The usuall donegal rally thread!!!!

homer simpson

Well with the rally on next week, its a usuall occourance for a thread to start about complaints ect regarding the rally. Last year after i joined (after lurking about for ages) i started a thread trying to guage peoples opinions on the rally, this year i decided to start a thread for people to ask any questions about areas to avoid ect and roughly what time the cars will be in what area if they what to take a look.

For starters its usuall enough to avoid letterkenny town at all from friday to monday in the evenings as its usually 1 big traffic jam, carndonagh will be jammed on friday during the day and buncranna is a big no go area (if your not into rallying) on the friday evening from 3pm untill 9 or 10 as they are expecting around 30,000 people to be there for the stage around buncranna town! Saturday avoid milford kerrykeel and fanad in general all day untill 7ish sunday avoid downings creslough area all day untill 5 ish.

Now for the good bits if you truely dont have a big interest in rally but are wondering what its all about i suggest heading along to buncranna on friday it could be the last time you will see something like this being held as regulations seem to be getting stricter and stricter each year, its also prob the last time you will get the see the proper fast World Rally Cars, but i personally will be looking forward to seeing the Ford Mk II escorts with 300+ HP (more than 3 times the power of the average road car), its supposed to be a way of bringing the rally to people who prob wouldn't otherwise look near it, it basiclly runs from the old fire station (across from the supermarket just as you leave buncranna on the carn road) and goes towards the start of swan park, turns up past the old tech, then down past fruit of the loom and finishes at the swimming pool, a lot of the drivers will prob put on a show and the atmosphere should be great with a good crowd, the noise of the cars bouncing off the buildings, plenty of good safe viewing along the shore road!

I'm writing this to help out the boardsies who might want to avoid the rally but also to encourage the curious to go out and watch it, if anyone wants any more info relpy here and i will be happy to help.

P.S. i know its prob terribally wrote spelling / grammer ect, but ive had a few so dont care and if anyone does go that wouldn't normally go let everyone know what you thought

muffler

Banned till the rally's over

Pique

God post man.
I normally avoid LK like the plague due to the IQ-challenged followers burning out their clutches but if you've info as to map routes etc, please post 'em up as I wouldn't mind spending a day watching professional lunatics doing what they do best.

Graces7

Is tomorrow, Tuesday, safe? Need to go to ASDA in Strabane, then .... Buncrana..

PS Homer; worry not re spelling etc.. Language is about communication and rather this than that dreadful text shorthand ..( will take my English teacher hat off now...)

homer simpson

Pique - i cant post map routes, i have seen sites have legal action taken against them when maps have been posted before as its the main way for the club to make money ie. selling programs, but i will give you an idea...... if your following the whole weekend i'd suggest going to buncranna on Fri evening FCD (first car due, on the stage) is 16.50 (first run) and 18.32 (second run) but i would strongly reccommend getting in there early, i myself will be heading to a stage in malin and clonmany before hand but i have but i am doing media work at the weekend.

Saturday head towards portsalon but turn off to go before it and head by knockalla (stokers strand) for the afternoon its usually very spectacular to watch comming up the corkscrew if your put off by the big crowds on friday, saturday will be a much calmer affair so dont worry! FCD times for knockalla are 14.38 and 17.02.

Sunday either head into glen village before 9 as its always a good show / atmospere there, or you could go the the GAA pitch in downings park up (in a secure car park) and get the bus around the atlantic drive stage he stops in 3 places along the stage either of them are great, when the stages are finished the bus goes around again and lifts everyone, i think the bus is €4, be there for around 10 too, and ohh bring a picnic as the weather is suppossed to be good!

@ Graces, you'll have no problems at all the rally doesnt start untill Friday, you might se the odd normall car with a number on the front windscreen but they are only out doing a "recce", which basiclly means each crew competing makes a writen discription of all the corners on the route (usually numbered, where 1 is very very sharp corner and up to 6 which is a very fast corner, the number usually indicates the gear the corner is taken in too) and are only allowed to do the speed limit, but you shouldn't meet any as its was mainly done over the weekend.


P.S. soory for going in depth into the discriptions of things , got a bit carried away, lol:p

Local-womanizer

I follow the Rally every year,love it so I do. But I hate the muppets that come with it. Half of them dont even follow the stages!

