Somerset Stages

I had every good intention of heading to the Somerset Stages and really being on top of the results, starting order, retirements etc… I even brought my notepad and pen in an attempt to write up all the information to post on my blog. My attempts this weekend however were thwarted – but I wasn’t the only one to be pretty lost with the action in Minehead.

Having never been before I made sure to log onto the website beforehand to get some information on stage locations, times and car parking areas where I found out that there was only one stage that the organisers wanted spectators to watch from (something to do with the forestry commission and Exmoor National Park).
I also noticed on the website it said that the stage was a ten minute walk from the car park however there would be a ‘steep climb out’.
I’m not sure about you, but ‘steep climb out’ in a designated spectator stage means, to me, a little hill that you would get slightly out of breath on. Oh no, this was the side of a mountain. I actually saw one gentleman on crutches and I’ve no idea how he got back up to the car park. It was difficult enough for some of those who were relatively fit! I noticed many taking advantage of the strategically placed bench half-way up.

Picking our seat on the side of said mountain, it seemed that the organisers had also chosen the one corner of the entire rally with little to no sunshine – I like to think this is the reason my photos leave little to be desired… numb fingers.
They had also managed to chose an area within stage that contained a concealed marsh which one poor soul discovered much to the amusement of the rest of the gathered crowd after he (accidentally) ventured in and subsequently sunk and lost a shoe.

Soon enough the cars were gracing the stage and while I absolutely adored watching them I found the whole thing completely confusing, Maybe it’s because I’m too used to following the rigid structure of the WRC and IRC – most probably – but even my dad (who had competed on these stages back in the 80’s) found it somewhat disjointed.

This stage (in Chargot Woods) had previously been run in the morning and was to be run twice that afternoon. But instead of running completely through the order and then starting all over again it seemed the runners started as and when the got to the start-line after the first pass. Even the commentator was slightly lost by the whole set-up.
Some cars even passed up by with him having ‘no idea who the hell’ they were!
Obviously this meant following the actual results became impossible (especially with no phone/3g signal but that‘s hard enough in the local supermarket so I‘ll ignore that!)

However you can’t take away the fact that the action itself was great and it was a fabulous day out. And I did get some (pretty bad) pictures, don’t worry though I’m not thinking of taking up photography full time! 😉

3 Power Stages down – how well is the concept working?

It doesn’t take a lot to see that the World Rally Championship can be a difficult sport to first discover having fallen out of favour with mainstream media over the years. So it came as no surprise when it was announced last year that new measures would be implemented this year in an effort to push the sport to new audiences. And one of the best ways to achieve this is through live stages.

The Intercontinental Rally Challenge has successfully managed this for the past few years. Tuning into Eurosport earlier this year the prestigious Rally Monte Carlo had extensive live coverage which other sporting fans, who may not have even seen a rally car on TV before, could easily stumble upon while checking the schedule and waiting for the tennis, football, snooker etc…

This year the introduction of the live televised Power Stages mean that the WRC is heading in the right direction in terms of exposure – although on a pay-only channel, the inclusion of it at all on British TV is quite an achievement.

Three of these such stages have been completed (Gustavors in Sweden, Guanajuato in Mexico and Santana de Serra in Portugal) so now is the perfect time to analyse how this addition is really affecting the rally and the overall spectacle.

The Power Stage is the last of the rally and offers an extra 6 points to the top three finishers (3 points for 1st place, 2 points for 2nd place and 1 point for a 3rd place stage finish) therefore giving anyone needing or wanting a points top-up an extra incentive to attack the stage. It also means that any drivers who have suffered set backs, and who’re running well down the order, have the opportunity to bag some much needed points.

Of the three stages we have seen live so far Portugal’s Santana de Serra was the longest by quite a margin, a total 31.04kms, while Sweden’s and Mexico’s stages were 3.16km and 8.28km respectively.

Run slightly different to the rest of the rally weekend, in which road position is decided on previous days’ order, the Power Stage is started in a reverse top 20 order to add an extra element of anticipation as the leading drivers come through faster towards the end. Beating previous splits and smashing overall stage times.

