Even after I’ve had a week to soak it all in, all I can say is holy *#&^ing $#@*! world-class rallying, is there anything more glorious? As a petrol head, it seems virtually obligatory to be interested in Rally and like many of you, I’ve admired the WRC from the sidelines for some time. While it is slightly embarrassing that it took so long, I’ve finally managed to attend my first WRC event.
To be fair, WRC Leon was an amazing event to cut my teeth on! At the end of 2011 Speedhunters put together a very in-depth survey asking all of you what you liked and didn’t like about the site and car culture. When asked what you wanted to see more of on Speedhunters there was a resounding “RALLY!” that came back time and time again, so it’s with great pleasure that I have been able to contribute to your appetites.
The appeal of Rally is quite obvious – it’s fast, it’s dirty and it’s extremely dangerous. But there is so much more to be appreciated when you go and see it live, and while I use the expression often, I think my mind was honest-to-god-fully-blown in Mexico. This was a weekend that no amount of YouTube clips or spec sheet analyzing could have ever prepared me for.
In fact, I learned so much and saw so many incredible things that trying to even get all the thoughts racing around in my brain out into a post is going to be difficult. I mean really tough, to the extent that I’ve decided to split my coverage into three separate posts starting with a basic overview of the event today.
For starters, the rally is based in a very beautiful part of Mexico, deep in the heart at the very center of the country. This is proper Mexico, not the border towns or tourist trap coastal areas most Americans are familiar with. The race begins in the city of Guanajuato, an amazing mountain town made up of many brightly colored hillside houses.
When night falls it brings with it the largest opening ceremony crowd in all of WRC! Even with a media vest, getting to the driver introductions is borderline impossible without being staged hours before the sun goes down. For the first stage the drivers make their way through the city via an impressive tunnel system and eventually make their way…
To a giant roundabout next to a hillside that must have had at least 20,000 spectators alone. After a cancelled flight and another eight hours of travel followed by an hour drive in extreme traffic, popping out of a Suburban to this was something I’ll never forget! There were people climbing walls, standing on RVs and crawling into abandoned buildings to get a better view. This was a mind altering experience to say the least.
I was shocked to see how strangely European the middle of the city looked. Take this frame for example, if you didn’t know better you might think you were looking at something medieval. What an incredible way to kick off a long three days of racing.
The next morning I woke up before the crack of dawn to head to the first of the gravel stages which take place high in the mountains overlooking the city. Although there would be stages even higher into the hills later in the day, I think this view sums up the region nicely.
This is where WRC Leon really becomes its own, and I was itching to get some brutal shots of cars tearing ass through the stages. When I heard the first car approaching off the in the distance my heart started racing.
The roads up in the hills were equally as breathtaking as the city below. By the time the first cars appeared I had chills running down my spine. This was it, proper rallying at last!
What I didn’t really account for was just how fine and copious the dust from the rooster tails would be. If you were on the outside of a corner, you were going to get trashed – period. In most cases filthy gear was about the least of your worries, when those rocks go flying they have to land somewhere and you’re just hoping it’s not your head!
I had been saving up for a new camera to use specifically for the start of the motorsport season, which for me started here in Leon. By the end of the first stage my brand new body looked like it had been through a decade of shooting. While some people would have probably been quite upset I had a huge grin on my face; this was, after all, what I got it for. The payoff for such abuse is oh-so-sweet.
I decided I wanted to go ahead and get a little closer to the action. I crossed the stage between cars and found a good spot on the inside of a corner where I had seen the cars making pretty aggressive ditch hooks and set up camp. Funny enough, I miscalculated just how close the cars would actually get and ended up with my camera less than a meter (3 feet) off the front bumper! The photo above was shot at 17mm and the whole car would barely fit in the frame!
Before I knew it, the last of the top level WRC cars had made it through and it was time to move on to another stage. Although I knew coming into the event that I would be spending more time in transit between stages than actually shooting, it was still a pretty shocking experience to wait a half hour and shoot a hundred frames then run back to the car.
But I think it’s something I could get used to! It’s certainly a stark contrast from the circuit racing I’ve shot in the past, but completely worth it. In fact, just making it to the stages is a task unto itself, something I’ll discuss more tomorrow. The beautiful and vast changes in scenery definitely make the effort worth while.
Some of the stages were so remote and difficult to get to that we actually missed them altogether, but I suppose that’s just a part of rally. Fortunately, when you do make it to a stage you’re in for a treat, you just have to be ready to shoot at the blink of an eye.
The end of each day was marked by what the WRC call a Super Special Stage that was held at a local race track, or Autodromo. Obviously this was a very different experience than the wild-west-live-fast-die-probably stages earlier in the day.
Here the cars run a course more similar to what you’d see in Rally Cross, except each car has a separate circuit. It begins and ends with a drag race down the long front straight.
After that each car goes its separate way down a course littered with dirt, jumps and water. From the main grandstands the audience can likely see the entire track, which makes for killer spectating.
