The Rally of Great Britain has been running since 1932, and since 1973 it has been part of the FIA’s World Rally Championship (WRC). The WRC is the top level of rally competition in the world. For 2009, the GB Rally serves as the final round of the 12-round championships that travels around the globe. We traveled about a third of the way around the globe to cover the GB Rally and find out more about what rally racing at the world level is all about.

WRC
The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) pits cars and drivers in a series of three-day events against some of the toughest, and most varied, conditions on the planet. It ranges from the ice and snow of Scandinavia to the stifling heat of Greece, and racers run over surfaces ranging from smooth tarmac to boulder-strewn rocky tracks.

Unsurprisingly, the series is widely regarded as the most challenging motorsport competition in the world.

Twelve countries will host a WRC event in 2009. Each rally is split into between 15 and 25 'Special Stages," which are run on closed roads. On each special stage, drivers and co-drivers start alone and race against the clock. The co-driver reads pace notes to alert the driver to the conditions on the road ahead. The cars are road legal and travel between stages on open roads; these sections are not timed but the participants must get to service and fuel stops by set times.

The Cars
All cars competing at the top level of the WRC are based on four-cylinder two-litre production cars. But although they look similar to the ones in a dealership showroom, changes allowed to the engine, transmission and suspension, mean a WRC car is a turbocharged, four-wheel-drive monster that develops around 300 bhp and masses of torque. Regardless of the road surface, these machines can accelerate from a standing start to 60 mph in around three seconds. Their top speed depends upon the gearing chosen for each rally, but 130 mph is not unusual.

Everywhere you go in Britain there are incredible buildings. One stage of the rally comes through the grounds of this incredible church.

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Formerly Subaru, Mitsubishi, Peugoet and Skoda all campaigned works teams in WRC. Unfortunately, these factories have since withdrawn from WRC leaving Citroen and Ford as the main factory backed teams. In Wales there were a number of privateer teams rallying Subaru, Mitsubishi cars and also a smaller number of Renaults, Peugoets and Fiats.

The GB Rally
From its early beginnings as a national event that roamed around the country the GB Rally has developed, particularly since 2000, into a compact spectator-friendly event with double-usage of stages on each of the three competitive days.
Cardiff continues to host the ceremonial start and the finish and now the service park - which has been moved from Swansea to Cardiff Bay - on all three days.

The gravel forest stages of south and mid-Wales are fast and flowing and, when wet, can become as slippery as any in the world. As well as the forestry roads, the event features stages on exposed military land to the north of Brecon, which are prone to fog. Accurate pace notes are essential throughout. Scheduled almost two months earlier in the calendar than the wintry 2008 event, this year's Rally GB has the potential to be a warmer challenge. But this is Britain so rain is very likely.

Each evening the teams are given 45 minutes for a team of four mechanics to work on the car. The tough terrain on the stages takes its toll on the cars and they often require extensive repairs in the serive park. The mechanics working on WRC cars are some of the best in the business and can fix sections of the car unbelievably quickly. Like a complete suspension upright, hub and brake unit will be swapped in around five minutes and a gearbox in about 10 minutes.
Away from the service park repairs or adjustments can still be made, but only by the driver and co-driver, and only using tools and spare parts carried in the car. Time penalties are applied if visits to the service park exceed the period allowed. Time penalties are also given to competitors who arrive late at stage starts, or any of the other numerous check-points throughout the event.

Abu Dhabi BP Ford driver Latvilla lost a drive-shaft on the first day and was forced to finish the day with power going to just three wheels. Latvilla was clearly struggling with the car and was sliding more than his competition when he passed our vantage point on the Hafren stage on day one.

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The Citreon WRC team of Loeb and Elena celebrate their victory in the GB Rally and WRC Championship win.

Results
The 2009 season of WRC has been a hard fought battle between Citreons Loeb and Fords Hirvonen. Both drivers had won multiple Rallies in 2009, and the final round started with Hirvonen having a one-point advantage over Loeb.
Loeb led from the start of the Rally but was never able to take out much of a lead. And Hirvonen was albe to beat Loeb in a few of the stages. It was very close through all three days of the rally, but Hirvonens chances of the rally win and championship disappeared in the 15th stage. 

"The car landed after a jump and the left pin holding the bonnet came loose," Hirvonen explained. "The bonnet began to flap in the wind but the hinge on the right stayed attached. I couldn't see a thing and stopped to rip off the bonnet. It was such bad luck."

This cost Hirvonen about a minute and despite finishing quickest in the final stage he finished over a minute behind Loeb.

“Finally, we’ve managed to win the title again, on the penultimate stage," said newly crowned 2009 WRC Champion Sebastien Leob. "Mikko didn’t give up and I had to push right to the finish. It’s never easy to compare one title with another, but I think this is the best one in terms of the sporting battle we had … This was the final rally and we couldn’t afford to get it wrong. Everybody expected us to win, but I can tell you that nothing was certain until we reached the finish.”

Don’t try this in your commuter car.