Technical talk - Weather crews and tyre choice.

Sanremo is renowned for its pleasant mid-September temperatures yet, up in the Ligurian hills where the rally's stages are run, weather conditions are often more severe and can change rapidly without much warning.

Good weather information is vital for teams to ensure that they make the correct tyre choice so the 555 Subaru Rally Team employ a weather crew at each event to go into the stages to monitor the conditions and report back to the team in service. This is particularly important for the Sanremo Rally.

On each morning of the rally the weather crew position themselves at a pre designated spot, often the highest point that will be used during that day, from about 5:00am. Then, using both road temperature and air temperature gauges, they take readings every 15 minutes to compile a pattern of the changing conditions and forecast the likely developments for the next couple of hours. This information, which reveals the dampness of the roads, the amount of standing water and moisture in the air, is relayed back to the service area and helps the team ensure that they have selected the correct tyre compound and construction for the proceeding group of stages.

Although FIA regulations limit teams to just two tread patterns per event (which must be selected four weeks before the start of scrutineering for European rounds) there is no limit to the amount of compounds or constructions that can be used within this.

In addition, teams are allowed to 'cut' additional tread into the tyres to modify them to suit the changing weather conditions.