Rally drivers will always be the best drivers
Discussion
The car is moving under them so much.
Walter Rhorl is a Driving God - waht the feet.
Old but you never get bored of it.
600bhp with 4x4 NO Electronic aid, Manual Diffs - AWESOME.
We have so emasculated the sport today. This is what Rallying should be like and F1 with turbo's and massive slicks and crap / limited aero.
http://omor.com/STi/archives/2005/10/walter_rohrls_h
Not Huge Balls just HUGE SKILL.
Walter Rhorl is a Driving God - waht the feet.
Old but you never get bored of it.
600bhp with 4x4 NO Electronic aid, Manual Diffs - AWESOME.
We have so emasculated the sport today. This is what Rallying should be like and F1 with turbo's and massive slicks and crap / limited aero.
http://omor.com/STi/archives/2005/10/walter_rohrls_h
Not Huge Balls just HUGE SKILL.
the video of him at pikes peak in the swb quattro is just as good but i cant find it. to say that rally drivers are the best drivers is just not quantifiable unfortunately. a true "best" driver can use his talent anywhere, Jim Clark could win a GP one weekend, win a touring car race in a Lotus Cortina the next, then set some very fast stage times in the RAC rally that year!
Indeed, a good driver is a good driver .. I don't believe rally drivers are better than anyone else in the sport though, that's just a ridiculous statement. There have been a few tests of rally drivers in F1 cars and F1 drivers in rally cars .. the F1 drivers usually set very good rally times, the rally drivers usually crash the F1 cars much more often! so much for car control... this isn't taking anything away from the great drivers who are just that : great drivers .. just the sweeping generalisation of your statement is misguided.
I during you day to day driving you are always having the feeling of sliding through your backside - this is going to be alot more transferable to other forms of motor sport at least in terms of instantly getting up to speed - yes I realise if you are fast you are fast.
Look at Sete Giberneau a few weeks ago fast on a bike - but gets in a Fiat Punto in celeb race and wins beating Schumacher.
Look at Sete Giberneau a few weeks ago fast on a bike - but gets in a Fiat Punto in celeb race and wins beating Schumacher.
trackcar said:
Indeed, a good driver is a good driver .. I don't believe rally drivers are better than anyone else in the sport though, that's just a ridiculous statement. There have been a few tests of rally drivers in F1 cars and F1 drivers in rally cars .. the F1 drivers usually set very good rally times, the rally drivers usually crash the F1 cars much more often! so much for car control... this isn't taking anything away from the great drivers who are just that : great drivers .. just the sweeping generalisation of your statement is misguided.
Not sure I agree about the swapping cars thing. Brundle, Warwick and Derek Bell were truly awful in rally cars. Hopeless and miles off club drivers on pace. Ekstrom is very good, it's true, but he's one of a rare breed. Thomas Enge does okay too.
McRae, on the other hand, went really well in the Jordan a few years ago, then was right on the pace at Le Mans. Loeb did really well at LM, too. Okay, Makkinen made a mess of his Marlboro-orchestrated F1 run, but he hardly had any time in the car.
It is true that, as Mario Andretti said, 'if you can drive, you can drive, period', but I think rally drivers can make the most of a given situation to find the most pace. They're more adaptable, because you can throw them down a road that they've only ever driven twice (slowly), with dry tarmac, snow, ice and rain on it and they'll get through it faster than anyone. It's like GP drivers doing two laps of each circuit in a Hertz hire car for practice - then having one chance to nail banzai qualifying lap while spectators turn hosepipes on at random corners.
They're all good, but rally drivers adaptability and versatility impress me way more than circuit racers. A race driver that can drive rally cars quickly is clearly a star.
>> Edited by ahonen on Thursday 26th January 09:47
trackcar said:Don't take it so seriously Joolz!
agreed ahonen .. but jellison said "RALLY DRIVERS WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST DRIVERS (title)" which is obviously a daft thing to say. a great driver is a great driver
Want the Pike Peak clip if anyone can fine it.
Saw the car go up Prescott about 15 years back - not driven by him - still Fantastic though.
pablo said:
the video of him at pikes peak in the swb quattro is just as good but i cant find it. to say that rally drivers are the best drivers is just not quantifiable unfortunately. a true "best" driver can use his talent anywhere, Jim Clark could win a GP one weekend, win a touring car race in a Lotus Cortina the next, then set some very fast stage times in the RAC rally that year!
