Car rally – Tales from Wild Wales

Letters to the Editor (3)

The first weekend of September is now the chosen date for the Ceredigion car rally. As the date approached I became more and more agitated and close to anger at the prospect and my partner Jane persuaded me that we should leave the area for the weekend. We spent a couple of days around the Somerset Levels near Glastonbury, where some brilliant bird-watching can be had; and then back up to Bristol for a couple of days. Here we went to the amazing “Van Gogh Immersive Experience”. This begins with potted history of the artist, his work, his thinking and his mental torment. It was moving to read how these four strands wove together to produce a vision which, it could be said, was truly “beyond art”. It was tragic to read that during his short lifetime he only sold one painting, while now they can sell for close to a hundred million dollars!

But the real highlight was the Immersive Experience itself. A large rectangular section of a disused warehouse was walled off. Carpets, benches and deckchairs were provided for ” participants” and constantly evolving visuals relating to the artist and his work were projected on to all four white-painted walls. Music and fragments of commentary were relayed over a sound system. It was the closest to an LSD trip that I think I have ever experienced. One truly was immersed in the experience and it was fascinating to watch children and adults just entranced, and I think humbled, by it. For some photographs, please see the next post.

Before I left home I posted my latest “Letter to the Editor” of the Cambrian News, which I understand has been published today. It is reproduced below.

Further to Chris Simpson’s letter (Cambrian News 31^st August) about the Ceredigion car rally, the full details of the route have now been published. According to their information, and my calculations, the total distance driven on Rally Days will be 29,000 miles. Of that mileage approximately half will be travelled under rally conditions. The remainder will be travelling between stages and on driver’s recces. This does not include incidental mileage setting up the infrastructure, delivering marshals to locations etc. Could that double the above figure? It goes without saying that the carbon footprint of this event will be massive, not to mention other pollution such as noise, tyre and brake dust and other emissions.

This is not the only negative impact of the rally. The draconian closure of roads and footpaths and the authoritarian way those closures are being put into place show Ceredigion Council in very poor light. Ninety-nine public footpaths in north Ceredigion will be closed; the complete closure of the Promenade between the Marina and the Pier makes a nice round figure of a hundred. Imagine a holidaymaker, like one of those complaining about how dirty the town is, for example, innocently straying into Aberystwyth on Saturday evening. He/she will find half the town closed off to the general public, and rally cars screaming along the seafront between the Marina and the Pier! Then there is the “Festival of Fossil Fuels” as rally drivers show off their prized possessions on the Promenade. What kind of impression does this give to the non-rallying visitor?

I am lucky in that I will be taking a long weekend away from home, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, to get away from this obscenity. Not everyone is so fortunate, of course. I’m sure the horror stories will begin to emerge once all the activity has died down. But I have already been on the receiving end of veiled threats of police involvement if I protest too loudly, and one of my neighbours has had the same treatment. I can’t help thinking that following the three-year hiatus due to Covid, the 2022 rally will open people’s eyes to the nature of this event. I certainly hope so.

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Letters to the Editor (2)

The second in an occasional series of pieces originally written for the Letters page of our local newspaper, the Cambrian News. A new editor has been in post for several months and he seems to be willing to publish letters on controversial subjects in order stimulate debate. The following is due for publication this week and follows on from an earlier letter, posted here.

It is ironic that the publication of more details about the Ceredigion car rally was followed so soon afterwards by the most severe heatwave in UK history, with record temperatures recorded all over England , Wales and Scotland, and wildfires in many eastern areas. The heatwave re-opened our eyes to the dangers of catastrophic global heating, which appears to be with us many years before climate scientists predicted.

This year’s car rally is said to be operating with “a focus on sustainability”. Rally organisers are said to be “looking at every conceivable option to improve the event’s environmental credentials and carbon footprint in a real way”. It is said that the rally will have a “compact route to minimize unnecessary road miles” and that “measures will be introduced to target a carbon neutral outcome”.

