2023 rallying thread (WRC, ERC, national and historics)
Discussion
Ranger 6 said:
See you in stage 3 
I should have said "wear your waterproofs"!That was a good weekend, first time the Clacton rally has run in wet conditions which threw up some significant challenges for crews, plenty of standing water and grip changes. A fairly problem-free day as Car 0, just some comms issues which we resolved. Every stage started bang on time. Here are a few snaps.
Next event for me is competing on the Berwick Classic/Targa rally this weekend, but that's over on the other thread!
Yes, best wishes to Fuzzy and Kris, a strong showing would be a good tribute.
It's a hard call, what to do when you've been involved in a fatal. I've seen some friends in that situation and everyone deals with it differently. Some jump back on the horse as soon as possible, some completely give up competing. There's no right answer but hopefully this is the best one for James.
It's a hard call, what to do when you've been involved in a fatal. I've seen some friends in that situation and everyone deals with it differently. Some jump back on the horse as soon as possible, some completely give up competing. There's no right answer but hopefully this is the best one for James.
thepawbroon said:
Yes, best wishes to Fuzzy and Kris, a strong showing would be a good tribute.
It's a hard call, what to do when you've been involved in a fatal. I've seen some friends in that situation and everyone deals with it differently. Some jump back on the horse as soon as possible, some completely give up competing. There's no right answer but hopefully this is the best one for James.
there certainly is no right answer, but James can be guided by Breen's own approach in very similar circumstances when Jaffa died. I think we all know that Craig would have wanted James to carry on. And good luck to him, hope he re-finds his love for the sport.It's a hard call, what to do when you've been involved in a fatal. I've seen some friends in that situation and everyone deals with it differently. Some jump back on the horse as soon as possible, some completely give up competing. There's no right answer but hopefully this is the best one for James.
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Ranger 6 said:
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Ranger 6 said:
I’m doing finish radio on one of the Clacton stages.
Anyone else out this weekend?
miten päädyit Suomen radioonAnyone else out this weekend?
You can speak Finnish?
thepawbroon said:
Ranger 6 said:
See you in stage 3
I should have said "wear your waterproofs"!That was a good weekend, first time the Clacton rally has run in wet conditions which threw up some significant challenges for crews, plenty of standing water and grip changes. A fairly problem-free day as Car 0, just some comms issues which we resolved. Every stage started bang on time. Here are a few snaps.
It was a wet one - I was with a good crew at the finish so enjoyed it.
Finally got around to tidying up and uploading photos from Otago, a big gallery here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjADbuL
A few highlights...
_DSC1941 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC2379 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC1886 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC1992 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC2088 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC2979 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC3156 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC3490 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC3831 by Ben, on Flickr
_DSC3711 by Ben, on Flickr
A few highlights...
_DSC1941 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC2379 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC1886 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC1992 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC2088 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC2979 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC3156 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC3490 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC3831 by Ben, on Flickr_DSC3711 by Ben, on FlickrQuiet in here lately!
Enjoyed watching WRC Portugal this weekend, quite a contrast how small the WRC field is compared to watching NZRC and ERC rallies lately but good to see the WRC back on gravel this round.
More interesting than Croatia which felt quite flat, partly everyone feeling the loss of Breen of course but also dry tarmac rallies often don't produce that much excitement for me. I guess only 3 pure tarmac rallies in the WRC calendar this year though, which is a bit less balanced than recent years and will no doubt disappoint the tarmac lovers among us!
Enjoyed watching WRC Portugal this weekend, quite a contrast how small the WRC field is compared to watching NZRC and ERC rallies lately but good to see the WRC back on gravel this round.
More interesting than Croatia which felt quite flat, partly everyone feeling the loss of Breen of course but also dry tarmac rallies often don't produce that much excitement for me. I guess only 3 pure tarmac rallies in the WRC calendar this year though, which is a bit less balanced than recent years and will no doubt disappoint the tarmac lovers among us!
Edited by GravelBen on Monday 15th May 00:35
GravelBen said:
Quiet in here lately!
Enjoyed watching WRC Portugal this weekend, quite a contrast how small the WRC field is compared to watching NZRC and ERC rallies lately but good to see the WRC back on gravel this round.
More interesting than Croatia which felt quite flat, partly everyone feeling the loss of Breen of course but also dry tarmac rallies often don't produce that much excitement for me. I guess only 3 pure tarmac rallies in the WRC calendar this year though, which is a bit less balanced than recent years and will no doubt disappoint the tarmac lovers among us!
You've got to admire Kalle and the Toyota Gazoo team for their performance, but that, the general lack of Rally1 cars and the performance gap between Rally1 and Rally2 is slowly killing the sport as a spectacle. Portugal was pretty much settled on SS4 when Tanak punctured. Neuville lost 7 minutes over the last 4 stages and still finished 5th, ahead of the WRC2 battle. Enjoyed watching WRC Portugal this weekend, quite a contrast how small the WRC field is compared to watching NZRC and ERC rallies lately but good to see the WRC back on gravel this round.
More interesting than Croatia which felt quite flat, partly everyone feeling the loss of Breen of course but also dry tarmac rallies often don't produce that much excitement for me. I guess only 3 pure tarmac rallies in the WRC calendar this year though, which is a bit less balanced than recent years and will no doubt disappoint the tarmac lovers among us!
Edited by GravelBen on Monday 15th May 00:35
The championship is pretty much over again on Round 5 of 13. We have five consecutive gravel rallies where Kalle will most likely do exactly the same, with any other winner being distributed between Ogier, Neuville and perhaps Tanak and Evans, none of whom will catch Kalle.
Surely it's time to move the top class to something like Rally2? Even if it goes straight to Rally2 as soon as Toyota homologate their car, there will be Skoda and Citroen in the mix, along with the current 3 teams. Give Ford/M-SPort some leeway to bring in a Puma Rally2, to match their marketing aims. Renault probably are not too far from having a suitable car and perhaps Suzuki via their Spanish set up?
I think the days of pure-works teams are over - the whole of rallying should be based on customer-accessible cars again. A Rally2 philosophy will allow importers / privateers to have the same car as the top teams. The top teams will still win,, because they have the best drivers, budgets, testing scope etc.
Every now and then you'll get a privateer / local driver scoring a big result - nothing wrong with that. Look at F1, people still rave about the days the Panis, Ocon, Gasly etc won a single GP.
And as for Solberg getting a penalty for doing donuts..... that's just crazy.
I really despair about how this amazing sport is being left to rot by the promotors/FIA. It's such a shame.
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