Thursday, November 13, 2003
SO much Stuff to talk about.
Wales Rally GB - Thank you Formula Brookes
I went to go see a super cool World Rally Championship race in Wales last Sunday. It was sooo much fun.
Eight die-hards from the motorsport club met on the eerily quite campus grounds under a full close to if not full moon and still pitch black sky at a far too early 5:15am. Eventually once everyone had quitely accumulated and boarded the Maxwell's sponsored "Safety Bus" we headed off through the ghost town roads of Oxford and on our way to Cardiff, Wales.
A little background on the aforementioned Safety Bus. It's this van that seats 16 people and used in the nights as a service provided to Oxford Brookes students for when they need to be picked up from town for the small cost of 1 pound per trip. The vans was also available for hire during the day as long as a driver over 21 with the approriate license and a clean record is provided and the only cost is for the gas used during the trip.
So we headed off towards the awaiting rally cars, and within minutes we'd already gotten ourselves lost but luckily we righted that situation relatively and got onto the highway and started to really make some progress. The drive was tonnes of fun talking about racing and just joking around listening to this misterious cassette found in the glovebox.
Once we arrived in Cardiff, picked up our tickets we promptly found ourselves lost once again taunted by crazy gaillic signs with far too many consonants and a chronic lack of vowels. With the helpful directions of a classic Welsh police officer and by following the masses of Subaru WRX's and Peugot 206's through twisting mountain roads with shear cliff dropoffs and sans-railings we finally located our stage. It took a lot of effort to park the minibus along the side of narrow dirt (mud) road that was the parking lot for the stage.
As we walked along the road that would soon be ripped apart by turbocharged all wheel drive beasts looking for a good viewing location it was snowing lightly at first then misting with rain. We found a cool spot with a highly banked turn followed by some highspeed esses and waited for the stage to start. The roads were lined with masses of fearless (just plain stupid) fans. Some were asked to move to safer viewing locations but safer is kind of a misleading word for it... i think it would be better out as not quite as ridiculously dangerous. We were nice and close but in the inside of the exit of a corner up a bank giving us a good bit of (perhaps false) comfort.
Seeing the Prodrive Subaru WRXs and all the cool rally cars you've always seen on TV in real life was awesome. There really is no comparison between TV and the real thing. The way the top drivers were able to fly into the blind corner through their cars in with full commitment, 4 wheel slides and collect the them beautifully at the exit using all the road and occasionally a bit more. They then sped of up small hill and through a small chicane section that apexed at the crest of the rise. The car rising up at the rear as the revs jumped a bit thanks to the unloaded tires and, throttle flat to the floor, the cars flew rhythmically through the bends.
All in all it was one awesome trip. We all had a laugh and it's hard to say whether it was seeing the cars or just the the act of going there that was more fun.
I can't wait for our next trip.
PS It's looking more and more likely that there's going to be a trip to the 24 hours of Le Mans set up. Boy. i really hope so.
Wales Rally GB - Thank you Formula Brookes
I went to go see a super cool World Rally Championship race in Wales last Sunday. It was sooo much fun.
Eight die-hards from the motorsport club met on the eerily quite campus grounds under a full close to if not full moon and still pitch black sky at a far too early 5:15am. Eventually once everyone had quitely accumulated and boarded the Maxwell's sponsored "Safety Bus" we headed off through the ghost town roads of Oxford and on our way to Cardiff, Wales.
A little background on the aforementioned Safety Bus. It's this van that seats 16 people and used in the nights as a service provided to Oxford Brookes students for when they need to be picked up from town for the small cost of 1 pound per trip. The vans was also available for hire during the day as long as a driver over 21 with the approriate license and a clean record is provided and the only cost is for the gas used during the trip.
So we headed off towards the awaiting rally cars, and within minutes we'd already gotten ourselves lost but luckily we righted that situation relatively and got onto the highway and started to really make some progress. The drive was tonnes of fun talking about racing and just joking around listening to this misterious cassette found in the glovebox.
Once we arrived in Cardiff, picked up our tickets we promptly found ourselves lost once again taunted by crazy gaillic signs with far too many consonants and a chronic lack of vowels. With the helpful directions of a classic Welsh police officer and by following the masses of Subaru WRX's and Peugot 206's through twisting mountain roads with shear cliff dropoffs and sans-railings we finally located our stage. It took a lot of effort to park the minibus along the side of narrow dirt (mud) road that was the parking lot for the stage.
As we walked along the road that would soon be ripped apart by turbocharged all wheel drive beasts looking for a good viewing location it was snowing lightly at first then misting with rain. We found a cool spot with a highly banked turn followed by some highspeed esses and waited for the stage to start. The roads were lined with masses of fearless (just plain stupid) fans. Some were asked to move to safer viewing locations but safer is kind of a misleading word for it... i think it would be better out as not quite as ridiculously dangerous. We were nice and close but in the inside of the exit of a corner up a bank giving us a good bit of (perhaps false) comfort.
Seeing the Prodrive Subaru WRXs and all the cool rally cars you've always seen on TV in real life was awesome. There really is no comparison between TV and the real thing. The way the top drivers were able to fly into the blind corner through their cars in with full commitment, 4 wheel slides and collect the them beautifully at the exit using all the road and occasionally a bit more. They then sped of up small hill and through a small chicane section that apexed at the crest of the rise. The car rising up at the rear as the revs jumped a bit thanks to the unloaded tires and, throttle flat to the floor, the cars flew rhythmically through the bends.
All in all it was one awesome trip. We all had a laugh and it's hard to say whether it was seeing the cars or just the the act of going there that was more fun.
I can't wait for our next trip.
PS It's looking more and more likely that there's going to be a trip to the 24 hours of Le Mans set up. Boy. i really hope so.
