| Stage guide |
| Stage summaries with Phil Mills |
Event Bulletin
1 December 2006
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SS1 / 4 Port Talbot (17.41km)
The opening stage of the rally is based on the old Margam test, although we don't use the section through Margam Park this year. It's a difficult stage with many surface changes and is very slippery in places. It starts very fast, with a man-made jump at the fourth junction. Then the route turns left into a new section, which is run in the opposite direction to last year. There's some nice flowing bends, with one difficult downhill section with mud under trees.
SS2 / 5 Resolfen (24.49km)
Most of this stage was last used in 2004 and we went off briefly, so we'll try not to repeat again! It is probably the fastest stage of rally, flat-out nearly all the time. In the middle section, there are long straights of between 5-600metres. It only gets twisty for the last two kilometres of the stage. This test was very muddy during the recce.
SS3 / 6 Rheola (27.91km)
This one's fast and open, and has the Walters Arena section in the middle. It's a great place to spectate, with jumps and a lake. The second time we use this stage, there will be a few tram lines where the cars have made the road rutted, but in general it's not a problem and the conditions don't change that much from the first run through.
SS7 / 10 Crychan (19.47km)
This is a classic Welsh forest stage! It starts very fast, after which the stage is identical to last year. There are a couple of bad places just off the ranges. Then there is a very fast section - we're in sixth gear for two and a half miles - into an unseen junction, which a lot of people overshoot. Then it's very narrow, down to a place the Scandinavians call The Orange Road because of the colour of the pine needles. Dry or wet, it's very slippery - the last two miles you have to be so careful. Road conditions, changeable weather and your position in the rally can either make the afternoon stages completely different to the morning, even though you're following our own wheel tracks.
SS8 / 11 Epynt (13.76km)
Epynt is similar to last year with a new 1.5km section in the middle. It starts downhill with some very long, slippy downhill corners, then goes uphill through open flowing hairpins. It joins an asphalt road flat out across the top of a mountain and then goes onto a new section which has one big jump. Then there's a narrow, wet, muddy section for one kilometre, then the road sweeps downhill through some slippy downhill corners to the finish.
SS9 / 12 Halfway (18.37km)
The first half of this stage is in a forest and the second is up on the ranges. There is a very tight hairpin left junction near the start, then it goes downhill to a right hander over a bridge. After that there are a couple of jumps in the middle of the wood and you climb up through some open hairpin bends through a quarry and then it's very fast all the way up to Dixies Corner. All that section, from Dixies junction and on for about a mile after it, is quite tricky and complicated for the driver, so anywhere along there is extremely good viewing for fans. After the asphalt the last few kilometres are absolutely flat out! Another difficult stage the second time through.
SS13 Cardiff Super Special (1.10km)
A Welshman in the Millennium Stadium in a rally car - I'm not going to argue with that! It's a concrete figure of eight stage and although it's short the view will be perfect from wherever you sit. To have the rally back in one of the world's best sporting arenas is pretty special and like last year it will be a great spectacle.
SS14 / 16 Brechfa (28.89km)
The last two slippy stages are run in a reverse direction to last year. There is quite an unusual surface in Brechfa because it is soil based, so exceptionally slippery in the wet and very abrasive in the dry. Trees overhang into the road, so it's a good place to break your windscreen. The roads in Brechfa are so smooth they hardly rut at all. In fact, the more cars that drive through it the more the surface polishes off, so it's even more slippery the second time through.
SS15 / 17 Trawscoed (27.11km)
Similar to Brechfa but more muddy - because the two stages are only three miles apart it's basically the same forest and the same roads. Very difficult to choose a tyre - everyone takes a hard tyre because of the distance, but you actually need a soft compound tyre because of the surface. Like Brechfa, the second time through it's a lot more slippy, regardless of whether it's wet or dry. You can easily get caught out in places which were fine only hours before.
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