The 2018 Rallying thread..(WRC, ERC, etc)

[RyanTank]

chunder27 said:

Damn shame, not going to name call, for others to do, fatal on the Condroz, a driver.

What does that even mean? It was also a Co-Driver who sadly lost his life.

GravelBen said:

I'm sure he's had a heap more seat time and testing than Paddon or Sordo this year seeing as he was meant to be the new golden boy and they've only done half the events he has.

Surely it takes more than just struggling with setup for a guy with his experience to be slower than WRC2 cars though? I know he (like Evans) has often been a bit inconsistent for pace (rocket one day, slug the next and doesn't seem to know why) but being that slow at times in Catalunya seemed quite odd.

I think Andreas was talking more about testing purely for Spain. His form in the Hyundai hasn't been great as you've said. maybe he just cant get on with a car that has been built to suit Thierry? Especially disappointing when you consider how good he was in the VW.
I'm not sure who it was but during the all live coverage they mentioned that one driver only got an hours seat time of testing before the start!

It was mad to me the amount of drivers saying they didn't trust the full wets on offer as they hadn't tested them!?
Then the maestro Seb Loeb makes a decision 30s before leaving to go with them and it pays off massively.

I'd like to see a few more mix surface events on the calendar. but don't think that feeling is shared by many

[thepawbroon]

For motorsport fans in Scotland....

https://www.msauk.org/Update-on-progress-of-closed...

This indicates that progress is being made towards the return of "The Best Rally In the World" now known as The Beatson's Mull Rally, the Jim Clark Memorial rally and hopefully some other motorsport events on closed public roads in Scotland.

cheers
Duncan

[Drumroll]

thepawbroon said:

For motorsport fans in Scotland....

https://www.msauk.org/Update-on-progress-of-closed...

This indicates that progress is being made towards the return of "The Best Rally In the World" now known as The Beatson's Mull Rally, the Jim Clark Memorial rally and hopefully some other motorsport events on closed public roads in Scotland.

cheers
Duncan

Not Just Scotland

[thepawbroon]

Drumroll said:

Not Just Scotland

My point was that the law isn't yet in place in Scotland, and this news is positive towards getting it in place.

As I guess you know, the new law is already in place in England and Wales, and there have been closed-road motorsport events in both already under the new law. And thankfully, more are planned:


http://corbeauseatsrally.co.uk/
http://www.nwstages.co.uk/
http://www.watergatebayhillclimb.co.uk/
https://www.coventrymotofest.com/
https://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/16995453...

[chunder27]

It means i don't want to direct traffic to other sites, there was limited news about the incident, so just find out for yourself. Simple really. No need to be rude.

[Drumroll]

thepawbroon said:

Drumroll said:

Not Just Scotland

My point was that the law isn't yet in place in Scotland, and this news is positive towards getting it in place.

As I guess you know, the new law is already in place in England and Wales, and there have been closed-road motorsport events in both already under the new law. And thankfully, more are planned:


http://corbeauseatsrally.co.uk/
http://www.nwstages.co.uk/
http://www.watergatebayhillclimb.co.uk/
https://www.coventrymotofest.com/
https://www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/16995453...

I was just trying to point out that although the events will/may happen in Scotland it is not only Scottish rally fans that it will affect. Many of those who help with the running of both the JCMR and Mull Rally come from south of the border.

Edited by Drumroll on Tuesday 6th November 14:11

[avenger286]

thepawbroon said:

For motorsport fans in Scotland....

https://www.msauk.org/Update-on-progress-of-closed...

This indicates that progress is being made towards the return of "The Best Rally In the World" now known as The Beatson's Mull Rally, the Jim Clark Memorial rally and hopefully some other motorsport events on closed public roads in Scotland.

cheers
Duncan

I hope this go's well and Mull happens next year as its not been the same without the yearly trip to the island and being part of the best rally in the world.

[DelicaL400]

Even if the legislation is sorted in Scotland what are the chances that the Mull Rally will return with 160+ miles of stages, stages in the dark, the long one etc? I'm sure competitors and organisers would be happy but after two years will the locals (other than business owners) welcome such an event back?

I have a feeling that if it does return it'll be a one-day daylight event with 2-3 stages repeated. Like the usual event minus Leg 1 and 3. I hope I'm wrong!

[thepawbroon]

DelicaL400 said:

Even if the legislation is sorted in Scotland what are the chances that the Mull Rally will return with 160+ miles of stages, stages in the dark, the long one etc? I'm sure competitors and organisers would be happy but after two years will the locals (other than business owners) welcome such an event back?

I have a feeling that if it does return it'll be a one-day daylight event with 2-3 stages repeated. Like the usual event minus Leg 1 and 3. I hope I'm wrong!

Why would it change?


Every single Mull resident I spoke to this past October rally weekend was desperately missing the big rally. That goes from young kids to my retired school teachers (now in their 70s and 80s).


I would expect most residents to be very disappointed if it because a one day rally like the Targa was.

[avenger286]

I hope it stays the same with Fri night, sat afternoon, sat night. I have been going to Mull for over 30 years growing up in Oban, Mull was where we used to spend a lot of time. My kids have really missed the rally to my surprise!
The question is do we take the gamble and book accommodation for 2019?
This is the 3rd time in 37 years I haven't been to Mull

[DelicaL400]

thepawbroon said:

Every single Mull resident I spoke to this past October rally weekend was desperately missing the big rally. That goes from young kids to my retired school teachers (now in their 70s and 80s).

That's good then, I wasn't sure if local support would reduce as we move further away from the big rally last taking place.

