redwrx

Thank goodness it wasnt Mr Solberg (Subaru) that was done, or we could now have world war 3 on our hands.

tiggers

The more I think about it it's a pity they don't just take the rally off them altogether.

If the police and local officialdom are so obsessed with speed as to carry out this sort of entrapment then one can only assume that they don't really want rally cars and their fans invading their beautiful country.

If they really stand to lose £15 million out of the local economy because of it then something will be done.

tiggers.

Chip

For god sake stop whinging about it. You all knew last year and this that the police were going to be out in force trying to catch speeding cars.

As for the rally boys,well arent they supposed to be responsible drivers then? Of course they are.They were all notified of S.Wales police's intentions.

The one thing any major event has to do is to get joe public on its side when things like traffic congestion etc affect them.

When some ***** is shown on TV doing 135mph down a busy motorway in an EVO with a Scooby right up its **** then the public loses a little sympathy with the rally and sees it as a dangerous event rather than a competitive motor rally.

Believe me I am not sticking uo for the police in this matter.In fact I myself had a major run-in with a m/cycle pig on Sat pm on the A465 near Resolven.I have informed the Chief Constable of this as well.I await his response.

Chip.

Chris.Palmer

Slighty off topic but, are these cars - mot'd, taxed & insured to drive on public roads?

The_Gza

Looks like the whole issue might blow up in their faces after all...

greasemonkey

Yes in all three cases.

BTW, have you noticed the coded language in the FIA statement?

"The actions of the police and magistrates seem to indicate this is an exceptionally dangerous location for a rally".

In other words, "We don't think these roads are particularly dangerous, but the actions of the police and magistrates are blowing the entire thing out of proportion". It seems to be an attempt to bring pressure to bear for a change in enforcement policy, which will probably now happen, as the Welsh Assembly Government won't be keen on losing the revenue and prestige provided by theevent...

[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/11/2003 7:54:44 PM]

pugoetru

the police are t£ats these cars can stop quicker than anything they are likely to drive so if there was a problem the drivers would be able to cope at twice the limit never mind a few mph over it

the rally should just be moved elsewhere sod the sheep shagers


no offence meant to the sheep ******** on here

greasemonkey

Sorry, but this is irresponsible crap. The brakes on a WRC car range from totally useless when completely cold, to excellent when hot. If you happened to be pootling down a road section on cold brakes and something stepped out in front of you, there wouldn't be a lot you could do if something was coming the other way to prevent you dodging round it.

There is no excuse for rallycars to be bombing round at twice the posted speed limit, no matter what the inherent capability of the drivers or the cars. What should have been done in this case however was for measures to be taken to alert the drivers to the error of their ways as soon as it became obvious what was happening rather than leave it go on all morning. There's also the question of whether the drivers were actually aware of the prevailing speed limit.

Like where exactly? This speed enforcement policy would likely apply no matter where in the UK the event was held, so maybe you'd prefer not to have a Rally GB at all?




[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/12/2003 12:50:53 AM]

[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/12/2003 12:52:08 AM]

Daz34

Is it true that this is best done over a cliff so that the sheep pushes backwards????

greasemonkey

That joke is probably older than you are Daz.

Daz34

Makes me laugh though LOL

imprezza99uk

What i find funny is these group A rally cars cost around £500,000 to build so you would think they could stretch to a £200 radar detector for the road sections in-between stages especially with the highlighted clampdown on speeding before the rally

Crispin

welshy28 has it down to a pound...this is ALL ABOUT THE £....


For sure you can all do the Mr. Bean thing - AHA - he was speeding - whats the difference...He should get fined like anyone else, public road e.t.c t.e.t.c.....

1. Wheres your Technical Sense - the Carbon discs - will stop the car in less than half the normal times than the normal discs will......

2. The expertise behind the wheel will be FAR more likely to avoid the accident than you or I...........

3. People will KNOW that there is a WRC RALLY SHAKEDOWN going on, on this stretch of road, thus reducing SIGNIFICANTLY the potential pedestrian hazards.....

££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ £££££££
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ £££££££
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ £££££££

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

If this road is only 2 miles long and is a known shakedown route why do they not just close the road to the public for the duration, they have closed roads for a lot less. especially if this road is only 6miles long and goes into the woods, what are all these taffies doing going onto the woods anyway????

Or have I answered my own question by saying if they closed the road they would'nt be able to put a speed camera on it and get some well needed revenue.

Geddon

Totally agree with Wurzel- why not just close it?
After all Mr Blair seems quite happy to shut down half of London for that w*nker Bush visit

LIDDO

If Sheep could drive, they'd be the richest force in the land....barrrrrrrrrrrr none (Sorry, I'll get me coat)

Matt Classic

Anyone know what happened to the guy doing 135 in the Evo ?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

how was I supposed to know it was a through road? it say it is 6 miles long 2 on the road and 4 in the forest, I am not welsh and have never been on this road and probably never likely to after this bollox has subsided-.

johnfelstead

Sorry, but that is simply not true for a WRC car, race cars yes, WRC cars absolutely not. The compounds used do work very well from cold, they have to due to the fact before every stage they sit in a queue waiting to start for at least 15 minutes. If it were true then the cars wouldnt be able to go flat out from the start of the stage, but would have to tootle around for a mile getting the temperature up. Hence why the rally cars used completely diferent brake pad compounds to the race cars. Also, the Mui rating of the pads is much higher than any normal road homologated pad even when stone cold, yes they get better with heat, but to be allowed to be used on the road sections the pads have to at least match OEM spec capabilities from stone cold, add to that the size increase and clamping force increase and you have much shorter stopping distances. You also have very sophisticated transmition systems that balance the brake force to maximise retardation, for example the brake bias on a WRC impreza is not adjusted via the master cylinders, it is adjusted using the front/centre/rear diff lock ratio. This is far more efective than any ABS system yet invented.

