Month: May 2005

Today was the official Start ceremony at Molos promenade. The organization was horrible. The biggest problem was the total darkness. There were a few lights covering the podium, but the the rest of the alleys were really dark. As a result, it was practically impossible for the people to see the cars in the queue and chat with drivers. Photography was out of the question, unless a powerful flash unit could be used. I didn’t have one, so I made just a few pictures and most of them screwed anyway.

Hosts were the same as previous years – loud and boring. Especially the lady. She was asking stupid questions, confusing drivers with co-drivers (!!!) and performing other nonsense. She also tried to move the crowd. For the third or so year in a row. And for the third or so year in a row the crowd stayed and laughed at her. I am puzzled with how organizers don’t notice this…

Some teams had their kiosks selling merchandise. As usual, Olga and I went to Subaru. While the products are nice, the prices were a bit too high. And the queue processing was very slow. The lady who was selling goods, was unpacking each item, showing it to the buyer, than packing it back, than bringing change all the way from the cashier machine… I was third in the queue and it took her about 20 minutes to get to me. This begs for some speedups and optimizations.

Anyway, Olga and I left the ceremony without waiting for the end. Boring. Hazard should have it mostly covered on video anyway.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-05_Cyprus_Rally/2005-05-12_Start_ceremony

Today was a good day for visiting the Service Park. All cars and drivers were in and anyone could watch them work together. There was a lot of press teams also, interviewing and recording. I took the opportunity to photograph a lot of people – some very famous, others not yet so.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-05_Cyprus_Rally/2005-05-12_Service_Park

Hazard, Olga, and I went for the Shakedown of Cyprus Rally 2005 today. Here are a few of my notes about these year’s rally organization:

• Tickets. This is the first year that tickets are actually required. I was buying a Rally Pass for all previous years, but noone ever asked it from me and I never saw any limits on visitors. This year, the entrance to Shakedown was through the guy with tickets or with the Rally Pass on your neck.
• Service Park. The location of Service Park is different yet again. This year it is based at the stadium,which is not yet functional. The good here is that Servic Park, Rally HeadQuaters, and all other auxileary offices are all in one place, rather than being scattered around the city. The underside is that the location is pretty far from the town and there is no public transport that can get people there. The choices are eitehr to rent a car and drive there, get a taxi, or take a rally tour. All of these options are rather expensive. It’s a good thing that I have a car of my own.
• Weather conditions. Summer is coming late this year. It should be around 35C and above, but we are still in the under 30C zone. But all the dust is still here. Come, if you’re hungry.
• Rally guide. Rally guide (programme) provides less information that usual, although looks the same as those from last years. Particularly, maps and instructions for driving to stages’ access points are not as good as they used to be. Luckily, all the stages are exactly the same as last year’s, and we can use the guide from the last rally.
• Beverages. It seems that finally Cyprus businessmen got the idea of rally. They understood that crowds of people are walking and running around fields, swolling dust and “enjoying” the hot sun for hours and hours. Kiosk type cars were all over the area. I’ve seen them at previous rallies, but not at these quantities. They were selling everything from cold drinks through ice cream to hot sandwiches. There is no need in bringing your own food or drinks anymore – everything can be bought on the spot for very reasonable prices.

The Shakedown itself was fun to watch. I wish thought that there were more turns on the track. The stage was almost a straight thing (at least as far as we walked, and we walked pretty far). Subaru’s Atkinson was driving a few times, but Petter Solberg appeared only once, from what I saw. I hope to get more of Subaru action in the coming days.

Album location: /photos/2005/2005-05_Cyprus_Rally/2005-05-12_Shakedown