Originally Posted by
Lundefaret
Michele Mouton is getting a battering from Neuville and several others of the modern rally drivers because she advocates night driving and other aspects the modern crop of drivers dont like.
This is from Autosport:
Hyundai's Thierry Neuville said drivers wanted Mouton - the 1982 WRC runner-up - to experience first-hand what the current field were facing.
"Things have changed since she was competing," said Neuville.
"When she was driving, it was with half-speed, old tyres without grip and they were fighting for minutes, not for tenths of seconds.
"The invitation is not only coming from me to sit in the car, it's from all of the drivers - every one of us would like the chance to show Michele how is it today compared with when she was driving."
Well, I would like to comment on all these statements made by Neuville. But in stead of it being only personal and subjective comments, I would like to use Junnkas (juwra.com) incredible WRC archive to see if Neuville is on to something, or not.
"Things have changed since she was competing,"
Well, lets see if they have.
Monte Carlo 1983 vs 2015
Total distance: 4196,8 km vs 1.383,2
Days: 7 vs 4
SS distance: 716,8 km vs 355,48
Fastest stage: 112,22 km/t vs 111,69 km/t
Slowest stage: 70,82 km/t vs 80,46 km/t
Sweden 1983 vs 2015
Total distance: 1.499,1 vs 1.441,7
Days: 3 vs 4
SS distance: 470,1 km vs 308,0 km
Fastest stage: 135,9 km/t vs 117,65 km/t
Slowest stage: 90,16 km/t vs 57,49 km/t
Portugal 1983 vs 2015
Total distance: 2.399.9 km vs 1.501,9 km
Days: 4 vs 4
SS distance: 643,0 km vs 352,1 km
Fastest stage: 134,33 km/t vs 100,14 km/t
Slowest stage: 75,12 km/t vs 75,08 km/t
Finland 1983 vs 2015
Total distance: 1.461,0 km vs 1.260,6 km
Days: 3 vs 4
SS distance: 472,43 km vs 320,0 km
Fastest stage: 134,05 km/t vs 135,25 km/t
Slowest stage: 66,06 km/t vs 75,25 km/t
Tour de Corce 1983 vs 2008
Total distance: 1.715,1 km vs 1.094,3
Days: 3 vs 3
SS distance: 1.066,1 km vs 359,0 km
Fastest stage: 97,45 km/t vs 106,48 km/t
Slowest stage: 76,43 km/t vs 88,04 km/t
2015 is Shorter: Well, things have changed. Rallies have gotten shorter. In Tour de Corce the total km of Special Stages are just 1/3 of 1983. And that in the same number of days.
2015 is Slower: Most rallies had higher maximum stage speed in 1983 compared to 2015.
"When she was driving, it was with half-speed, old tyres without grip and they were fighting for minutes, not for tenths of seconds.
Well. Half speed?
No, it could not have been half speed.
Performance wise a 1983 Audi would have about the same power as a 2015 car, but would be lighter. It would be (A LOT) more difficult to drive in respects to the manual transmission, weight distribution, diffs, tires, dampers etc. When we see that the stage speeds are faster in 1983 than 2015 (not the same stages off course) I think we safely can say that the drivers drove flat out. This we also can see in the number of offs between the top drivers. Reece was also completely different, where You could in most cases do the stages as many times as You liked, and this would often be practiced at very high speeds.
The exception is the Safari and Ivory cost, which today is comparable to Endurance rally events.
Old tires?
Well, they were new then :) The tires off course had a lot less grip than today.
Fighting for minutes, not tenths of seconds?
Well...
In 2015 Neuville was fourth in Finland 3 minutes and 59 seconds off the leader.
In 1983 Per Eklund was fourth in Finland 2 minutes and 19 seconds off the leader.
The fact that the rallies was longer, and that there was no SuperRally should be taken in account. Also that there was differences in tire strategy/usages.
Conclusion:
I think its an alarm signal when modern rally drivers complain about things like dust, darkness, early mornings, late evenings, not posh enough hotels etc.
Its not their fault, because it is not them that have evolved the sport of rallying to what it has become.
But what we have now is drivers that are much more like circuit drivers, and a sport that is much more like circuit driving than before.
If it was foggy, dark, dusty, muddy etc in 1983, well, You had to adjust Your attack to that fact.
I understand Neuville, because he has been brought up in a totally different sport than Mouton, but not different in the ways he thinks.
It was just as much flat out driving in Moutons time (on comparable stages/rallies), but the sport was much harder, and the drivers and teams had to endure much more discomfort.
In such respect Mouton has more chest hair and bigger balls than Neuville, because You had to have it to be competitive in that time. But because of this she will have difficulty communicating to the pampered drivers of today, because it will be difficult for here to take in how easy living WRC rallying has become.
I my self have been a passenger in both WRC cars (driven by WRC drivers including Loeb and Østberg), and other earlier rallycars like a 1985 quattro S1 E2 and a 1983 quattro A2. I think Mouton would be disappointed being a passenger in a modern WRC car. It is off course blindingly fast, but because of the dampers - where You would be shaking around and really feeling the road and the speed in a 1983 rally car - You are whiskered away on a magic carpet in a 2015 WRC car. I dont think she would be very impressed to be honest. And I think this is why really passionate drivers like Latvala and Meeke has - what I would think - even more fun in old classic rally cars than in modern ones.
Rally needs to bring back some of the mojo of earlier days, combined with new possibilities in connecting the sport to the public. I think its better to listen to Mouton than to Neuville.