Motorsport News: Between the Lines

Football stadiums and fast cars are two things dear to my heart. When they're combined I'm left with little to complain about although I wish my school had offered Spanish as a GCSE option.

That way I'd have stood half a chance of understanding what the commentator was getting all excited about. Then it dawned on me. What the clock on the scoreboard in one end of Cordoba's debilitated sports stadium couldn't tell me because it had broken long ago - probably the day when Austria knocked West Germany out of the 1978 FIFA World Cup at the venue - and what I didn't want to find out for myself through fear of having my watch pinched - was that it was fast approaching 19.05 and the start of the first stage of Rally Argentina.

Judging by the commentator's growing excitement and the frenzy he was sending the near-capacity crowd into, something big was about to happen.

Then, amid a crackling of exhausts and a popping of engines the first opponents - Per-Gunnar Andersson and Patrik Sandell, two leading lights of the Junior world championship - entered the battleground for two runs around a 1.3-mile course that wound its way across the pitch and surrounding athletics track.

Andersson quickly got into the spirit of the occasion, accelerating onto the course, while waving to the crowd. The fans responded and both drivers were greeted like heroes.

As the Swedish pairing negotiated the first loop, it quickly became apparent the stage was too tight and twisty to let drivers really put their foot down. The obligatory jump/cross-over didn't quite capture the imagination, as there wasn't enough space on landing for crews to make it around the next right-hander if they'd put on a real charge. But that wasn't the point. Almost 45,000 spectators had negotiated the traffic and zealous policing and paid their 15 pesos (about £2.50) to secure their spot in the stadium and they were going to savour every moment of it.

There was standing room only by the time top WRC photographer and MN contributor Bob McCaffrey had negotiated our entry to the stadium, despite the fact we were in possession of valid media passes and tabards. I found room on what I guess was the old north-east terrace. To my right were a group of lads drinking a bizarre-looking homemade brew out of an old Motorcraft oil tin. To my left were a bunch of school kids who had quickly mastered the art of impersonating rally car engines.

No sooner than Andersson and Sandell had finished their runs than local favourite Gabriel Pozzo and San Marino's Mirco Baldacci stepped up to the challenge. Patriotic roars, fist clenching and the throwing of ticker tape every time Pozzo came into view had replaced the warm applause that had been reserved for the Swedish pair earlier. But Baldacci committed the ultimate sin by edging on times Pozzo and he received the thumbs down from the crowd.

My attention quickly turned to the growing number of punters milling around outside the guarded turnstiles. They didn't have tickets and the army weren't in accommodating mood. But as the numbers swelled to more than 300, the gates were opened and a swarm of spectators flooded the remaining area on the terrace where I was stood. It was a touching moment judging by the ear-to-ear smiles on the local folk whose meagre earnings couldn't quite stretch to paying for a ticket.

While superspecial stages aren't for die-hard rally fans and are still viewed as a necessary evil rather than a trump card for promoting the world championship, the memories of that Thursday evening will linger for some time to come. I just hope that the organisers of Wales Rally GB can come up with something equally spectacular in December.