30.05 > 02.06.2019
The Vodafone Rally de Portugal’s unknown world The world behind the organising of a WRC event, in particular the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, is not infinite. But it has a huge dimension. While the best WRC drivers and cars compete during four exciting days, the Automóvel Club de Portugal has been in the road much longer to ensure all runs perfectly. The numbers are impressive. So impressive, that, by comparison, the participants and their cars are but a minority.
of kilometres rune to ensure all goes perfectly. This because, to choose the best routs, and to know where exactly to place all the safety teams, many technical visits are required. A work that starts almost the day after the end of the previous year’s Rally, but which gets into high gear about six months before each edition.
To ensure the events safety, the ACP relies on the cooperation of several authorities. The Guarda Nacional Republicana stand at the top of the list with more than 1,100 personnel. Adding to this a “mere” 400 cars. But they are not the only ones, with the Polícia de Segurança Pública ensuring the normality in the city centres with 120 agents and 30 vehicles. Motorsports imply risks. To guaranty drivers and spectators are safe, INEM and fire fighters are also on call. Besides the technicians, there are more than 20 medical emergency vehicles, almost 50 ambulances, 23 fire fighting cars e 30 extrication vehicles. On the stages, staff is spread at predefined distances. ACP will have almost 500 people working as marshals and there are about 300 cars at the organiser’s disposal. Towing trucks are almost 30 and the private security personnel is over 100. The numbers are tiring. And they don’t end here. To mark the stages are used 22 tons of stakes, which is another way of saying more than 20,000 stakes. There are also the 30 km of net used to mark part of the 300 km of stages. And since the Vodafone Rally de Portugal has also a great environmental concern, the ACP uses 40,000 recycling bags. To all this, one has also to take into consideration the months of work on the road and the thousands
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