Sorry to **** on your bonfire as i have seen you post this all over the place, but its technically incorect.

johnfelstead

they do great in the corners too, even on tarmac with gravel tyres.

Dream Weaver

erm, like back up to Kielder forest and Cumbria. The North Yorks and Northumberland police are much nicer than the Welsh lot.

This is all silly, yes they were speeding, but it was a 2 mile stretch of road between stage and shakedown on the weekend of a major WRC event. Hardly likely to be kids playing there, or horses prancing along, and the "general public" should know to stay away in case of danger.

To me its just typical PC Britain, ban anything thats fun, make money from speeders and employ coppers to sit behind laser guns all day whilst people are mugged and burgled. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Dream Weaver

greasemonkey, you are on about hoe the rally has to work with the locals, thats rubbish. Surely the £15m in revenue will make the locals more than happy.

If I had to choose between £15m for my local economy, or 3 days if "possible" interuptions by a small road being closed, then there would be no competition.

You make it sound like Wales is doing the WRC a favour, i doubt that very much, having been to Wales once

PeterPerfect

Good stuff John
I think this is a lesson to others about the need to research a subject before making statements

greg.g

I think that whats needed here is a little bit of a compromise.
Yes, if joe public or mr rally driver are endangering life, they should be done by the police
But if they are a few miles per hour over the limit, but otherwise, driving in a safe manner, perhaps a little word in there ear might be sufficient.
The thing where Freddy Loix is concerned, could not have been about endangering life. If he had been, wouldnt it have been the
police officers duty to pull him over, once he had already been seen on 3,4 etc,etc occasions. They got him 7 times in one morning

In contrast, has anyone seen the actions of the police on the isle of man during the tt fortnight.
All sorts goes on in douglas at night from wheeles to naked biker babes
As long as no one other than themselves is at risk, the police turn a blind eye.

They come from all over the world to spectate and take part in the tt races.

Perhaps something could be learned


Greg

Dream Weaver

grease, you can say that about anything.

Why have pubs when people get drunk in them, then end up fighting and disturbing the neighbourhood?

Why allow people to drive powerful cars on the roads etc etc

r32

The whole idea is to reduce the danger to the general public by speeding vehicles. The best way to do this is to stop the offenders and tell them about the error of their ways. Then the other thing is to stick an unidentifiable van with a camera and generate revenue, not tell any one for days, so they dont slow down but you do clock up the fines. This just pisses people off and there is no (or little change in behaviour),
In this case a Bobby should have been stationed on this stretch of road day 1 clocking them with a radar gun and warning them to slow down or face prosecution. I would guess after that no problems.
Why cant the Bill apply a little common sense?

johnfelstead

there is no money in common sense.

boomer

FFS,

have any of the "do gooders" been to the Isle of Man - even outside of the TT event???

Exceeding the speed limit is not a problem, but being a dork is!!!!

Wales (police) - shame on you

mb

greasemonkey

The answer to that one is simple, they're not allowed to carry any such equpment, specifically prohibited in the event regs.

As the management vehicle isn't supposed to come within a kilometre of the rallycar, you can't really use them as a point patrol either, although some crews do it.

[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/12/2003 1:05:37 AM]

greasemonkey

What on earth are you gibbering on about? Rallycars don't have carbon brakes, the discs are metal, and as I said earlier, they don't work properly unless they're hot due both to the lack of servo-assistance and the pad compound used (something any roadcar drivers with experience of "race" type pads would already know).

It doesn't matter how skilled the driver, there's no excuse for them to be driving irresponsibly on the public road. It scares the locals and that results in the local councillors asking for the rally to be moved elswhere. The rally needs to work with the local population, not treat them as an inconvenience or an enemy.

What on earth are you talking about? The local residents should be able to go about their business as normal, without worrying about rally traffic zooming past their front gate. There's a duty on the rally organisers and the competitors to inconvenience the locals as little as possible, and under ideal conditions they shouldn't even need to be aware that the rally is even in the area. That includes the competitors driving responsibly when on the public road.

Because even road closures don't stop the local residents getting in and out, or the local kids playing in the street. As for closing it on the event, that's not possible as it's used for spectator access to one of the car parks.

What on earth are you talking about? It's a through road, not a dead end that goes into the forest as you seem to be assuming. The locals use it to get from one place to another. The piece of road in question connects three or four villages together. It doesn't "go into" the forest, it runs alongside it and there are a number of entrances to Rheola on it.

No, you're missing the point. If they closed the road there'd still be a need for the rally drivers to drive carefully, as the residents would still be there, and in any case a road closure wouldn't be possible as it's a spectator route.


[Edited by greasemonkey - 11/12/2003 2:00:25 PM]