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A
Administrative Checks: Also known as documentation checks, these take place on Wednesday afternoon at Rally HQ, and are where the drivers and co-drivers sign-on for the rally, and have licenses checked.
B
British Rally Championship: As well as being the last round of the WRC, Wales Rally GB is also the last round of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship.
C
Cars: There are two groups of cars eligible to compete in WRC rallies - Group A cars (including World Rally Cars and Super 1600 cars) which are highly modified road cars with greater power and torque, and Group N cars which are more like showroom cars apart from some compulsory safety modifications.
Crew: The driver and co-driver in a car.
Cardiff Stage: A special stage taking part inside the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday night.
Ceremonial Start: Located in Cardiff, the Ceremonial Start takes place on Thursday evening and gives fans a chance to see their rally heroes being interviewed before driving over the podium en-route to the Service Park for the official start on Friday morning.
Clerk of the Course: The Clerk of the Course is in control of the running of the Rally, and works together with other senior officials to make sure everything runs smoothly.
F
FIA: The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is the world governing body for motor sport, and as such writes the regulations for the WRC.
Flying Finish: The flying finish marks the end of the stage - the cars cross it at full speed.
G
GPS: All cars are fitted with a GPS safety tracking system which allows Rally Control to see where they are at a glance.
L
Leg: This describes a group of stages. WRC events usually involve 3 Legs - one on each of the 3 days.
M
Marshals: Wales Rally GB relies on the assistance of almost 4,500 marshals over the 3 days of the rally. They are there to help ensure the safety of the spectators and are the eyes and ears of the rally on the ground.
O
OTL: 'Over Time Limit' - crews have to adhere to a timetable during the event, and arriving more than 15 minutes late at any one control or 30 minutes in total means they are OTL and out of the rally. Exclusion happens at the end of a Leg.
P
Penalty: If crews are late at a control they are given a time penalty. For early arrival - 1 minute per minute or fraction of a minute early. For late arrival - 10 seconds per minute or fraction of a minute late.
Pace Notes: The driver and co-driver's written notes taken during the reconnaissance which he uses during the stages to tell the driver about the ground, corners and speeds in the road ahead.
Parc Fermé: An area that cars must return to each night and after the finish. This is a restricted area and no service can take place on the cars.
PCWRC: The FIA Production Car World Rally Championship is a support championship to the WRC, open to drivers or teams using near-standard road cars which are mechanically identical to those sold in the dealer showroom, with modifications made only to improve driver safety.
R
Rally HQ: The control hub of the rally, Wales Rally GB Rally HQ is at the Millennium Stadium. From here the rally is monitored constantly, and this is the base for the officials of the event.
Reconnaissance or Recce: On the Tuesday and Wednesday before the rally, competitors can take the opportunity to drive through the special stages, using a rally car or standard road car (subject to FIA regs), at a controlled speed (80kph on Wales Rally GB). Crews are limited to 2 runs through the stages. This is the time that the driver and co-driver will make the pace notes to call out to the driver during the rally.
Road Book: Supplied by the organisers, the Road Book contains maps, tulip diagrams and timings for all the special stages and road sections of the rally.
Road Section: The public roads which are used by the crews to drive between stages; these are not timed and crews must follow all road traffic laws.
Re-Starting: If a crew retires (is out of the rally for a mechanical reason for example) on Legs 1 or 2, they may re-start the rally from the beginning of the next leg, subject to time penalties.
S
Service Park: The main operational base for all the teams, all servicing work must be carried out here subject to time limits.
Seeding: The order in which competitors will start the rally according to their world championship position. After each leg the competitors are re-seeded according to their overall position.
Scrutineering: The checking over of the rally cars which takes place before, during and after the rally to make sure that all cars conform to the championship and event regulations.
Shakedown: The official test session which takes place on the Thursday before the rally.
Special Stage (SS): The competitive part of the rally, run on closed roads. Cars run one at a time as quickly as possible with the aim of gaining the fastest stage time. All stage times are added together at the end of the rally, along with any other time penalties, to produce the results.
Stop Finish: 200 - 500 yards after the flying finish, where all crews must stop to have their time recorded in their Time Card Book.
T
Time Control: The Time Controls (TC) are fixed points on the rally route where crews must check in at their specific time. If they are early or late, time penalties are applied.
Time Card Books: Each crew receives a book from the Organisers containing the exact times allowed between Time Controls. This book must be shown at each Control and rally officials record the actual time within it.
Time Penalty: If crews are late at a Time Control they are given a time penalty. For early arrival - 1 minute per minute or fraction of a minute early. For late arrival - 10 seconds per minute or fraction of a minute late.
Tulip Diagrams: Schematic diagrams used in the Road Book to indicate which direction the crew should take at junctions. Introduced by the Tulip Rally in the 1950s.
W
WRC: The FIA World Rally Championship consisting 16 rounds throughout the world - the last of which is Wales Rally GB.
Z
Zero Car: Watch out for the Zero Cars - sent through the stages by the Organisers before the rally cars to check the stage is set up safely and spectators are not in any potentially dangerous positions. Crewed by Rally Officials, Wales Rally GB has a Triple Zero (000) car which drives through the stage 30 minutes before the first competing rally car, Double Zero (00) 20 minutes before, and Zero Car (0) which drives at a competitive speed around 10 minutes before the first competing car. |
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