Watching rallying on the television in the comfort of your own home is all very well, watching cars from a helicopter, commentary, virtual race predictions and pit interviews have made us become very lazy and reliant on media the around us. Actually going to watch a live event like this is a whole different experience. Fortunately we were blessed with a glorious weekend and planned to make the most of it.

Four of us set off on Saturday morning to join the Pirelli British Rally Championships in North West Wales. Set in the Snowdonia national park you couldn’t ask for a more spectacular setting, although the drive was long the scenery was out of this world, rolling hills turned purple with the abundance of blue bells, open country roads and of course the occasional caravan just to make you slow down and enjoy the views ….. I never thought that there could be an upside to getting stuck behind a caravan !

For those of you who are not quite aware of the procedures in watching a rally it can be quite simple, find a stage sit in a spot somewhere along the course and watch Subaru Impreza’s (minus the blue lights and sound systems) whizz past you at a phenomenal rate of knots. But you can actually turn an event like this into quite a special weekend away.

 We had no frills, aiming at a cheap weekend we found a local campsite, set our tents up and then with the information from the Motoring News and relevant websites, which support the events we started to plan our day. Most rally’s have spectator stages as you cannot usually watch them all. The British Rally Championships had a few and it is down to you to organise what time you have to be where, like I said earlier you can just sit in one place but I feel darting from stage to stage in the Welsh countryside is far more fun. I suggest obtaining a local Ordnance Survey map of the area to help you locate various parts of the stages. All stages have a spectator’s car park’s, which sometimes you have to pay for, I personally find it far more fun to find a verge and cut up onto the course using my well homed boy scout orienteering skills, failing that head for the noise of the cars screaming through the forest!

 Once at a stage that you can watch there is nothing to stop you walking the course, sitting in one place can be a bit of a bore so why not add some excitement to a walk in the woods and once a car has gone past run onto the track to head for another spot. The cars come around about every minute so no hanging around, it always keeps you on your toes and some do end up quite close together so stay vigilant. It isn’t dangerous you just have to have a bit of common sense. This rally had 3 classes with over 100 competitors, the main event came first, followed by more historic cars such as Mk I Escorts etc and then finally Land Rovers mainly driven by the Army, there is around 15 minutes between each class which gives a bit of time to get your thermos out for a cuppa or decided to head down to another stage to see it all again. The event is split into to two days over 8 stages there is plenty of time to get involved….at your own pace.

 I really recommend this kind of event to anyone, it is a cheap weekend away and you can enjoy some of the finest countryside Great Britain has to offer…ohh yeah the cars a pretty cool to watch too. The one great thing I did enjoy about this particular event (which is not quite the calibre of the WRC rally) is the pits, at the end of the first day each team has 45minutes per car to adjust or fix anything on their car ready for the next day, unlike most events like this the pits are open to the general public which means that you can roam about and check out all the teams and see their mechanics in action., with huge rally’s such as the WRC (which is coming to south Wales in September) you have far less freedom to get involved with the whole spirit of the event, the Pirelli British Rally Championships make things a whole lot more accessible. If you would like to enjoy a quality event without the cost involved in being a spectator (like most motor sports) then consider a day out watching the rallying, unfortunately no one can guarantee the weather but you can always rely on the Welsh to give you a warm welcome. For more information on the Pirelli British rally Championships please go to www.britishrallying.com.

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