RE: 40 years of the WRC

[slacker172]

Subaru at Rally of Catalunya, every time. (was my wallpaper on my PC for years, probably why my eyesight is shot!!!)

[anonymous-user]

Timo Salonen was a driver who was bloo** fast but you would never have thought it when you met him.

He smoked like a chimney and was not in the best of condition but put him behind the wheel of the 205 T16 and he was seriously fast.

Shame the WRC is a shadow of itself

[mrbadger]

Ved said:

No room for the only Englishman to win it?

My sentiments exactly! If you can have McRae, then RB deserves inclusion too. A great driver and a true gent who is still sadly missed.

[epom]

Tommi and the Misibishi missing is a surprise, as is Richard Burns (not sure which car) same could be said of Grohnholm in the 206. However good choices all round, love rallying. Is it me but compared to today do they look a bit slow ??

[Ali_T]

epom said:

Is it me but compared to today do they look a bit slow ??

I feel the opposite, to be honest. The only reason modern cars are faster on comparable stages is tyre technology, but they're nowhere near as spectacular.

Edited by Ali_T on Monday 14th October 18:38

[Baryonyx]

epom said:

Is it me but compared to today do they look a bit slow ??

And dull!

Nice list, though of course many amazing drivers would be missed out - what about Walter Rohrl!?

[truck71]

By Jaysus that Lancia is fast, almost looks like a radio controlled scale model.

[Slippydiff]

As someone else said, it's "Oooooh, dear god". And contrary to what the Youtube video title says, Ari was being co-driven by Terry Harryman in this footage, not Dave Richards.

Whilst Phil the Bug was a mightily impressive Tarmac driver who gave some giant-killing performances, compared with the likes of Walter Rohrl, he freally wasn't in the same league.

Not wishing to besmirch his name, but let us not forget, he had a massive shunt in his Clio Maxi in 1995 which resulted in the death of his co-driver Thierry Renaud frown

Oh, and forget the link to video of McRae driving the Impreza WRC car.

This is what Colin was all about :

1.22 flat (in sixth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpcwaFq-Z5Y

Edited by Slippydiff on Monday 14th October 19:11

[BlimeyCharlie]

I see we seem to have all forgotten Didier Auriol, especially in 1992 driving the Lancia.
There are so many drivers, why limit it to 5?
For a good ol' debate, methinks.

[My Evil Twin]

[grumpy52]

Am I the only one old enough to remember Tony Pond ! I know he did little in WRC , wrong era, end of grp B , but very very quick and great fun.
I saw him on the manx at a stage start saying to his nav that notes would not be needed for that stage to hold tight andnot to scream.

[SkepticSteve]

To be honest I prefered WRC to F1 anyday, but that RATFACE did something to get it off TV.
I'm sure of that!


Anyway, some great names and many not mentioned, as already said.

My list of greats includes
Marcus Grönholm.

Didier Auriol.

But the day Henri Toivonen died, I really was knocked off my feet!
RIP

[interloper]

grumpy52 said:

Am I the only one old enough to remember Tony Pond ! I know he did little in WRC , wrong era, end of grp B , but very very quick and great fun.
I saw him on the manx at a stage start saying to his nav that notes would not be needed for that stage to hold tight andnot to scream.

You are not alone! Mr Pond and his tache were achingly fast at times, I'm really not sure why he didn't get a drive at Audi, Peugeot or Lancia? Were they unconvinced of his talent, or was it his own choices which hampered him?

[Alex Langheck]

interloper said:

grumpy52 said:

Am I the only one old enough to remember Tony Pond ! I know he did little in WRC , wrong era, end of grp B , but very very quick and great fun.
I saw him on the Manx at a stage start saying to his nav that notes would not be needed for that stage to hold tight andnot to scream.

You are not alone! Mr Pond and his tache were achingly fast at times, I'm really not sure why he didn't get a drive at Audi, Peugeot or Lancia? Were they unconvinced of his talent, or was it his own choices which hampered him?

He tended to be loyal to British marques, but agree, a super quick driver, and put in a heroic performance on the 1985 RAC V the might of Lancia. Saying that, most factory teams seemed to think you needed a Finn to win - may have been true then, certainly isn't anymore.

[BevR]

As if on cue NM2255 posts 10 minutes of rally car noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOnDvpItL3E

[Dapster]

Do you think Arne Hertz had the Audi H&S Dept on speedial?






Merc 450 SLC


BMW M1

Edited by Dapster on Monday 14th October 22:10

[infradig]

Alex Langheck said:

interloper said:

grumpy52 said:

Am I the only one old enough to remember Tony Pond ! I know he did little in WRC , wrong era, end of grp B , but very very quick and great fun.
I saw him on the Manx at a stage start saying to his nav that notes would not be needed for that stage to hold tight andnot to scream.

You are not alone! Mr Pond and his tache were achingly fast at times, I'm really not sure why he didn't get a drive at Audi, Peugeot or Lancia? Were they unconvinced of his talent, or was it his own choices which hampered him?

He tended to be loyal to British marques, but agree, a super quick driver, and put in a heroic performance on the 1985 RAC V the might of Lancia. Saying that, most factory teams seemed to think you needed a Finn to win - may have been true then, certainly isn't anymore.

The '85 RAC not only had Pond's epic 6R4 drive to third,but from memory Jimmy McRae,Russel Brooke's and Terry Kaby all in the top ten.
My personal memory was of sharing a table in a cafe in Kielder at 04.00am with Henri Toivonen. He was amazingly relaxed,joking with us about doping his drink so that Tony Pond could win,strangely he had a cheese sandwich and took out the cheese!

[MC Bodge]

FullofBeans said:

Gwyndaf Evans in the Seat WRC car. It was a short lived stint but was one of the few later exciting drivers IMHO

Keep your eyes open if you drive through Dolgellau -his garage, Gwyndaf Evans Motors, is the local Ford dealer.

[chris285]

BevR said:

As if on cue NM2255 posts 10 minutes of rally car noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOnDvpItL3E

Quattro S1 in that vid is still the greatest sounding rally engine ever made imo, may not have been the best car but still makes the hairs on my neck stand up

Edited by chris285 on Monday 14th October 22:27

[MC Bodge]

I remember my Dad taking me, as a nipper, to see the RAC Rally when it was at Knowsley Safari Park in the early 1980s. Noisy cars roaring past. Fantastic!

I once went to Kielder to see the RAC in the Mid-90s. It was a complete snow-fest.


some old pics from the www:






Not sure if the Manx was part of the WRC, but:
Some great footage and driving from 1984
Watch for Tony Pond!

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 14th October 22:39