2010 VOLKSWAGEN RALLY – ROUTE NOTE NEWS
author: Leon Botha
So far this year we had out fair share of real shitty stages and all the normal excuses were used – from “too wet to handle”, “no other roads” to “they are supposed to be rally drivers” to “they must slow down!” have been used.
It is amazing to hear the arguments around costs, how to cut this, how to save by letting them use three new tyres or dry tyres when wet and all those things without any consideration to the real problem that forces costs up and up?
Costs will come down and no other impractical measures need to be taken if organisers use the same routes as previous years, with only small changes – like the initial agreement was – no more than 30% of the route may be changed per year!
If this happened competitors would not have had to spend so much time on the notes every year, costs, especially damage related costs would have been reduced dramatically due to known roads, and crews would have been able to fine tune the notes, rather than simply hope for the best because road conditions changed as repairs are done until hours before events?
Our progress would have been ten times quicker and we would probably also have had at least 15 more competitors per event?
A further argument is that if the routes were kept close to being the same I would not have had half the expenses and instead of losing money over the first three years which, combined with the fact that the routes were destructive, a factor that contributed to a number of competitors who gave up which caused the entry to drop to such a level that we had to push up the price of the notes- something that contractually was not really supposed to happen as other ways should have been found to cover the costs? It may have been worth more if money that were paid to a “marketing company” that did nothing would rather have been used to subsidise the costs?
Anyway – any human with more than a matchbox full of grey matter can work this out that fewer route changes and better roads than selecting anything where a Landcruiser can get through, would have changed the picture dramatically.
I can carry on about this for a long time – but goodness knows I am about to throw in the proverbial towel rather than arguing in circles on this Einsteinian level!
This year in Port Elizabeth during the Volkswagen Rally you will see my point!
Instead of buggering around trying to be clever or is it funny-spiteful? Joe and Rikus Fourie took what they had and spend a substantial portion of their budget to improve the road and keep most of what was used last year the same!
For the first time in almost three seasons – with the exception of the Osram Rally – I feel like saying “Do yourself a favour and come participate in a rally designed for the modern rally car!” The only scary thing here will be that this is going to be on the limit all the time!
So if you are not a real bangbroek and you have a few Rand left of the seventh bond you took out on your dear old parents retirement home, come and have some fun.
The route:
The Oval outside track has been graded – although it is still a tricky little number.
Kingsview has been shortened to cut out the crappy parts,
Sinkdam – the reverse of Culturama and Culturama itself are all there for the taking!
Let us all go on our knees and hope (if you have also given up praying) that the other honourable highnesses in charge of rallies will take note and spend the money where it should be spent and also get stages we can maintain and where we can stay for a while!
Yes of course it makes my life easier, yes of course I may even make a few Rand (thank you, thank you, thank you!) but trust me – if you can keep a car on the road and you do not for a fraction of a second think you are the incarnation of Andretti’s cousin, and you actually understand the meaning of the notes, and if you are lucky enough to be given the right type of tyres to rally on, then you will enjoy the best event so far this year!
Come have a ball – not a soccer ball, goodness forbid – but a real ball, ball!
Would it not have been nice if you were not hit right out of the rally arena for not having a FIA flagship on par with our cronies in Europe where their entry fee is equal to our budget for events?
Would it not have been wonderful not to run into closed doors instead of being able to enjoy a sport that has been started to create friendship and enemies at the same time? To pump adrenaline and petrol a the same rate – where you could actually compete in your wife’s car because you wanted to?
We have lost the plot so far we are living on a Karoo farm in Africa paying Beverley Hills prices!
See you in Madiba Bay!
|
|
