Marcus Gronholm at Lydden

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I don't know if anyone else from here was down at Lydden for the rallycross last weekend?

It was a top days racing, but the highlight of the day (for me) was one of the single best bits of car control I've ever seen from Mr Gronholm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as5DL6sp4Ko
(Check out the gear change, mid corner, whilst on two wheels!)



http://www.flickr.com/photos/22961613@N06/sets/721...

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Rocksteadyeddie said:

Pah. Russ Swift does that all afternoon.

Haha! True, though I haven't seen Russ Swift do it with a 550 BHP Focus sniffing his back bumper!

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jr502 said:

I watched this on TV at the weekend, first time I saw this. It was quite entertaining, but what's going on with the red flags? Seemed a bit crazy to red flag one race for a loose bumper, but let everyone continue past a broken car parked on the apex of a bend for another lap.

I was there on the day and thought they were pretty sensible with the red flags. There were a couple of big smashes during the day and the Marshall's handled them very well. I don't recall seeing a race red flagged for anything as minor as a loose bumper.

joe58 said:

I don't follow Rallycross, so is this what he does for fun now?

He's not full time in any of the major rallycross championships but he's been dipping his toes in the sport since 2008. He's done more rallycross in 2011 (two of the three US Global Rallycross Championship rounds, X-Games and a round of the British Rallycross Championship) then any other year though so I do wonder if he is building up to a full season...


...or perhaps he is just keeping his hand in!

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joe58 said:

Thanks for that, I suppose they do like to try something different, like Muller and ice racing.

No worries! I believe there is some connection between Gronholm and Andreas Eriksson (who runs OMSE), which is how the first rallycross drive came about for Gronholm.

Podie said:

Well, to be fair it cost him the rally.

...and the 1998 WRC title.

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TonyHetherington said:

And the world champsionship too, wasn't it? Barely a few hundred metres from the finish line! I remember watching it live. Heart breaking.

Yeah, a few hundred meters from the last stage of the last rally of the year.

I'm sure Makkinen was already on his way to the airport to head home when an interviewer collared him and told him he was champion, wasn't he?

I guess Gronholm has come across quite cold on more then a few occasions, but he has also come out with some proper gems. Anyone who remembers the Tino "up in the asshole" video must agree with me!

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joe58 said:

Yes he was on his way to the airport. Should be a video of it somewhere. But this is one of my favourite videos. "I'm fed up with this car"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRPqVkGC-4w

Haha! That 307 was a proper dog. Funnily enough the 307 went into rallycross after the WRC and, after a huge amount of investment (both in time and finance), they did get a half decent(ish) car out of it.

GravelBen said:

Too right! And was it him or Juha that told a nosy reporter the tyres were "black and round"?

Ha! I think that was Kankkunen.

Gronholm clip that always makes me laugh: the interviewer tries to get an answer of more than three words out of him...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO6puR2RoUE

...he kind of succeeded!

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Sequence from my spot on North Bend:







A lot of the rallycross supercars cock the inside two wheels on this corner, but not quite to this extent!