I went as a spectator. As far as spectating goes, it was pretty crummy. The whole point of rallycross for spectators is that you can watch the racing, see the cars, have facilities, etc. all in one spot. From my arrival it went something like this:
Arrive to event in BFE, get charged $10 to park. There are cops monitoring the traffic outside the gates, not allowing parking along the road, forcing you to pay $10 whether you like it or not. Once inside, it's clear that this industrial park has TONS of places to park, they're totally gouging people by charging $10 for parking.
Waited in a big line before the gates open while listening to cars race around the track. Not sure if this was practice or qualifying, but spectators weren't allowed to witness it.
Got in just in time to catch the last few cars blasting around the track, but can't see anything. The only spot near the gate that you could see the track from was a tall dirt mound that only event staff and participants were allowed on.
To see the track, we have to go to the bleachers/scaffolding on the other side of the track. This is about a .3-.5 mile walk through mud. There was supposed to be a shuttle van, but it was only operating occassionally.
Once we got to the scaffolding, the cars were done with whatever they had been doing, but we decided to stake some claim for a "good" spot. The scaffolding was super shaky and we looked at the load rating posted on the sides of it...it would be well overloaded if they put a bunch of people up there. About the same time we noticed that, we were told everybody had to get off the scaffolding. They had a construction crew adding to the steps and putting orange net to the sides so little kids wouldn't fall off. So they were trying to be safe, just not very good at it. We decided to just sit on the (much lower) bleachers as it seemed the safe thing to do.
While waiting for things to get going, a couple of us walked over to the pits to check out the cars. The big boys were all roped off and the spaces were really tight in the pits, so you could hardly see the cars. Since they staged for races where spectators weren't allowed, we couldn't take a good close look at the cars. Of course, the privateers were all wide open to check out, very friendly, and would talk about details of their cars if you asked. The big boys did grace us with their presence at some tables where a huge line formed for autographs...good for the guys getting their kids a chance to meet the drivers, but I just wanted to check out the cars.
When the racing was about to start, I trudged through the mud (for the third time now) to go back to our seats. I asked how I could get on the dirt hill that was closer to the pits and was told spectators can't go there, only staff and racers.
Back at my seat, the racing was generally fun to watch. Unfortunately, they were still working on the scaffolding and the sound of nailguns, circular saws, and staple guns was really annoying. There was also a huge line of people formed waiting to get onto the scaffolding. They also did the now-commonplace "XTREME" music blasting with announcers blabbing away the ENTIRE time. Not only that, but some funny talking announcer from another country kept saying Mit-SI-BU-shi and it was driving me freaking bonkers. To add disgust to discomfort, the porta-potties that were right behind the scaffolding had a visit from the pumper truck during the racing. It was absolutely rank and I felt like I was chewing poop mist for about 15 minutes while they cleaned them. Great timing on the bathroom servicing guys...
Build up to the A-main events was pretty slow due to constant grooming of the courses between races without any type of exhibition events to occupy the crowd. There was a food cart that couldn't keep up with demand for warm beverages, that was the only decent distraction during the breaks. The A-main was an absolute blast to watch....if all the racing was like that, they'd have a hit on their hands in no time. We could see most of the track (the warehouse blocked some) and the competition was pretty good. The AWD cars were especially impressive, those things would outright SCOOT. The 2WD cars were almost all repurposed local-ish rally cars, understandable with the extremely short event notice and lack of publicity the 2wd guys get.
After the race, they won't let spectators out on the course where the winners are spraying themselves with champagne and doing photo shoots. They force the crowd to take the long walk around through the mud instead. This is now my fourth trip through the mud for the day and not any more enjoyable than the first.
In summation...great idea, horrible execution. I'm sure it was a ton of fun for the competitors, but the enjoyment of spectators were definitely not given much priority. Obviously, this is the first event they've done at this venue and it was on extremely short notice....and it showed.
/end semi-informative rant that I hope some event organizers will see...
Bryce