But has it provided the excitement and spectacle we had all hoped for? Yes, because as rally fans any live coverage is bound to be exciting. To see drivers like Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg driving on the limit through a tough stage only to be beaten live on air by Sébastien Loeb is without a doubt great to watch. The driver’s reactions in these situations are also brilliant to see.
In Sweden we saw an unprecedented move (in modern day rallying at least) by Chris Patterson who piloted Solberg’s car after a speeding incident on a road section a few days before – thrilling to watch – and some seriously on the edge driving in the high altitude of Mexico has left this live stage of each rally a definite to watch.

There is however potentially one downside to the Power Stage which Mikko Hirvonen has pointed out.
By the end of the penultimate stage the overall rally result has pretty much been decided and with this being the case the top drivers are unlikely to be pushing quite as hard as those playing catch-up – which could make this stage slightly subdued over the coming months when consistent overall finishes become even more vital. Hirvonen has suggested finishing the rally on the previous stage (handing out the overall rally points here) and leaving the Power Stage separate to encourage drivers to fully attack for the extra points.

This would definitely provide a more competitive stage but won’t work in the favour of those lower down the order who have nothing to lose and all to gain while chasing these crucial extra points.

Personally I have enjoyed the Power Stage’s a lot. I think it adds a different element to the rally weekend and that can only be a good thing. But I’d like to know your opinion, do you agree with Hirvonen about changing the format? Or should it remain as it is? Is the WRC heading in the right direction with this live stage inclusion?

Rally Sweden Day 3

New season, new challenges, new drivers, new cars. Rally Sweden marked the start of a brand new era in the World Rally Championship. Gone are the the days of the C4 and Focus as this weekend we welcomed the DS3 and Fiesta in to the arena, with the Mini Countryman arriving later this year.

And with the excitement of days one and two, day three looked to be just as promising – thankfully it didn’t let us down. Mikko Hirvonen was first to take to the roads. While many thought this road sweeping position would hinder him, overnight plummeting temperatures seemed to help him find the speed somewhere as he set the fastest time in all three of the morning’s stages, enough to take the rally win. Mads Østberg followed him closely with top three finishes in 5 out of the 6 stages. Ultimately though this wasn’t enough to fully challenge Hirvonen but a hugely successful debut with the Stobart M-Sport WRT gaining him his first podium.

Jari-Matti Latvala finished the day strongly making his way up to the final podium position. Securing a Ford 1-2-3.

By far the most exciting aspect of the day was the introduction of the live Power Stage. Held on the short 4.16km Gustavsfors stage this was to be broadcast live around the world. Run in reverse rally order, Monster’s Ken Block was the first to tackle the stage – although finishing almost 17minutes off the pace overall Block, who has never driven using studded snow-tyres, was extremely ‘stoked’ to have made it to the end of Rally Sweden… almost incident free.

However the biggest shock of the day came in the shape of Petter Solberg. Or should that be Chris Patterson? After a quick set of stage times on Friday, Solberg was caught using that speed on a public road between stages. This run in with the Swedish police left him with only a 48hr temporary license which, unfortunately for him, expired just before the live Power Stage. But not to fear co-driver Patterson was on hand to take the reigns and complete the rally. Of course this time was well off the pace, in fact it was last, but considering he is the co-driver and has never driven the DS3 this was an incredible sight to behold. A huge smile at stage end and a well deserved 5th place overall for the Petter Solberg WRT.

Taking home the extra points from the Power Stage were Sébastien Ogier (who has had a solid rally with very few mistakes and some stunning stage times), Sébastien Loeb (although he did have to push his car away from the finish line) and Jari-Matti Latvala (who managed to tear off goodness knows how many bumpers and still set a blisteringly fast pace at times). Each take home 3,2 and 1 points respectively.

Now the WRC circus moves to Mexico – with much warmer weather guaranteed. If Sweden is anything to go by we’re in for one of the most cracking years in recent memory.

Rally Sweden Day 2

Sébastien Loeb fought to reduce his deficit during day two of Rally Sweden, after leg one left him over two and a half minutes off the pace. Not having to clear the roads for others Loeb managed 4 stage wins however he was still dogged with problems throughout the day. An excursion in a snow bank on SS9 left him with visual damage to the front right of his DS3; consequently damaging his tyre. After a quick change Loeb suffered yet another puncture in SS10 forcing him to use the wheel damaged from earlier for the last stage of the morning’s loop.