Needless to say any such measures will be but a drop in the ocean of carbon emissions and other pollution created by this totally frivolous and irresponsible event. Although the details are still shrouded in secrecy, some information can be gleaned from their advance publicity. It looks like there will be an additional two night stages involving an extra distance of 41 miles. The number of cars taking part will increase from 120 to 150. A rough calculation suggests that carbon emissions from the timed sections and drivers recce’s will increase by 30%. This puts rally organisers’ claims to be environmentally friendly into context, I think.

We shouldn’t be surprised that rally car drivers to want to drive as fast as possible on country roads for fun because that is what they do. On their behalf rally organisers have produced a catalogue of greenwash and tokenism in an attempt to justify this climate-wrecking event. But it is quite shocking that Ceredigion District Council have gone hand-in-hand with them in the full knowledge of its repercussions for the climate, and despite the fact that they have themselves declared a climate emergency. What kind of example does this set to the general public who might be confused about what they can or should do about reducing their own carbon footprint?

The UK Government is legally obliged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, although many believe that is far too late. Climatologists also believe that 50% of the required reductions will have to be made this decade, before 2030. How exactly does Ceredigion Council think we are going to reach that goal when it facilitates, partners and promotes events like this? Perhaps they would care to let us know?

Yours etc.

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Rallying around.

Almost every day brings more news about the speed with which the climate is warming, whether it be forest fires in Siberia, the melting icecap in Greenland, or record high temperatures in Alaska – to name three recent examples. The suspicion is that the climate is changing much faster than was ever imagined. It seems that climate chaos will soon be with us.

Yet north Ceredigion will soon be the venue for a new car rally; possibly the most frivolous waste of fossil fuels that it is possible to imagine. The Rali Bae Ceredigion, due to take place in early September, will see 120 cars covering a total race length of 44 miles in four stages. Roads in the Bontgoch, Pendam/Ponterwyd, Ystumtuen and Nant-y-moch areas will be closed for the day. Cars will slowly proceed from stage to stage on public roads, another 44 miles.

As well as the carbon emissions from the competition cars themselves, those from an estimated 1500 marshals, officials and mechanics required on the day need to be added. On top of that will be the emissions involved from their journeys to north Ceredigion from their homes, PLUS an unknown (but probably considerable) number of spectators. Rally organisers claim that the use of shuttle buses to take spectators to vantage points on the rally route will “boost the event’s environmental credentials”. As if it had any!

No-one who has given their endorsement to this rally can possibly have considered its environmental impact. If they had it would have been a non-starter. The climate crisis is just too serious. And yet rally organisers hope that this rally will become an annual event, “developing and expanding” in future years..

Backers of the rally include Visit Wales, part of the Welsh Assembly Government, which has recently declared a Climate Emergency. Ben Lake MP (Plaid Cymru spokesman on the environment, among other things) is in favour, despite his party strongly supporting the Climate Emergency Declaration. “Without the commitment to action that such a Declaration necessitates, the statement is meaningless”, said Plaid Cymru in May.

Those who seem likely to gain the most financially from the rally include Ceredigion County Council – who narrowly failed to declare a Climate Emergency themselves earlier this year – and Aberystwyth University.

The University will be making a very tidy profit from hosting the rally. Rooms in its Halls of Residence will be rented out to drivers and officials. Space for parking, vehicle movements and servicing, office activity, presentation areas, and catering facilities will be made available. Among the areas commandeered will be the Arts Centre and one has to question how appropriate the use of the Arts Centre actually is. What possible artistic or cultural purpose does a car rally serve?

The University really needs to examine its conscience on the Climate Emergency. They still have investments in the fossil fuel industry, and rally organisers have been quite open about the University’s support – without it the rally just would not happen.

When we are all being urged to leave the car at home and use public transport to save carbon emissions, this new rally is close to being an obscenity. It should not be repeated.

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