Wonder if the safety marshal still has a job...

cause this should never happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-tUiwj66I

What the.... I DID NOT expect that.

I'm in the minority on this, but I don't think this took place at an organized sanctioned event

Wow, that guy was hauling ass too. I hope everyone is fine (idiot on course, I am sure that the rally guys are fine).

In reply to captdownshift:

What's your reasoning?

No course notes heard and the fact that nobody in the rally circles has heard from specific event or stage it occured

captdownshift wrote: No course notes heard and the fact that nobody in the rally circles has heard from specific event or stage it occured

Even if that's true, what would they do in normal circumstances.

I mean, it's not like there is a place to pass or move over, so one person has to backup to the next intersection? Or are there understood one way places? Just a thought.

How are you going to hear course notes from outside the car? The wind noise shows that hte camera was on the exterior. That would have to be one loud ass co-driver.

I expected a much worse collision than that.

Any number of scenario's here. It appears not to be the US. Road looks pretty fresh, so likely one of the first cars on the road. Could be a legit rally or rally sprint. There are usually so many little off shoots to close, it is certainly possible to have this happen. Usually there is a defined direction, so that if you were working that road, and you were leaving your post, you'd at least be going the same direction as rally traffic. I suspect it's a rallysprint in one of the Nordic countries.

According to notes somebody posted on Bangshift, the rally took place in Poland and the driver of the rally car was Artur Cichowski.

http://bangshift.com/general-news/videos/crash-burn-videos/rally-team-competing-snow-stage-night-happens/

Certainly some new underwear was purchased as a result.

Is the non-rally car a Forester? Hard to tell.

It does look like they have a longer, Euro-style license plate on the car, but that doesn't say anything with certainty.

I also see what look to be people with flash lights on the left hand side leading up to the crash. They could also just be lights.

It is a forester. It is in Europe. The flashes are safety vests worn by folks I believe.

OK as someone who has organized a stage rally I will pass along a couple of rogue individuals we encountered: Contestant one came blasting through the service area on an open class motocross bike pinned in top gear, fortunately the road was 30ft wide, this idiot could not have missed 200 yards worth of rally cars being serviced at the side of the road or myself jumping up and down waving at him to slow down, when of the Ham radio guys pulled his truck across the course about a mile ahead, dufus shoots off out into the desert. I later came across the guys truck and left him a note he's the reason permits are hard to get........by the stickers on the truck it appears he was at one point a racer.......dufus! Contestant two was a guy in jeep traveling cross country cuase he saw the signs and didn't want to be bothered having travel a half mile out of the way. Contestants three through seven saw the signs the banner tape and still crossed on to the road. I was the course opening car and encountered them, they were out for a day of target shooting, they were initially not very motivated but when I mentioned BLM they packed up in a hurry (not that they were doing anything illegal). I could go on about other events where people have done this including a ham radio operator having a hunter pull a rifle out of his truck and saying he'll go wherever he likes.........sure the guy got arrested several miles down the road but he still got out on course.........people are stupid.

Tom

captdownshift wrote: No course notes heard and the fact that nobody in the rally circles has heard from specific event or stage it occured

Guy was also driving a lot more conservatively than I typically see done on ice/snow rallies and not using the snow banks at all.

I am speechless.

At a local rally a couple years back, some jackass ran their car past a barrier with a marshal trying to stop them and a rally car barely avoided them.

I would have to accept that I was probably going to crash if I were to try driving at that speed on snow though, especially at night

I was co-driving in a zero car in Melbourne when we confronted three trucks loaded with shooters (professional hunters) who demanded access and stated they would be driving up the road despite our legal objections. They were angry and were shouting at the corner workers.

I had a short conversation with them, at this time I was still a cop and advised them that any attempt to gain entry onto the course would be considered an assault and as such each and every one of them would stand to lose their shooters permits (remember Oz is very different when it comes to firearms).

The trucks made slow U turns and found another route.

I was a very popular choice for zero car duties from that day on.

I have witnessed hunters light leaves in the ditches on fire. Pre-runner trucks come out of the desert onto course. Horse riders come across.

On a test stage the day before the start of the Rally many years ago in the SCCA days, I was in a car where the spectators where let go from the spectator area and we came around a corner at speed straight into a group of people walking. We had to take the trees to avoid contact.

It is a very difficult line. You want spectators to grow the sport, but on the other side, it includes risks that can kill it.