Do you mean "Climb Dance" with Ari Vatanen in the 405 Ti16?. Either way, worth a look, a quick google for "Climb Dance" will find it, well worth watching.
There's also a video of Rhorl's Pikes Peak run.
Both his and Vatanen's are jaw-dropping bits of film. Ari's is a tiny bit better, but then that's probably subjective because I was a huge Vatanen fan when I was young. Still am.
Rather O/T, but a classic quote from Vatanen, when asked if he had any regtrets in life. "Hmm, maybe" he said, after a moment's thought, "perhaps once or twice I should have braked slightly earlier".
Both his and Vatanen's are jaw-dropping bits of film. Ari's is a tiny bit better, but then that's probably subjective because I was a huge Vatanen fan when I was young. Still am.
Rather O/T, but a classic quote from Vatanen, when asked if he had any regtrets in life. "Hmm, maybe" he said, after a moment's thought, "perhaps once or twice I should have braked slightly earlier".
Holy SHIT - I had heard about this.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=512893399716
Woooooooooooo Massive Respect, great filming, the sun in the eyes, the DROPS, the Power of that thing!
Presume Rod Millan Toyota Siloeutte pickup was even faster with 1100 od bhp.
CHRIST - long intermeate gears - to avoid HAVING to change if sun in eyes!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=512893399716
Woooooooooooo Massive Respect, great filming, the sun in the eyes, the DROPS, the Power of that thing!
Presume Rod Millan Toyota Siloeutte pickup was even faster with 1100 od bhp.
CHRIST - long intermeate gears - to avoid HAVING to change if sun in eyes!
Any driver who has managed to get him or herself in motorsport's top level deserves respect. This obviously includes Formula 1 and World Rally Championship, although this doesn't exclude other worthy categories, like the FIA GT Racing series, FIA Cup for Historic GT Cars, GP2, Champ Cars, WTCC, etc. Although some drivers have gotten their seats by controversial routes (rich fathers with connections, etc.), most of them have had to prove their skill and potential for years in order to even get a test drive, let alone a full-time seat.
Most of us wouldn't have a lottery-winning chance of becoming half as good as those drivers, even if we had a lifetime of practice.
Most of us wouldn't have a lottery-winning chance of becoming half as good as those drivers, even if we had a lifetime of practice.
Nice one, Jellison. That is just about as mental as it gets. Bloody hell. The sheer drops are stunning.
I remember when Malcolm Wilson did it in a 650bhp RS200. He crashed out, but afterwards the team owner said something about it being lucky that he stuffed it on the inside of the corner, because if he'd gone off on the outside he wouldn't have hit anything...
>> Edited by ahonen on Thursday 26th January 13:25
I remember when Malcolm Wilson did it in a 650bhp RS200. He crashed out, but afterwards the team owner said something about it being lucky that he stuffed it on the inside of the corner, because if he'd gone off on the outside he wouldn't have hit anything...
>> Edited by ahonen on Thursday 26th January 13:25
The true comment is whoever said great drivers are great drivers full stop rule off.
I think rally drivers have a slightly unfair advantage in that they (we) get far more practice at driving quickly on relatively unfamiliar roads, whereas a racer builds up and refines the lines, braking points, turn in point, clipping point and all that horlicks.
Quite frankly that bores the socks off me, but what it means is that in these head to head contests in different vehicles and disciplines the rally drivers mostly seem to do better.
I think rally drivers don't have good overtaking skills though, which is needed for circuit racing. So horses for courses methinks.
Funnily enough we had a bit of a speculate in the pub the other night whether Ellen MacArthur, she of fastest Top Gear Liana lap on 3rd attempt would be worth sticking behind the wheel of a rally car. On the basis that she was more or less right up there on the amateur pace straight away.
I think rally drivers have a slightly unfair advantage in that they (we) get far more practice at driving quickly on relatively unfamiliar roads, whereas a racer builds up and refines the lines, braking points, turn in point, clipping point and all that horlicks.
Quite frankly that bores the socks off me, but what it means is that in these head to head contests in different vehicles and disciplines the rally drivers mostly seem to do better.
I think rally drivers don't have good overtaking skills though, which is needed for circuit racing. So horses for courses methinks.
Funnily enough we had a bit of a speculate in the pub the other night whether Ellen MacArthur, she of fastest Top Gear Liana lap on 3rd attempt would be worth sticking behind the wheel of a rally car. On the basis that she was more or less right up there on the amateur pace straight away.
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