The 2009 running of the Troodos Rally takes place this weekend. I took Geoff (my 3yr old) over to the Service Park tonight to see the cars come back after they'd been through the Ceremonial Start. We had planned to go to the Ceremonial Start, but traffic was so bad leaving Limassol that we simply didn't make it to Paphos in time. Oh, well, he still liked seeing the cars. I won't be chasing this rally all round the island like I did with the Cyprus Rally back in March. But I am planning to go to at least one stage on Sunday. I'm hoping to get to two stages, but it really depends on the kids. Sorry for how crappy some of the pics are, but my camera does *not* work well in low light conditions. That said, a couple of these have come out spectacularly clearly, but it's more by luck than judgment. Oh, and I've found out why the tourists are staying away in droves. Geoff and I went to the hotel bar to grab a drink before coming home. It was €6.80 ($10/£6.32) for two glasses of pop. I was floored by that; it's thoroughly outrageous. Anyway, enough of me prattling on, I'm sure you're all just looking for the pictures. For the full set of the one's I was willing to post for public consumption, the album for the weekend is out here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartpowell/collections/72157622426422949/ This looks like a recce car... So does this, but I think their recce didn't go so well... One of only two cars in a field of 35 that isn't an STi or an Evo... Nasser Al-Attiyah has won this rally for the last five years, and is the odds on favourite to win it again this year. He seems like a nice guy, as he stopped by where we were to say hi to Geoff and shake his hand. Here is the current MERC points leader in the other non-STi/Evo. It's a Peugeot 207 S2000 car. I am astounded by how well this picture came out... They really do jack these cars up a long way for servicing... Here's a random bloke's arse. Well I had to get something for the ladies to enjoy, too... Old school Evo... Middle school Evo... Fresh meat Evo... To be continued... Because I can't post all of the images at once.
That's just a great paint scheme... "Lions, tigers and rally cars, oh my !" Geoff was very popular with the Subaru crews... "Stop taking pictures, dad, and give me the damn keys !" These GrpN cars have amazingly stock engines... "Twins, Basil !" "OK, I'm done. Let's go trade my inheritance for a drink at the bar." A couple more gratuitous Subaru shots to leave you with Bye for now, Stuart.
The young man looks like he's going to be a really great driver someday! He's hang'n with the right people. Now I am curious if you have to deal with as much mosquitoe as we do over here at night. LOL Sweet pictures. -Thnx
Funnily enough, mozzies are a winter problem here. It doesn't rain in the summer, so there's nowhere for them to breed. And in the winter, the coastal breezes tend to push them up into the mountains. I think last year we had about four of them in the house, so not that much of a problem, really. But we do have some pretty mean noseeums all year round Stuart.
Well, what an eventful Sunday we had. It all started out fairly well with a leisurely trip along the motorway from Limassol to Paphos. We were a bit tight for time, but since we thought we knew where we were going, we didn't anticipate any trouble. However, we did get a slight delay when I lost track of what the speed limit was on the road out of Paphos, and wound up having a chat with one of the local constabulary. What I thought was a safe speed for the limit I thought it was turned out to be quite naughty for the actual speed limit. Oh, well, it's my first ever speeding ticket, and I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. Funny thing is, I wasn't driving the Subaru; this was in the Land Cruiser ! We then carried on towards our destination (the very small village of Anadiou), using the same directions we'd used for the Cyprus Rally in March. The road (I use that term very loosely) had been fixed in some places, and had deteriorated in others. More than once Geoff piped up with "Please don't fall off the edge, daddy." Yeah, it was pretty steep in places, and it was all on *his* side of the car. Upon arriving at our destination, we found nothing. Nada, zip, zilch ! Not good. A local spectator came by where we were parked and asked us where everybody was, so we knew we weren't the only ones who thought we were in the right place. We could hear the cars, but they weren't coming down the road they were supposed to be coming down. We'd even driven about 500m up the road to see if we could find anything, but still no signs. After waiting until well after the first car should have come down the road, we gave up