Rally Day Castle Coombe 2016

Strange not seen anything on here about Rally Day this Sat 24th

http://www.rallyday.com/

Juha Kankkunen, Elfyn Evans, Harri Toivonen, Jimmy McRae & Louise Aitken-Walker are the star drivers.

For the first time in ages I wont be on a stand selling this year, so can wander about looking at the cars and the action!!

Local weather forecast is set to be a nice day.

See you there...?
Chris

CDM wrote:Strange not seen anything on here about Rally Day this Sat 24th

http://www.rallyday.com/

Juha Kankkunen, Elfyn Evans, Harri Toivonen, Jimmy McRae & Louise Aitken-Walker are the star drivers.

For the first time in ages I wont be on a stand selling this year, so can wander about looking at the cars and the action!!

Local weather forecast is set to be a nice day.

See you there...?
Chris

See you there CD

See you there chaps!

I'll be going down on the Friday and spending a night under canvas at the circuit, so I'm looking forward to a BBQ and a few beers that evening, and then waking up to the sounds of a plethora of rally cars, and the smell of bacon sarnies and mugs of tea in the morning - sounds positively idyllic in my mind!

Dave x 2

See you both there.

Chris

Not making it over this year.

Big let down this year,chicanes on the track,car boot feel to the paddock,drivers lounge lol, disorganized feel to the whole thing and 25 stgs entry!!!!

That sounds dissapointing. Sorry to hear that.

Rally Day was definitly quieter than normal. I bumped into Dave (Zues) but did not seen any other forum members

You could walk about easily.

Most traderswere moaning about lack of trade.

The track layout was much changed this year and I have taken time out to find out why.

As has been mentioned there were plenty of chicanes added - to make it feel more like a stage than a race track and to keep the group B cars off the rev limiter

They were very short of marshals so I was ropped into marshal on the main lunch time demo. I had to drive aroiund to the far side of the track to manage a chicane. It would have been better and safer if it had been directly in front of the marshals post.

The chicane got demolished a few times and a Renault R5 Turbo had a grassy off very near us.

I had marshalled the cones in front of the control tower before and got bollocked by the track manager for running onto the track to put the bollards back, befoire the Stage Commander pointed out that it was a rally stage for the day and thats what rally marshals do!! So I checked that this year we were OK to run onto the track. Its a good job we did as the chicane got trashed many times.

Frankly some drivers didnt give a s***, the black Sierra was super quick but eventually slowed down after he had hit our chicane one too many times damaging his very nice car. Phil Collins in the red Escort was equally as quick, the pillark in another red Escort looked like an accident looking for somewhere to happen.

To be honest there were not too many top cars running round. There was a recently restored real Safari Stratos and I had not seen the Simmonites Escort before, in recent years.

Perhaps not one of the best Rally Days....

Chris

It was a good day but not great, my highlight was my Dad going, that Stratos & getting Juha Kkk to sign my book. Met up with David, Nicky & a few of the 6R4.net members. Briefly bumped into CD(did you get anything signed after?)

The paddock was quite empty of top-line cars compared to previous years. Dint see much of the track action.

Dave

Yes got Juha Kankkunen to sign a few items in the afternoon session.

Also got a copy of his biography. A rally hero but quite a sad character in later life.

Agree not enough top line cars there but the Safari Stratos sounded good.

As you know I was pushed for time to get out to marshal so never really had a chance to chat to your Dad. Next time...

Cheers
Chris

rsjon wrote:Big let down this year,chicanes on the track,car boot feel to the paddock,drivers lounge lol, disorganized feel to the whole thing and 25 stgs entry!!!!

You were just dissapointed PJ models wasnt there to part with your money

CDM wrote:Dave

Yes got Juha Kankkunen to sign a few items in the afternoon session.

Also got a copy of his biography. A rally hero but quite a sad character in later life.

Agree not enough top line cars there but the Safari Stratos sounded good.

