Trawscoed

Length: 27.97 km

The Trawscoed stage is another 27.97 km of gruelling driving, testing the drivers through every corner. The stage maps will show you that this is an astonishingly-shaped stage, with the possibility of viewing the cars the other side of the valley before they get to you from Car Park D, weather permitting of course.

Like Brechfa, Trawscoed is only being used once in 2003, as opposed to twice in 2002, so expect slightly fewer spectators this year. The stage is unchanged from the 2002 event.

How to get there?

Junction towards Llidianyrennog from B4337

View from the junction above as you head towards the stage

Turn left for Car Park D and E
and right for Car Park C

Entrance to Car Park C from road

The overall directions to Trawscoed will depend on where you are travelling from, but for local directions a good starting point is the village of Llanybydder, near Lampeter on the A485 from Carmarthen.

In the middle of Llanybydder, turn onto the B4337 signposted towards Llansawel, near a Murco petrol station and a Spar shop.

Continue on this road for 3.5 miles and then turn right towards Llidianyrennog (first picture on the left). You will then see a view like the second picture. This road leads you up into the forestry commision areas again.

Once you've driven around to the right (as the second picture shows), the road curves round to the left. KEEP LEFT - do not go straight on because this is a farm track. You will now be driving under some trees. The road does get narrow and twisty from here, and the weather will probably be misty and wet, so take care.

After 0.9 miles you will approach another junction, as the third picture on the left shows. It is signposted Llanllwni to the right and Rhydcymerau to the left. Turn left for Car Park D and Car Park E and right for Car Park C.

If you turn right, after 0.1 miles take your first left onto another tarmac road. The forest will be on your left. Continue on this road for another 0.2 miles and the entrance to Car Park C will be on your left, signposted as the entrance to "Syfigwm". The entrance to this area is the fourth picture on the left.

Stage Maps

Thanks to Multimap.com, you can now view Stage Maps here.

Click here for the SS3 access to Car Park C (1:25000).
Click here for the SS3 access to Car Park D,E (1:25000).
Click here for the SS3 start area (1:25000).
Click here for the SS3 start area (1:50000).
Click here for the SS3 finish area (1:25000).
Click here for the SS3 finish area (1:50000).

Hints and Tips

In 2001 this was the last stage of one of the days and was therefore in darkness towards the end, but in 2002 both runs through the stage were in daylight. In 2003, the stage should be reasonably light from the start, dependant on the weather of course. Make the most out of this if you have only seen the stage in the late afternoon fading light.

Do not attempt to enter the villages of Brechfa and Abergorlech as these will be closed to spectators. There will be a strong police presence in this area. You have been warned !

Before you even get to the stage, I would advise you buy a few things to eat. As SS3 is early in the morning, you may have stayed at the stage overnight. There is a good Spar shop in LLanybydder, so stock up on chocolate and maybe a sandwich or a pastie.

In 2002, Trawscoed was not included in any of the two Event Passes, and was therefore one of the quieter stages. In 2002, spectators wishing to spectate at this stage were advised to purchase the Day Pass for Friday. In 2003, if you want to spectate at Trawscoed you will need to buy either the World Rally Pass or the Friday Pass 1 (option 1, 2 or 3). There will be no tickets available on the day for Trawscoed.

For full ticket details, including advice, you will be able to find out all the information you need in the Tickets section.

Parking Information

Entrance to Car Park C

The road towards Car Park D

Further in the forest towards Car Park D

2 views of Car Park D (right-hand fork)

There is a wide range of parking areas available at Trawscoed. Car Park C is situated in the Syfigwm forest (see first picture on left), and splits into three once you get inside the forest entrance.

Each of the 3 splits are as good as each other, but the middle arm does go slightly deeper into the forest. Bear in mind this will probably be the most popular part though, so maybe take one of the other two splits, unless you fancy a longer walk onto the stage, and potentially a longer wait to get off the stage after it has completed.

