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  1. #651
    Senior Member Eli's Avatar
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    Can't believe the season is other now...'only' 10 weeks minus 3 days until the next one starts...what a great season you guys, a great way to mark 10 years of following this fantastic sport, glad I tuned in when I did
    Only you know your true potential.
    This year we rally #ForCraig

  2. Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017)
  3. #652
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    Good job by Neuville, let's see if next season he'll manage to be more consistent (or if Ogier will be less). Shame for Latvala, end of season to forget for him, hope for better next year. And now fingers crossed for Ogier to stay at M-Sport for next year!

  4. #653
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    Quote Originally Posted by steve.mandzij View Post
    Speaking as if Latvala had made mistakes all year (in fact, maybe this wasn't his fault either). doubt he'll suffer from this at all. He didn't hurt neither his nor his team's chances at any titles, his fourth place in the championship is secure and there's nothing else left to do in the year. He knows he's quick, he knows his team is good and I'm sure he'll be a main title contender next year.
    I have been commenting how consistent Latvala has become. One crash is totally normal.

    BUT there is the big point about Latvalas' psyche, which is not exactly rock-solid and if he looses it he drops down 2-3 levels (like in 2016). For that this has come at the worst possible time.

  5. Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),COD (19th November 2017),sonnybobiche (20th November 2017),steve.mandzij (19th November 2017)
  6. #654
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    Quote Originally Posted by itix View Post
    Yes they do if it is the second year running.

    The fire truck didn't almost run over the policeman. There was even a video of it.

    I can guarantee that no one was lying on the road in poland for instance.

    Edit; not saying these weren't serious things and I fully support the decision but this is the stupidest thing I have seen ever in WRC... Perhaps my memory is short but this is absurd.
    Agree this is very stupid. But still a single isolated incident, which can not be said about Poland.
    /peter

  7. #655
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    Quote Originally Posted by KKS View Post
    it's only 27 cars on a que. You think that road after just heavy rain is more dangerous than any other stage in a championship?

    I understand Sweden fast stage cancellation, but now it's just though road condition after rain. It happen sometimes in a rally - raining and it's normal, it's not something extremely dangerous
    It's about 70 cars each run, there is the WRC, then ARC (only some of which show in the WRC field) and then the club and state level guys as well. So a lot more cars than is immediately visible. And the clay roads here when wet, the water runs along the top and doesn't sink away, so lots of big puddles and very, very slippery. So add in some ruts and I imagine it could become quite challenging. We were in the 3rd running of that stage when it rained and it was certainly extremely slippery just trying to stand up to walk around!

  8. Likes: Gregor-y (20th November 2017),KKS (21st November 2017)
  9. #656
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    So Rally Australia is done, we got to see the first stage of the third day, where Lefebvre went off (which I even got on film luckily), which was a very long walk to get into as we came in via a junction and the road closure was 3km from the actual stage! We got absolutely saturated in there, the rain was quite heavy and our raincoats were no match for it! We watched most of the field with a group of 5-6 Estonian fans and then headed back out for breakfast.

    We then went to the last stage after the other stage got cancelled. But we entered via another junction and they wouldn't let us walk into the stage, so we had to back track around the corner and then hop down a bank and detour round them via the bush for about 5-600m. We ended up half way up a bank above a series of relatively tight corners, hiding in the bushes with a guy who turned out to be the State rally champion, so had a good chat with him about the Australian rally championship.

    Nathan Quinn became the Australian rally champion, basically by default as Molly Taylors engine expired. However he certainly looked quick all weekend, right to the end:



    There was quite a rut forming at the edge of the road, as you can sort of see here and the road was almost totally swept down to a hard packed surface below with enough structure to it that the tyres were leaving rubber on it:



    Couple more pics, but I didn't take many as I was just enjoying the last time I will see the cars! Ogier definitely looked fast through this section, he was using more of the bush than anyone else and really carrying momentum.







    Back in service we found poor Breens car, he has definitely reshaped it! Although I am inclined to think it is now less ugly...!





    All in all, really glad I made the trip, the aero on the 2017 cars is truly incredible and the commitment is just as good as last time I saw them in NZ in 2012. The locals have been friendly, I would say 50% of the spectator zones were good for watching from, buts it's definitely better to go in via junctions instead as long as you don't mind climbing through some bush! But beware of believing the spectator maps, we ended up driving over some true goat tracks that weren't at all suited to the poor rental Holden Captiva, which we broke and had to replace!

  10. Likes: A FONDO (19th November 2017),EstWRC (19th November 2017),Grundo Farb (23rd November 2017),Mirek (19th November 2017),satnav (19th November 2017),the sniper (19th November 2017)
  11. #657
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    Quote Originally Posted by focus206 View Post
    Good job by Neuville, let's see if next season he'll manage to be more consistent (or if Ogier will be less). Shame for Latvala, end of season to forget for him, hope for better next year. And now fingers crossed for Ogier to stay at M-Sport for next year!
    Neville will have even harder job, because Seb will (if he stays) be better and will probably not doing any mistakes at all. Remember, he step a little back with changing the team, car at the last minute.. I think Ott will first have to adapt to the Yaris first, when Jari will have one year advantage over him.

  12. #658
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    Quote Originally Posted by ESTR View Post
    Neville will have even harder job, because Seb will (if he stays) be better and will probably not doing any mistakes at all. Remember, he step a little back with changing the team, car at the last minute.. I think Ott will first have to adapt to the Yaris first, when Jari will have one year advantage over him.
    Not necessarily. Ogier didn't improve dramatically over the course of the season, what made him win the title was his incredible consistency, he was even more consistent than when he was driving the dominant Polo. I think it will be hard to replicate a season with this consistency, and if at the same time Neuville improves his, he'll have an even better chance... We'll have to see if Ogier will be able to find more speed with the Fiesta though.

  13. #659
    Senior Member Fast Eddie WRC's Avatar
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    Oh finally got the forum back !

    Just had to say goodbye to Ott from M-Sport... he's been brilliant this last 18 months.

    And here in Aus he sorted another podium and completed the record of one on every 2017 rally.

    Considering it was such a 'bad' rally for the team, getting all 3 drivers in the top5 was pretty decent way to end the year.

  14. Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),Rallyper (19th November 2017)
  15. #660
    Senior Member BigWorm's Avatar
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    Great result this rally, very happy that Neuville won. Best way to prepare for the next season. Bring on 2018.

    Devastated for Latvala, it looked like it was going to be a fairly clean year for him, harsh it had to happen on the very last stage of 2017.

  16. Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),steve.mandzij (19th November 2017)

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