Rally racing is a sport Damon has been fond of for my years; I didn't know much about it before we met, but I would describe it as Nascar meets the Amazing Race. Rally drivers in turbo-charged, hatch-back cars compete against the clock on courses in several countries, primarily in Europe, http://www.wrc.com/page/RalliesIndex/0,,10111,00.html which are usually dirt roads. Some times they drive on pavement too, and races even occur when there's ice and snow on the course. They compete only against the clock and drive like banshees. There are two members per team in the car - driver and co-driver. The co-driver has the map of the course and coaches the driver as to how he should drive fast and not crash.
Here's some information from the WRC web site about the relationship between the driver and the co-drive in rally racing:
http://www.wrc.com/page/PerfectPartnership/0,,10111,00.html
I'm not really explaining WRC like I should, so you can also read the background on it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Rally.
We watched the Saturday leg of the rally in Northern Ireland, near a town called Enniskillen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enniskillen
It's pretty amazing that part of this island nation is owned by another country, and you can drive from the Republic of Ireland right into Northern Ireland without really knowing it. I thought there might be a check-point or at least signs, but Damon said the only thing he noticed was that the speed limit signs changed when we crossed into Northern Ireland.
Up before the crack of dawn, we drove about 3.5 hours to Enniskillen and didn't hit much traffic until we got into town. Then we followed the herd of cars back to a main road where everyone parked and then walked about two miles into the country to the rally course. The cold, rainy, dreary weather didn't hamper everyone's fun. We bundled up as best we could and trekked back to the course. People dressed in safety jackets, rain coats and rubber mudd boots were everywhere, hanging out on the hills of cow pastures surrounding the road where the cars would buzz through in an hour or so. Okay, so maybe we weren't probably dressed in our jeans, coats and hiking shoes. We also didn't know we were supposed to bring lawn chairs, which we don't have. Most people just stood around the course road, while others opted to bring out bulldozers and sit inside their fork lifts.
The crowds started hooting and hollering when a fog horn sounded, as we first heard the hum of a rally car engine in the distance. It was pretty cool to watch the compact, brightly painted cars fly down the hill on the wet country road and take the hair-pin turn at the corner. We walked along the course, taking pictures from various vantage points. But after about two hours in the rain with no chairs or mudd boots, we decided our World Rally experience was fulfilled, and headed back to the car for the drive home.
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