FORMULA FUN RACING at the Rally of Great Britain



The final and deciding stage of this years WRC was held in Cardiff from Thursday 22nd October through to Sunday the 25th. The Welsh leg of Rally GB saw the four day event start and finish at Cardiff Bay in the heart of the capital.

World Rally Champions Citroën hosted the largest and most prominent stand at the event which offered visitors the opportunity to have their photo taken with lifesize cutouts of Sebastien Loeb and Dani Sordo alongside a replica of the WRC winning Red Bull Racing C4, as well the chance to enjoy racing the Citroën rally simulator and C4 slot cars on the Formula Fun Racing SCX Digital racing track located inside the huge Citroën marquee.

Temporary sevice bays positioned at Cardiff Dock for maintianing the actual cars participating in the race ensured that rally enthusiasts were guaranteed a view of their favourite drivers and cars on their return from their days racing, whilst merchandise and entertainment were offered in the basin itself located directly outside the Wales Millennium Centre.



World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb took time out form his very busy schedule to visit the Citroën marquee and enjoyed racing his 1/32nd scale Citroën C4 alongside his Citroën team mates and Race Marshall Lee. Sebastian clearly enjoyed his introduction to the SCX Digital system and his teammates were anxious to get the better of the now 6 time World Champion. The Formula Fun Racing circuit offered a light hearted distraction from the rally, however the race itself remained extremely competitive as could only be expected when involving teammates from the worlds top rally team. After racing against Sebastian, Lee commented how competitive and focused Sebastian was during the race, evidently these are two of the qualities that are required if you are to become the most succesful rally driver of all time. Sebastian was kind enough to autograph one of the C4’s as a thank you to Formula Fun Racing prior to departing the stand to commence his rally.

The rally itself offered nail biting race action worthy of any finale. At the start of the British round the Frenchman was one point behind his Ford rival Miko Hirvonen. Sebastian took an early lead and looked comfortable, however the lead was short lived and Hirvonen clawed back any significant time advantage that the Citroën driver had to leave the race in the balance. In the end it was Sebastian Loeb’s scintillating second day performance that sealed his 6th consecutive WRC title, with Mikko Hirvonen experiencing difficulty with his bonnet working loose and obscuring his view. The offending item had to be removed manually resulting in the Citroën driver finishing 25 seconds ahead of his rival and winning his 6th championship by one point!



Whilst the rally racing was enoyed by those who followed the drivers through the Welsh countryside, the slot car racing kept the visitors to Cardiff bay entertained daily for 10 hours each day from 11AM till 9PM. Racing consisted of 15 laps on the 18’ X 5’ layout and involved six players racing the SCX Citroën C4 WRC Rally Montecarlo. A presentation explaining how to activate the lane change operation was offered prior to each each and every race. Each race lasted approximately 3 minutes, at the end of which the top three finishers were each presented with a scale replica of the 2009 WRC winning car.

The basin was the hub of activity for the duration of the four days. The opening ceremony and weekend activity attracted tens of thousand of visitors, all keen to be part of the the final event of the WRC’s 2009 calender. Undoubtedly Sunday drew the largest crowd with thousands gathering to view the climax of the rally and once again see the drivers and their vehicle parade through Cardiff Bay and under the tunnel to the basin on their way to the podium.

2500 visitors to the Citroën marquee had the opportunity to experience the thrill of racing on the Formula Fun Racing circuit. Enthusiasts as young as 3 and as old as 83 participated, Dads, Sons, Mothers, Daughters, even the World Rally Champion himself were introduced to digital slot car racing which offered racing action on par with the rally itself.



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