Posts Tagged ‘weather’
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
There has been recce going on today for Rally Sweden, and the impressions from the drivers seems to be varied. Home driver Patrik Sandell concluded the first day with the quote “a lot of snow but no ice = perfect for me!” while Norweigan driver Anders Gröndal has written on his blog that the rally will be “many of the stages will be more of a gravel rally than a winter rally”.
Gröndal’s reaction is interesting. Some drivers seems to be complaining about the conditions – and I understand if they have problems driving on snow. It’s complicated – for sure – and it should be! I’m sure I would be quite concerned if I were to drive a rally on it. However, Gröndal’s quote must be some other kind of problem, possibly some kind of overheating in his brain?! 
He has been driving a full day in the forests with around half a meter of snow all around him – and he can still claim that it’s not a winter rally? Come on, no matter if you reach the gravel – it’s still very much winter and wintry conditions, dear Gröndal. I’ll explain why…
So, here comes a short tutorial about the difference between snow, ice and water – dedicated to Anders Gröndal:
- Snow is a type of precipation consisting of crystalline water ice (Full definition is on Wikipedia). In it’s fully frozen state snow feels really dry.
- When snow melts, it results in fluid water. Quite logically, since it’s small ice crystals. This means, that when it rains on snow or when temperatures raise above zero – the snow on the road (since we’re talking rally here) gets softer and melts to water from the top.
- If the temperature goes down below zero again, the partially melted snow layer will freeze again. The parts of the snow that is fully or partially melted will form a layer of solid ice on the road. This is the ice Gröndal is talking about – and missing.
- If you’ve read all those three points, I guess you don’t find it very difficult. It’s like the very, very basics of winter weather and surfaces. And therefore it’s hard to understand that Gröndal doesn’t understand it. However, to call the current conditions (that for sure will include gravel after the loose snow is swept away) something else than proper winter conditions is just pure bullshit – and now you know why: The ice layer Gröndal is talking about is nice, for sure. But it doesn’t come from winter conditions – it comes from the _lack_ of winter conditions sometimes earlier in time…
So, for everyone of you coming to Sweden. Be cool. Gröndal will have to struggle if he isn’t good enough to drive on proper winter conditions (!) – but you will have a wonderful time with a lot of loose, cold snow out in the forests. It has just never melted since the winter started in early December – but to me that’s more a good sign than a bad!?!
Enjoy!
By the way, to Anders Gröndal: You don’t need to thank me for this guide. Be my guest! And if you still don’t understand – go to some local gas station here in Sweden and buy yourself a “glass” (icecream). Bring it into your cottage or hotel room and see what happens after a while. When it’s half frozen… Go out again and see what happens. Tada! It’s like magic!
Tags: 2010, anders gröndal, conditions, gravel, ice, melt, rally sweden, snow, weather
Posted in General, WRC | No Comments »
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Karlstad Super Special Stage this afternoon. Photo: Mikael Hjerpe
A friend of mine in Karlstad just gave me a report of the conditions at the Karlstad Super Special Stage, where Rally Sweden is set to kick off on Thursday . The stage will also be run a second time on Friday evening.
The conditions are perfect with ice, snow and a temperature of +2 in the sun and -4 in the shadows. This is perfect since it allows for the upper surface to melt just a little to then freeze once again. The organiser also monitors the surface a long time before the rally and makes sure to build up a thick level of ice on the track.
Just watch the beautiful picture!?!
Tags: färjestad, färjestadstravet, friday, ice, karlstad, karlstad super special stage, rally sweden, snow, temperature, thursday, track, weather
Posted in Swedish Rallying, WRC | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 4th, 2010
I mentioned the promising Rally Sweden weather forecast a little bit more than a week ago. However, now it’s more than a week closer and with less than ten days to go until the rally starts, it’s a lot easier to trust the forecasts and to give a picture of the weather waiting during the rally.
Looking at yr.no, the Thursday to Saturday (this is as far as their forecast goes) will have -7 to -10 degrees, and mostly sunny weather. Perfect conditions, considering it has been snowy and cold for the last two months! During the last few days it has snowed in the area, actually so much that roofs has been breaking etc. because of the amount of snow on them.
So, everything looks really, really good for a snowy rally…
Tags: forecast, ice, rally sweden, snow, weather
Posted in WRC | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Daniel Carlsson with co-driver Bosse Holmstrand enjoying perfect snow conditions of solid ice covered with a thin layer of loose snow in Uddeholm Swedish Rally 2006. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén
With more than two weeks left before the rally kicks off it’s too early to judge how the weather situation for Rally Sweden will be, but considering the discussions that has always been before the rally in recent years, I can’t avoid thinking about how promising it looks. It has been cold weather since early December in the rally region (and in almost whole Sweden) and currently reports are talking about ca 40 cm’s of snow in the area. That may of course vary locally, but there is snow – no doubt. And then, looking at the forecast for the next 10 days, it shows more snow the next few days and cold weather for the whole period.
