This past weekend saw the World Rally Championship coming to Ireland for the second time. Although I would have loved to compete on Irelands round of the WRC, the cost of doing so was prohibitive, given that I have committed myself to the BRC this year.

Greg and myself, however, did get to complete the entire route of Rally Ireland - even the 2 cancelled stages.

Some time before the event we found out that the organisers were looking for an official Safety Crew(more commonly known as gravel crews or mud and puddle crews). This involves driving the stages in advance of the rally cars and noting the location of loose gravel, mud, water etc that may not have beeen there when the crews made their pacenotes. All of the regular WRC drivers are allowed to have their own personal 'Safety Crew'. All of th non-WRC drivers are forbidden to have their own 'Safety Crew', but in the interests of safety a crew is provided by the organisers. On Rally Ireland we were that crew!

Driving all of the stages, sometimes maybe 4 hours before the first car was due to rally on them was very educational and it opened my eyes to the amount of volunteer work that goes into such rallies. In most cases, all of the equipment and personnel needed to run the stages was already in place and there were even some spectators waiting for the cars - cars that would not be along for 240 minutes or more.

Whether competing, spectating or marshalling on a rally it is always dissapointing to have a stage cancelled and on Day 1 of Rally Ireland, 2 of them were cancelled. Having driven the stages concerned, I have to agree with the organisers decision to cancel them. It may have been possible to run them if they were due to run in daylight, however darkness made them much more dangerous. Better to cancel them as a precaution than to be forced to do so after an accident. The difficulties of rescueing crew from a car in the dark also has to be considered as a factor. Also the difficulties that may be encountered by an air-ambulance, if able to fly at all ! Well done Rally Ireland !

This week we are getting our own season under way when we head to Mitchelstown for the Forestry Rally. There is no recce allowed on Irish Forestry events and all crews are provided with a DVD of an in car camera driving over the stages. I will probably receive the DVD on Tuesday and on Wednesday night Greg and myself will meet up and view it. We will make any note changes that we think are necessary. On Thursday or Friday I will probably take the car for a short test spin just to make sure that everything is OK. Then on Saturday evening we will take the car to Mitchelstown for pre event scrutiny. Then home for a good nights sleep. All Supporters Club Members will receive regular text message updates during the rally.

Hope to see you in Mitchelstown.