Thursday 6th February 2014

WRC Sweden 2000: Time For Tea?

Gronholm, Burns, Makinen and McRae do battle in Scandinavia

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This year's Sweden rally is currently on its second day, so what better time to revisit some old WRC footage? It's always a spectacular event, and there's nothing like a small dose of rally nostalgia to go with a brew and a biscuit.

The 2000 event was a bizarre Swedish rally for the unseasonably mild weather, relatively speaking. Temperatures above zero meant very thin ice, melting snow and conditions rather unsuited to studded tyres. Seeing gravel on a Swedish rally is very odd indeed.

Didn't the SEAT Cordoba look superb as a rally car? It's largely forgotten about now given the lack of a proper road going equivalent and the iconic status of stuff like the Evos and Imprezas.

Anyway, 2000 is also a particularly relevant season now because it was the year Hyundai mounted its first WRC campaign. The i20scertainly look better than the Accents, that's for sure... The winner of this Swedish rally was significant too, but that won't be revealed here!

As the BBC highlights from the event, this video is longer than what typically features in this slot. But it's great coverage, so maybe a larger mug is in order. After all, the Harris vid was shorter than usual this week, so you're owned some video time.

Enjoy.

 

 

[Pic: LAT]

[Alex Langheck]

Some entry; look at the names. And the event is won by Finnish Peugeot driver, his first win at WRC level. McRae taking a podium after a year of retirements.

I wonder whether they need to move the event further north; they've had similar problems with snow (or lack of) this year. But, the speed is incredible, and the grip is better than on gravel.

[PaulG40]

When Rallying was Rallying!!! For me 1995 - 2004/5 was my favourite era and when I was obsessed by it, always going to chatsworth house to watch it when they came over here.

[PaulD86]

The Fleetwood Mac soundtrack to great BBC coverage, some all time great rally driving names and some of the most iconic post group B cars all within seconds of each other. How great the WRC used to be. Wish it was still like this now. I totally agree with the post above on this being from a great era in rallying. This era of the WRC is also why there is an Impreza in front of my house!

[Vocal Minority]

The sheer quality in that field is mind boggling.

Tommi Makkinen - champion
Marcus Gronholm - future champion
Richard Burns - future champion
Juha Kankunnen - champion
Didier Auriol - champion
Colin McRae - champion
Carlos Sainz - champion

Its the rallying I grew up with, and so will always be the golden era for me.

[newdogg06]

Great to see this again! This was when I last followed Rallying regularly, been a bit disinterested over the last few years for one reason or another. Maybe it was my bleary early morning state, but it felt like a bit of a shock seeing Burns and McRae on TV again.