The only thing that could improve is the icyness. The snow came immeditely as the temperature had gone sub-zero – and since the snow isolates the ground, that means that the ground isn’t frozen as much as it would preferably be. Without a layer of ice and/or frozen ground, the car will fast blow away the snow and reach the ground that gets muddy and teared up. If it came a short, very short, melting period followed by cold weather again – the snow surface on the roads would get packed, partially melted and then freezed back to ice. That, with a thin or thick layer of fresh snow on top of it would make up the perfect conditions for a winter rally with snow spraying behind the cars, studs staying in the tires and a great winter atmosphere.
However, I think the current conditions are certainly good enough – and better than most times – for a fantastic winter rally. So, let’s not worry and just hope the fantastic conditions stay for the next few weeks, and everything will be just amazing! I have a feeling that Rally Sweden 2010 will be remembered as the best for quite a few years…!
Tags: 2010, bo holmstrand, bosse holmstrand, conditions, daniel carlsson, forecast, ice, isolate, mitsubishi lancer wrc, rally sweden, snow, studs, sub zero, weather, winter
Posted in Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
It’s spelled like this:
Perfect conditions in Norway + opposite in Sweden + events dropping from the calendar = Swedish Rally in the summer?
Will arranging the Swedish Rally in the summer make the WRC better? At least it's easier to spectate a rally in the summer, allowing for better income to the organiser.
Here’s some background:
A few days ago I talked to a friend regarding the Swedish Rally. He had a great idea – to make the event a summer rally. Of course it’s not a new idea at all – I’ve heard it dozens of times, but for the first time it really makes sense. The idea is based on the fact that weather conditions are a problem to the rally – and that a few events next year (for example Indonesia) wants to get out of the championship. So, with summer events wanting to get out of the calendar, when Rally Norway that shines in meters of snow, and when Mikko Hirvonen sees no reason why Norway shouldn’t have a slot every year – why not include the excellent Rally Norway even next year (article in Norweigan here), and make the Swedish Rally with it’s excellent organisation arrange a summer round in the championship?
Here’s why it makes sense:
- First off, it’s impossible to fight the weather. Either the Swedish event would have to be changed to a snow/gravel mix, it would have to be moved, or it would have to be removed from the calendar. I don’t believe in snow/gravel, I think a move would mean losing big parts of the competence, and I don’t think that it’s a good option for the WRC to lose one of their best organisers – so… Remains to switch to a summer competition.
- Making the rally a summer event would preserve a fantastic organisation and allow for an already experienced organisation to take new steps and do a new event from scratch, allowing for much creativity to go into the event that could develop the WRC in a positive way.
- Summer rallies are in many ways easier and more cost-effective to arrange, where spectators and VIPs can easier get into the stages, facilities can be hosted in simple tents and snow ploughs doesn’t need to be used for every single parking spot. This would allow for the Swedish organisation to get back on feet economically.
- A summer rally would also mean having a rally later in the year than a winter round, which would give the organisation a little more time to improve their economy and also to prepare the switch.
- It would solve a part of the problems with the organisers wanting to cancel their WRC rounds, and make the calendar for next year closer to complete than it is currently.
Of course, it may be a problem having already having so much gravel events that Finland has a summer event on gravel, but for short, I just think it’s better to arrange a really, really good summer round than a half-bad and shaky winter round that ruins the economy of the organisation. Isn’t it?
Tags: calendar, indonesia, organisation, rally norway, snow, summer, svenska rallyt, swedish rally, uddeholm swedish rally, weather, winter, WRC
Posted in Swedish Rallying, WRC | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Rally Ireland get’s closer and closer. The shakedown is to be run tomorrow, Thursday, between 08-12 local time on a 2.87km stage before the start ceremony in the evening in Enniskillen. The rally covers a total of 366.75 km divided into three legs. SS1 starts on Friday at 8:13 local timeand the last stage – a town stage in Donegal – starts at 13:10 on Sunday.
I think a few things are extra interesting regarding this event:
- How’s everybodys shape? This is the first of three races (Ireland-Tarmac, Norway-Snow, Cyprus-Gravel/Tarmac) that will show a sign of what everyone is up to on different surfaces.
- How will the Stobart guys and Citroen Juniors perform? What does Atkinson think about the C4, is Ogier’s good flow over or may he be a new Loeb? Will Henning charge now that he is said to have the best possible Ford backing – or will he wait for Norway?