It should be grand till about Thursday,after that the town will be jammed.

I wont be going to Buncrana,if ya do it will be nearly impossible to make it to any other stages. The place will be packed so it will.

homer simpson

Local-womanizer wrote: »

I follow the Rally every year,love it so I do. But I hate the muppets that come with it. Half of them dont even follow the stages!

It should be grand till about Thursday,after that the town will be jammed.

I wont be going to Buncrana,if ya do it will be nearly impossible to make it to any other stages. The place will be packed so it will.

Couldn't have said it better myself, but i've got a great place to stand for the buncranna town stage (its private property) my "boss" for the weekends relatives live there, its just getting parked thats the bother , it helps when you have a media pass like me though :P

theboss80

Ya im living in Buncrana am im bracing myself haha, i dunno where the crowds (and cars) are gonna fit:eek:


hmmmm must make a sign RALLY SPECTATOR CAR PARK ADMISSION €20 haha, jeez id fit about 30 cars at my place

Graces7

Have a wonderful day all of you, and stay safe....

inode

Letterkenny is fairly buzzing like those vuvuzela's from the world cup

Local-womanizer

homer_simpson wrote: »

Couldn't have said it better myself, but i've got a great place to stand for the buncranna town stage (its private property) my "boss" for the weekends relatives live there, its just getting parked thats the bother , it helps when you have a media pass like me though :P

I love spots like that,had one last year at a friends house,great so it is

Was down town tonight,crazy amount of cars around for a Thursday,imagine what the next 2 days will be like! :eek:

homer simpson

i was nearly blowing one of the vuvozula (or however ya pronouce it) things when i seen the mexico - france result!

Looking forward to this now, should be a good buzz around, boy racers are at it already too :mad: i live fairly close to the N13 and there was a spell of about 20 minutes earlier of constant revving, dont see the attracion myself but each to their own and all that!

everyone who is going this weekend hope you all enjoy it! and above all stay safe!!!!! :cool:

lila44

not looking forward to this weeked...I live in the town, so the sound of all those tiny-peepeed boys will be keeping me up all night.....

can already hear them now......this could be the first time i've ever said...i can't wait untill monday!

Graces7

lila44 wrote: »

not looking forward to this weeked...I live in the town, so the sound of all those tiny-peepeed boys will be keeping me up all night.....

can already hear them now......this could be the first time i've ever said...i can't wait untill monday!

Commiserations; ear plugs help. or time for a weekend away!!

Fracture

Im actually looking forward to the rally in Buncrana, its not often we see anything exciting around the town, the weather is good and the pubs should be packed later. Im not big into rally events but since i live in Buncrana ill definately be going to this.

docmartin

just in the door from todays stages, got stages 1 and 3, didnt go in near buncrana for 5&6 because it would likely be a bottleneck afterwards,
stage 1 was a really fast start with Keith Cronin having a huge huge moment just in front of us, went up on the bank with the lhs of the car and kept it out of the wall with great car control, stage 1 was brought to an unfortunate end when Damien Gallagher had an off, i read a comment from Eugene ferry that it couuld have been something mechanical that gave up in the car, hopefully Damien is ok and the wee red escort will be back soon.
returned to the same spot again for stage 3 and it proved to be very very fast, bone dry roads now doubt a major factor in this, most impressive thru stage 3 was probbably Daniel Mc Kenna who was full out on this run holding nothing back.

Looking forward to another fast day tomorrow, hopefully a safe day too

MichaelF10

docmartin wrote: »

just in the door from todays stages, got stages 1 and 3, didnt go in near buncrana for 5&6 because it would likely be a bottleneck afterwards,
stage 1 was a really fast start with Keith Cronin having a huge huge moment just in front of us, went up on the bank with the lhs of the car and kept it out of the wall with great car control, stage 1 was brought to an unfortunate end when Damien Gallagher had an off, i read a comment from Eugene ferry that it couuld have been something mechanical that gave up in the car, hopefully Damien is ok and the wee red escort will be back soon.
returned to the same spot again for stage 3 and it proved to be very very fast, bone dry roads now doubt a major factor in this, most impressive thru stage 3 was probbably Daniel Mc Kenna who was full out on this run holding nothing back.

