Fantasy Routes: Kielder WRC Revisited

Back in 2020 I designed a fantasy route in Kielder, Scottish Borders and Lake District to show how it could be done and how the stages are like. Since then WRC rules have changed a bit and more video material from various roads has surfaced. Especially after the latest Roger Albert Clark Rally I thought it’s time to give this idea a new revision. This time I was planning the stages more according to the videos so there’s as little as possible unknown sections.

What should be done for the Tyre Saving Sundays?

We’ve seen lately quite often crews cruising through the early Sunday stages, saving their tyres to get maximum result on the power stage. This is not nice for the spectators, neither on the stages nor watching the footage at home. What could we do about it? Here’s some ideas that I have seen proposed, and the challenges they result in.

Route Preview: Rally Sweden 2022

After a few low-snow rallies in Värmland, Sweden decided to relocate their event higher North, to Umeå, where snow should be guaranteed in February. Thus, it’s a new rally for everyone. The character of the roads is now slightly different – the straights are longer, narrow houseyards more frequent, forest paths smaller and spectator-designated sections fewer. The whole rally could have a very high average speed depending on the conditions. There’s little footage available but this preview still says something about each stage.

Route Preview: Rallye Monte Carlo 2022

This year Rallye Monte Carlo has relocated from Gap to Monaco, and all the stages are run relatively near the principality. This has resulted in dusting off many stages that haven’t been used in years, making them mostly new to the current drivers. The route is also likely slower and more technical than ever, as if the new cars wouldn’t pose enough of a challenge!

Route Preview: Rally Catalunya 2021

Spain’s Rally Catalunya used to be known as the only mixed surface of the series from 2010 to 2019. However, mixed surface events are not allowed anymore so after one year off the Catalunya has returned in all tarmac format, like it was from 1993 to 2009. There’s a few new stages and sections to […]

Route Preview: Rally Finland 2021

Last year’s Rally Finland was another victim of COVID-19 cancellations. This year’s event also got postponed into October to make sure they can run the event with spectators. In turn it means we’ll get a unique darker and moister autumn rally. The route itself packs 287 stage kilometres and the shakedown compactly into two and […]

Route Preview: Acropolis Rally 2021

Greece’s Acropolis Rally used to be one of the roughest and slowest rallies of the season. Acropolis lost its WRC status after 2013 but is now back on the calendar, replacing the cancelled Chile. Like Safari, this year’s Acropolis has been condensed into a compact and modern event with the main characteristics still present.

Route Preview: Ypres Rally 2021

The World Rally Championship introduces already its third new event of 2021 in the form of Ypres Rally Belgium. It will have a unique character of fast but narrow countryside roads. However, it will be very tricky with bumps, ditches and muddy cuts as well as numerous surface changes and junction turns. In addition, the […]

Route Preview: Rally Estonia 2021

Rally Estonia joined the WRC last year amid a storm of COVID-cancelled events. However, they had already arranged a pair of candidate events so the place was well deserved, and the continuation of the deal was no surprise. Thus we will see the fast but soft gravel roads of Rally Estonia again. This year’s route […]

Route Preview: Safari Rally 2021

Safari Rally was set to return to the WRC already in 2020 but COVID-19 delayed the return by one year. As we know the event will be very different than in 2002 when it was last run in WRC, now run on 10-30 km stages on closed areas. The roads will still be completely unique […]