- Will the temperature stay well over zero? After the difficulties in Wales and Japan last year with ice and snow, Pirelli has now made sure to bring their SottoZero tyre (no studs) to Ireland as a backup. If weather would change towards ice and snow the event will become really interesting and tyre choices will be crucial.
- And of course… Who will win? Sebastien Loeb is – as always on tarmac – a big favourite for sure. But you should not remember that the tarmac on Ireland is not like anywhere else. It’s twisty, narrow and bumpy and not at all like Monte, Germany or Corsica. The narrowness also makes one single mistake very likely to be fatal. Can he keep up the spirit?
But maybe most important…
- Can competitiors, Rally Ireland organisers, FIA and ISC together make the event interesting? I followed the IRC season opener Rally Monte Carlo last weekend and many people with me – and what I saw was stunning. Top fights in almost every stage, amazing live coverage on TV/web and an interesting strategy game with tyre choices, different levels of attack, etc. They set the level – and it is high!
Tags: 2009, henning solberg, rally ireland, sebastien loeb, sebastien ogier, snow, tarmac, temperature, weather
Posted in WRC | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
The first day of Rally Monte Carlo 2009 can be summed up as a tricky and challenging but also very entertaining day. SS1 started at 8:45 CET and the rally immediately proved tricky with both Abarth driver Luca Rosetti and Peugeot driver Didier Auriol thrown straight out of competition – Rosetti crashing out and Auriol with broken suspension. Reigning champion Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot 207 S2000) took the lead with Skoda works driver Juho Hänninen in second position and Toni Gardemeister with his Abarth Grande Punto in third.
As always in Monte Carlo, tyre choices have proved important throughout the day – something that a lot of drivers got to experience in SS2. Stephane Sarrazin in his Peugeot 207 seemed to do the best choice going into the downhill-running stage, and set fastest time moving him to second position in the rally. Nicolas Vouilloz lost out a bit and went into third position while Juho Hänninen continued to impress and took the lead of the rally.
SS3, the first stage with live coverage on Eurosport, became a tricky mix of weather. Starting on low altitude the surface was dry, but going higher the amount of snow and ice increase – as well as the snowfall. Most cars in the top 10 did at least the last 10-15 km’s of the stage in heavy snowfall, probably making both notes and tyre choices a bit wrong. Kris Meeke, running Peugeot England’s 207, set fastest time on the stage, followed by Stephane Sarrazin and Freddy Loix. Juho Hänninen in fourth place and Stephane Sarrazin in fifth made Hänninen overtake Sarrazin in the overall standings making the first day of Rally Monte Carlo end with Hänninen in the lead, Sarrazin in second and Vouilloz in third place.
Tags: didier auriol, ice, juho hänninen, live, luca rosetti, nicolas vouilloz, rally monte carlo, snow, ss1, ss2, ss3, stephane sarrazin, weather
Posted in IRC | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
The Rally Monte Carlo starts tomorrow, this year as the IRC season opener, and it looks to become a tricky event. The competitors have recced all the 14 stages twice, and reports from the recce tell about two stages covered in snow – St Jean en Royans and St Bonnet le Froid. However, the weather forecast warns for possible showers and/or snow. A snowfall would almost certainly make the recce notes quite useless and convert the rally into a difficult and sometimes a little bit random game – nervous for competitos but exciting for spectators – where feeling for the grip will decide who’s winning and who’s spinning…
Tags: forecast, IRC, rally monte carlo, recce, showers, snow, st bonnet le froid, st jean en royans, weather
Posted in IRC | No Comments »
Sunday, January 18th, 2009
It happened on the season final in Wales 2008 – and not it may happen even on the season opener 2009; Rally Ireland – snowy stages in an event set to be run on wet or dry conditions, but not icy. Today, 3 dm’s of snow is reported on some of the stages in the rally. There are still almost two weeks to go until the rally, so much can happen, but weather forecasts talk about snow and/or rain combined with temperatures close to zero the following week, so are possibilities there will be ice left on the stages when the rally is run. Considering how tricky the irish roads are in normal conditions, snow/ice would mean a supertricky – not to say dangerous – rally, where caution to stay on the road will pay off more than speed.
For Rally Norway, next rally of the season, all reports look really promising. With already quite a lot of snow on the stages, the forecast for Hamar is snow the next few days and temperatures around or below zero for the next ten days. Here, even more (anything) can happen to the weather, but as far as we can see the conditions and forecast should be a solid ground for a good rally.
Tags: conditions, forecast, ice, rally norway, snow, weather
Posted in WRC | No Comments »