Looking forward to another fast day tomorrow, hopefully a safe day too

Hi, Any chance you could tell me where saturdays stages are based?

inode

you'll have to buy the rally programme to get that confidential info

tatabubbly

Can't avoid the rally, one of the service areas is in front of our house, so non stop shouting, discarded fast food and people trampling all over our garden and our poor dogs getting upset..

icescreamqueen

Does anyone know if the Carrigart stage on Sunday has been cancelled? Heard a rumour someone objected to the stage and it had to be called off. Not sure how much truth there is in it.

homer simpson

icescreamqueen wrote: »

Does anyone know if the Carrigart stage on Sunday has been cancelled? Heard a rumour someone objected to the stage and it had to be called off. Not sure how much truth there is in it.

I'd highly doubt it , that stage (i prosume you mean the atlantic drive stage) because that stage has ran for almost every donegal rally, and besides it take a lot more than 1 person objecting to halt a stage, usually once the road closure norices go to press the only thing that can stop the stage is a death....

Was a great day today, i wasn't expecting the town stage to be up to much but i thoyght it was great good atmosphere, no yahoos, at all surprisingly, hope it stays that way for the rest of the weekend....now to find the aftersun

iMuse

Heard that the rally was cancelled because of a death Really hope this isnt true.

Heard that a driver or co driver was killed on Knockalla stage. That could be the rally over for another year

Local-womanizer

Heard that a co-driver was killed. Seen the coastguard chopper headed out that direction and the Garda chopper had landed beside the hospital.

Further statement to be issued later,so far the rally is finished today.

Mick Daly

http://www.highlandradio.com/2010/06/19/donegal-international-rally-suspended-following-serious-crash/

Mick Daly

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0619/breaking19.html




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donegal_International_Rally

Mick Daly

This thing should be cancelled altogether. Killing and injuring every year. It's only a bloodbath. How many more need to be killed or be injured? Hopefully they'll learn their lesson now.

lila44

if someone has died it is really tragic..

homer simpson

Mick Daly wrote: »

This thing should be cancelled altogether. Killing and injuring every year. It's only a bloodbath. How many more need to be killed or be injured? Hopefully they'll learn their lesson now.

First off all how is it a bloodbath? more people get killed playing GAA that there are people get killed rallying, i dont particurally like GAA at all nut when someone dies you wont see me (and others who dont like it) to be banned, wise yourself upthere is not someone killed every year during rallies, you really should think before you post!!!!

Its an extremly senseative subject so id advise that some caution is used when posting, there was a seriously tradgic accident on the knockalla stage of the rally which resulted in a lose of live! Just confirmed on the highland news there

R.I.P.

Domscard

Very sad Just heard it on RTE news.

muffler

Mick Daly wrote: »

This thing should be cancelled altogether. Killing and injuring every year. It's only a bloodbath. How many more need to be killed or be injured? Hopefully they'll learn their lesson now.

That's completely uncalled for under the circumstances.

1 week ban applied.

biloatty

More people get killed playing GAA every year? Can I ask where you found the statistics for that 'fact'?

Coming from the Knockalla area myself, I can tell you that the roads there and at all the other Fanad area stages (I'm not familiar with the roads at other places) are lethal enough to navigate on a normal day, in a normal car at a normal speed. Never mind trying to drive round the cliff road on Knockalla at 100miles an hour.

The rally is a dangerous sport (and I use the term sport very loosely) and this should be the end of it. There have been enough fatalities at it at this stage- there is no way to jusify it's continuation.
The government will ban things like fox-hunting but this is allowed to destroy the weekend of an entire county every weekend? (Not to mention destroy the lives of the families of those that have been killed at it over the years)

And, fatalities aside, it should be banned based on the number of public order offences that take place in Donegal that weekend anyway, or the number of private properties that are trespassed on and damaged over the course of the weekend. And I find it ridiculous that people are trapped in their homes for a day because the road has to be shut down down so that these idiots can put their own lives, the lives of the spectators and the general public at risk.

Enough is enough.

Local-womanizer

biloatty wrote: »

More people get killed playing GAA every year? Can I ask where you found the statistics for that 'fact'?

