Carlos Sainz almost did the world a favor. I shouldn't say that as a Christian but when is a certain type of machismo around rallying just going to berkeley off?
http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/01/06/video-captures-moment-dakar-racer-crashes-off-cliff.html
Ok, that was clearly a stupid place to stand, but more importantly Dakar is in Senegal and that is in Africa, not in South America. Why do they keep the Dakar name when the race has zero to do with it and they are on another continent in a different hemisphere?
They probably keep the name Dakar due to name recognition..
Related: I rallyxed with a local region that had several worker stations on the outside of a corner. I was assigned to one and said "berkeley this, I'm standing on the inside". From my station I watched the workers at the next corner almost get hit... twice. I notified the worker chief/safety, but they seemed very passive about this and put no real effort into fixing it.
WRC Australia really needs to be known as the Darwin rally. I preach my stance on spectators and volunteers standing on the outside frequently. To the point of telling some spectators at BRS in 2014 that I the would not receive medical attention if a car had an off due to where they were standing. People like that are how stages and events are lost.
ProDarwin wrote: Related: I rallyxed with a local region that had several worker stations on the outside of a corner. I was assigned to one and said "berkeley this, I'm standing on the inside". From my station I watched the workers at the next corner almost get hit... twice. I notified the worker chief/safety, but they seemed *very* passive about this and put no real effort into fixing it.
Shame on whoever set up the corner stations. They should never - EVER - be on the outside of a corner. If the course is designed in such a way that this is not possible, then shame on the course "designer" who did not take worker safety into account when making the course. Worker safety is the FIRST thing to be considered when designing a course, period.
I always tell people, corner stations are set up provisionally. If you think there is a safer place, by all means MOVE THERE!
Knurled wrote: I always tell people, corner stations are set up provisionally. If you think there is a safer place, by all means MOVE THERE!
This is what the worker chief said to me, but it felt like more of a "its up to the workers to pick a safe spot" comment. The event had many newbies in it, who stood exactly where they were told without thinking twice.
It was my second event with the region and I didn't want to get into an argument with him, so I just walked away. In retrospect I probably should've made more of a stink, even if it meant I never got invited back.
Luckily my car only lasted a couple of runs before a MAF failure. Even then at the end of run #2, there was a worker way too close to the car on one section the course, heavily obscured by tall grass. Almost a code brown moment for me.
Next event I'll just leave if the safety is questionable. Sadly, its the only rallyx region even remotely close.
In reply to ProDarwin:
Raise a stink. Do it. It's important that you do. All the more so if nobody else says anything - that just means your stink-raising is that much MORE important.
I still remember vividly running in a night event where the corner workers didn't set up some down cones, and it was not immediately obvious where the course went (looked like pointers, for both directions), so I went where I thought I should go... straight at where the workers were standing. Brown trousers time for four people including me. Did I raise a stink? ABSOLUTELY. Went straight to the starter and told him that cones were down in such a way that it was creating a serious safety hazard. He stopped runs and went off shouting at people to set up the berking cones. Then he gave me a rerun because, I guess, I didn't have a properly set up course to drive on.
This, naturally, meant some of the other competitors gave me crap because I got to get an extra run. I didn't say anything so I could get an extra run, i said something so PEOPLE WOULDN'T GET RUN OVER.
Safety berking first. Keep your damn trophies if you want, my and your first priority should be everyone getting home okay after all is said and done.
In Ireland and the U.K. I seem to remember the iconic Jim Bamber drawing some of his famous cartoons with a safety theme for big events. Funny and quickly informative.
As a darkly humorous aside on the Sainz incident, it wouldn't be a Rally Raid without a Peugeot trying to kill its driver. 
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Aussiesmg posted a video about Group B rally on his Facebook page. The primary thing I took away from watching it was what utter morons most rally spectators are.
Duke wrote: Aussiesmg posted a video about Group B rally on his Facebook page. The primary thing I took away from watching it was what utter morons most rally spectators are.
Probably the same one that's a great example of Walter Rohrl's amazing footwork:
Clearly both Murphy and Darwin took the day off...
I wouldn't stand on the outside of any corner in motorsports, to be honest.
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