rallye monte carlo spectating

[bella]

circuit monkey seeks new spectating kicks and turns to rally for different experience and to shorten 7 month off-season...

anyone spectated the rmc before? got any pro tips? handy hints for a rally newbie?

[MikeHoyer]

Not been to this Rally, but from experience with British rounds, plus Rally GB, get a good map/sat nav, plan where you want to be beforehand, and make sure you know of any road closures etc. in advance.

Then be prepared to walk miles to where you want to watch from and stand around for hours on end before you see anything.

I can only imagine the roads and weather conditions will be worse than most UK events as well!

[Greem]

I've never been but stages 14 and 16 have the legendary Col De Turini in the middle. Maps are here:

http://www.acm.mc/ramc/index.php?pag...artes_2012.php

Both runs through will, as is well documented, be in the dark. Having seen a lot of footage over the years, it's well worth a visit - but you have to get there early because everyone else wants to get there too!

[Down F0rce]

This one is on my bucket list as well. Tour operators such as Rally Travel offer an escorted tour for a heavy price. Their "self drive" tours come with car rental and a hotel room... I guess it's handy for getting everything you need in one order, but I'd imagine I'd be cheaper just to book hotels, car rental yourself and just download all the maps you need from the ACM site.

Don't forget a flask of bovril!

[bella]

yeah, accomodation isn't a problem, and it's got belgium-germany-switzerland road trip written all over it (albeit with "winter tyres" as a compulsory addition).

the bits that i'm unfamiliar with and so far nobody has been able to shed any light on are the bits that would stop me going. i have a 4x4 out there, so crappy conditions aren't an issue, but actually finding somewhere to leave it and trying to find a good viewing spot... eerrrgghh.

thanks for the comments so far guys, much appreciated

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by bella

the bits that i'm unfamiliar with and so far nobody has been able to shed any light on are the bits that would stop me going. i have a 4x4 out there, so crappy conditions aren't an issue, but actually finding somewhere to leave it and trying to find a good viewing spot... eerrrgghh.

Where to leave it? Some places may have official car parks, others the answer is "as close to the stage as you can get it in amongst all the other abandoned cars" If there are car parks set up you should be able to find out the info in advance.

Viewing spots - find some locals that look like they know what they're doing and follow them. Any corners where large numbers of locals are standing are a good bet.

Everything else is the usual stuff - decent footwear, warm clothing, flasks of hot drink, chocolate (can't believe you'd need telling that ). One other incredibly obvious thing - don't stand anywhere a car could get you, there's none of that run off, gravel trap, tyre wall, catch fencing nonsense. It's amazing the dumb places some people stand.

[bella]

i've been having a hard think about this one, and i've decided the best way to tackle it is to go and watch the cars coming back to the service area in monaco on the saturday night (and presumably the sunday post-single stage, need to do some more rummaging on that one), and then do the col de turini myself in granny mode on the monday. i've had a sniff around the stages on google maps and streetview and come to the conclusion that they're all barking mad, particularly the group b boys back in the day

thank you for the advice everyone

[Steve Burns]

Trick is to arrive early, get as close as you can to the stage start or finish, park car on the verge and walk miles into the stage. You will be in good company though with the thousands of like minded spectators. If your really keen, drive into the stage the day before (before the road closes), park up well clear of the stage (you will be moved otherwise or the stage will be cancelled) and camp!

[Down F0rce]

Are you doing it then, Bella?

[bella]

i've managed to get myself a social engagement on the saturday night by accident ( ) so i can't go and see them come back to the service park in monaco, but yeah, i'm hoping to see the finish on sunday and do a stage or two at granny speed if the weather's ok on monday. timetabling eliminates stage spectating so that'll have to wait for a year unfortunately

[bella]

just to conclude this one, i headed up to monaco on the train and went up the hill to the palais for the remise des prix which was surprisingly quiet but quite good fun to see. some friends went up there earlier in the day to catch the cars coming back from the last stage and said that was pretty cool too.

as for the driving, i went up to do the col de turini for myself on the monday - came off the a8 at menton then headed up to sospel, and on from there. that was awesome fun - you don't see another car for miles. there's obviously still tyremarks and stuff all over the road from the big boys a couple of days before, and the main road from sospel covers a lot of the old routes too iirc. it's one heck of a drive at low speed let alone warp speed with ice and snow.

nutters. total nutters.

[Steve Burns]

You should try the Aiglun Gorge, not one for the vertigo sufferers! Awesome.