It's good to see that the RAC rally gets 15 minutes coverage on tomorrows grandstand, and indoor rowing gets 20 minutes!
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the RAC rally has the largest number of spectators for a single event, anywhere. Good to see the BBC reflects this with their coverage.
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And it was goog to see on tonights ITV news that the only coverage the rally gets is the crash where Carlos unfortunately hit some spectators and a rerun of the incar footage of Colin's crash. Good to see they have their finger on the pulse.........not.
David Richards was never my most favourite individual but I wish him well in his quest to bring rallying as a more presentable sport to the masses.
By the way in that shunt footage I hope I did not see Nicky Grist put his hand up on the roll cage to steady himself, you only ever have your fingers nipped once doing that.
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And it was good to see on tonights ITV news that the only coverage the rally gets is the crash where Carlos unfortunately hit some spectators and a rerun of the incar footage of Colin's crash. Good to see they have their finger on the pulse.........not.
David Richards was never my most favourite individual but I wish him well in his quest to bring rallying as a more presentable sport to the masses.
By the way in that shunt footage I hope I did not see Nicky Grist put his hand up on the roll cage to steady himself, you only ever have your fingers nipped once doing that.
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Why does it DO that?
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You've probably got a twitchy finger, Stuart. Or suffer from short term memory loss. :)
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You've probably got a twitchy finger, Stuart. Or suffer from short term memory loss. :)
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Nice one Tom, good laugh that.
At least we get two posts with the Backroom unlike GPO, sorry I mean Consignia.
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I was very suprised by Nicky Grists' reaction when the car rolled - hands up towards the roll cage waiting to be nipped whilst Mr Mcrae neatly folded his arms on his chest out of harms way! Well done to that man!
Seriously, a huge accident and thank God they both escaped without injury.
David
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I actually saw the indoor rowing, it's certainly safer then the RAC, as they use rowing machines as found in your nearest gym. I can't believe the BBC send a camera to show guys on a rowing machine.
Tony Mason was the TG guy, Roger Clark's co-driver.
I remember the time when you could go to the Forest of Dean to watch the RAC and there wasn't a Japanese car to be seen competing.
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Strange how everyone still refers to it as the RAC - even the drivers call it the RAC.
Bet the Marketing Manager at Network Q is p***ed off.
The BBC are strange. The "RAC" rally is the largest outdoor spectator event in the UK and yet the either have a pathetic spot at midnight or a ten-minute trailer on Grandstand. Also, what's Tiff Needell doing commentating - where's that short, squat fat bloke from Top Gear?
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That is Tony Mason.
Jonathan
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You may already know this but I saw an article in a magazine today saying the Beeb had dropped plans for live coverage of this year's rally as they're not willing to invest in a sport that Channel 4 will screen from the start of next season. A spokesman said indoor rowing and bowls are safe as houses.
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This is the final year that "privateers" can enter the event as it will be restricted to Factory World Rally Cars. the idea is that it will become more watchable for the masses on TV and be on the same footing as F1.
personally I think its a great shame. TV coverage is next to c***p and has been for many years. The last time it was anything like was when they had the intrepid William Woollard ( any relation Dave?) and Possum Bourne commentating and they also covered the back runners interviewing them in the service areas. That was the year someone competed in a Trabant!
the biggest shame was restricting it to South Wales. When it ran throughout the whole country that was a proper rally and made it accessable to the masses.
Andrew.
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Andrew I quite agree with your comments, hence I reckon the answer to the post title must be a resounding yes.
Andrew wrote "This is the final year that "privateers" can enter the event as it will be restricted to Factory World Rally Cars. the idea is that it will become more watchable for the masses on TV and be on the same footing as F1.
personally I think its a great shame."
So the likes of Gavin Cox who has entered this rally every year for 20 years can no longer enter.
The Clubmen can no longer pit themselves against the "stars" OK so it was always a one sided affair, but it was a challenge.
Here is a quick comparison.
2001 17 stages ~380 stage miles, if you take into account the two cancelled stages it comes down to 15 stages and about 325 competitive miles.
Pulled out an old road book, why do I keep these? sentimentality I suppose but a quick look shows stages numbering ~80, some were cancelled but did not have time to look back to get an exact number for comparison, sorry.
Competitive miles? did not have time to add them up, but here are a few random observations.
Three stages in Kielder forest tackled over two hours with just one short service break had as many competitive miles as 20% of this years event.
And then there were still the long Welsh, Yorkshire, Scottish, Cumbrian stages.
5 days of rallying, two complete nights out of bed.
Spectators standing out waving cars by at 3am on the public highway!
So whilst above I wished Dave Richards success in improving the sports profile, I wonder just who's benefit will it all be for?
OK rant over.
Will just add a couple of personal memories from that event. Traffic after the Welsh loop was terrible, and of course the competitors had to overtake the queues to keep on time, or it ate into service time. So there we were following Sandro Munari's Stratos (both of us mega late) past a load of spectators when we both get pulled up by a m/cycle cop.
The bobby gets one blast of rapido forte agitato Italiano justa one Cornetto, which blows his mind and waves us both on, Phew!
Less happy memory involved the Japanese crew stuffed into the motorway barrier as they had just fallen asleep at the wheel. They were OK, however there but for the Grace of God!
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I wrote:
"2001 17 stages ~380 stage miles, if you take into account the two cancelled stages it comes down to 15 stages and about 325 competitive miles."
Blimey just realised I made a goof in the rush, the 380 and 325 figures are actually kilometres not miles, which makes it even worse!!!!!!!!
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I have never heard of Indoor Rowing.
How do they do that? Are the oarsmen sculling against a man-made tide in a pool, or what?
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No
They only give them one oar, they then go round in circles. The one to get dizzy last wins.
Actually, they row on those machines you find in a gym. the displays show distance and they use that.
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And that gets TV coverage?
Are the BBC scraping barrels here?
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Stuart
Nothing can replace the sound of a BDG Mk 2 Escort at full chat through the Yorkshire Forests. ( Well apart from the Stratos!)
The RAC, as it was, was an all round test of driver/navigator ability and stamina, vehicle reliability and ruggedness and service crew inginuity - a team effort!
Am I showing my age here?
Andrew.
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I was a marshall in Margam forest this weekend. Cracking fun.
I reckon what rallying needs is the 800bhp mid engined Escorts back.
Cracking cars.
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Why did the BBC spend 45 minutes on thursday telling us how good this rally was going to be ?
In that programme they asked every man and is dog what the rally meant to them and how they would 'feel' if a particular driver won.This new age 'in touch with your feelings' c**p has taken over the BBC. Just listen to the stupid questions asked to the drivers.
The same has happened to other sports on the BBC particular snooker.
You can see even the players are wincing at the daft questions and behaviour of the commentators.It seems not one frame of snooker can be played before we know the full life history of both opponents.
As mentioned above the actual rally coverage has been pathetic - even the NetworkQ rally guide managed to get the broadcast times wrong.
Lets hope another channel can do a better job next year - it would'nt be difficult.
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"...you find in a gym"
Speak for yourself :0)
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