Last weekend we went to Wales Rally GB, the tenth round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), and this week she gives us the inside track on being a spectator at this iconic rally. Rallying is a fantastic spectator sport. The average spectator may spend most of their time standing around in sometimes very harsh conditions waiting for the cars but it is all worth it for those exhilarating few seconds when each rally car finally roars by. “Fast right over crest leading to long left before jump. Rocks on the inside.” Welcome to the world of rallying. No doubt you could add “sheep on the outside” to the pace notes above to warn your driver of the dangers of the four legged woolly kind lurking around every corner of rural Wales… The WRC is the pinnacle of rallying. Man and machine are tested on rallies held in some of the world’s most inhospitable places; from the dust and scorching heat of Greece, to the snow and ice of Sweden and Norway, the WRC is not for the faint hearted.   The wonderful thing about rallying is the excitement and anticipation before the first car hits the stage: often there will be a helicopter hovering overhead and then a safety car will do a final run through the stage as the crowd waits for the action with cameras poised. And then out of nowhere you here the distant rumble and rasp of a 300 bhp rally car. The whining reaches a crescendo as the car comes into view in a slew of gravel and dust. With a few crackles, pops and bangs, it is gone again. At the weekend I attended Wales Rally GB, the tenth rally of the 2012 WRC season. This rally is very accessible from Ireland and is perfect for anybody who would like a taster of the WRC experience along with the ease of bringing your own car with you to travel around to get to stages. A late night at the ceremonial start in Llandudno, North Wales on Thursday night left us, to use a rallying term, “off the pace” on Friday morning for Day 1 of the action. The planned 7 am start never materialised so it was not until the afternoon that we finally hit the stages. Once we got our act together,...