Wednesday 5th July 2017

Walter Rohrl: Time For Coffee?

The rally legend turned 70 earlier this year; celebrate with some of his greatest drives

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Walter Rohrl turned 70 earlier this year - yes, it came as quite a surprise to many of us too. He has been in the business of going fast for so long that he is timeless. Looking back through some of his achievements, Mr Rohrl has done plenty. Following two World Rally Championships, winning Monte Carlo with four different manufacturers, a Pikes Peak record and a Le Mans Class win, he was dubbed the "Genius on Wheels" by Niki Lauda himself.

A 2005 interview with Motorsport Magazine gives insight into just how fearless Rohrl's approach to driving was. Asked how much of Pikes Peak he committed to memory before his record breaking 10 minute 47 second run, he answered, "What I did was to drive it with my wife Monika and we made pace notes, which I then memorised -- not the road, you understand, the notes. And this worked really well. Ari Vatanen had seen the road maybe 50 times and still could not be sure of the corners."

When quizzed on whether his 600hp Audi Sport Quattro E2 was very difficult to drive he replied, "If you didn't turn the steering wheel one whole turn then it didn't even react. Of course in power and traction, the Audi was the best but it was hard to drive with the understeer and I had to teach myself left-foot braking." What a man.

So, even if we are a little late to the party, there's never a bad time to celebrate Walter Rohrl. To that end, we have collated a trio of videos that not only show off his remarkable skill behind the wheel of these mental machines, but also the sheer determination to win. Enjoy!

San Remo Rally 1985

Pikes Peak 1987

Audi Sport Quattro S1 onboard

[Photo: LAT Photo]

[paua]

Herr Lauda is correct: video of 2 feet on 3 pedals (apologies for the dreadful music)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIiarIrUCI

[p1doc]

a true driving god

[Leins]

Really hoping he might turn up at the Eifel Rallye in a couple of weeks

[chris285]

Watched for pure 5pot ear orgasm noise, fav noise for me ever and never fails to give me goosebumps

[Jerry Can]

the sport's first professional...

in an era when fitness work consisted of stubbing out the fag, or lifting a steiner from the bar, Walter was out on his bike.

4 weeks of testing, then 2 weeks of recce - that's commitment that would make today's stars weep.

He was always a bit dismissive of his rivals of the time, too many 'late brakers' and big balls committers. No stylists or theorists like the big man.

HB WR.

Edited by Jerry Can on Thursday 6th July 07:56

[blade7]

Jerry Can said:

the sport's first professional...

in an era when fitness work consisted of stubbing out the fag, or lifting a steiner from the bar, Walter was out on his bike.

.

How many women did he jump though...

[Bill Ferry]

Walter.. a hero always.
Any of his "modern" Porsche videos are a joy to watch too.
Many happy returns.
WF

[Niffty951]

My favourite Walter Rohrl story was an article I read written by him about a time he was testing for Porsche at the nurburg ring. He was testing the new 911 turbo of the time and said he was following a Ferrari that was really hard to pass. In the end he was really enjoying the driving, he got past him and then when he got back to the pits he realised it was Michael Schumacher driving

[irocfan]

the in-car footage from vid 3 is terrifying - I'd forgotten just how nutty some of the spectators were!

[KobayashiMaru86]

Niffty951 said:

My favourite Walter Rohrl story was an article I read written by him about a time he was testing for Porsche at the nurburg ring. He was testing the new 911 turbo of the time and said he was following a Ferrari that was really hard to pass. In the end he was really enjoying the driving, he got past him and then when he got back to the pits he realised it was Michael Schumacher driving

(Turn on subtitles)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrXEKIZ4N5s&fe...

[Vyse]

Happy Birthday!

But prefer Ari myself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKgeCQGu_ug