If you've ever wanted to just hop in your car and go racing, rallying is the way to do it. For the price of a helmet, safety belts, and entry fees, you can enter almost anything into a local rally race and have at it. You may not attain to world fame and racing glory, but you can have a whole lot of fun trying.
When it comes to the pros in the World Rally Championship, things get a lot more serious. The stages faced by these veteran drivers are some of the most punishing terrains on the planet. Have a look at ten of the most famous.
9 Ouninpohja, Finland
This particular section of Rally Finland on the WRC circuit has gained notoriety for it's fast, flowing roads and 75+ jumps throughout the stage. It has been removed from the rally for being too fast on several occasions. This stage holds the record for the furthest jump in WRC history of 187 feet, set in 2003 by Markko Märtin. Organizers have since modified the stage with slower, narrower roads and manmade chicanes in the long straights in order to keep average speed at a safer level.
8 Acropolis Rally of Greece
Acropolis has not been run on the WRC schedule since 2013, primarily due to financial reasons. It is still held annually on the European Rally Championship and features mountainous terrain, rocky ledges, and the often brutal summer heat in Athens, Greece. Acropolis is just the kind of rally where drivers learn if there's a rock in the road, go around it. Breaking suspension and puncturing tires is your only reward for brashness on these challenging ancient roads.
7 Sete Cidades, Azores Rally, Portugal
Set on the beautiful island of San Miguel, the Azores Rally is a perennial stop on the ERC schedule and driver favorite. Shorter stages and few road miles between them make for fun and fast competition.
Sete Cidades is the most well-known of the event's stages, as drivers circumnavigate a volcanic crater lake with stunning views and ample opportunity for spectating. Local knowledge helps here, as the rally has been dominated by Portuguese drivers since it's inception in the 60's.
6 Rally Wales GB
The biggest rally in the UK is a perennial favorite, having enjoyed the status as last stop on the WRC schedule for a number of years. In 2019 the event will be held in October, with high demands being placed on the reliability of the cars. Saturday's schedule has the cars leaving for 94 miles of racing through seven stages before having a chance to get back to service. Poor and unpredictable weather is par for the course in England, making this rally a difficult one for choosing tires and suspension setups.
5 Vargasen, Rally Sweden
Rally Sweden is a great snow rally visited by the WRC in February. Snow is the great equalizer when it comes to racing, forcing all drivers to heed the same dangerous conditions as they try to navigate ice-covered gravel stages. Vargasen is by far the most popular stage of Rally Sweden, where thousands of fans gather to view record-breaking jumps in pursuit of the Colin's Crest Award, given to the driver who achieves the farthest jump on the stage. The current record is an astounding 147 feet, set by Norweigan Ford driver Eyvind Brynildsen in 2016.
4 Mystery Creek, Rally New Zealand
The WRC hasn't been to New Zealand since 2012, but the rally was voted a drivers' favorite in 2001. With many long, flowing roads and relatively docile surfaces, New Zealand lends itself to high speeds and smooth driving. Mystery Creek holds some mystique as the final stage of the rally, where fortunes have been won and lost by fractions of a second. In 2007, after three days of racing and over 200 miles of stage driving, the closest finish in WRC history at the time was recorded by Marcus Gronholm, when he edged out Sebastien Loeb by only .3 seconds.
3 Rally Chile
2019 was the first year that Chile hosted a WRC event, but it may go down in history nonetheless, at least for former points leader Thierry Neuville. Neuville was leading the points race going into Chile until stage 8 when he took his Hyundai slightly wide through a long right-hander, leading to a horrific crash.
The car rolled many times before landing on its side, but the driver and co-driver were relatively unharmed. Neuville returned to service on crutches but was able to compete in the following event.
2 El Condor, Rally Argentina
Based out of the city of Cordoba, Argentina, about 400 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, Rally Argentina is home to one of the most iconic rally stages on the circuit, known simply as El Condor. After a crowd-favorite super special stage to kick things off in Villa Carlos Paz, the rally eventually makes its way to the rock-strewn roads of the Traslasierra mountains. At an elevation of almost 7,000 feet, it's a beautiful place to drive a rally car at blistering speeds over hanging bridges. Just don't look down.
1 Panzerplatte, Rally Deutschland
Rally Deutschland has been on the WRC circuit since 2002, and for the first 12 years was dominated by Citroen. Panzerplatte, which translates to 'tank road', is 25 miles of pure German mayhem. The road makes abrupt changes from tarmac to broken asphalt and even cobblestones. Formerly used for German tank training, the road is still littered with artillery and, more importantly, the infamous hinkelsteins. These concrete barriers were originally used as 'bumpers' for novice tank drivers, and remain half-buried along the edges of the road, ready to violently humble any driver brave enough to cut a corner.
Rally is an amazing sport, with more diversity and excitement in one event than you can find in any other type of racing. From suspension-crushing gravel roads to tire-swallowing potholes, drivers never know what to expect when they get in the car. Rally teams build their cars to demanding specifications in order to tackle anything these roads can throw at them, and the drivers must be equally prepared to navigate them through every turn.