Coming from the Knockalla area myself, I can tell you that the roads there and at all the other Fanad area stages (I'm not familiar with the roads at other places) are lethal enough to navigate on a normal day, in a normal car at a normal speed. Never mind trying to drive round the cliff road on Knockalla at 100miles an hour.

The rally is a dangerous sport (and I use the term sport very loosely) and this should be the end of it. There have been enough fatalities at it at this stage- there is no way to jusify it's continuation.
The government will ban things like fox-hunting but this is allowed to destroy the weekend of an entire county every weekend? (Not to mention destroy the lives of the families of those that have been killed at it over the years)

And, fatalities aside, it should be banned based on the number of public order offences that take place in Donegal that weekend anyway, or the number of private properties that are trespassed on and damaged over the course of the weekend. And I find it ridiculous that people are trapped in their homes for a day because the road has to be shut down down so that these idiots can put their own lives, the lives of the spectators and the general public at risk.

Enough is enough.

Complete and utter unfounded bs tbh. It really is.

To compare you driving on a public road in a standard car to these highly skilled and experienced drivers in specialised cars on a closed road is just plain stupid.

Thousands of people find huge enjoyment in the rally and the local economy makes an absolute fourtune from it.

To call these people idiots is retarded and a totally baseless and uneducated view on the event.

If you said all this complete dross to the family of the man killed today,or of any person killed in this sport they would, in no uncertain terms, tell you to cop on.

Seriously,this sh!te really angers me.

Graces7

I have to agree with the ban thoughts.

These are public roads; and previous posts refer to the lack of expertise of many of the drivers.

Many have a terrible weekend is they are on the route. Gardens trampled etc and dogs upset..

Public road racing/ rallies are an anachronism. On today's roads a danger.

And in Ireland, where the road network is so poor and there really are no alternative routes?

If you really need that kind of speed, make a race circuit?

The kind of policing needed for these events must outweigh in cost any benefit to the "economy".

biloatty

To be fair, I apologize for calling them idiots- that was uncalled for.

But the rest of it I 100% stand by.

Speak to the locals who have to put up with two weekend of crazy driving, drunken youths and loud, obnoxious 'rally fans' before you start calling me retarded- I find that incredibly offensive.

You're calling me biased? Why don't you consider the effects this rally has on the people who live around these stages?

Locals (anywhere except the pubs in Letterkenny) make nothing out of it- despite the fact that our property is trampled through and littered, our animals are scared witless, our walls are crashed into every year. What do we get out of it? Nothing except the fear that one of the spectators that are climbing our walls and fences will fall and hurt themselves and we may well be liable for it? In what way does it benefit us?

lamai

biloatty wrote: »

To be fair, I apologize for calling them idiots- that was uncalled for.

But the rest of it I 100% stand by.

Speak to the locals who have to put up with two weekend of crazy driving, drunken youths and loud, obnoxious 'rally fans' before you start calling me retarded- I find that incredibly offensive.

You're calling me biased? Why don't you consider the effects this rally has on the people who live around these stages?

Locals (anywhere except the pubs in Letterkenny) make nothing out of it- despite the fact that our property is trampled through and littered, our animals are scared witless, our walls are crashed into every year. What do we get out of it? Nothing except the fear that one of the spectators that are climbing our walls and fences will fall and hurt themselves and we may well be liable for it? In what way does it benefit us?

Just talking to a few people at the weekend and they do not want it here as well. It is just a nuisance if you have no interest in it. I would be glad to see it banned

Ciar0468

Just heard the highland radio news, the man died today. please be a bit more respectfull. I live in letterkenny and have been putting up with terrible traffic but Its only once a year and im sure it brings a lot of revenue and tourism to the town.
As dangerous as rallying is, there are a lot of more dangerous sports out there. Each to his own.

biloatty

I would guess that at least 90%, if not more, of locals from Rally stage areas, (the percentage might be slightly smaller in urban ares like Letterkenny) do not want the Rally to take place every year.

The fact of the matter is that they do not get a choice in the matter, or a say in where the stages will be, when they will be etc. The only communication between rally officials and locals is a letter through the door 3 weeks beforehand to say when the roads will be closed.

