[Norcalrallyist]

Thanks to all the organizers and everyone that competed! You all put on a great show! I forgot to add that everything was great except for the @#[email protected]#% son of a @#$%@ in a white golf who decided that after the heros welcome thing he was going to go ahead a get even with the large number of subarus at the event by trying to throw a golf ball at one of them while they were on the road. Now you might think that hey maybe a golf ball just fell out of the sky or possibly theres a golf course or driving range near by right? Well this coward was sitting on the side of the road and pulled out as soon as he saw a new wrx leave the parking lot. Then someone threw a golf ball out of the car at the wrx and hit my car instead good shot! I think its a little disturbing to see so many wrxs in one place but deal with it! Mabye if VW sponsored every rally event in the us some more golfs would show up.

 

[Andy M]

Yea, everyone involved did a great job! I talked with about 8-10 people who were invited by Subaru because they had recently bought WRXs, and none of them had ever been to a rally before (4 of these people were from Berkeley, and drove 6+ hours to Palmdale, of all places... talk about a leap of faith). All of them said they would come next year, and one of the friends of these people said he was going to buy a WRX when he got home. Subaru has some really ingenius advertising people, if you ask me...

The only thing is, next year, I think there will need to be some more parking somehow, because I would think that there could only be more people, and there were some small accidents that I saw involving people parking in places that were too narrow, and people driving WAY too fast on the roads filled with people and cars. Also, because rally is getting a bit more mainstream, I think it might help to have a "Rally Information Center" type of thing at the main service at Lake Hughes. A lot of people in attendance were new to rallying, and many of them really had no clue as to how they were going to find the next stage. I was there in a car with very little ground clearance and none of the officials knew if the road to stage 13 was rough, or how long it was, so having an information center where I could find someone who knew some general info about the rally would have helped. Luckily, everyone there was really nice and I was able to park at the bottom and ride up in a ... Subaru WRX.

The Official Program was really helpful in finding the stages, but the only thing I would change is to put the stage lengths in there somewhere, because it's relatively easy to find where you are on the stage, but you have no idea how long it will take the cars to reach the point you're at. Also, a timetable that tells what time each stage starts would be useful.

Everything else was great. With the help of the program I was able to see 3 stages on Friday, with very little effort. The viewing areas were very thoughtfully laid out, and they seemed to all be in safe locations, but with great views.

Looking forward to next year.
Andy Maltun
http://vrpaddock.m4driving.sm

 

[Timmerman_Paul]

Thanks for the constructive input. We will use it to continue to
improve the event. Parking is a big issue for sure and we do
everything we can to make it better. That battle will continue.
Please help us by not driving fast on the roads and scolding
those who do. We can't be everywhere.

Paul Timmerman
Chief of Spectator Areas