Part 1 over - roll on part 2
Rally Report 42
Monday, November 19 2001
John Dier

Peader Hurson must have read the article that I wrote about the real winner for 2001. He stood up on Saturday night and took the trophy all the way back to the shadow of the Mourne Mountains. Now that the sore heads have had time to heel and the cars back in mothballs, for a few days, we are now waiting for the next winner to stand up. In previous years the nearest that we have had two rallies together is the one-week gap between the forestry rally and the single stage in Inch last December. This time we have a month between the two single stages on December 16th. The difference this time is that with rallying nearly not taking place this year, the two rallies that we will have had before Christmas will have that little bit more importance. After the weekend when I had time to think about the weekend I realised that it was my twentieth Wexford either as a competitor or press hack. It is pretty scary considering that I still have a little bit of time before the big 4-0. What did strike me though is the change in that twenty years. The cars, the organisation, the facilities, the level of professionalism and even the way that a rally such as ours is now an event that gains global interest. All anyone has to do is look at the list of countries that we have hits from. Pakistan is the latest that has heard of “The Wexford”. For me to write an article like this and it to be read the other side of the world within seconds is mind boggling and would have been the thought of a heretic twenty rallies ago. The world is a smaller place now and unless a motor club grows with the use of modern technology there is very little hope of them hopping on the global bandwagon. Wexford motor club is a club that is moving with the times. The use of the net to make regs available to competitors is an example of how to grow with the times, by the way the regs for December will be on line by the end of Tuesday. The results of last Saturday were on lie within minutes. Years ago it would take an hour or two to get the results back to rally HQ let alone the far side of the world is a prime example. It is a nice thought that the club is very much to the fore in embracing these changes and the fact that we are the ones to help bring about these changes is a nicer thought. We thought that when we set up the site two years ago that it would have a certain local interest and it would fade after the weekend was over. It did not happen that way and now as each rally goes on the interest in the site gets stronger. It could also be said that during the down times of September when the rally was called off, the site was probably one of the focal points that remained to keep the interest going till Last week. The announcement of December’s event stirred the hit counter into action again and the weekend’s event kept it up. To that end it is a good point that we have another event that quickly. The only thing that could better a rally this quickly again is a two-day rally. This hopefully will go on as normal next year and by then maybe the hit counter will be really humming. Only a few years ago the use of the net was considered a small aspect of the coverage of a rally. In the next few years it will be as much a part of coverage as radio or television. At least we can say that we were there at the start. The use of photos for the weekend gone out was a great boon. It is so handy to be able to upload photos or scan hard copy of photos within minutes of them been taken in some cases is an area where people can really see a change. We thank any one that gave us photos to use to compliment the ones that we took ourselves. All that remains to do now is get the thoughts together and cast last weekend to the archives and get ready for the South East’s early Christmas present. We will bring the entry list to you as soon as it is drawn up. Needless to say that any other details that we get will appear at haste as well. In between times get that car ready, or if you are a spectator get out the woollies just in case it is a cold day.