Rally Mexico Feedback (Spectator POV)

[xspeedy]

So I'm in the USA (Texas) and am investigating the possibility of attending the 2010 Rally Mexico (appears to be March 7).

Does anyone have any experience with this rally from a spectator point of view? I have attended a few rallies so far (Germany, Corsica, Sardinia, Portugal), but this is closer and during a time when I can burn my vacation.

I can't even seem to locate an official website or resources for the rally.

Thanks

[Helstar]

http://www.rallymexico.com/home.php

Stay away from the stones throwers ^^

[jonas_mcrae]

Its a nice event, sure is not as well organised as European events and spectators can get a little bit out of control but still I like it. Been there 04,05,06 and 08 and overall was quite satisfied. For me the best year was 04 because the amount of spectators was low and you could get into the SS quite easily, but now the event has become very popular in the region and some of the most popular areas (jump/water splash) can get very crowded.

Depends what you want to do, I usually take it easy, 2-3 stages a day plus a visit to the service park in the evening. Some stages are very close to Leon (HQ) and have good spectator points, but others are quite far away and are not easy to reach, once I missed the WRC cars because it took me about 1.5 hours to get to the stage... The SSS is ok, but Im not a big fan of SSS so I would rather use the time to get to a good SS, the bad thing about it really is the access and the parking, it takes a lot of time to get in and get out so I would not recomend it...

The service park is very nice, indoors, cool and usually corona is served around, if you want a hotel right next to it (holiday Inn, etc) you have to start looking now because they get booked very quickly by rally teams, journalists and all that, I usually stay downtown which is a nicer area and has good cheap hotels.


Are you planning to fly or drive? because you will need a car (preferably SUV or truck) to get to the stages. Every year the organizers and the local government "fix" the roads to the stages but still some can get quite rough. TBH the best way to enjoy this rally is to take a ATV with you, you can avoid traffic and get fast to the stages. If not, a truck will do fine.


Overall is a nice event with a little bit of adventure! some poeple stay overnight in the stages and make bbq, which can be nice if you are well prepared, there is always beer around which causes the stone trowers... and the last stage on sunday gets very very crowded so I would not recomend it. I've been to rallies in europe, (GB, Poland and Spain) and of course mexico is very different from those rallyes, I think the best thing is that you can get very very very close to the cars as long as you are in a safe area (of course, there are marshalls, and of course they dont let you be in dangerous areas, for example outside a corner) but if you are in an OK area they dont mind you being close to the action!


If you need more info PM me, there are some mexican forums with a lot of information, gps cordinates, google earth maps, specator spots, etc so I can get some info from there. Im working in mexico city right now so I might go this year, if you want we could do something if you attend.

[xspeedy]

Thanks guys! i tried Google to locate a site, but nothing official would come up.

I'm in TX, but was going to fly down and rent a car (same as I typically do for Europe). I have traveled to Mexico City for business before, but took a cab from the airport. I haven't rented a car or gone rural at all south of the border. Wasn't sure if it was all pretty typical of attending European rallies or a lot rougher.

Jonas, I'll PM you once I do some basic research. Would be good to meet up if I get down there.

Thanks again!

[Eugenio Perea]

Hello, everyone. I'm Eugenio Perea from Corona Rally Mexico.

The official website, as Helstar rightly says, is www.rallymexico.com (http://www.rallymexico.com)
You can find most of the information you need here: http://www.rallymexico.com/content.php?page=Spectators
and here: http://www.rallymexico.com/content.php?page=documents

By the way, jonas_mcrae, could you elaborate on your comment? I certainly don't think we are better than every other WRC event, but we're usually praised by teams, competitors and visitors on the high level of quality in terms of organisation. We were even presented the Star of the Rally and Spirit of the Rally awards in two different occasions.

Your experience would seem to be different and I'd like to hear more of that to address any issues we may have overlooked.

Cheers,

Eugenio

[jonas_mcrae]

Dont get me wrong, Rally Mexico is a good rally, great environment nice stages and very friendly people. In my opinion its almost on the level or European events (it has to be! its a WRC event after all), however is difficult to match the organisation of events that have been running for 50+ years.

About the SSS (Im not a big fan of any SSS) the access is difficult and the parking can be tricky (mainly because there is only one road to access the track, at least until 2008). Although there are marshalls and security guards all around, it can be a mess, getting in and out is very difficult and if you dont get there on time you may miss some of the action. I know the track wasnt designed for rallying so due to the circumstances I guess its kindda ok. I didnt go to the rally of nations in 09 but I heard there was a street stage and that it will be featured this year, thats great. I always thought street stages are much better than SSS, they do bring rally to the people that cant be bothered to go to the mountains.

HOWEVER, I dont think the rally needs BOTH the SSS and the Street Stage. the street stage should be the SSS, period! I know SSSs are good because they bring money in (no one wants a bankrupt event) but if you look at the itinerary, Friday and Saturday have 6 SS and 3 SSS! (im counting the street stage as a SSS) Compared to European events thats a lot of SSS, I know this cant be changed now but it might be of consideration for 2011 to try to get a maximum amount of real SS kms...

