Rally GB - Gartheiniog & Dyfi

[mike220]

Afternoon all. I'm after some advice from those in the know please, having been away from stage rallying for some years now (used to nav on tarmac stages) I have a chance at going to watch some of the RGB as my very kind next door neighbour has offered me their holiday cottage for the weekend not far from Glantwymyn. It's within the closed areas and comes with a residents pass to enable us to get to the actual cottage, question is where is best to watch on either of these stages? Is it a walk out the front door option cross-country until we hit the stage or must we go through an official stage entry? Can we go anywhere on the stage (sensible viewpoint obviously) or is it fixed to specific areas where they corral everyone?

A little out of touch these days, but after struggling to watch with the poor tv coverage for years I'm excited to get out and enjoy it in person. Watched Circuit of Ireland not too long back, and thoroughly enjoyed it - though this will be on a different level

Any and all advice welcome, thanks in advance

[Noblebenn]

Small bump as I am also interested in where best to stand or any valuable tips for seeing the rally.

[Small Car]

You’ve not had much luck here, there is a Wales Rally GB Spectator Forum on Facebook which is very good.

I prefer Garth to Dyfi. You will need to drive in via Aberangell I think. Access is at the very top in on forestry road. Get in early and then you can walk up the stage to find a good spot. I like it up by the lake and fewer people trek up there. You don’t need to walk on the stage to get there from the car park, there is a more direct road. Will be 45 min walk at least. Worth it though.

I’m doing it so wave. Car 114. A stty Fiesta.

[Allyc85]

We are doing Gartheiniog, as with it being a Tv stage and the tight turn around between it and Dyfi you would think it's less likely to be canned if there are too many stupid fans. It's a shame they have moved the start further back on Garth, quite enjoyed watching launches off the line and Ogier bouncing off the bank at the first turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOYte1ieSsU&t=...

Either are great stages though, so enjoy

[damianmkv]

we went to Garth..first time i've ever been rallying and typically i go Saturday..Friday and Sunday dry and sunny, Saturday foggy and cold

a couple of pics

wales rally gb by damianmkv, on Flickr

wales rally gb by damianmkv, on Flickr

wales rally gb by damianmkv, on Flickr

wales rally gb by damianmkv, on Flickr

and your rally winner
wales rally gb by damianmkv, on Flickr

rest in the below

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59954848@N07/albums/...

[mat205125]

Great pictures. Love the last one. Have you done anything post-process to get the blur and speed effect, or is that simply straight from the lens as it comes?

We were in Dyfi on Saturday.

Getting into the stage car parks was a knightmare, so we parked in a local village and walked a good three miles in to get to the stage, with half of those three miles being a calf busting climb up the hill

Been many years since we've been, so our plans of seeing different stages by moving around and following the leaders was a non-starter. Maybe with a BMW Enduro or two it could have worked!

We stayed at Dyfi all day and stuck around to see all the National entries through too.

Delays due to spectators being tts and walking on the stage was not good, and apparently the stages were close to being cancelled. Most of these idiots seemed to be from abroad funnily enough. Was also a little disappointed to find ourselves in stinking clouds of locals smoking weed all day too. Especially so when lots had young kids with them.

Thankfully both groups were the minorities though, and most there enjoyed a great weekend of sport.

[Active75]

damianmkv, thanks for posting those great photos.

Looks like the startline marshalls were scribbling on the rear windows!

[damianmkv]

Thanks for the comments, the photos have been edited with some contrast to make them "pop" a little but I don't add motion blur so they're as taken in that respect. All down to lots of practice

We noticed lots of people with fireworks - 10m from the marshalls who didn't bat an eyelid.

Thinking about going next year already, even though i said I wouldn't..

[sanf]

mat205125 said:

We stayed at Dyfi all day and stuck around to see all the National entries through too.

Delays due to spectators being tts and walking on the stage was not good, and apparently the stages were close to being cancelled. Most of these idiots seemed to be from abroad funnily enough. Was also a little disappointed to find ourselves in stinking clouds of locals smoking weed all day too. Especially so when lots had young kids with them.

I was marshalling in in Dyfi for the day - and had access to a radio. On the whole the spectators in our sector were really good - listened, had a great chat with most of them, and ultimately all but 1 stayed put when they realised how hard it was to move in our sector when the cars where running (due to hill one side and big drop on the outside). As a marshalling team across 3 locations we had radios and were able to let each other know if any speccy's were on the move.

I think the walking on stages bit was a little overblown, and actually somewhat created by the organisers timetable. The brief we had was to be in place when the FIA safety car came though - which I think was 1h15min before 1st car. The request was also not to have spectators moving around after this time - which is not really realistic. Any we saw, we briefed them and warned them safety cars were out and about - so be alert.

Where it went a bit pear shaped was between Int run 1 & run 2. The gap was just too small - so a lot of the marshalling teams wanted a cuppa before run 2 - and from the spectators we were talking to, many wanted to leave and head to Dyfnant. This meant it appeared to FIA Safety - that pretty much followed the sweeper that spectators were running amok and no marshals were present - they were but just trying to get a quick brew and some food.

We were back in place for 00 safety car, and monitoring our sector. The main delay was then between Int and Nationals - which from what we understood was a bit of spectator issues, as people were leaving - to make the night stages, and also Nationals throwing themselves at the scenery in previous stages. However once they started all went well - but with some big gaps in the running order.

Overall a really great day marshalling - tight timescales - but so worth it. I had a great few days - as was marshalling on SS1 and spectating on Hafren.

[damianmkv]

As a first timer, I do wonder how people move stage to stage. I imagine it took about an hour to walk back to the car and then you'd have to drive somewhere else ( half hour maybe ? ), park ( possibly 2 or 3 miles away ) and walk to the stage.

So does it really take 2+ hours to change stages as a spectator or is there something I missed being new to rallying ?