Wrc Tour de Corse 2015

[dimviii]

A video of that tight hairpin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99B...ature=youtu.be

unbelievable that there are so many drivers that can t take this hairpin....

[Simmi]

Definitely not a hairpin where you want to fail and then roll backwards... Yikes.

[sete]

my gallery from Corse
http://www.rally-mania.cz/photogallery.php?id=1398

[Lundefaret]

unbelievable that there are so many drivers that can t take this hairpin....

Its an EXTREMLY difficult hairpin.
- Its VERY narrow.
- Its steeply upwards, making it very difficult to judge the speed, because You need enough surplus of speed (energy) to get the back to come around when You pull the handbrake, but not so much speed that You over shoot.
- Its a big elevation change in the hairpin, at the apex.
- Its very high risk. Cock it up, You won't only loose time, but rolling backwards of that cliff edge will not be a fun experience.

So I have no problem understanding that several drivers have problems in this turn.

The important thing for these drivers, is to realize it, and go back home and practice it.
To practice this kind of hairpin, You can put cones up in an industrial area. A lot of places where there are wearhouses/storage buildings, where You have a truck ramp, there is often elevation changes that could replicate some of the difficulties in this turn, without the danger of rolling off a cliff edge if You dont succeed

Ogier: Dont make it all the way around, and uses the outside wall to crash the car in the right direction. This is actually probably one of the fastest ways to do the turn, and the only option when You miss in the entry as Ogier does, but off course with a very high risk.

Latvala is super smooth, and shows stunning car control. Both Ford guys are also very good trough this hairpin.

The Hyundai drivers uses the inner edge as a place to put the front wheel, so they can have the back end pivoting around it. Interesting, but risky in regards of punctures and suspension failures.

Extremly interesting corner that one could sit hours an analyze. But its friday evening, and my better half dont completely agree that thats the most romantic thing to do?!

[MK2 BDG]

Its was a bugger of a hairpin,, and at 14k into the stage, rear tyres well up to temp,,, I when the handbrake route

[Mirek]

Lundefaret, if You are interested there was very similar place on Barum rally this year. It was completely new and made a lot of problems to drivers. Many had to reverse and one even broke wheel. It's in this video, for example at 9:00 You can see Kopecký who took it probably fastest of all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=454&v=BWsrrF1SaIs

Funny thing is that there was a lot of criticism about the place from some drivers. Anyway the most common reply was something along "if drivers can't do such places it means there shall be more of them so that they can learn..."

[Lundefaret]

Lundefaret, if You are interested there was very similar place on Barum rally this year. It was completely new and made a lot of problems to drivers. Many had to reverse and one even broke wheel. It's in this video, for example at 9:00 You can see Kopecký who took it probably fastest of all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=454&v=BWsrrF1SaIs

Funny thing is that there was a lot of criticism about the place from some drivers. Anyway the most common reply was something along "if drivers can't do such places it means there shall be more of them so that they can learn..."

Very similar, and VERY difficult. Its actually not easier in the dry either, bevause You need a lot of speed (energy) to have enough momentum to get the back all the way around.

But I completely agree, the more there is of different technical obstacles, high speed or low speed, the better it is for the competition. And this is where the good ones really shine.

[danon]

Its an EXTREMLY difficult hairpin.
- Its VERY narrow.
- Its steeply upwards, making it very difficult to judge the speed, because You need enough surplus of speed (energy) to get the back to come around when You pull the handbrake, but not so much speed that You over shoot.
- Its a big elevation change in the hairpin, at the apex.
- Its very high risk. Cock it up, You won't only loose time, but rolling backwards of that cliff edge will not be a fun experience.

So I have no problem understanding that several drivers have problems in this turn.

The important thing for these drivers, is to realize it, and go back home and practice it.
To practice this kind of hairpin, You can put cones up in an industrial area. A lot of places where there are wearhouses/storage buildings, where You have a truck ramp, there is often elevation changes that could replicate some of the difficulties in this turn, without the danger of rolling off a cliff edge if You dont succeed

Ogier: Dont make it all the way around, and uses the outside wall to crash the car in the right direction. This is actually probably one of the fastest ways to do the turn, and the only option when You miss in the entry as Ogier does, but off course with a very high risk.

Latvala is super smooth, and shows stunning car control. Both Ford guys are also very good trough this hairpin.