It's a disgrace. Looking out the garden window to find men pissing into you garden (fact- and I wouldn't mind, that wasn't a spectator, it was an internationally well known driver that went on to win the rally that year). The over-whelming majority of rally-goers have no respect for the property on which they tramp though this weekend.

.17hmr

Mick Daly wrote: »

This thing should be cancelled altogether. Killing and injuring every year. It's only a bloodbath. How many more need to be killed or be injured? Hopefully they'll learn their lesson now.

I Dont meen to be rude to your self or too any one else,but these people know the risk its the same with any such sport such as the TT NW200 RALLYING they love there sport.they take every safty measure in to account possable but you cant cover everything.feel sorry for the ones who he or she leaves behind .

PaulDolan

Firstly my condolences to the family and friends of the man who was killed in that tragic accident today.

Now to those calling on rallying to be banned. all over this country people have to put up with inconvenience at some stage or another in order for large crowds to enjoy themselves. examples: People living in the vicinity of a G.A.A ground. People living in towns which have annual fairs, horse fairs etc.. , the national ploughing championships.
what will we do ban all these because they cause inconvenience to people.
Generally the roads around rallies are shut for a few hours tops.
Many people including myself make a living from rallying in this country.
If that driver did urinate in someones lawn then name him because i seriously doubt that happened.
Cop onto yourselves

Graces7

.17hmr wrote: »

I Dont meen to be rude to your self or too any one else,but these people know the risk its the same with any such sport such as the TT NW200 RALLYING they love there sport.they take every safty measure in to account possable but you cant cover everything.feel sorry for the ones who he or she leaves behind .

You are missing the point... Most sports take place privately, ie on designated, purpose built sites/grounds etc.

Not in towns where ordinary people are trying to get on with their lives.

no one would make these objections if that were so; if the sport and the danger were thus limited and confined to a space and a place away from those who do not enjoy it and whose lives are disrupted.

Noone has any right to inflict this kind of nuisance and noise and disruption on people.

There are you see aspects that you have not thought through here. Hospital visiting disrupted; lifeline services delayed. And damage to property.

Seemingly these things matter not as long as the great god sport goes ahead? Allied with the great god money.

A few years ago we lived in a remote area where the only access road was to be closed because of a road rally. There were arrangements in case of accident or illness to residents who were literally to be cut off from the outisde world for the duration of the rally

Or to be refused to be allowed home should they be already away.

BUT there would be delays. Endangering life and health.

no one has that right - period.

No other sport disrupts the lives of non-participants and non spectators like this.

And is is dangerous; that is the choice of the participants sure. But what a task for the emergency services also at such a tragic loss of life.

Small comfort to a family is this support of the sport.

Local-womanizer

Local-womanizer wrote: »

Complete and utter unfounded bs tbh. It really is.

To compare you driving on a public road in a standard car to these highly skilled and experienced drivers in specialised cars on a closed road is just plain stupid.

Thousands of people find huge enjoyment in the rally and the local economy makes an absolute fourtune from it.

To call these people idiots is retarded and a totally baseless and uneducated view on the event.

If you said all this complete dross to the family of the man killed today,or of any person killed in this sport they would, in no uncertain terms, tell you to cop on.

Seriously,this sh!te really angers me.

What makes them so highly skilled and experienced drivers?? Do they do courses/training? Do they practice a lot? Take part in a competition every week?

I'm sure some of the more well known/semi pros do, but what about the local lads that take part every year? I was under the impression that alot of these lads take part in just a handful of events every year.

Hardly enough to call those lads these highly skilled and experienced drivers.

I would like it to stay, but it needs to be tightened up alot. More gardai and trained stewards among the spectators in and around private property.

And the places limited to, say, half the number of entrants. Those with a proven track record of rallying experience.

And closing the road...come on! It is just for a few hours once a year! And you are given plenty of notice. If you are in an emergency, then of course the road will be reopened for an ambulance, if necessary. It even says that in the letter!!

As for the garda operating costs, etc...it doesn't directly place a burden on us. Look at the other events countrywise that use up Garda overtime...we might as well get a slice of the pie. It is worth a lot to the local economy.

