RE: Time for Tea? 1980s Rallycross

[Rude-boy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky8GST9d94

Not much more than a sore head for Liam, although they did keep him in over night iirc!

[coppice]

What Rallycross needs - like all motor sport - is fewer people lamenting the good old days and watching old Youtube clips but going to watch it live instead. Millions of people seem to express a car or motor sport related fact or opinon on PH every second but God only knows where most of them are when it comes to watching sport live. Most of the events I go to are poorly attended - the only exception being my local BTCC round; ironic give the dull as ditchwater cars compared to what other types of racing offer, rallycross especially. And watching a full fat 500bhp Supercar sideways a few yards away rather has the edge on sitting in front of a PC and reading the asinine comments on Youtube (are they all written by 15 year olds loftily passing jusgement on somebody's driving from the comfort of their bedroom?)

[tbtstt]

coppice said:

And watching a full fat 500bhp Supercar sideways a few yards away rather has the edge on sitting in front of a PC and reading the asinine comments on Youtube (are they all written by 15 year olds loftily passing jusgement on somebody's driving from the comfort of their bedroom?)

Absolutely! I wasn't old enough to appreciate Group B rallycross in its heyday but, of all the motorsport I've spectated to date, there are still few things as awesome as a pack of rallycross Supercars charging off the line.

No amount of You Tube videos will ever convey seeing (and hearing) it for real!

[WhiteBaron]

Rude-boy said:

To be honest if I were Amy or Pat I would be on the blower to PH about holding a PH meet at Lydden next year.

this +1

[MG CHRIS]

coppice said:

What Rallycross needs - like all motor sport - is fewer people lamenting the good old days and watching old Youtube clips but going to watch it live instead. Millions of people seem to express a car or motor sport related fact or opinon on PH every second but God only knows where most of them are when it comes to watching sport live. Most of the events I go to are poorly attended - the only exception being my local BTCC round; ironic give the dull as ditchwater cars compared to what other types of racing offer, rallycross especially. And watching a full fat 500bhp Supercar sideways a few yards away rather has the edge on sitting in front of a PC and reading the asinine comments on Youtube (are they all written by 15 year olds loftily passing jusgement on somebody's driving from the comfort of their bedroom?)

+1 used to go regulary to pembrey when the british rallycross used to attend and was great fun watching the espically as you could sit in the car in the dry and watch the action if it was raining outside couldn't beat the sound of 8-10 fully tilt rallycross cars taking off.
But the series is in a massive mess at the moment the brdc rallycross series ( the one top gear raced in) is not being run next year the main series run by the Darrens is also suffering with entries outside of the supercar class the hot hatch class has been altered so very few cars can actualy take part with most being the saxo the modified class is also struggling.
But i would still go to pembrey if it went back to support it like i vist btcc rounds and my local tracks. But with it not being on tv the ph masses think it's gone down hill not like it used to etc.

[pozi]

If anyone wants to recreate this in your living room Scalextric have just brought out a limited edition Gollop Metro 6R4 and Schanche RS200

[aeropilot]

pozi said:

If anyone wants to recreate this in your living room Scalextric have just brought out a limited edition Gollop Metro 6R4 and Schanche RS200

Brilliant

Takes me back to my childhood when Rallycross was the great new TV motorsport and the Scalextric set I wanted (and got for my Christmas pressie) back in 1973 or 74 (can't remember which) was this one




(Still have it in that original box, all complete, in the loft somewhere)

[EDLT]

MG CHRIS said:

coppice said:

What Rallycross needs - like all motor sport - is fewer people lamenting the good old days and watching old Youtube clips but going to watch it live instead. Millions of people seem to express a car or motor sport related fact or opinon on PH every second but God only knows where most of them are when it comes to watching sport live. Most of the events I go to are poorly attended - the only exception being my local BTCC round; ironic give the dull as ditchwater cars compared to what other types of racing offer, rallycross especially. And watching a full fat 500bhp Supercar sideways a few yards away rather has the edge on sitting in front of a PC and reading the asinine comments on Youtube (are they all written by 15 year olds loftily passing jusgement on somebody's driving from the comfort of their bedroom?)

+1 used to go regulary to pembrey when the british rallycross used to attend and was great fun watching the espically as you could sit in the car in the dry and watch the action if it was raining outside couldn't beat the sound of 8-10 fully tilt rallycross cars taking off.
But the series is in a massive mess at the moment the brdc rallycross series ( the one top gear raced in) is not being run next year the main series run by the Darrens is also suffering with entries outside of the supercar class the hot hatch class has been altered so very few cars can actualy take part with most being the saxo the modified class is also struggling.
But i would still go to pembrey if it went back to support it like i vist btcc rounds and my local tracks. But with it not being on tv the ph masses think it's gone down hill not like it used to etc.

Why have they altered the classes to prevent loads of cars from entering, are they learning from the way rallying is organised?

Even if it was on TV the PH masses would think it's gone down hill/not as good as it used to be - See any thread about racing that isn't F1 (F1 threads would be like that but the descend into petty arguments too quickly).

[V8 FOU]

aeropilot said:

Oh yes, definately one of the Rallycross legends of the 1970's era.

