Watching a rally for the first time can sometimes feel a little daunting, here we explain how to get the best out of your trip
Watching the World Rally Championship live is unlike most other sports where you buy a ticket and turn up at a stadium or venue to watch the action. Spectating a rally takes a certain degree of preparation and planning. Here is RallyeSpot’s tips on how to plan a day watching a rally.
Firstly check the rally website, this will tell you the stages they are using, the timings, and where the spectator areas are. They will sometimes give you an overall description of the rally stage and even of a particular spectator area
Spectator stages vary a lot in overall character and finding a good spot to watch a rally on any given stage can be tricky. Do you want to watch a flat-out straight, a tight hairpin, a large jump or a sequence of corners? Bare in mind that the most well known rally stages often have huge crowds, with some people even camping overnight to ensure a prime viewing spot. Going to watch these stages do not always offer the best viewing and for safety reasons you will be generally further away from the course.
This is where the RallySpot website can help. Once you have found a stage you think you might like to watch, look it up on RallyeSpot by using the search or looking it up by country.
Stay in one place or move around?
Most rallies these days run a series of stages in the morning and then repart them in the afternoon. This gives 2 main ways of watching a rallying. Firstly you can pitch up for a few hours, watching the first and second pass of a rally stage. If you are doing this you will need to be prepared to be out for the day, so take food, something to sit on and possibly a shelter, you will need to dress appropriately for the weather as well. Depending on retirements, you should see most of the top drivers twice.
The second way is to watch one stage and then try to get to another stage to watch the cars coming through. This can be good fun, but also tricky to time right. You will often only be able to watch the first 10 to 20 cars before leaving to the next stage. Bare in mind traffic, parking and walking to the stage after parking.
Parking
To watch a rally you will need to drive to the stage. Most stages only have parking available along the side of a road or forest track. This means you can end up having to park sometimes 1or 2 miles from the actual stage. Other stages will have large parking areas, these are usually stages with catering, toilets and screens available such as sweet lamb,in Wales and Lousada in Portugal
