Results 651 to 660 of 727
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19th November 2017, 17:58 #651
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
- Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017)
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19th November 2017, 18:25 #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!
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19th November 2017, 18:26 #653
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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.
- Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),COD (19th November 2017),sonnybobiche (20th November 2017),steve.mandzij (19th November 2017)
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19th November 2017, 18:45 #654
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19th November 2017, 19:19 #655
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- Jun 2010
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- New Zealand
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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!
- Likes: Gregor-y (20th November 2017),KKS (21st November 2017)
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19th November 2017, 19:36 #656
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- Jun 2010
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- New Zealand
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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!
- 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)
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19th November 2017, 20:10 #657
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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.
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19th November 2017, 20:32 #658
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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.
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19th November 2017, 20:34 #659
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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.
- Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),Rallyper (19th November 2017)
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19th November 2017, 21:36 #660
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.
- Likes: AnttiL (19th November 2017),steve.mandzij (19th November 2017)
1 Tänak 2 Rovanperä 3 Evans 4 Katsuta 5 Neuville 6 Fourmaux 7 Kajetanowicz 8 Greensmith EstWRC
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