and went for a drink at the village cafe. This was a *very* basic affair, and here's where it gets funny again. The cafe had no toilets of its own. Instead, customers are encouraged to use the outhouses of the houses next door or across the street from the cafe. We never did get to the bottom of who owned the houses, but potty breaks all round necessitated the use of what facilities there were. I wonder how they cope in high season ! With plenty of time in hand before the next stage, we decided to be bold and go back to the main road on what we hoped would be a much simpler route than the one we took to get there. Lo and behold, about 1KM down the road we fell over the stage finish we'd been looking for. Oh, well, at least we know where it is for next year. And this way back to the main road was indeed much easier, so we know to take that road next time. I am also vowing to find proper decent maps of this island; the tourist ones are hopeless. Once back on the main road, it took us less than 10mins to get to the start of the next stage, which was a good 45mins from starting. So, we packed up a snack and some drinks, and a blanket to sit on, and headed down into the stage to find somewhere to settle in to. The road was carved from the side of a hill, with sheer cuttings to one side, and steep drop-offs to the other. You'll see these on the pictures. We headed all the way down the first hill until we came to a nice turn that looked like the cars would need to slow down enough for me to get decent pictures. Time passes, apples, pop and biccies are consumed, and then the 00 and 0 cars come past us in quick succession. Our spot is not quite as good as we thought it was. It was indeed good for seeing the cars come round the corner and down the hill, but then the cloud of dust that consumed us as they came round the bottom of the hill made it nigh on impossible to see them as they departed. Trish and the kids took refuge under the blanket they'd brought to sit on, but I had to stay out in the open to take my pictures. I was snapping a couple of pics as quickly as I could, then turning around to keep the dust out of my face, and stuffing the camera under my shirt to keep it clean. I think I took about 8lbs of the stage back to the car with me. And I'm still picking grit out of my ears ! It was fun to go out and see the cars in action again. The high rate of attrition the Cyprus events are famous for meant only 14 of the 35 starters actually made it to the finish line. Peculiarly enough, those 14 consisted of 7 Subarus and 7 Mitsubishis. And, of course, it was a Subaru that came out on top OK, OK, on to the photos... Gravel rallies tend to take place far from the beaten track. One of the safety cars sitting waiting to go. The stage road wound around this reservoir. Here comes the 00 car. The competitors won't be far behind. Here comes the first of the competitors. And there he goes. Yeah, that's the cloud of dust we had to contend with. It actually settled down a bit after the first few guys went past, but as we went down the rankings, guys would get off line and it started to get bad again. Here is our eventual winner. Nicos Thomas is the local favourite. He's one of the Pirelli Stars this year, so has been doing some WRC events in a spec Evo. He was in Spain last weekend. Trish and the kids taking refuge under their dust shield. One of the twins. The other one didn't make it this far. Sometimes I get lucky, and the pictures come out OK. And sometimes they SUCK ! I was so mad about this one. This is the car Geoff sat on in the Service Park on Friday night, and I *really* wanted to get a picture of this car in action The new Evo certainly makes for a purposeful looking rally car. Nice plume. Just a hint of opposite lock there. Compare this one with the black one above. You can see how the lines vary quite a bit. To be continued...
See how steep those drop-offs are ? It's still pretty sunny and warm here The only non-Subaru/Evo entry we saw on course. And the safety car clears the stage and tells us it's all done. Here are a few 'official' photos from the event. I didn't take these, and they're cross linked from the event's website. If you can't see them, let me know, and I'll rehost them. The MERC points leader binned it both days, and took no points from the weekend. He's now down in 3rd place with two events left to run, and the top three on 30, 29 & 28 points. That's a close race. This is the guy who put Geoff on top of his car on Friday night. He brought it home in a respectable 6th place. And the winner, and new MERC points leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah. That's it until next year's Cyprus Rally, which should be running in the spring. Stuart.