After a number of strong finishes on Friday Stobart’s Henning Solberg had a spectacular roll on the Saturday’s opening stage which put paid to his rally, even though he did eventually manage to finish the stage. Trust Henning to find the most flamboyant way to exit the rally – a broken roll bar means that that’s the last we shall see of him in Sweden. Thankfully both Solberg and co-driver Ilka Minor were unhurt in the accident.

Younger brother Petter Solberg was desperately looking to get his own season off to a flying start with a podium however after checking in late at time control all his hard work seemed the be undone. The Norwegian was understandably furious and while he will be contesting the decision his anger helped him to rack up three stage wins.

While Østberg was cleaning the road ahead Mikko Hirvonen was making the most of the opportunity and shot past clinching the rally lead on SS11.

As the stages started to rut one driver seemed to be in his element, Jari-Matti Latvala who closed the gap on the front runners ensuring that going into the final day there are 5 drivers all with a shot at the win – and only 15.8seconds separating them.

Without a doubt the shock of the day has got to be Kimi Räikkönen who has steadily been improving his pace placing him 7^th going into the final day of the rally. He’s been putting in times equal, and on occasion, fast than the likes of Hirvonen and Solberg.

Sunday’s leg will include the new to 2011 Power Stage which will be broadcast live on TV (ESPN in the UK). It will also be one of the most exciting days Rally Sweden has seen for quite some time.

The standings going into day three are as follows:

Pos	No	Driver		Time	Diff Prev	Diff 1st
1.	3	M. HIRVONEN	M	2:34:56.1	0.0	0.0
2.	6	M. ØSTBERG	M	2:35:03.5	+7.4	+7.4
3.	11	P. SOLBERG		2:35:05.0	+1.5	+8.9
4.	4	J. LATVALA	M	2:35:07.0	+2.0	+10.9
5.	2	S. OGIER	M	2:35:11.9	+4.9	+15.8
6.	1	S. LOEB	M	2:36:38.2	+1:26.3	+1:42.1
7.	8	K. RÄIKKONEN	M	2:40:01.6	+3:23.4	+5:05.5
8.	16	P. ANDERSSON		2:40:26.8	+25.2	+5:30.7
9.	18	P. SANDELL		2:42:40.9	+2:14.1	+7:44.8
10.	15	M. WILSON		2:42:42.3	+1.4	+7:46.2

 

Rally Sweden Day 1

A stunning, if somewhat unexpected, drive from Norwegian Mads Østberg left the M-Sport Stobart Ford WRT with a record on their hands during leg 1 – for the first time the team were leading a rally at the end of the days running. And while day one was going great for Østberg others were finding the heavily falling snow challenging.

The biggest casualty being current world champion Sébastien Loeb who, fulfilling his usual role of road sweeper, was loosing time left, right and centre in these difficult conditions. Further time was subsequently haemorrhaged during SS7 when he sustained a puncture.

P.G Andersson won the opening stage on Thursday night – a quick 1.9km blast through the Karlstad Super Special Stage. It was only thanks to fan donations that the Swede was able to compete in this his home event. Having secured an entry to the event, sponsorship was thin on the ground but after fans learned of his plight they donated generously giving him the chance to compete this weekend. In an effort to pay them back P.G was likely a little too over exuberant, and on Friday’s opening stage as he rolled his Ford Fiesta – he unluckily suffered a puncture later that morning too. However two stage wins (one tied with Østberg) helped him to regain some lost time.

Rally leader Østberg was steadily pulling out a lead over everybody else – one of the few runners who appeared to make no mistakes. He took 3 stages wins (one tied with the aforementioned PG) and later stated to reporters, ‘I don’t know why everyone else is driving so slowly.’

Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala took stage wins in SS6 and SS7 respectively.

Ken Block took away the Colin’s Crest award after an amazing jump of 39metres, told of his achievement he said, ‘I’ve sucked everywhere else so at least I was good there!’

