brocks

iTrader: (3)

Anyone interested in a mini meet before the WRC Super Special Stage on Thursday night??

Am doing the cheapo £12 standing thing myself and wouldnt mind meeting up to travel into the event with a few more Scooby nutters......

Any suggestions for meeting times and locations more than welcome as I dont really know Belfast or my options too well LOL

windyboy

I'll be going straight from work as I just work around the corner from Ikea in the harbour estate, maybe if we all just meet up in the carpark at Ikea.

Windyboy.

PS I think I'm in the grandstand as the ticket was bought as a present as my birthday is on Sunday.

ulsterscooby

Im in the cheapo standing area too ikea sounds good we are going to have to be there early

bushiwarrior

im going too lets meet

Andy '00

Im in Grandstand and am taking a different car

bekee

whats this? never heard about this?

mad555

iTrader: (1)

Wouldnt risk leaving a lot of Imprezas sitting in a car park unsupervised.I to am in the grandstand and will be going in different car.

ulsterscooby

Must say the park and ride set up was second to none very secure and well lit

well done to the organisers

ulsterscooby

Its Rally Ireland Bekee the 1st time the world rally championship is being held in Ireland

Rally Ireland // Home Page

What is WRC?
Preparations for the hard-fought season begin months before the first rally. The governing body, the FIA, approves routes, stages and final locations of the 16 rallies around the world, and passes on a copy of the proposals to the manufacturers.

Each rally must allow two days for the reconnaissance (or recce), one day for technical checks (or scrutiny) and three days for competition. The rally is divided into three legs, and typically has between 15 and 25 special stages.

The manufacturer-backed factory teams will enter two or three cars each, and arrive on location weeks before the start of a rally for on-site preparation.

The competing World Rally Cars are seeded and start the event according to their ranking, with the leader of the Drivers' Championship setting off first. Often there are up to 90 cars taking part - the rest of the field made up of the Junior Rally Championship (smaller, lower-powered cars for younger drivers), or the Production Car World Rally Championship and private teams.

The Recce
Driver and co-driver familiarise themselves with the stages before the start of the event. They drive the leg in a standard road car (fitted with extra safety equipment) in the three days preceding the rally. It is here that the co-driver jots down detailed pace-notes for use on the stage itself.

The Stages
The special stages are the competitive sections of the rally - where the drivers and co-driver drive as fast as possible to achieve the quickest time. They take place on private roads or public roads, which are closed to the general public while the rally is in progress. A typical rally will have about 25 special stages over three days. The stages are linked by public roads - called road sections -on which competitors must obey all local traffic laws. Each day contains about 400km of driving - a third of which are the competitive special stages. Stages vary in length from five to 60km, with the cars' times being recorded after each stage to the tenth of a second.

The Clock
Forget about 'first across the line'. WRC cars do not race directly against each other. They compete against the toughest opponent of all - time. Cars start at one or two minute intervals, racing against the clock and their times are monitored and entered into the FIA computer. Unless they run into trouble, rivals rarely see each other during a stage. At the end of an event, the driver who has taken the least amount of time to complete all the stages is the winner.

The Points
Results achieved during each of the 16 rallies count towards the two FIA world championships - one for the drivers and one for the manufacturers. Drivers get 10 points for coming first, eight points for second place, six points for third, five points for fourth, four for fifth, three for sixth, two for seventh and one for eighth. A manufacturer can add up the points tally from two nominated cars.

The Time Controls
A rally itinerary is governed by a strict timetable. Drivers get time penalties for being late (or early!) to clock in to the start of the special stage and at the entry and exit of service parks. Late arrival at these controls is typically penalised with 10 seconds on every minute over and is added to the overall time of the driver. Drivers can be excluded from a rally if they are 15 minutes late for a time control, 30 minutes late for a leg or 60 minutes for an entire rally.

The Service Parks
After each group of stages is completed, the cars can visit a designated service park where repairs may be carried out by the teams under strict supervision during a 20-minute time period. At the end of each day the crews are allowed a longer 45-minute period to work on the cars before they are locked away in the guarded 'parc fermé' until the following morning's restart. Crews are punished with time penalties for exceeding these allotted times.

mad555

iTrader: (1)

Heard the buses was a bit of a ***** up,was talking to a chap who had to get a taxi up(and down again after) from Ikea.Can believe the organisers didnt think the buses would be a problem at rush hour.