Sunday Afternoon Stages 12 and 14

Stage 12 - Shanera

A short run across to the N22, into the North West outskirts of Killarney then out on the N72 towards Kilgobnet saw the Scooby performing well and an air of confidence returning in the cabin.  Probably.  Again, we got within about 500m or so of the stage, spent a bit of time in the car eating something healthy (ish) and then headed out for the action.

Turns out we've arrived at the 90 left that brought the earlier running of this stage noted in the blog entry here to a halt during the junior run.  Its worth noting that, because of the easy access to stages, its really easy to watch the same stage layout both times and get a completely different viewpoint.  So this was the least entertaining stage we'd seen (stage 8) so far, but here, 3 miles away was one of the most entertaining.  A long straight and lots of over-confidence in braking power meant that this very fast approach along a reasonably wide road into a very tight left hander framed by high banks caused some sideways actions, over-shoots and spins.  You'd think the co-drivers notes would've been updated from mistakes on the first run though.



Getting It Right (click to enlarge)

Getting It Wrong (click to enlarge)

 Howlett Entertains Again (click to enlarge)

And It's Always Good To See Dolan's 'beam In Action (Click to Enlarge)

Patterson Rally News Report Stage 12

Stage 14 - Rockfield

THE busiest spectator point we've been too - looks like half the spectator population have headed to this double open right junction with a short straight in between.  As we walk down to the stage we notice again just how many young all female spectating groups are out to watch the rally - very different to the UK where the speccies are about 80% male and not as young as they used to be.  Getting access is a bit tricky and involved us jumping off a 8 foot high wall down into a field.  Equally, viewing points were hard to find, and would've been even if we'd got there a bit earlier.  There are bales, tape and marshals everywhere.  Even so, as the cars approach downhill into an open, slightly off-camber right hander there's still something worth seeing.  We work out that there are still places to fight for as a number of competitors are still trying hard rather than nursing the car to the end of the stage.

Due to all the spectators and other clutter, I didn't even get the camera out of its bag, so no photos.  We enjoyed it here, more than might be expected.  There was a longish walk back to the Scoob and then we headed back into Killarney.  It's here that we find out that the local radio has been broadcasting hourly rally reports over the past 2 days, it would've been nice to see that in the programme or other rally info.

Patterson Rally News Report Stage 14