After leg on the results were as follows:

Pos	No	Driver		Time	Diff Prev	Diff 1st
1.	6	M. ØSTBERG	M	1:17:21.2	0.0	0.0
2.	3	M. HIRVONEN	M	1:17:36.0	+14.8	+14.8
3.	11	P. SOLBERG		1:18:18.6	+42.6	+57.4
4.	4	J. LATVALA	M	1:18:31.2	+12.6	+1:10.0
5.	5	H. SOLBERG	M	1:18:41.5	+10.3	+1:20.3
6.	2	S. OGIER	M	1:18:42.8	+1.3	+1:21.6
7.	18	P. SANDELL		1:19:56.3	+1:13.5	+2:35.1
8.	20	E. BRYNILDSEN		1:20:04.7	+8.4	+2:43.5
9.	1	S. LOEB	M	1:20:09.6	+4.9	+2:48.4
10.	10	K. AL QASSIMI		1:21:33.6	+1:24.0	+4:12.4

Table from http://www.wrc.com

Wales Rally GB – a spectators viewpoint

(Apologies – I had this saved as a draft and apparently never his the publish button. No idea how that happened. So better late than never, eh? My Rally GB viewpoint.)

Staring in the mirror at 5am with 7 layers of clothing on, and an image staring back at you that’s more reminiscent of the Michelin man than yourself, it’s hard to comprehend what type of environment this would look good in. It seems that winter rallying in Britain is about the only time you can get away with such thick clothing that you’re limited to 50% movement and still look normal among the masses.

Heading across the bridge to Wales on a cold Saturday morning you could have been forgiven for thinking that nothing was out of the ordinary save for a few yellow signs warning of expectant delays. It was only a while later, and out of Cardiff, that the first signs appeared – Harry Hunt’s bright green Fiesta was the first clue.

Our tactic for the day was to head to Dixies and from there on in it was a case of traipsing through the forest to find a nice corner and hopefully some great company. Luckily for us we found both.

After what felt like miles of walking we found a long run in to a tight corner with a massive rock on the inside – here’s hoping for some action here, we thought. But who are we kidding? These drivers are not considered the best in the world for no reason. Not one came close to even brushing that rock!

With this being the last year of the current WRC cars it was certainly a moment to remember for life and a chance to get some great pictures to mark the sad occasion. Although the normally aspirated S2000 cars were also a joy to see screaming through the forests and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing the next batch of World Rally cars next year.

After many giggles, observations and cars later it was time for us to depart our new found friends and move to the more popular areas of the stages. It soon became apparent just how many people had turned up and although spectator figures are yet to be released it certainly seems as though this could have been a bumper year.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to service park however what what was going on in the forests instead was not to be missed. There is nothing quite like standing in the dark and hearing the growl of car hurtling towards you with spotlights blazing. It somehow makes the whole experience even more worth while.

And then the rain finally fell, up until this point Wales had provided us with the most stunning day. A brilliant rally.

Me and my car

I wanted to post this on here because I love what I have just rediscovered. When I was younger I had a little ‘car’ like this…

Yes… that is me. Anyway, my Nan realised how much I loved my car and wrote a poem about it and my Dad. You see, he used to do a bit of rallying in his day – and I guess she figured I’d follow in his motorsport loving shoes.

Jodie’s Car

I love my little car she said,
As she came driving in,
‘Dad if you’re not too busy
Would you put some Petrol in?’

I love my little car she said,
Her hands she will not soil,
‘While you’re in the garage Dad
Would you put in some oil?’

I love my little car she said,
She’s such a lovely Daughter,
‘Dad if you have a minute
Would you please check the water?’

Her little car is running smooth,
Of that I’m very glad,
I wonder  how she’d do it,
Without help from her Dad?

Isn’t that sweet? It came complete with pictures all hand written and I plan on framing it at some point – it does come with another picture too which made me chuckle!

German GP

I’ll be blunt and explain why I was upset over today’s result. Double standards. When Alonso was whining in Valencia over Hamilton’s penalty he said that the fans had been robbed of proper racing thanks to a manipulated race.

However he’s extremely happy to take a manipulated race win as his own – whilst still pretending it was through his own merit. You can’t get more fixed than that.

And this is what bugs me about Alonso. We all know damn well he is one of the best drivers on that grid and yet he STILL finds a way of playing dirty and allowing controversy to follow him around. I used to admire him so much however after what I personally saw in Spain and other factors all my respect for him has dissipated which I hate to say about any sports personality.

