And resulted in the cancellation of some special stages.
At the end of reconnaissance, a shy, retiring type of driver made a couple of off the cuff remarks which have been repeated a few times since, causing much twittering. His name is Sébastian Ogier. You may have heard of him?
This is reportedly what he said...
"I don't know what we're doing here. There's no point in being here. I don't know who took this decision. It's absurd."
Reading carefully between the lines, I think we can safely assume that he isn't really happy with driving on gravel, equipped with nothing but studded snow tyres. Oh, I know what you're thinking, "Here he goes again, Ogier whingeing as usual". Well, to an extent that's true. The point being though, is he justified?
I can tell you that the internet is fair thrumming with opinions being offered and debated over that very salient point. And some relevant opinions have triggered quite a lot of interesting back and forth, stuff that I'd like to share with you.
Whose fault is it?
This is a natural starting point for an analysis because we humans have an inbuilt need to blame someone or something whenever things happen that we don't like. I know this, because I indulge in that exact behaviour fairly regularly myself. And the fault lies squarely with... politicians really.
How come? Because we are experiencing human-influenced changes to the Earth's climate that were apparent over the last five decades at least while our politicians played the "Where's the scientific proof?" card until the evidence was so strong that they were forced to pay lip service to what was obvious to everybody but politicians and those in the fossil fuel industries.
Well, actually it was obvious to everybody, including those I excepted above, but self-interest takes precedence over the greater good every time and we still haven't done anything meaningful to mitigate our influence on the warming of our planet. Some day...
But back to the point. Rallye Sweden was planned with an expectation that the climate would play ball and we'd be looking at three days of whiteness with rally crews performing heroic acts on slippy snow and ice at impossibly fast speeds. It worked in previous years, right? So why would 2016 be any different? (If the blatant pollie blaming of the previous couple of paragraphs hasn't convinced you, then it was probably goblins or trolls getting their revenge for some imagined slight or other.)
But why couldn't the organisers and the FIA come up with a contingency to allow normal gravel tyres for those stages that might be devoid of the snow and ice expected. You know, a Plan B, if you like. Radical? Not so much. Most of the enterprises on this planet, including governments, have in place some alternative or other should the manure hit the fan.
So it's possible that here we're looking at the results of a failure to plan properly, and while many people, including the shy Sébastian Ogier discussed previously, have expressed their sorrow toward the organisers of the event, a case can be made that Rallye Sweden and the FIA could have prevented this situation. No, we can't magic snow and sub-zero temperatures whenever we feel inclined, but we sure as hell can truck in some gravel tyres.
M. Ogier has felt the need to respond to the battering he's been taking on social media over his viewpoint on the state of the Swedish stages. He posted this on Twitter...
"Like often, so much bullshit on the net... I love
You may well be cleverer than me, and understand Sébastian's response totally. But I haven't read your interpretation, so I'm going to offer up some posibilities.
Obviously the relevant bit is "never called for cancellation of the full rally! Just 100% gravel stages". Assuming he's not perfect as an English-speaker, the problem with his comment lies in the phrase "Just 100% gravel stages".
What this seems to mean is that only the stages that are 100% gravel (no snow, no ice at all) should be cancelled. Or... this might mean only the stages that are suitable for studded tyres (all snow, all ice) should be run. As you can see, those two interpretations are very, very different.
Either way, there's no earthly possibility the rally can run like that, because the conditions on the stages can and will change with the weather and with the effects of the passing field of cars. No organiser could possibly guarantee to run Ogier-approved stages under the conditions that prevail in Sweden right now. Ogier demands more than is reasonable.
Yet, the Frenchman's heart is surely in the right place. Studded tyres on gravel is a recipe for accidents and endangerment to crews and spectators alike, and I wonder if Rallye Sweden were not feeling the pressure to keep alive their event in the WRC, would they have decided to push ahead and run a rally that will clearly be inferior to their previous rounds, something that loses so much of the magic that has always been in it's Scandanavian winter mantle.
And with global warming's inexorable effects over the next half century, Rallye Sweden will have to move its dates forward a month in order to recapture the white winterland magic that contributes so much to the character of the event. But then there's also the Monte to consider - the iconic round would likely become the last round of the season in early December if Rally Sweden were to move forward a month. What's the likelihood that either happen? Low, I'd have to say. More likely would be Sweden being dropped from the championship.
And that would be a real shame.
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