The first rallycar you saw

[Karbonyl]

I can not say exactly, which rally car I saw was the first one, but I can say my oldest remembrance - it was Leo Pavlik´s group B Quattro sliding between the snow banks of Rally Valasska Zima in 1986...

[jparker]

No doubts here, Peugeot 205 T16 during 1986 Rally Zlatni Piassatzi. It was the first and last time I witnessed this "monster", shortly after that Gr.B cars were banned. I was tarmac stage and I was in the middle of very long straight, and I don't know what was it (vibrations or sound waves), but I was able to feel my guts shaking when the car approached me. Never had the same experience again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOfueOt5wxY

[gloomyDAY]

I got my cherry popped earlier this year in Mexico.

March 9, 2007 was the first time I ever witnessed a rally car in action. Marcus Gronholm was coming off "El Cubilete" and cruising onto surface streets. Then when I got onto the course Petter Solberg raced by me inches from where I was standing. I found out that later that day Petter had to retire due to engine problems.

After that I went south of Leon to a city named Guanajuato (ceremonial start of the rally) and fell in love with a Mexican gal.

I'm only 20 years-old and can say that was the best week of my life. Hopefully more great times like these will follow.

Mikko's car:


The gal:

[Elgin Man]

Mine was Colin McRae when he was out in a Ford Puma in the Speyside Stages part of the Scottish Rally Championship. It was in 2001 i think.

[TMorel]

It's kinda cool watching someone else see a "proper" rally car for the first time.
We'd corkscrewed our Pug205 on the previous round of the BTRDA, so I wasn't codriving for my clubs event so offered to marshal.
A group of Venture Scouts had taken time out from some drill to come watch the event and wandered up to my junction - none of them had ever seen a rally, not even on TV so they had no idea what to expect (or where to stand)

After the last car went past they started to get their belongings together, chattering and smiling and full of excitement, all ready to go home.
I then explained it wasn't over, they just have a gap between the 1.6 2wheel drive cars and the *proper* rally cars.

The sound of Andy Burton sitting on the startline turned all these scouts into statues. It was such an amazing site to watch them not move, the anticipation building as they heard his beast getting closer and closer - as JParker said, feeling it before seeing it - and then woooooosh, he came past flicking it left and right, drifting round our corner and then off.
They still stood there for what seemed an eternity before jumping up and down screaming and yelling with excitement.

I think I'm going to have to go onto the British rally thread now and bitch about the MSA taking away the aweinspiring sights of Burtons creations.

[Magnum2300]

1992 1000 Lakes, Friday, SS something Ruuhimäki. We were bit late so we missed first two cars Lancias of Kankkunen and Auriol. Then came Markku with Toyota Celica and it was awesome. I loved the noise and the speed. Wow.

[ST205GT4]

No idea what sort of car it was as I was very young, but it would have been the Adelaide round of the Repco Rally in Australia back in 1979. God it was exciting!

[FrankenSchwinn]

not sure, but i think it was Peugeot 203 in a parking lot, or a R5 in a road section. but my mother always drove like a rally driver (Finnish police knows).

[Ferjancz]

My first was lancia delta HF inegrale 8V ! It was a rallycross car! I was stunned!!!

[Jonte]

My first (real) experience was Ingvar Carlsson in a Mazda 323 back in 1991. i