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The Frenchman's luck has deserted him of late, hopefully that will continue in Australia, now he can only rely on his obviously superior driving ability (of which there is no doubt) and of course Citroen's help in the form of the bailout from the French taxpayer, rumoured to be in the vicinity of 2 billion euro, glad I don't pay tax in France! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Wim_Impreza
Yes, I too am inclined to believe that the "new" Rally Australia has nothing in commong with the "old" one in Western Australia - except bunch of organisers. This is just my hunch, I do not know for sure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psycho!
Me neither as long as it's Mikko who wins the title :p :Quote:
Originally Posted by jonkka
That is correct. The surface, the nature of the roads, the countryside all have no similarity with those around Perth. When you consider that to drive from where the old Rally Australia took place, to where the new event will take place would take around 3 days and 4500kms it is not hard to understand why.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonkka
Western Australia is a very dry part of the country. Northern New South Wales is anything but dry. Very green and lush countryside. Apparently the majority of the route is through farming country (see Google Maps - Street View for a closer look).
It seems speeds will be somewhere between Finland and NZ. It should be a very picturesque event, good for TV and Media.
There are others on this forum with more experience of the roads than I have, but I can definately confirm that previous experience of Rally Australia is of absolutely no use for 2009.
Sounds brilliant :up:
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonkka
Exactly, if you have a look a a map of Australia Perth is many thousand kms away from where the rally is now located. Perth was mainly forestry roads on a bauxite base which gave it the roller bearing surface, the new event is meant to be on shire roads, i.e. public roads, I have a friend that lives in Palmvale right slap in the middle of the event and he told me that since moving up there in 2002 all his vehicles have had lots of punctures, could be interesting.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-28.366631...4&z=13&l=0&m=m
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=-28.362061...15&l=0&m=b&v=8
He also told me that there is a lot of 'anti-rally' feeling around this area, how far these people are prepared to take their anti-rally feeling could be interesting as well.
Very useful informations mate!Quote:
Originally Posted by bda
It seems Australia would be a completely different rally from these we have seen last years!!
I'm happy for the gravel mode because I want new stages to come up ;)
Heh, depending on his driving style and type of tyres it could either be prelude to disaster or mean nothing at all. Given that current WRC tyres w/o mousse can take the beating that Acropolis and Cyprus throw at them I am hopeful and really hope that punctures won't be the decider in title race.Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopard
Ah, that explains why Rally Australia web site has a special section dedicated for the residents of the area. Something I've not seen anywhere else.Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopard
For those who don't know, the rally is situated very close to the hippie capital of Australia. They appear to have been surprised and severely offended at the thought of anyone using motor cars for fun/sport. Regardless of the fact that rallies have been conducted under their very noses for many years now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopard
Some of the local residents have justified complaints. Mainly around access to their properties, noise, dust etc. during the event. Nothing new for a major event I would think.
I think the biggest issue revolves around the state government introducing legislation just for this event, that effectively removes the local councils from the approval process. ie the community's elected representatives effectively have no say in whether the event runs or not. Probably very aggravating if you are not a rally fan.
However, the small number of locals I have spoken to are ecstatic about the rally being in town. Most of the anti rally talk on the internet is nothing short of hysteria with very little basis in fact.
Whatever happens I will be there with highly polished brass knobs on, camera in hand.
GO MIKKO - GO YOU GOOD THING.
Sorry for the long post. Got carried away.
tree huggers are always a fun adition to every rally.....