The Hyundai drivers uses the inner edge as a place to put the front wheel, so they can have the back end pivoting around it. Interesting, but risky in regards of punctures and suspension failures.

Extremly interesting corner that one could sit hours an analyze. But its friday evening, and my better half dont completely agree that thats the most romantic thing to do?!

Precise dissection as always.

Here is another Tour de Corse example of a downhill hairpin - similar story, even funnier - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZmX6eSdQJ8

[Lundefaret]

Its was a bugger of a hairpin,, and at 14k into the stage, rear tyres well up to temp,,, I when the handbrake route

Yes, and if You where in an R2 its even more difficult than in a 4WD, because You can't use the power on the rear wheel to keep braking loose the rear wheels, so You have to have more momentum in the hand brake turn to get it all the way around.
I practice a lot of these things in my test veichle (Polaris RZR 800 XP4), and in our 4 seater rally car (MINI Countryman Cooper S All4), and I am not sure how well i would fare in that Corsican one, with the cliff on the outside. Its scares the living crap out of me!
Sometimes its better to be the coach than the driver

I did the Monte Carlo Historique in 2007 as a codriver (Austin-Healey 3000, and we actually went on to win our class), and doing the night stages including the Col de Turini, with those huge drops, its just crazy scary. You know that You have time to write a whole letter on the way down before You crash to the ground.

[Lundefaret]

Precise dissection as always.

Here is another Tour de Corse example of a downhill hairpin - similar story, even funnier - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZmX6eSdQJ8

Thanks!

Group B-s in hairpins - on tarmac, its like trying to fly acrobatics with a Lockheed Blackbird, its not ment to do it

Some different tactics here.
- The Metro guys most successful are the Metro guys who just drives it trough, helped by the smallest turning circle of the Group B-cars I think.
- Some of the other guys try to use an excess of speed to get the front down, and brake the rear loose, ready to put the power down if that would work. The problem is that at that exact moment You need the front to grip the most, to get the rear to get loose, the elevation change is at its most extreme, instead leading to the fronts loosing grip, and then understeer.

VERY difficult, in cars where a hand brake turn was impossible because of the diffs.

In 2003 or 2004 I got to test the Citroën Xsara WRC at Chatous de Lastours, (I try to mention this as often as possible because I think its so unbelievably cool, and I am so eternally grateful, that I still have to pinch my self), and there it was a tight hairpin. I had previously only done one single rally (in a small Opel Corsa GSI), but A LOT of fast road cars, and a Norwegian rally driver tipped me to just drive trough hairpins like that, because You really need to get things right to not loose time if You try a handbrake turn. The Xsara was just incredible to drive, just incredible, and so benign. You just needed to think what You wanted the car to do, You didn't even need to turn the steering wheel - at least thats how it felt. It was 21 rallybrivers, test drivers, and journalists from across Europe that got to test the car. I ended up second fastest, and a lot of that was to not screwing up in that hairpin.

So why is a hairpin so incredibly important? Well, opposite to what most believe, it is actually easier to both gain and loose time in slow corners. As You slow down, the stop watch speeds up. A career taken flat out in fifth or sixth, even if its long, will last for maybe under a second, or just a couple of seconds. A hairpin can last for five or six seconds, and more. And a mistake will often end up with You standing still, driving longer than You have to, or even having to back up, all the way while the car is traveling at an extremely slow speed, where every metre takes A LOT of time. And on top of that comes the alignment and the acceleration on the exit.
To gain or loose one second in one KM in the fast stuff, is a lot. But You can easily loose five seconds on a bad hairpin.

So it You dont have it "down" fully to do hand brake turns and the like, and if its possible, just drive trough it. And when You practice, practice with as low entry speed as possible, but still having enough speed (energy) to get the car to swing around its axis. This is the least risky way of doing it. And by risk, I mean risk of loosing time, both in the turn it self, but also in acceleration at the exit.

Here is the track i tested the Xsara: http://www.loisirs.fr/circuit-terre-...urs/photo.html And on a rally stage close by, I got to be passenger with Sebastien Loeb, the king him self, and it was just an incredible day I dont think I will ever forget. And I am still incredibly thankful to Marie-Pierre Rossi and Vigdis Dahsleide who where the two strong women that made the whole thing happen