Want to know where Conrad gets his money from?

[m.lowe]

The thing is Daniel (and i'm not arguing with you as you have your view) If Meeke was good enough for the WRC teams then he would be in there, if he could raise the money like Guy Wilks is looking to do then he could have any car.

If you have the money you can wreck (within reason) what you want as your paying for it
When Colin was wrecking Subarus he was told by DR to calm it down as it was costing Subaru and Prodrive silly money at the time

If you have the money then teams will welcome you
If you havent then we will see you when you have

[noel157]

If Meeke was good enough for the WRC teams then he would be in there, if he could raise the money like Guy Wilks is looking to do then he could have any car.

I'm not sure of your logic there Mark. "If Meeke was good enough for the WRC teams then he would be in there" What does that mean? Do you think he isn't good enough (personally no problem if that's your view) or do you think any driver talented enough will get a seat in a WRC team? There's plenty of drivers besides Meeke who deserve a WRC seat but lack one essential ingredient - a large cheque book. Talent will get you nowhere in the current WRC climate.

Has Conrad R got aspirations to be a works driver? Long way to go given his WRC career to date.

[Tomi]

I think Mark is right, if Meeke would be good enough he would have by now the same manager that Latvala and Hirvonen has.

[noel157]

I think Mark is right, if Meeke would be good enough he would have by now the same manager that Latvala and Hirvonen has.

My point wasn't just related to Meeke but any driver with the talent to be a WRC front runner. Talent alone ain't good enough now. By that logic Mark reckons Wilks is not good enough or any number of drivers across Europe.
And Tomi doesn't Timo Jouhki only have an interest in Finnish drivers? (as far as I know)
His family company have excellent connections in the commercial world to further a driver's career. Can't think of anyone else outside Finland in a simlar position.

[sollitt]

When it's someone like Colin being reckless you at least see there being a point to him being on the ragged edge because back in his Subaru days he was bloody fast. But Conrad is on the ragged edge a lot of the time and for what? To beat a few of the lesser Grp N cars?

So you think the WRC, and the qualifying events ought only be for championship contenders? That's not what the rallying I know & love is all about.

When there are good british drivers like Meeke and co sitting on the sidelines doing SFA and you've got Conrad wasting so much money it's almost criminal.

It is his, or his father's money to "waste" as he sees fit. There's no evidence to suggest that if Conrad weren't spending it the budget would be spent on "Meeke & Co".

Funny thing is a few years ago when the WRC was in better health people on this forum used to bollock the rather safe yet slow Warmbold yet now that there aren't too many cars out there they seem to care about losing a badly driven WRCar from the entry lists. Strange.

Only a very few ill advised forum members would bag Warmbold. As now, the intelligent majority accepted that young Warmbold was doing his own thing and not effecting anyone else and that we ought just let him get on with it.



Face it Daniel, this is nothing more than another childish rant about a driver who you've chosen to bag because he's not here to defend himself. Doing so somehow flatters your ego. It's very sad.

The world over, and at all levels, motorsport has historically been frequented by persons with 'colourful' profiles and whose money has questionable origins.
Feel free to cast whatever moral judgements you wish however please spare the rest of us your nonsense.

[L5->R5/CR]

The question that must be asked is why does it really matter.

You can argue principle (there are certainly worse arguments to make) but why should that really matter.

I doubt that we would see the same kind of outrage these days if we had big pharmaceuticals or tobacco back in as sponsors, yet, they do as much harm, if not more, to places like Africa, then the Rautenbach family does.

Nobody wants to slag off the energy drink sponsors that make a product full of harsh stimulants that can so change the balance of one's body that they can literally poison you. That is a global trend, not just concentrated to one country.

I simply find this thread amusing. As some may recall there was a handful of our African forum members that posted about the dubious and out right shameful status of the Rautenbach family. Yet back then, we didn't have any loud mouth forumers going around and getting on their soap box. What has changed? Why does it matter now? Because you just realized it?

If anyone is to be so principled as for this to be as big of an injustice as some have made it out to be, then why did they wait so long as to poke into the background of the driver and his funding. You need to only briefly scratch the surface to realize what kind of things provide the funding and the status of the family.

[Tomi]

And Tomi doesn't Timo Jouhki only have an interest in Finnish drivers? (as far as I know)
His family company have excellent connections in the commercial world to further a driver's career. Can't think of anyone else outside Finland in a simlar position.

according to him self not s long time ago he tryed to find a brittish driver, but could not find anyone suitable.

[WRCfan]

Why don't you get a real hobby? (and no being an ignorant jerk is not a hobby)

Of course he can't choose his dad. But he can choose whether or not to accept his dirty money. There's nothing wrong with being the son of a guy like Bill Rautenbach but there's something very much wrong with accepting money that comes from a guy who is involved with Mugabe and other brutal regimes in Africa.

It's sad to see that people like yourself and M.Love have no problem with the fact that the money comes from the opression of people in Africa.....

If Billy wanted to finance a WRC drive for me I'd tell him where to shove his dirty money.

It's not that I don't care, it's that you sit on here bagging him for every reason under the sun, first it was 'he crashed my favourite car' (Monte Carlo). Well if he wants to trash his Xsara then that's up to him. It shouldn't make your life a living hell. I mean he only has to send it back to the factory and patch the bl00dy thing up!'


Then it was he was a danger to all involved. If you are EVER hit by a rally car on a rally then your are 100% in the wrong. You should ensure you are in a place where you WILL NOT be hit regardless of where the car may end up in different circumstances.

Then it was he was wasting money (spoilt rich kid). Well it's none of your cash so you can keep quiet in the cheap seats about how his dad decides to spend it...

Now it is because of the dirty money. Yes, dirty the money may be, however you continually just talk dribble and are looking EVERYWHERE for a reason to bag the guy.

We all know you have a fetish with Conrad and your continual dribbling about him got boring a long time ago, it's been said on the forums before about where the funds come from so not like you have just made a ground breaking discovery....

[redunderthebed]

The thing is that there is dodgy money all across sport the fact that total sponsors rally teams is case in point.However this has to be one of the more unsavoury sources of money i have seen.If Conrad was a decent rally driver this would be more of a issue but he is just another privateer and i believe he wouldnt be the only privateer that gets his/her money from less than reputable sources.

I think singling him out is slightly unfair however considering how much of a nasty piece of work his old man is and there would be no doubt he is behind this considering i dont think any other team would take him and there would be no sponsorship sources in his home country due to the fact its well....f**ked.

I can fully understand why Daniel would have a grudge but he doesnt need to repeat it.

However Motorsport (and sport in general) has rarely cared where they get there money from due to the competition for the sponsorship dollar.As someone pointed out before until recently many series where funded (some quite heavily) by tobacco companies and the consequences of that are far greater than some dodgy businessmen however unsavory in Africa.

[A.F.F.]

according to him self not s long time ago he tryed to find a brittish driver, but could not find anyone suitable.

Yep, that's true. Meeke was one of them he studied.