2006   2006   2005   2005   2004   2004	Copyright © STI    The Subaru World Rally Team weather crews have a hard, long working day. They're often out on the stages two hours before the first service of the day and don't return to the service park until at least 2000hrs. The role they fulfil is crucial to the team's success as they provide important information about weather conditions on the rally route back to the team. Richard Card, a member of the weather crews tells us about their role. "Our job is to check the air and ground temperature and report how dry, damp or hard the surface of the stage is. We report the information back to the service park so the engineers can make decisions about set-up and tyres. It could be 25 degrees and sunny in the service area but 10 degrees and raining on a stage so the team needs to be aware of this to make the best choices." The crew set out from the service park equipped with a camera and two ground and air thermometers to record the weather conditions. Copyright © STI    One temperature gauge is set up to measure the air temperature and the other to measure the temperature on the ground. The crew will also take photos of the stage, a car entering a corner and the dust it produces so the team can judge the conditions for themselves. All the information is then feed to Ken Rees, the team's event co-ordinator, who relays it back to the engineers and drivers. "The air and ground temperature is constantly changing and weather conditions can alter very quickly - on the warmer rallies, temperatures can rise around 10 degrees in the early morning," Richard adds. "Conditions can even alter from the running of one car to another - it's quite often the case that if Petter Solberg runs through the test earlier than Chris Atkinson the conditions have changed." This means the weather crew still record information of the air and ground temperatures even after the stages have started. Richard explains that there are four weather crews on an asphalt event and two weather crews on a gravel rally, and each crew will each go to different stages to get the most information possible about the route. "If the stages are a few kilometres apart a member of the weather crew will go to the stage furthest from the service area to check the conditions." Copyright © STI    Richard has worked for the Subaru World Rally Team for five years. He was originally a spectator who would regularly visit the Subaru World Rally Team service area, but got talking to Ken Rees. "Ken asked me to let him know the stage conditions during the rally when I was on the stages, so what started as a hobby ending up as a job and now I attend almost all the events on the WRC calendar. I really enjoy getting out on the stages and find it very satisfying that I can provide the essential information that helps the team to secure a win."