I know that teams orders exist – we all do. And I’d be the same in any situation that was made so obvious, this early in the season.

In the WRC Sebastien Ogier was forced by his team to check his car in early to stage therefore ensuring Sebastien Loeb a better road position – and ultimately the win. To me that was just as disgusting as this is. Team orders, however common and acceptable among teams, are wrong.

We can then look at 2007 when Kimi won the WDC thanks to Massa moving aside in Brazil. Had he not moved aside in this instance Ferrari would have lost the WDC to a McLaren driver – which is not ideal at all. So to compare this is a moot point because a championship was up for grabs here.

We only have to look at Alonso’s past with teams in Formula One: Renault and McLaren, to see that all has never been well wherever he goes.

The one thing I’d love to know is this: When Fernando lays his head down at night does he wonder why his teammates spend half their time pissed off at him? And why in almost every scandal/gate he is somehow involved.

If I were in that situation, however much I’d hate to admit it, I think I’d be clever enough to see the common denominator.

Shakedown Times – Portugal

Once again Petter’s website comes up with the brilliant shakedown times from this morning’s run through…

Ogier 3.05,0
Solberg 3.06,3
Loeb 3.07,3
Sordo 3.07,9
Hirvonen 3.08,0
Latvala 3.08,4
Henning 3.09,2
Villagra 3.11,1
Wilson 3.12,1
Raikkonnen 3.16,5

The Spanish GP – our crazy adventure

Anybody who knows me and my family will also know that motorsport is a pretty big love for us! Well, mostly myself and my dad. I’m fairly certain that it comes from my his youth. He used to be an amateur rally driver – although he was probably good enough to further had a family and marriage not been in the plans! His cars included a Hillman Imp and a Ford Escort, in fact my mum learnt to drive in the Escort, roll cage and all.

So this year we decided as a family that we would all make our way down to Spain for the GP and some sightseeing. Dad and I would drive down (making it a nice slow journey with a couple of stops) while my mum and brother would fly down and meet us.

Our destination is shown on this map (I’m sorry, I’m no good with photoshop so this pathetic mock up in paint is the best I can do) the red line shows our journey on Sat/Sun, the green one is Mon while the purple one is our short little Tuesday stint.

As we arrived at our first destination and set up our little tents it was apparent it was going to be a rough night. Walking around in my little exploratory mood I went to check out the toilet and shower facilities – they were all locked. Now, being in a tent this is a slight problem. Off we headed to reception to get some opened. When they were finally accessible they were absolutely filthy (and this was a four star campsite) and come the next morning we even had to give up trying to shower because there was no hot water. In the end we had to wash in the sinks. And believe it or not they charged us €25 for that fabulous night.

Day two however got worse. Rain like you’ve never seen before just kept pouring. To make matters worse dad’s tent wasn’t fully waterproof because it was fairly old – he pretty much needed a snorkel to make it through the night! My night wasn’t much better – the winds and rain kept getting underneath my groundsheet and a few times I thought I’d fly away still trapped in the tent. At three in the morning and with torrential rain still flooding us we had to make special repairs to our tents after the wind pulled the guide ropes out. As it turns out the gales were 120kph. Water was even blowing up the mountains on the roads.

Finally as we made it to Spain it looked to have brightened up, so putting our full size family tent up was no problem in comparison!

Once we picked up mum and my brother from the airport we headed for a meal. Mum has recently had new varifocal glasses and is still getting used to them so it really wasn’t a surprise that we heard a bang and looked behind us to see she’d fallen down some stairs. She damaged the muscles in her foot and struggled to walk the next day during the pit-walk.

Thankfully though she could manage it with only a bit of discomfort and we had a great day. I turned into a woman possessed and took as many photos as I could. I spotted Vettel on his track walk so headed straight for him and jumped the barriers (along with about 100 other people I hasten to add) and plucked whatever reading material I could find in my bag for him to sign. Unfortunately it was the latest ‘F1 Racing’ with Schumi on the front – but at least I got it signed!

Almost immediately after I spotted Senna walking among the crowd so I asked him for a picture. He was extremely polite and very smiley with all his fans.