Enough on SSS, moving on to SS, In my experience they are quite good, nice scenery and good spec. spots. Some of them are quite far away and it can be tricky getting to them (its a rural area and of course the roads are not highways!) but overall I think that can happen in any rally. Maybe more signals should be used to point where stages are. sometimes is better just to follow the rally cars so you dont get lost! I know finding the stages is part of the spirit of rally but as this event gets a lot of support from the local government it might be possible to place signals to the stages starting from the HQ... Once in the stages again I think one of the problems is parking, I know some of the locals let you park inside their farms for a small fee, but then when the stage ends there are problems getting out! and people trying to get to the next stage may loose time there! In rally poland and other european events most of the parking areas are controlled by the organisers, you get a parking sticker with your rally pass and can access any of the parking areas, so in the end getting in and out is usually easier.

And one last thing, crowd control. I know beer flows at the stages, I dont mind that, Im ok with it, (hell! the event is sponsored by corona) however people do get out of control and that can put them in danger and cause stages to be cancelled. On Sundays the SS are very very crowded so I think there should be more marshalls and police, It should be possible as Sunday only has 3 stages.

Thats about it I think, overall it is a very good event, and you can tell people like it by the increasing number of spectators (both local and international), of course there are some things to improve, as there are in any rally, but still it is a very well organised event in a country where not everything gets that kind of organisation!

(by the way I tried to download the spectator guide today, it says it will be available on January 4th 2010, but is not there yet...)

[jonas_mcrae]

PS sorry if my first comment didnt make the rally look that good, again its a very very enjoyable rally but I think is good to tell people how to enjoy it at its best by avoiding the difficult bits!

[Tomi]

(by the way I tried to download the spectator guide today, it says it will be available on January 4th 2010, but is not there yet...)

mañana ;)

[Iskald]

Hello, everyone. I'm Eugenio Perea from Corona Rally Mexico.

The official website, as Helstar rightly says, is www.rallymexico.com (http://www.rallymexico.com)
You can find most of the information you need here: http://www.rallymexico.com/content.php?page=Spectators
and here: http://www.rallymexico.com/content.php?page=documents

By the way, jonas_mcrae, could you elaborate on your comment? I certainly don't think we are better than every other WRC event, but we're usually praised by teams, competitors and visitors on the high level of quality in terms of organisation. We were even presented the Star of the Rally and Spirit of the Rally awards in two different occasions.

Your experience would seem to be different and I'd like to hear more of that to address any issues we may have overlooked.

Cheers,

Eugenio

Not very often official spokespersons for a WRC-rally organiser visit this forum openly. We know many are reading the forums threads, but I can`t recall any other than you, Eugenio, actually taking part in a discussion. That must be seen as positive, and especiall that you ask us to give our opinion.

Here is the biggest problem of Rally Mexico IMO (and I`m quoting jonas mc_rae):

"And one last thing, crowd control. I know beer flows at the stages, I dont mind that, Im ok with it, (hell! the event is sponsored by corona) however people do get out of control and that can put them in danger and cause stages to be cancelled. On Sundays the SS are very very crowded so I think there should be more marshalls and police, It should be possible as Sunday only has 3 stages."

I have never been to Rally Mexico myself, but followed the rally on internett and television. That is however enough to conclude that Rally Mexico has been one of the rallies with the most problems with crowd control during the last years. There has been numerous "incidents" with spectators out of control, and frankly I can`t understand why FIA hasn`t put proper pressure upon your rally to better this situation. Coming from a nation with a WRC-rally myself (Norway), I can tell you that this kind of crowd problems that you have had in Mexico would have been totally unacceptable in Norway. Both from the organisers point of wiew, and from the society in general, government, police etc.

The stages and itinerary of Rally Mexico, however, adds a variety and spectacle to the championship that we would like to keep.

[Eugenio Perea]

Not very often official spokespersons for a WRC-rally organiser visit this forum openly.

Yeah, visit and then disappear for weeks on end : )
Sorry about that, the rally is almost upon us and things have been incredibly hectic. I'll try to keep posting as much as I can to provide an inside view of things as they unfold.

As to the matter of crowd control on the stages, the logistics involved and the areas in question are so vast that it is incredibly difficult for any rally on the planet to ensure 100% coverage of security.

We've had serious problems in Australia, Argentina, France, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Portugal, Spain and the U.K., and those are just the ones in the WRC I remember off the top of my head. These things have been present in our sport for decades and speak to the ability of rallying to attract immense numbers of people, rally fans and otherwise. They also speak to the reality that -in any given group- there will always be a small percentage of people who, by virtue of ignorance or ill will, will engage in dangerous, stupid acts.

Believe me, all rallies work very, very hard to mitigate problems like these. How successful we are in Mexico depends on factors both inside and outside of our control.

Cheers,

Eugenio

[jbmarcus21]

Google Earth Map Rally Mexico : http://bit.ly/PAj5J

[Fide]

Eugenio : Just 32 cars (overall) states WRC.Com is that true ? What has been the average previous years ? Sound a bit short compared i.e Argentina 60+

[Eugenio Perea]

35 entries. We're not very happy, but it could have been worse. The financial crisis has hit the car industry particularly hard.

In 2006 and 2008 we had 42 entries, which does sound better, but the level of competing machinery and crews is much higher this year. SWRC, despite its awkward birth, seems to have taken off very well. We'll probably see some very good battles next week.

To reach Argentina's numbers we need to be in the WRC for longer, find a way to make transport cheaper and encourage U.S. and Canadian competitors to build FIA cars. It's going to take some time.

[Tomi]

To reach Argentina's numbers we need to be in the WRC for longer, find a way to make transport cheaper and encourage U.S. and Canadian competitors to build FIA cars. It's going to take some time.

Better to focus on quality more than quantity, so a way to find cheaper maybe sponsored transport would be a good way to improve the entry.