[thepawbroon]

Drumroll said:

I was just trying to point out that although the events will/may happen in Scotland it is not only Scottish rally fans that it will affect. Many of those who help with the running of both the JCMR and Mull Rally come from south of the border.

Edited by Drumroll on Tuesday 6th November 14:11

Ah yes of course, my apologies. Yes the events couldn’t run without all those volunteers. And we always will be grateful to 2300 Club and Sir Brian of Molyneux.

[GravelBen]

RyanTank said:

I think Andreas was talking more about testing purely for Spain. His form in the Hyundai hasn't been great as you've said. maybe he just cant get on with a car that has been built to suit Thierry? Especially disappointing when you consider how good he was in the VW.
I'm not sure who it was but during the all live coverage they mentioned that one driver only got an hours seat time of testing before the start!

It was mad to me the amount of drivers saying they didn't trust the full wets on offer as they hadn't tested them!?
Then the maestro Seb Loeb makes a decision 30s before leaving to go with them and it pays off massively.

I'd like to see a few more mix surface events on the calendar. but don't think that feeling is shared by many

Fair point about testing - I think Toyota were the only team who had a properly wet test to try out the full wets, which they used to good effect on the Friday morning. Loeb went the other way taking full hards on the Sat morning and managed to get enough heat into them to make them work really well on a drying road, but nobody else thought there would be enough heat for them to work. Full credit Loeb.

I guess if you have road closures etc booked for your test you have to use it whatever the weather, hard to predict the rally weather weeks out and the amount of testing is limited.

[epom]

Slippydiff said:

Meeke not holding back ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SaqpAI4E2o8

Sounds like things were pretty grim at Citroen, and clearly Kris doesn’t/didn’t have/had a lot of respect for the management there ...

Not a whole pile of respect for the cars either.

[chunder27]

Let's be honest here

Find me a guy who has a goo word to say about a form he was sacked from?

[E34-3.2]

Slippydiff said:

Meeke not holding back ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SaqpAI4E2o8

Sounds like things were pretty grim at Citroen, and clearly Kris doesn’t/didn’t have/had a lot of respect for the management there ...

I guess like every stories, you have to listen the other side as well. I doubt he will have respect for a team that sacked him and they will have little respect for a driver who crashed so many cars. He is tremendously quick but can he sustain a good level for an entire season against guys like Ogier or Neuville? I doubt but wish that he can prove me wrong. Rally these days seems to favour drivers who have done their classes or tarmac more than anything else. When was the last world champion in WRC which wasn't from a country specialised in tarmac rallies?
I'd love to see Meeke involve in the battle for the title next year. He will have the car for it so good luck to him!

[E34-3.2]

Slippydiff said:

E34-3.2 said:

Slippydiff said:

Meeke not holding back ...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SaqpAI4E2o8

Sounds like things were pretty grim at Citroen, and clearly Kris doesn’t/didn’t have/had a lot of respect for the management there ...

I guess like every stories, you have to listen the other side as well. I doubt he will have respect for a team that sacked him and they will have little respect for a driver who crashed so many cars. He is tremendously quick but can he sustain a good level for an entire season against guys like Ogier or Neuville? I doubt but wish that he can prove me wrong. Rally these days seems to favour drivers who have done their classes or tarmac more than anything else. When was the last world champion in WRC which wasn't from a country specialised in tarmac rallies?
I'd love to see Meeke involve in the battle for the title next year. He will have the car for it so good luck to him!

Of course, there will be two sides to every story, but one musn’t forget the pressure Meeke was under 2-3 years ago with his job on the line every time he got into the car. Never the best way to extract the maximum from a driver for a sustained period.

I have to admit I’m not a massive Meeke fan, there’s something of the Kubica about him, absolutely blistering speed annoyingly tempered with hopeless consistency, it’s what makes the Loebs, Ogiers and Makinens so impressive.

Times have changed, what Kubica, Meeke and to a lesser extent JML have done (that being to crash/make silly mistakes) is criticised by many now, yet when a certain C McRae did pretty much the same thing, he was hero worshipped for it ...

The Rohrls, Loebs, Ogiers and Makinens of this world manage to blend blistering speed and almost metronomic consistency AND make setting fastest stage time after fastest stage times look easy, whereas it’s always pretty obvious the serial crashes are close to edge far more of the time.

100% Agree with you. I never understood the worshiping of serial crushers of the past myself.

I think that we have to remember that Meeke did actually put himself in that awful position and very stressful one to having to drive under pressure to keep his job. Mistakes on the roads and maybe his dealing with management wasn't his strongest asset. Who really knows.
Loeb, Ogier, Rohrls, Makkinen are just aliens of the rally world.

[GravelBen]

Funny to check up on the impressions you remember though, if you look at the stats on EWRC Makinen actually had a higher retirement rate than McRae - 39.4% vs 34.0%. Maybe McRae just had bigger crashes so we remember them more?

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 8th November 05:42

[E34-3.2]

GravelBen said:

Funny to check up on the impressions you remember though, if you look at the stats on EWRC Makinen actually had a higher retirement rate than McRae - 39.4% vs 34.0%. Maybe McRae just had bigger crashes so we remember them more?

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 8th November 05:42

Not all retirement are due to crashes. Does it mentioned the reasons of each retirement?

[GravelBen]

E34-3.2 said:

Not all retirement are due to crashes. Does it mentioned the reasons of each retirement?

Yes but only individually not as a proportion, and I can't be bothered going through 60-80 retirements for each driver to analyse the causes. So until someone does that I'll assume they both had a similar ratio of crashing to mechanical retirements.