This is the innovative mixed Day of the RallyRACC 2010

(16/10/2010)

When the Sports Division of the RACC decided to include novelties in the 2010 edition of the Spanish round of the World Rally Championship, there were endless possibilities allowed by the new sporting regulations of the FIA, but above, they were all materialised by the creativity already shown by the RACC along the 20 years the rally has been part of the world championship. The result will be a rally with a truly mixed Day which will increase the sporting interest and uncertainty.

Innovating in a rally is providing something more than novelties; being innovative is being a true pioneer, something that the RACC already proved to be with the introduction of computerised live timing by means of transponders, the creation of split timing, which could be followed live through the website; the inclusion of new safety concepts in special stages; the use of new technologies (remote cameras, Cineflex TV cameras from a helicopter) to manage the stages; the introduction of a new, simpler and cheaper concept for the time cards (as used in the Spanish Championship); the creation of the virtual notice board via website; the organization of "cleaner" spectator areas as regards environment-friendliness and visibility, replacing delimitation tape with boards, etc.  Many of these innovations have set an example and some of them were adopted by the WRC while others are applied by many rallies.

With the unveiling of the route for the 46th edition of the RallyRACC, many days of silent but intense and constant work became official; notes and ideas gathered along many years, as well as sketches drawn-up after the on site reconnaissance of countless roads and tracks, finally took shape.

“The possibility of introducing a mixed stage arose five years ago” explains Aman Barfull, RACC Sports Area Director and Clerk of the Course of the RallyRACC. “Analysing all possibilities, we considered the option of designing a gravel rally in the area of Tarragona, but it was discarded as the RACC wanted to keep the feature of being an asphalt rally and because the physical geography as well as the location of the roads did not make it completely feasible, so that the whole planning and research was put away and added to the data base which includes the details of all the roads and tracks of the Tarragona area.

The larger flexibility allowed by the FIA for the itineraries from this year onwards, left no doubt for the RACC: it was the moment to take a decision and eventually it was decided to include a mixed route, as it demands a constant adaptation to the surface, meaning an additional sporting difficulty for the crews. The digital cartography technology and the satellite location systems allow for a more detailed recording of all gravel sections and make it easier to have an overall view of the stage, but you need to see the terrain to really know the feasibility of tracks or roads that are to become part of a special stage of the world championship. That is part of the success that corresponds to an organiser.

This implies weekly visits to the area, and even two or three times a week during those months in which the itinerary takes its definitive shape. More than 30,000 km covered in a year, at the wheel of Seat vehicles, show how much work is involved in the organization of a rally.  The first decision is the feasibility of a road or track to become part of a special stage, the second is how to connect it with the rest of the stage to offer the adequate race pace. The RACC “scrutinised” the ground of the whole area finding paths, tracks and forest roads that perfectly complied with all requirements to make an excellent gravel stage. The real difficulty to create the mixed stage was the connection of the different tracks with asphalted sections to provide the stages with a personality of their own that would be completely different to all that had been known so far and provide the event with the desired novelty.

Collaboration of the town councils
If the collaboration of town councils is always important for a rally, the fact of including gravel sections makes it essential, both for administrative issues as well as for the confidence in allowing the use of these tracks - which are important for neighbourhood connections - for the event. This first Day of the RallyRACC 2010, with a total length of 564.74 km (125.96 of which are timed) has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the town councils and majors of Vilalba dels Arcs, Riba-roja, La Fatarella, Maials and La Granadella, who have trusted in the RACC and have even proposed solutions to make the logistics of the organization easier. Moreover, the invaluable help of the Local Police, the Rural Agents and the Catalan Police Force Mossos d’Escuadra provides the event with an adequate safety control.

"Terra Alta”, a true world championship mixed stage
The "Terra Alta" stage is the result of the good knowledge of the terrain and the collaboration of the different towns. It is an extraordinary special stage of 35.94 km with no less than five ground changes and a difficulty in changes of pace that surprises due to its beauty and at the same time its great technical difficulty. “Terra Alta” crosses three municipal areas. It starts on gravel in Vilalba dels Arcs and after a loop to the north, reaching the reservoir of Riba-roja, it turns back south-east to the municipal area of La Fatarella, to finish on asphalt. It is a true world championship stage in which the three gravel sections are completely different; and the two asphalt sections, with the most significant of them on the TV-7411 road, cannot be compared with each other either.

In detail, the five surface changes of "Terra Alta" are: 16.42 initial km on gravel, from the start in Vilalba del Arcs, passing by the troglodyte chapel of Sant Pau; followed by 6.52 twisty km on asphalt, then 1.51 km on gravel to change back to asphalt for a short section of 2.02 km which include passing by the chapel of Sant Francisco, then again gravel for another 9.06 km, to finish on 410 metres of asphalt reaching the town of La Fatarella.

"La Ribera d’Ebre”, spectacular and fast gravel stage
The second stage, “La Ribera d’Ebre”, of almost 15 km, completely on gravel ground, is a homogeneous special, offering the possibility to drive quite fast, in which the notes will have major relevance as vegetation does not allow to see the whole width of the track. It crosses two municipal areas, starting in Riba-roja d’Ebre and ending at the junction of the LV-7046 road to Maials.

"Les Garrigues”, another complicated mixed stage
The third and last stage of this mixed asphalt/gravel Day is “Les Garrigues”, another excellent mixed stage of 12.07 km. The timed section starts on gravel near the C-242 road, with 3.47 km until La Granadella, to continue with 8.60 km of slow asphalt with different slopes and changes of pace, all of it in the province of Lleida. Each of these three stages will be run twice.

The result is a Day with a high sports and technical complexity which the drivers will have to face with their vehicles prepared with a gravel set-up, meaning that at the end of the day, at the PortAventura service park, they will have to change settings to face the second Day on asphalt grounds. To be able to do so, they have been allocated additional service time, thus having a total of one hour and fifteen minutes available.