Rally RACC España Catalunya

[makinen_fan]

My gallery from Catalunya :

http://rallyphotos.pl/rajdy-2013/ral...ana-rallyracc/

Excellent pics!
Something I noticed, Mads was using different wheels (More similar to the ones used on the Focus WRC, which look a bit ridiculous IMO) on gravel than the usual wheel and different than any other Fiesta WRC/R5. Anyone known reason why? I can't believe they just run out of wheels

http://rallyphotos.pl/wp-content/zdjeci ... 13-086.jpg
http://rallyphotos.pl/wp-content/zdjeci ... 13-027.jpg

[sollitt]

I've tried to make little comparison between Jarkko Nikara and Hayden Paddon as Spain was their first event in a WRC car. On gravel stages in 2012 Jarkko was 1.29 s/km slower and I'm excluding the Terra Alta 2 stage where Jarkko lost 6 min. because of a puncture and a problem changing the wheel in the heavy mud. These year Paddon was 1.63 s/km slower than Ogier, he went through all the stages without any problem afaik. On tarmac Nikara was 2.31 s/km slower than Seb Loeb and Hayden was 0.86 s/km behind the fastest driver so on tarmac Paddon was faster in his first rally in a Wrc spec. car.
Of course Hayden has much more international experience than Jarkko and he has driven in Spain 2011 with the Subaru gr. N car and Spain 2012 with Fabia s2000 so he has great knowledge of the stages and experience with a car similar to WRC spec. Also MIni WRC isn't on same level as Fiesta because of the problems between Prodrive and BMW.
I don't want to say who was doing better in his first rally with WRC car it was just interesting for me to take a closer look at their results. Hope that we will see both in WRC cars next year as the championchip needs some new young guns.!

rage, your comparison makes no account of the differences in road condition and starting order each faced in the gravel stages which would have delivered a significant advantage to Nikara. Also there is no consideration of the level of testing and preparation available to each prior to the event which as we know in Paddon's case was minimal.
I understand that the cornering and handling characteristics of the Skoda and the Fiesta are like chalk & cheese so I'm not sure your assessment of experience in a car "similar to WRC" is accurate.
Further the suggestion that the performance of the Mini was somehow hampered by the fallout between Prodrive & BMW would seem to be negated by the fact that on the event in question Sordo was able to pull off 6 stage wins.
Comparisons such as this are always difficult. Making interesting reading but also of no scientific value might be a comparison to the finish results of other drivers on their WRC event/WRC car debuts.
Sordo 8th, Solberg 11th, Ostberg 31st, Ogier 26th (2 stage wins), Latvala 16th, Hirvonen accident & 11th on second outing, Atkinson 19th.
Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, and all factors considered, on a one off event on which your whole future may hinge, a conservative drive to 8th place might actually have been a pretty good result. If the scuttlebutt I'm reading and hearing is correct, that would seem to be the view of those people whose opinion actually matters.

[Langdale Forest]

On the roundabout on the opening day, what penalty would be given if a driver did not go round 2 times or went round the wrong way?

[N.O.T]

On the roundabout on the opening day, what penalty would be given if a driver did not go round 2 times or went round the wrong way?

exclusion if he drove the opposite way and probably a big time penalty if he did not go around the two times.

[N.O.T]

ok maybe a penalty both times it would be harsh to consider going around the roundabout the wrong way as driving the special astage the wrong way...

[A FONDO]

On the roundabout on the opening day, what penalty would be given if a driver did not go round 2 times or went round the wrong way?

depends on the driver. some do not get penalised whatsoever http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12_E5yRw7fM

[N.O.T]

was there something that indicated that the drivers should go the long way around ???

[makinen_fan]

Nasser's crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBPFigzH ... e=youtu.be

[rage82]

I've tried to make little comparison between Jarkko Nikara and Hayden Paddon as Spain was their first event in a WRC car. On gravel stages in 2012 Jarkko was 1.29 s/km slower and I'm excluding the Terra Alta 2 stage where Jarkko lost 6 min. because of a puncture and a problem changing the wheel in the heavy mud. These year Paddon was 1.63 s/km slower than Ogier, he went through all the stages without any problem afaik. On tarmac Nikara was 2.31 s/km slower than Seb Loeb and Hayden was 0.86 s/km behind the fastest driver so on tarmac Paddon was faster in his first rally in a Wrc spec. car.
Of course Hayden has much more international experience than Jarkko and he has driven in Spain 2011 with the Subaru gr. N car and Spain 2012 with Fabia s2000 so he has great knowledge of the stages and experience with a car similar to WRC spec. Also MIni WRC isn't on same level as Fiesta because of the problems between Prodrive and BMW.
I don't want to say who was doing better in his first rally with WRC car it was just interesting for me to take a closer look at their results. Hope that we will see both in WRC cars next year as the championchip needs some new young guns.!

rage, your comparison makes no account of the differences in road condition and starting order each faced in the gravel stages which would have delivered a significant advantage to Nikara. Also there is no consideration of the level of testing and preparation available to each prior to the event which as we know in Paddon's case was minimal.
I understand that the cornering and handling characteristics of the Skoda and the Fiesta are like chalk & cheese so I'm not sure your assessment of experience in a car "similar to WRC" is accurate.
Further the suggestion that the performance of the Mini was somehow hampered by the fallout between Prodrive & BMW would seem to be negated by the fact that on the event in question Sordo was able to pull off 6 stage wins.
Comparisons such as this are always difficult. Making interesting reading but also of no scientific value might be a comparison to the finish results of other drivers on their WRC event/WRC car debuts.
Sordo 8th, Solberg 11th, Ostberg 31st, Ogier 26th (2 stage wins), Latvala 16th, Hirvonen accident & 11th on second outing, Atkinson 19th.
Perhaps in the grand scheme of things, and all factors considered, on a one off event on which your whole future may hinge, a conservative drive to 8th place might actually have been a pretty good result. If the scuttlebutt I'm reading and hearing is correct, that would seem to be the view of those people whose opinion actually matters.

I think also that the 8-th place wasn't a bad result for his first event. But you are wrong about the road condition and starting order on gravel because in 2012 it was mud everywhere and Nikara was starting 3-rd - not the worst position in these conditions but not the best also. Hayden was 8-th and had clean gravel road of course some problems with the dust. Also in terms of testing it was almost the same for them, Jarkko has tested only at Prodrive’s private test track and not a single km on gravel, as Hayden tested only tarmac and has not a gravel test. That's why I think that there performance is quiet comparable.
And yes Danni has won 6 stages with the Mini but it was after his crash on first day, and on 2-nd and 3-rd days Loeb was only controlling his pace against Latvalla.

[sollitt]

It's not rocket science, rage. When the faster cars are starting behind in conditions which are deteriorating with each car, this will have the effect of narrowing the speed differences. When the faster cars are starting ahead in conditions which deteriorate with each car, this will have the effect of widening the speed difference. Simple stuff really.

But as I said earlier, these sorts of comparisons are very difficult and usually meaningless.