- A glimpse at the planners’ work – the Bosenberg Special Stage
- Experience, tact and attention to detail are the planners’ essential skills
- Teamwork is the key to success at the German FIA WRC rally
Munich/Trier, 15 May 2015 – The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is known to deliver spectacular rally racing. It holds 21 Special Stages in store for the drivers and teams in 2015. Each of the 374km must be prepared to perfection to allow World Champion Sébastien Ogier, 2014 winner Thierry Neuville, Jari-Matti Latvala, and the other WRC drivers to deliver top performance. Clerk of the Course Alfred Rommelfanger and his assistants, Stefan Bayer and Franz-Rudolf Ubach, go about planning the Special Stages (SS) with the required precision and thoroughness. Their mission requires plenty of experience, tact and attention to detail.
Variety and regional diversity are the planners’ guiding principles
“Planning requires the most in terms of time and effort for new Special Stages and some that were not on the itinerary for some time”, explained Mr Rommelfanger. “But we rise to the challenge since we want to offer the fans and participants some novelty every time. When we put together our selection of Special Stages, we look first and foremost for regional diversity. This year, for instance, we sought a new challenge in the Saarland.” What they came up with is a revival of the challenging Bosenberg Special Stage near the town of St. Wendel. It was on the itinerary last in the 2011 ADAC Rallye Deutschland.”
Panning begins early and synergies are exploited
Taking Bosenberg as an example, Alfred Rommelfanger explains the step-by-step planning of a new Special Stage: “At an early stage, we involved ADAC Saarland, the regional club on site. The colleagues’ first suggestion was Bosenberg. At that location, good experiences were made with rallies at state level, for instance the German Rally Championship (DRM) and the ADAC Rallye Masters. And the Special Stage had been found fit for a WRC rally before.” Within ADAC, the decision to include the Bosenberg Special Stage was made after an on-site inspection. The planner in charge of the stage itinerary in this case was Assistant Clerk of the Course Stefan Bayer.
Special requirements for a WRC event
Once a Special Stage receives the go-ahead, several on-site inspections are carried out by different bodies involved in the planning process, such as stage safety and spectator management as well as the designated Special Stage management. In the following stages of planning, certain requirements must be taken into account, said Mr Rommelfanger: “First, there is the length of the Special Stage: The FIA specifies that the length of a Special Stage should represent at least 25% of the whole rally.” Outside such predetermined criteria, much of the final set-up and arrangements comes down to the experience of the planners. “For instance, you have to create a certain infrastructure around the start and finish area to allow you to manage the large WRC field of starters. The same goes for spectator areas, the parking lots, access and exit roads. When it comes to that, the ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a major spectator event in the true sense of the word,” added Mr Rommelfanger.
Consensual planning involving the communities affected
At the same time the planning team holds the first meetings with the town administrations and local authorities involved. “In the case of Bosenberg, we had the advantage that the local authorities already had rally experience. If a Special Stage is selected for the first time, planning begins a year ahead: This gives the local counterparts involved the opportunity of a first-hand look at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland on location. This makes the follow-through meetings and talks so much easier,” said the Clerk of the Course. When the ADAC team is through planning the stage itinerary, the next step is getting the official approval process started. In this process, the focus is on environmental protection and conservancy issues as well as on the interests of the locals living next to the rally stage. Meeting all the requirements is prerequisite to being allowed to run the event.
The FIA approves the itinerary
At least five months prior to the rally, the planned itinerary must be sumbitted to the FIA for approval. The document for this years ADAC Rallye Deutschland was submitted to the FIA by mid March 2015. “Normally, the FIA does not have any further issues. Compared with other international rallies notably, the planning for the ADAC Rallye Deutschland is exemplary,“ said Mr Rommelfanger. At the time of the submission to the FIA, the planned itinerary also goes to the WRC teams to input theirexperiences.During review by the FIA, the planning for the German WRC event continues at full throttle: Now, the Rally Guide, the Road Book and other planning documents are compiled.
Staff planning for the Special Stages
In the weeks and months leading up to the rally, the planners focus their attention on staffing needs for the Special Stages. For stage security, ADAC relies on assistance from its regional and local clubs from all over the country. Even the neighbouring countries regularly chip in their active support. Assistant Clerk of the Course Franz-Rudolf Ubach coordinates the organisation of spectator management. As a matter of policy, ADAC involves the towns along the itinerary in the organisation, furnishing and operation of spectator areas, car parks and catering to the spectators. These tasks are then usually assigned to local associations, groups and businesses.
Setting up and dismantling Special Stages
In the last few days before the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, the Special Stages take shape through the work of the installation and removal team. The Bosenberg SS is approx. 17km long. The team in charge of setting up and dismantling the stage furniture will comprise numerous volunteers led by Special Stage manager Ralf Brocker (MSC Obere-Nahe motor sport club). They will strictly implement the stage safety plan. Countless signs, miles and miles of fencing and barriers of all kind must be taken to the specified points along the Special Stages and installed. Immediately after the last rally vehicle has passed a Special Stage the team begins dismantling and completely removing the furniture. At the ADAC Rallye Deutschland it is the organisers’ intention to leave nature as intact after a Special Stage as it was before.
Team work is the key to success
The ADAC Rallye Deutschland Special Stages have always been famous. Whereas the rally teams love the various challenges of the sport, the fans look forward to perfect conditions to watch high-level rally racing live. The appreciation the organisers earn is not a matter of course, it is the result of a coordinated and smooth team effort: “Even after a lifetime of involvement in organising and running rallies, for me the shaping and growing of a Special Stage is a fascinating process every time. From the initial idea through laying out the stage and through actually running it – nothing happens without the committed and purposeful work of dedicated people,” is the bottom line for the Clerk of the Course.
