of the screen to see where I was going. The first run through went OK until someone stuffed it into a tree and a spectator broke his leg, the second run through was cancelled so we headed home.

Also remember having a strip wash in Pundershaw at -7 degrees at the back of the car with people walking past wrapped up in jumpers, more jumpers, coats hats & gloves. MAD Oh yes!!!

strip wash lol deary me god bless travelodge ;)

When working on each day of the event in them days DanCov, travel lodge was out of the question!!! as the stages were so far apart. So strip wash just had to be done!

Got a bit lost last year looking for a stage carpark. Driving along we spotted a bit we recognised from the year before so we went that way, followed along some tracks thinking "not many spectators here yet" and ended up driving along a track that looked suspiciously like a special stage.

Came to a bend with loads of advertising boards on it and thought "oh $hit!" before quickly turning round and backtracking. :eek:

It was about an hour before the 1st car started that stage!

Quickly turning around :O

never ever go WD !!

First ever Rally GB (or motorsport spectating of any kind actually...) last year. So cool to see Tommi's (and Colin's?) last event, even cooler seeing the Mini's last event. Swapped some email with Neil Burgess after sending him a video of his mini, don't get to do that with F1 drivers!

Great seeing Petter win. Loved the feeling of anticipation in the early hours trying to find the stage, loved people waving at us from bridges, convoying with S1600's on the M4, blasting down back roads and miraculously not seeing a speed camera...

Have an Event Pass this year, but I'm going on my own and have left it late. So will be sleeping in my car instead of B&B...I know you lot seem to think this is a good idea, but I'm not quite convinced yet...

Steve

Anyway. Good stuff from last year -

http://www.giveitfish.co.uk/Misc/20031107_rallygb/halfway2_duval.jpg

http://www.giveitfish.co.uk/Misc/20031107_rallygb/service_solberg2.jpg

Not so good stuff...hopefully no repeat of the infamous Resolfen muppet parking this year?

http://www.giveitfish.co.uk/Misc/rallygb2003/resolfen2_parking.jpg

Stood at the water splash just after the forrest section at chatsworth in 95 just missed out on seeing gwyndaf evans roll his RS2000 after hitting a tree stump sideways he eventually made it to the water splash in what i can only say he was lucky to still be able to drive it at that point and when he got to the end of the stage he rolled it again...GREAT FUN.....FATBOB19722003.

Stood at the water splash just after the forrest section at chatsworth in 95 just missed out on seeing gwyndaf evans roll his RS2000 after hitting a tree stump sideways he eventually made it to the water splash in what i can only say he was lucky to still be able to drive it at that point and when he got to the end of the stage he rolled it again...GREAT FUN.....FATBOB19722003.


we was there then the crash happened outside the band stand were the road drops off, ran to see gwyndaf crash then 10mins later robbie head in is megane did the same thing right in front of us (did you see carlos bust his rad. in the watersplash ?)

we was there then the crash happened outside the band stand were the road drops off, ran to see gwyndaf crash then 10mins later robbie head in is megane did the same thing right in front of us (did you see carlos bust his rad. in the watersplash ?) I saw all cars go threw but don't remember carlos having probelms i was to buzy laughing at evans....fatbob19722003.

I saw all cars go threw but don't remember carlos having probelms i was to buzy laughing at evans....fatbob19722003.

his bumper pushed back and split his rad.
watched them fix it at the end of stage service in baslow

see gwyndaf crash then 10mins later robbie head in is megane did the same thing right in front of us

Iam getting old, but I thought this was 96 when Robbie rolled his megane.
The year when it was excluded from the world rally.