“Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets please”
author: Leon Botha
“Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets please” a rush of hands, chips clicking, bright lights not only in the high roof but also flickering in the eyes of the gamblers. Always hoping, guessing, and therefore gambling – what number from 0 to 36 that stupid silly little ball will fall on this time.
“No more bets, thank you ladies and gentlemen – no more bets” then nobody breathes until the little ball eventually rolls into a slot – usually that of the number with least chips on!
Monte Carlo – casino – Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix – and also the host of the best known rally – the most prestigious event on the WRC calendar - THE 73rd Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo.
It must be prestigious – our very own Jan Hettema did it a number of times. My goodness I haven’t even been there – mostly because my rich friend Thorsten won’t buy me a ticket for Xmas.
Anyway – the rally is just as big a gamble as that little ball rolling into the wrong slot of the roulette wheel. When that green light flicks on and you drop the clutch and all that multi million dollar power kicks onto all four wheels – the time to place your bes on the right tyre compound is over. The green light might as well say “No more bets than you gentlemen, no more bets!”
The gamble is whether you have chosen the right compound of tyre, then if you are driving at the limit if the chosen compound – too hard and you don’t get enough grip, too soft and you get wonderful grip for about 17kms depending on the temperature. Too cold and the harder tyres will only start gripping when they stick to the service crew’s hands – too hot and you are also bound to run out of rubber. Then you still get very wet, wet, damp, damp and dry, wet and dry, very wet and wet – combinations.
See what I mean - and you thought is was fun getting into a well prepared multi million Rand rally car, while you also get paid a handsome amount to be able to make the right tyre choice!
Ha, it is pure hell!! Pure hell I shit you not.
The 2005 season starts tomorrow in Monte Carlo – the weather prediction is partly cloudy with a maximum of 16°C and a minimum of 8°C – and the driver moods will swing from cool cat to egg in the ass boiling hot.
Every one claims that they are fit, eager and ready to take a pole position at the end of the Monte – everybody is “happy with the car’s performance” – but wait until the let down the driver windows at the end of the stage when the camera is stuck into their faces – “I am sick and tired of this car” must be the most famous about on par with the “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” – in South Africa it works a bit different “ask not how your country can do you in, but look for opportunities to do it is!”
Anyway – you will hear “I don’t know what went wrong – the one moment we were driving and the next we stopped against a rock – incredible” - “the service crew did a fantastic job, the car is fantastic” – will be heard from the winner of the stage etc. etc.
The big questions are – how fast will the Ford’s be – will Martin beat Grönholm in the Peugeot, will Duval give Loëb hell, what can we expect from the new Subaru drivers – will Stéphane Sarrazin be able to keep up with Solberg or vice versa?
This is actually worse than that dreaded roulette wheel – its new cars, tyre manufacturer changes, new driver and car combinations, and worse of all is that after this we will still only have an idea of what is going to happen in the tar events – then we move into pure snow in Sweden from where we will go to the super rough gravel stages in Mexico. By then – and only then will we have an idea of what every team is capable of doing – maybe!
The Monte Carlo (I almost wrote Dakar) has been entirely changed from the 2004 edition and will be centered around the port of Monaco where the rally´s single service park will be set up. The events themselves will be run along the Alpes-Maritimes departmental roads – prime spectator value all round.
On Friday, 21st January, around 8h00 our time things will start to happen. The competitors will leave Monaco for first of 15 stages totalling 398,32kms; the hamlet of Irougne in the Ilonse municipality where the first event will start: Ilonse / Pierlas via Col des Sinnes totalling 22.93 km.
After a short liaison, competitors will continue with Saint-Antonin / Toudon (20.16 km) and then on to the service park in Monaco. In the afternoon of the first day, there are 2 events on the menu, namely twice Lantosque / Col de Braus via Col St Roch, Cabanette and Col de l´Orme (32,71 km) involving another passage through the Monaco service park.
The day´s total distance will be 483 km and four events representing a little more than 108 km of specials. Arrival in the Principality as from 6:15 pm.
Saturday 22nd January, new event: Col de Braus / Lantosque (32,62 km), with return to Monaco for 30 minutes´ service. This will be followed by a loop to be run twice with one passage through Monaco: Toudon / Saint Antonin (19,52 km) then Pont des Miolans / Les Sausses (28,41 km), totalling 562 km for the day including 128 km for 5 specials.
Sunday, 23rd January, there is a change for the final loop, namely Col de Braus / Col de l´Orme (SS 10 and 13) then La Cabanette / Lantosque (SS 11 and 14) ending in the traditional ascent of Col du Turini, but starting at La Bollène Vésubie / Sospel (SS 12 and 15) and including a passage through the Monaco service park. The last day´s total will be 314 km of which 116 km will be special stages.
The arrival of the first car is expected at the Port as from 2:30 pm and after a short service, the prize-giving ceremony at 3:30 pm at the Place du Casino will conclude the event.
So – that is the story for the moment – RallyStar sms’ will be flying all over the country to those who paid in their R300 for the year – for the full and fantastic service that makes you drink a bit more, bite your nails and in general have a great time.
To register for the RallyStar service please pay R300 into the RallyStar Absa account 4057147990 use your cell phone number as reference and you will know what is going on in the world of rallying!
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