As you know I was pushed for time to get out to marshal so never really had a chance to chat to your Dad. Next time...

Cheers
Chris

Agreed with your comments on Juha Kkk he dint seem interested. Maybe a typical Finn an let his driving do the talking.

Not a problem. Hopefully next time indeed

My pics...

https://flic.kr/s/aHskEdDHaJ

nice pics Dave

[/quote]

Agreed with your comments on Juha Kkk he dint seem interested. Maybe a typical Finn an let his driving do the talking.

Not a problem. Hopefully next time indeed  

My pics...

https://flic.kr/s/aHskEdDHaJ[/quote]

Really nice man that has been through very tough times. Met/saw him at Rallylegends in San Marino last year (he is the event patron so is there almost every year afaik). He cut a very lonely character in the service area before the event - all the other top stars were in fenced off areas with minders, hangers on and razzmatazz around them. He was in a corner on his own - literally - so we spoke to him but he was very much on his own with what looked like a ropey old Toyota, that did pack up. I know the hotel where all the top stars stay so we went up there on Sunday morning - after the drivers "dinner" on Saturday night - and hung about to get some items autographed. There were a few of his friends waiting around for him and he did eventually surface. We asked if it was OK to get the autographs after what appeared to be a hard night and the man was so gracious and accommodating. We all have issues and maybe because of his weaknesses I admire him all the more. Life in the twilight can be a bitch.

Photos from Rally Day 2016…to be honest there was not too much to see that was new..















Chris

tom 39 wrote:

rsjon wrote:Big let down this year,chicanes on the track,car boot feel to the paddock,drivers lounge lol, disorganized feel to the whole thing and 25 stgs entry!!!!

You were just dissapointed PJ models wasnt there to part with your money

Yes he was probably in a field somewhere on his own lol

I think PJ has sold his mobile shop/van and just does indoor shows only now.

The usual model stalls were there this year Daz Models, Car Crazy, Andy Millington, RM Toys I dont think they were doing good business though

Chris

Somehow I managed to completely miss that the event was happening until it was too late. Literally!

The first I knew was when chatting with one of the mechanics in the rallycross paddock at Pembrey on Sunday. He was very enthusiastic about the Stratos rally cars there (3 in total, he said) and there was even a rally Allegro present.

Sorry to have missed the event, even though it sounded below par. Hope to make it next year.

Thanks for posting the pics. It's the next best thing!

Dave, just looked through some of your photos. Looks like significantly more than 3 Stratoses (Stratosi? ) there and you've got a bit of the Allegro too.

I see Marc Griffin was there with the mk1 Fiesta rallycross car with Haynes livery. Quite a beast, all the power to the rear and the steering wheel spinning as fast as the driven wheels, we'll, nearly!

I'll have a closer look at the Album when I'm not using mobile data!!

Cheers, Steve

I had heard you were abouit on the day, Chris - but I must have missed you totally!

Mind you, Rallyday is a bit like that - you can walk around trying to find someone, when in all reality you're probably just following them around just out of sight. The best thing I find is to stand still, and let them come to you!

Anyway, I have to agree with what has been stated already. I didn't think the show was as good as it had been in recent years, and maybe tucking the Rally Stage off half way around the circuit, changing the Feature Stage layout from it's previous format on the start straight, and the lack of the usual multitude of manufacturer teams, did seem to change the feeling of the show in my mind. Maybe it's all down to the new regime in control, as this was their first year at the helm.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but I did feel for the drivers that had paid to take their cars out on the track as there seemed to be one constant and very slow moving queue from dawn to dusk!

I did however take advantage of the Friday night camping for an additional £7, which made the journey down the day before such a more relaxed experience than thrashing down there at some ungodly hour on the day. The BBQ and a few cans on the Friday also set me up for a good night sleep in readiness as well, so I will definitely be taking advantage of that in 2017.

See you there next year - if I stand still, and wait for you to come to me anyway!