The road surface is good to park on and walk on, being a very rigid type of gravel and quite wide in places, but this can be a very boggy area. Leave the main road at your own risk ! Sound advice here is to stay on the road.

Car Park D is also split, but this time into 2 areas. Again, the surface is very good compared to some other car parks on other stages.

Car Park E has the same access as Car Park D.

Once you have turned off the main road and are on the access road, you will immediately arrive at the marshalls area. Follow the road to the right (second picture on the left), and after a short drive of between 1 and 2 miles you will arrive at the parking areas.

The third picture on the left gives you some idea of the very good type of road surface here.

The last two pictures on the left here show the actual parking area which is wide, well-drained and easy to walk on. The gradient towards the stage is also very slight, and this is one of the stages where you could actually spectate comfortably without wearing walking boots.

How far to the stage?

Almost at the stage !

From the entrance to Car Park C, depending on which of the 3 splits you take, you will not have a walk of more than 1 mile. If you get to the stage particularly early, you will only have literally metres to walk, as the 3 strands of the car park lead directly to good viewing parts of the stage.

Car Park D is very similar - both strands of the car park lead very close to the stage, so you should not have to walk too far, unless you arrive very late. Even then, the road surface is good to walk on so you should not have a problem making it to the stage on time. The picture on the left gives you some idea of the type of surface. This is actually only 200m or so from the main spectator area.

Once you have passed the toilet cubicles, you will approach a house on the right. A path from here leads down to the most popular spectator area - near to the catering and an excellent series of S-bends (see picture in the Best Spots for Spectators section). Follow the stage to the left and you will soon find the area where you can see over the other side of the valley. You will not have to walk more than half a mile from the catering area.

There is catering in both car parks, although it is unclear in which part of Car Park C they will be situated. If you will be requiring either the toilet or catering in Car Park C, ask one of the marshalls on the gate as you enter and they will be pleased to help you.

The catering and toilets in Car Park D is very near the stage. As you walk towards the stage entrance, you will pass 4 toilet cubicles on your right. A 2-minute walk past here you will find the stage and the large catering van is situated in a field near to the S-bends.

As Car Park E will be using the same access off the B4337, the facilities are most likely to be of the same standard and most probably in the same area.

Llanybydder has a Murco petrol station which is quite expensive but there is not a lot of choice in this area unless you drive further on to Lampeter. The village also has a good quality Spar shop and another smaller shop which sells all the usual items which the rally spectator needs.

Once you get past Llanybydder, the facilities stop so make sure you have what you need beforehand.

Best spots for spectators

The most popular spectating area

Taking the stage to the left

View from the stage over the valley

This is a great stage for high-quality forest action. The Forestry Commission have done a lot of good work on this area of the forest to make it easy for spectators (but also to improve forest conservation !).

Car Park C offers excellent open viewing areas on banked sections which amazingly are never over-crowded. There is also an excellent hairpin if you wish to park in the right-hand strand of the car park.

From Car Park D you can have a choice of viewing styles. The first picture on the left shows the most popular spectating area. The cars approach fast downhill from the top right of the picture and slide through the S-bends before exiting again at high speed. In 2001 this area was very busy though because of it's closeness to all the facilities. If you don't get to the stage early you will struggle to get a good spot, and if you do get at the front of the fence - stay there and don't move !

The atmosphere in this area was fantastic in 2001, as there was a large crowd and the drivers were going through in the dark. This stage will become more popular and may even soon rival the Sweet Lamb Bowl in Hafren forest for the fireworks and atmosphere.

If you walk left from this area (second picture on the left), you will soon arrive at a part of the stage where you can see the stage across the valley if visibility is good (but it rarely is). The third picture on the left shows how the stage appears from the left, and winds around the hill-side.

All in all this is an excellent spectators stage, as it is easy to spectate at and has a wide variety of viewing styles to suit everyone.