Stephane Consani's livery for Rallye de France
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Stephane Consani's livery for Rallye de France
http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...99886641_n.jpg
Another dead spectator/photographer... R.I.P
I znowu tragedia na rajdzie - Rallyonline.pl - rajdy samochodowe!
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Tarmac again.
Esapekka Lappi told to MTV3 that he is not getting a change to test Skoda before Poland but he'll takes that a possibility to show his skills. Great attitude! :) .
Also he said that couple non-WRC tarmac events are planned for this year.
Actually he is right. I don't have statistics but I guess maybe 90% of all fatal accidents happen on tarmac and it seems the trend is increasing with the ongoing development of cars and tyres. It's hard to say what shall be done to make asphalt rallying safer as there are many different opinions but not to act at all is the worst solution for the future of our sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
You know that I'm a fan of hi-speed asphalt events but what is happening is too much. It's not possible to stick our heads in the sand...
I have thought about this also. Probably there is nothing much to be done for the moment in respect to cars regulations.
But I notice something else also. The cars appears to be very safe for the crews, there are rare cases with fatal incidents for them. The majority of the cases the spectators are involved, so it should be their(our) own responsibility (in places with no marshals) to stay at safe distance/places as in tarmac Rally the speed is very high which increases the risk also something to go wrong for a thousand of a second in some corner.
I think that's part of his point.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
Yeah the rules for cages make the cars very safe to roll violently..Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanvv
My take---although my experience on tarmac is extremely limityed and only did those few SS with gravel tires, is like always with a "predictable" GOOD surface, different people are attracted to the driving of asphalt events.. since you generally don't need to make a lot of judgement "where" the grip is better, the big question become budget for motors, razor sharp set up and truck-loads of tires so more more "casual" type guys get in and I belive they count on grip---and lose control bad when grip disappears and then you're just along for the ride.. Gravel guys know there is only so much grip and are more keenly aware. If there's more, then good, but they're not trying to shave onion skin thin slices off tenths of seconds every corner.. and are far less surprised and helpless when grip suddenly changes, like disappears....
Add to that the increased cornering speeds once anything is up to speed, even lower power cars, and if you corner faster and are trying for the last 0,01%--you make mistakes..
And spectators die..
I've always looked at asphalt as treacherous.....so simple it fools you.
But what do i know, I only drive dirt and mud and then gravel for 40 years.
It is not always possible to predict what the grip will be at every corner during the race. On recce it might be clean, during the race previous drivers might throw some dirt or little stones on the road. And as drivers rely on tarmac's grip much more heavily than on gravel, there might be such surprises and the time for reaction decreases significantly as the speed is really high.
All of You have part of the truth I think. First is that grip on tarmac is normally much higher than on gravel. That means normally You can take the corner much faster. But what is problem in my opinion that while on gravel Your grip even between the best ad worse place on stages varies quite small and it is still somewhat low on tarmac it changes suddenly from huge to nothing in a fraction of a second and than another bad thing comes because it can in another fraction of second change back from nothing to huge and **** happens because You are just a human and Your reaction on loosing the grip was slower than the tyres found new and You are overreacting.
Tommeke is right that the grip changes a lot on a bad asphalt like we have in CZ or they have in Belgium but in my opinion it's very difficult to be prepared for these changes. It needs a lot of experience and part of the problem in my opinion is that thanks to this You just can drive faster than the old experienced guys because it is really physically possible but You do take a lot of risk which without the experience You are not aware of.