.17hmr

Graces7 wrote: »

You are missing the point... Most sports take place privately, ie on designated, purpose built sites/grounds etc.

Not in towns where ordinary people are trying to get on with their lives.

no one would make these objections if that were so; if the sport and the danger were thus limited and confined to a space and a place away from those who do not enjoy it and whose lives are disrupted.

Noone has any right to inflict this kind of nuisance and noise and disruption on people.

There are you see aspects that you have not thought through here. Hospital visiting disrupted; lifeline services delayed. And damage to property.

Seemingly these things matter not as long as the great god sport goes ahead? Allied with the great god money.

A few years ago we lived in a remote area where the only access road was to be closed because of a road rally. There were arrangements in case of accident or illness to residents who were literally to be cut off from the outisde world for the duration of the rally

Or to be refused to be allowed home should they be already away.

BUT there would be delays. Endangering life and health.

no one has that right - period.

No other sport disrupts the lives of non-participants and non spectators like this.

And is is dangerous; that is the choice of the participants sure. But what a task for the emergency services also at such a tragic loss of life.

Small comfort to a family is this support of the sport.

Hmmm,It does'nt matter what any one does any way for you will always get some one who wont be happy about something .

Graces7

"As for the garda operating costs, etc...it doesn't directly place a burden on us. Look at the other events countrywise that use up Garda overtime...we might as well get a slice of the pie. It is worth a lot to the local economy."

I rest my case... slice of the pie? Words fail...

Graces7

.17hmr wrote: »

Hmmm,It does'nt matter what any one does any way for you will always get some one who wont be happy about something .

Not sure what this post means? We all have different views and priorities is all. some see one thing; some see others, and that way a fuller picture is gained.

Graces7

Graces7 wrote: »

"As for the garda operating costs, etc...it doesn't directly place a burden on us. Look at the other events countrywise that use up Garda overtime...we might as well get a slice of the pie. It is worth a lot to the local economy."

I rest my case... slice of the pie? Words fail...

Its quite simple really. We are all paying taxes, from which Garda operations at the football matches, horse racing, Oxegen, Electric Picnic, etc are paid. We might as well have a large event which brings money into the local economy.

So to use the argument of the cost of policing the event as a reason to cancel is unfair to the local publicans/hoteliers that do not have an Oxegen or EP like event.

docmartin

I find it very pig headed of people coming on here having not had anything productive to add to the thread, people should grow up and stop complaining about litter in their gardens. most genuine rallyfans bring their rubbish back to their cars with them. A life has been lost today and the poor driver (who i won't name but all of us rallyfans will know) will probably never fully recover from something like this.

This thread has really annoyed me now just from reading the comments from all the A-holes who think such a thing should be banned.

A quote from the late Bertie Fisher comes to mind, when asked about a close battle between himself and andrew nesbitt on the circuit of ireland he quickly replied "never, has so much, been provided by so few, for the entertainment of so many"

I'm all for public forums and people expressing their opinions but ffs people have a bit of considerations and shut up about the dam gardens, litter can be tidied up in an hour.

Just grow up people and have a bit of decency at this sad time for Donegal

muffler

Im a little saddened at the content of some of the posts here. What started off as a good thread has degenerated into nothing more than schoolyard antics with name calling and abuse.

Just because you hold a particular view does not necessarily mean that it is right. People have strong opinions on rallying and everyone is more than welcome to post those opinions here but can do so without being abusive.

Please respect the other person's opinion, attack their post but not the poster and be civil with your replies.

I wont be repeating myself on this point.

homer simpson

Look there are a lot of people here saying things that they know nothing about i would love to go through everyones posts and quote them but im not, i'll just make some generalised comments...

1- the people who are saying that emergancy services ect are effected by the rally its untrue, you are actully going to get much medical attention a lot faster than you usually would if you live on a closed road used by the rally as they have 2 doctors cars sitting ready to go and 2 ambulances (st. johns ambulances usually) and upon receving the call they will be there in minutes, if you dial 99 you get through to a local(ish) dispach and they are aware of the area of all the stages, and dont be going saying but sure what if i cant phone ect, because if you cant phone how would you dial any number?