I also managed to meet Alguersauri and get pictures of loads of other drivers. However my favourite moment has to be the point when Schumi was ploughing through the crowd on his moped, I was inevitably in his way (as is often the case with me) and almost got run down. Although I did manage to get this picture as he passed – and I was on Spanish TV!

Once we were all kicked out of the pit lane I spotted a certain Mr Legard. Said ‘hi’ to him and no word of a lie stood chatting with him underneath the pit lane for almost 10 minutes about everything from the weather to Schumi’s pace to who we thought would win. Very nice bloke – If any of you have the chance to catch up with him at a race I implore you to do so, it was a brilliant insightful chat about what we were all there to watch.

We hung around for a while after to see how the autograph session turned out which is where I lost respect for the person everyone was here to see.

Thousands of people charged the pits to get to the Ferrari garage. I mean, I’ve been to concerts before and seen people run to the front but the crowds here were just way too large for the facilities and there was nothing the officials could do. Sensing things were going to get interesting we set up camp in the main grandstand opposite the garages hoping we could also catch a glimpse of the impending action. First the two McLaren boys came out closely followed by the two Mercedes drivers. Up and down the pitlane more and more drivers were greeting the masses. However someone needs to shoot whoever handles Alonso’s (and the whole Ferrari teams) PR.

After an hour and a half Alonso still hadn’t been out to great his fans and by this point people were in trouble. One heavily pregnant lady had to be escorted out because it was becoming too much for her. The rest of the crowed who jumped the fences and opened the barriers, spilling out on the pit straight dropping their litter everywhere, quickly followed this…

This lead to the Spanish police equipped with guns, truncheons and whistles (which other than sounding really annoying do sod all) to be deployed.

Eventually they had the crowd under control but it could have all been prevented had Alonso had come out earlier the way the other drivers did. Himself and the PR team would have heard the chanting and seen the crowds from their garage and yet they still let it continue. I still have no idea how no one was injured. So, although Fernando is a damn good driver, I have lost the last bit of respect I had for him.

FP1,2 and 3 was business as usual. I would post pictures but lets be honest you’ve already seen these cars a million times before. So I’ll save you the trouble of looking at them – maybe I’ll set up a Flickr account for those in the next few days.

As is often the case during the Spanish GP the race wasn’t thrilling however to make up for it the support races (Formula BMW, GP3, GP2 and the Porsche Supercup) had loads of crashes with three Porsches going off on our corner so I can’t complain on that front.

The big news of the race was Hamilton’s crash though. Just around the corner from where I was sitting it happened and I was appalled at the crowds reaction. The jeers and chants that came from them were disgusting. They had already booed him as he made his was around for the drivers’ parade but this was something altogether different. For all they knew he could have been seriously injured and yet I could still hear chants of ‘Chango’ which is the Hispanic racial slur for ‘monkey’. As someone who hates any kind of booing for sporting stars it upset me that they were prepared to act in this way. And however great the facilities are at the track if the fans continue like this they don’t deserve a race there – let alone two.

However by the time we got back to out campsite and to the bar I was slightly cheered up. You see, Catalonia (the region of Spain where the race in held) have their own language and like to separate themselves from the Spanish at all costs. So speaking to the barman he told us that they LOVE Alguersauri but couldn’t care much for Alonso. I have to say that put a smile back on my face!

The next day we figured a bit of culture was on the books. Go see some Dali and Picasso works of art and all that jazz. But in true Kemp fashion things didn’t exactly go to plan. We missed our train station so had to buy more train tickets for the metro to take us into the Gothic part of the city (which is just stunning by the way). While we were on the metro mum was pickpocketed – the kid grabbed her purse and ran off with it. Dad gave chase and almost decked him but settled for getting the purse, money and credit cards back – thankfully. However mum was extremely shaken up so our day in Barcelona sampling the sights and culture was effectively ruined. Let’s just say mum never wants to go back to Spain again or go camping either.

On a more positive note, the people at our campsite were the friendliest people you could hope to meet. This was our second year there however with the problems we had it seems that unfortunately it will be the last time we go. And on an even more positive note we all loved the racing!

My (younger, although taller) brother an I in our Vettel gear! 🙂