And IIRC, that Daf was BDA powered

Yes THEY were! DAF 55 coupes. There were two. On both the variomatic unit was inside to avoid the mud and stuff. The first one, the driver sat on top of the unit, which meant a large "bump" in the roof to clear his head!
On the second the vario was next to the driver.
They were getting around 250BHP from the BDA then. The Variomatic belts didn't last too long tho'

Their advantage was that you drove them with one foot on the throttle and the other on the brake!

Keith Ripp's Mini had VERY low gearing so he could just use 3rd and 4th gear, thus avoiding the cross change from and to 2nd.

Rod Chapman drove the 4WD Capri a couple of times too.....

John Taylor in his Escort

Oh good days.

Still go and watch now - that was in the early 70's

Anyone remember who fitted a Lotus TC engine to a Mini gearbox for this? Was that Keith Ripp?

[RedAndy]

Rallycross the other week at croft was awesome. The thing is you can wander up and downt he pit lane ((not airside admittedly!) and chat to the teams when they have a spare minute. Ive once been asked to hold tools while they did a gearbox swap! You gfet right up to the action - showered with gravel when they hit it sidewys. all the corners are done in a slide, there's plenty of spills as well as epic talen on display. The lead changes so many times, and if you spin out on your first lap there's EVERY chance you can still win (a 4 lap race) because it's so unpredictable! It's exactly the type of motorsport you take the other half to to get them to undertsand why you love motorsport so much! And it's only £15 from 8am to 5pm, kids go free! it is wonderful as it is... but...

the scoring/qualifying system that makes cricket easy to understand. There are so many classes that I have no idea what can race in what against what. some variation in the races would be interesting - like a 2 lap sprint and a 6 lap enduro just to mix it up a bit. They should NEVER wash the cars down between races - rally cars SHOULD be mucky! a bit more play to the audience in terms of podium/celebrating might be nice...

but this is picky... anyone not been to Rally cross MUST go or forever recind your petrolhead status.

[coppice]

Yeah- absolutely and I agree about the scoring; I just see which car wins and bugger the rest. Ditto drag racing- never mined breakouts , and the classes are incomprehensible to occasional visitors - just give me lots of noise and two cars smoking off the line. Another thing everybody who thinks they are a car enthusiast must see live.

[DH01]

aeropilot said:

falkster said:

DH01 said:

Who was it that used to run a mental 4wd 911 ? European rounds? I'm sure we saw it at Lydden and Brands.

Was that Matty Allamaki??

Yup, Alamaki ran a yellow bi-turbo 4wd 911, and Seppo Nittymaki also ran a white/blue bi-turbo 911 around the same time. Seppo had his first IIRC, and first brought it over to Lydden in 1981 or 82ish for the ERC round when it was still just a 2wd version, which was very entertaining, when he was leaving long black lines everywhere

That OP video clip from 1987 was the only ERC British round at Lydden that I missed between 1980 to the present day.

i knew it was someone i could pronounce ,just found it, Rob Gibson ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5o5HftNu00
my fault, 2wd not 4wd.

Edited by DH01 on Friday 23 November 15:36

[Rude-boy]

I've also got a feeling that that car is back out in action. Sure that I saw it at Lydden earlier this year, running in the histerics races with twin turbos

ETA - Should have watched Vid first, the car I am thinking about is the porker in the barrier on lap 1 on the exit of Druids

Edited by Rude-boy on Friday 23 November 15:42

[MG CHRIS]

EDLT said:

MG CHRIS said:

coppice said:

What Rallycross needs - like all motor sport - is fewer people lamenting the good old days and watching old Youtube clips but going to watch it live instead. Millions of people seem to express a car or motor sport related fact or opinon on PH every second but God only knows where most of them are when it comes to watching sport live. Most of the events I go to are poorly attended - the only exception being my local BTCC round; ironic give the dull as ditchwater cars compared to what other types of racing offer, rallycross especially. And watching a full fat 500bhp Supercar sideways a few yards away rather has the edge on sitting in front of a PC and reading the asinine comments on Youtube (are they all written by 15 year olds loftily passing jusgement on somebody's driving from the comfort of their bedroom?)

+1 used to go regulary to pembrey when the british rallycross used to attend and was great fun watching the espically as you could sit in the car in the dry and watch the action if it was raining outside couldn't beat the sound of 8-10 fully tilt rallycross cars taking off.
But the series is in a massive mess at the moment the brdc rallycross series ( the one top gear raced in) is not being run next year the main series run by the Darrens is also suffering with entries outside of the supercar class the hot hatch class has been altered so very few cars can actualy take part with most being the saxo the modified class is also struggling.
But i would still go to pembrey if it went back to support it like i vist btcc rounds and my local tracks. But with it not being on tv the ph masses think it's gone down hill not like it used to etc.

Why have they altered the classes to prevent loads of cars from entering, are they learning from the way rallying is organised?

Even if it was on TV the PH masses would think it's gone down hill/not as good as it used to be - See any thread about racing that isn't F1 (F1 threads would be like that but the descend into petty arguments too quickly).

What i can gather with the stock hatch class is that they have banned cars of a certain age so the once popular 205 gti is not allowed to race but they have also banned 16v so the only competive cars are the saxo i could be wrong on that fact. True on the last point.

[DazBock]

Matt Bird said:

Thanks for this, I had no idea! Will definitely check it out in future, apologies for the article mistake.

No worries, happy to help. No apology necessary so far as I am concerned.