FIA World Rally Championship safety delegate Nicolas Klinger monitors video feeds of rally courses, ensuring spectator safety. Before each stage, a safety car moves spectators from unsafe locations. Some spectators return after the safety measures are in place, leading to the concept of "mushrooms". Klinger developed a system using TV feeds to identify and communicate spectator locations live. After testing his preliminary system, a stable live feed was established for the 2020 season, enhancing overall rally safety protocols.
"Eight hours per day, we're not allowed to do more," FIA World Rally Championship safety delegate Nicolas Klinger jokes. "Eight hours in the morning, eight hours in the afternoon."
Before every stage, the WRC sends out a car to move spectators standing in unsafe locations. But some spectators wander back after the safety car is gone, or hide as it goes by, popping up like a mushroom after it passes.
Just two rallies later, Klinger had a preliminary system at work. "I was standing in the TV compound and sending texts to the clerk of the course. Then it was Cataluña; then the clerk of the course came with me." Klinger laughs, "Then they thought we were too noisy."
Kicked out of the TV control room, Mouton and Klinger got a live feed in race control, too. That started at the beginning of the 2020 season and has been in use ever since.
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