2 - People are also Questioning the drivers experience ect, before you get a drivers license you need to complete a test at a rally school, after that you have to finish (not just compete and crash but actully complete and finish) a number of multi-purpose events which are held on abandoned airfeilds ect, once you complete X (i think 4) events and have the evidence you can then compete on junior events or single stage events and you then have to do X (again 4 i think) you can then do a national rally (the likes of the sligo stages or the donegal harvest rally) then again after X events you can apply to do an "international" event like donegal, but you are not garanteed an entry, the entries are done by means of seeding where first picked will be the person with the most amount of finishes and rallies ect in recent times and it works doe the order from there, so yes you can say all the drivers were experienced who do the Donegal international rally

3 - people talking about not getting info other than a letter through the door is nonesense, they do "PR" on every single stage of the route and go to every door of every house and ask the occupiers what they think, if they dont want people in the garden they say so and forbidden areas are allocated, the garden cordened off and if anyone stands there they be moved on by one of the marshall cars (which go through before the stage starts) and spectator control cars, if they refuse to listen the stages are stopped, as happened earleir today! And the rally does not happen on public roads the roads are closed to the public, you can technically be arrested by the gardai for walking on the stage as its not open to the public!!!!


Just another couple of points, the accident didnt happen on the cliffs at knockalla, they happens on the knockalla stage, it happened not far away from the football pitch (which is closer to rathmullan than portsalon) on a relativly straight (but unfortunently fast section of road). Also the majority of people who organise the rally are not paid they are volanters must of these is made up by marshalls. Some people not mentioning no names, seem to jump on the bandwagon and are quick to slate something / somone when something goes bad but yet when this thread was opened we didnt see too many people saying ban it ?!? Also everyone who competes or even goes to a rally knows that it is dangerous and know the risks involved, when a driver "signs on" he is signing an indemnity form, and in the programes they have full pages dedicated to explianing that motorsport is dangerous ect... even on radio adverts now they have drivers doing peices saying "drive carefully", "listen to marshalls", " motor sport is dangerous" ect ect


i asked people to be respectfull, but as they were saying things that had no foundings at all, so felt the need to respond to them and give them some facts about rallying!!!!! please read through my post as everything i have said is fact, i beleive some people will always think what they will think and nothing will change their minds and i can add no more than what i have already said above and im not going to reply any more. Also i know i cant spell so ignore my spelling

homer_simpson

homer_simpson wrote: »

2 - People are also Questioning the drivers experience ect, before you get a drivers license you need to complete a test at a rally school, after that you have to finish (not just compete and crash but actully complete and finish) a number of multi-purpose events which are held on abandoned airfeilds ect, once you complete X (i think 4) events and have the evidence you can then compete on junior events or single stage events and you then have to do X (again 4 i think) you can then do a national rally (the likes of the sligo stages or the donegal harvest rally) then again after X events you can apply to do an "international" event like donegal, but you are not garanteed an entry, the entries are done by means of seeding where first picked will be the person with the most amount of finishes and rallies ect in recent times and it works doe the order from there, so yes you can say all the drivers were experienced who do the Donegal international rally

Thanks for taking the time to post all that! Very informative!

As I said, I was under the impression that there were entrants of varying experience...I didn't know exactly what the criteria for entering the Rally was (and since I am not really into rallying I never took it upon myself to find out)

But now I know better!

And as I said previously as well, I would like the rally to stay around.

RIP Thomas Maguire.

Local-womanizer

RIP Thomas Maguire

Just to clear up the bit about the dangers of rallying in Donegal.

Thomas is the first competitor to lose his live in the history of the Donegal rally.

Yes we had a spectator killed 2 years ago and I was unfortunate to witness that incident,but it could have been avoided. I have been told the same about the 2 stewards killed in 2002.

At the end of the day these people put a huge amount of time an effort into the rally,both for theirs and our enjoyment. I have been out this weekend both days and I have seen nothing but respect shown for land that was opened to spectators,in fact I even seen people picking up others rubbish on leaving a certain field. Over the past 6-7 years I have gone out to witness the rally I havent had a bad experience,and any land owner I have spoken too has had no problem with crowds standing on their land.

Biloatty, My apologies if it seemed I was calling you retarded,I wasnt. I was referring to your "idiot" comment which you have since retracted so I wont go any further.