There’s one part where the cars will cross in an over-under fashion that will align them to run the opposite circuit for lap two. While most photographers were focusing heavily on the massive jump (for good reason), I found the light on the car running through the tunnel to be exquisite.
Then again, the light pretty much anywhere during sunset was breathtaking. There’s a certain quality to the sun when you’re in the tropics that I can’t quite explain, but it’s magical. I’d kill to do a photoshoot here some day.
With the last stage of the day finished it was time to return to the convention center where the service areas and Parc Ferme await. It was at this exact moment that it dawned on me that WRC cars have to transit on public streets. There’s something completely bonkers about driving through a city then hearing the familiar roar of anti-lag coming down the road! One of these things does not belong.
Back inside the Poliforum the teams were busy prepping the cars for the next long day of torture. I had originally hoped to get up close and personal with some of the cars to bring you guys a joy of machine post, but the strict guidelines and short amount of time the teams have to repair the cars before they’re locked away prevented me from doing so. I will however take a further look into service tomorrow.
When it was time to wake up for day two I thought I was go ing to die. The previous day I suffered from car sickness when we got lost on our way to one of the stages and was stricken with a gnarly headache from the altitude. Some of the stages are above 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) which robs the cars of about 20% of their power…
I think that the same could be said of me. Although I’d consider myself to be in pretty good shape, carrying two cameras and another twenty or so pounds (9kg) of gear up and down the gravel lined hills was pretty taxing. Speedhunters problems I suppose.
At one point we made our way to a hill overlooking a stage with a series of switch back turns. The vantage point for the spectators was amazing as you can see from this crowd-shot image. But once again, if you have a photo vest you might as well get in close…
Which is precisely what I did. One thing I kind of regret is that there wasn’t more time or more cars, and not because I feel like I needed to make better photos. On the contrary, I was so busy shooting the cars that I never really got a chance to just sit back and watch them make a run. It wasn’t until I got home and sat down to review the images that I felt like I had experienced the fury of the cars.
The middle of the second day was punctuated by a “city stage” which was really more like an autocross course setup outside the Poliforum. While it might be a little boring compared to the savage gravel stages, it is a good opportunity for fans to get close to the action without making the ridiculous trek out to the mountains.
The sides of the street funneling the cars into the circuit was lined with people, so I climbed up to the top of the Monster Energy rig in hopes of a better view.
As you can see, the Mexican fans are pretty extreme when it comes to their love of this event; in fact most drivers say that the fans here are their favorite of any rally in the season. They were packed in several rows deep jousting for the opportunity to get a blurry phone pic or a shaky video of their favorite drivers.
Another killer photo-op for fans is waiting for the cars as they leave Parc Ferme in the morning on their way to the first stage. It’s also a good opportunity for you Speedhunters out there to intercept the cars during transit, but I’ll talk about that more later.
The third and final day is a favorite for fans and drivers alike. It all begins with the longest stage of the rally, and one of the longest in all of WRC. The Guanajuato stage is 54.85 km (34.7 miles) of pain for both man and machine.
But the real reason the last day is a fan favorite is because of one jump, or rather the jump: El Brinco, which is of course Spanish for “The Brinco.” All bad jokes aside, when it comes to fans losing their minds, I’m not sure I’ve ever witnessed anything quite like this. I also don’t think I’ve ever seen so many machine-gun equipped police at an event either!
With cars reaching distances of over 30 meters (100 feet) it’s completely understandable why people camp out in droves for this section. The amount of air the cars get is almost comical, I still can’t look at this photo without laughing. It literally looks like Mads Ostberg is coming into the atmosphere from outer space.
If my memory serves me correct, I believe this was the longest jump of the day, but my gosh what a mental landing! I’m amazed nothing was broken after this launch, a testament to just how sturdy modern rally cars have become.
Sadly the trek back from the jump was too long to be able to hit the final Super Special so we decided to head straight back to the Poliforum to catch the closing ceremonies. When I arrived I was able to catch a glimpse of the drivers chatting just before heading over to the podium…
Which was already a madhouse. I decided to muscle my way into the photo pit for a minute before deciding that I was totally over getting elbowed for a boring shot and decided to explore and people watch from a different vantage point.
This is the shot I ended up walking away with of the rally winners Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassa. They had an outstanding appearance and have set the tone as the very obvious duo to beat this year.
Hopefully I’ll be able to see them in action at least one more time before the end of the season because I think I’m totally addicted to WRC. I’ve already gone ahead and plugged Rally Finland into my calendar as a must-see event, hopefully I might make it out there and if I do, I hope to see some of you there!
Ironically I wasn’t ever supposed to cover this event, but rather was filling in for our own Larry Chen who had a wedding banquet (of his own, congrats!) to attend. I guess this, like many of life’s best experiences, was one of those happy mistakes that changed my life for the better. Can’t wait to bring you guys more from Mexico so please stay tuned!
More Rally coverage on Speedhunters
More stories by Sean Klingelhoefer on Speedhunters
-Sean
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer
photo by Sean Klingelhoefer