Loeb or Makinen

Whoa, your name is FIA, trying to open a can of worms and bring in the loeb fans?

Out of all the onboard videos I have ever seen, I have not seen anyone having the attacking attidude like Makinen, except McRae. He is also very good with tactics and knowing the right time to attack and takes a large chunk of time off the competition (portugal 2001). Also won Safari at first try I believe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by duff

but kankunnen never could drive well enough on tarmac and was constantly outdriven by his team mates (mostly in the later years).

---

I should also add that he is definitely one of the greats. Nobody has made driving a car on gravel look so natural and easy. He never seemed to be flustered behind the wheel, even when he was heading for the scenery.

I agree that Carlos should be thrown into the argument (50% podiums!), and also McRae (incredible speed and talent). But lets not forget Marcus either, if he had started his works career as young as some of the guys do now (I think he was 31?) he would surely have a lot more wins and possibly another title or two.

The list (and the argument) could go on, but the record books will show Loeb as the greatest - at least for a fair while to come.

Both are among the best ever but I would say Makinen, because he had a lot more contenders to fight against. But I rate KKK (and a couple of more) much higher than both of them :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DonJippo

I agree and he would have had over 30 WRC victories if there were not been any team orders.

---

You mean Argentina '99? ;)

Each era has it's own champion, you can't compare it. I'm following WRC since 1985 but never compared two drivers. Makkinen was a class on it's own then, Loeb is now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TKM

Neither. Tommi won only with Mitsubishi, and Loeb only with Citroen. Kankkunen is your man. He won the WRC 4 times with 3 different manufacturers.

Well that's my opinion anyway.

---

My first thought when reading this post was both Loeb and Makkinen won their titles with the same manufacturer. This IMO is the most objective test of a drivers ability.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by AndyRAC

And remember he won the last Group B WRC in 1986, then Group A in 1987. First win in Safari 1985, final win in 1999 1,000 Lakes. Drove all kinds of cars, and all types of Rallies. Loeb has only done the short sprint type events.

---

That is true too. I would always tend to rate someone like Kankkunen over such as Loeb for that very reason, but I feel that Loeb would probably be successful on longer events too, because he does seem mechanically sympathetic to the car.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by koko0703

Both are great drivers, but if you talk about the great driver in the post Gr.B era, Sainz deserves to be compared with Tommi and Loeb. OK, Carlos only has 2 titles but it's not just the number of titles which decide who is the greatest.

---

Carlos and Tommi are only several hundred meters away from having three titles each.

Number of titles is somewhat shaky grounds for comparison. Or does anyone think that Tommi is four times better driver than McRae, their titles being four to one in Tommi's favour (but McRae having one WRC win more than Tommi)?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fang

My first thought when reading this post was both Loeb and Makkinen won their titles with the same manufacturer. This IMO is the most objective test of a drivers ability.

---

If diversity is the gauge, then the single time champion Hannu Mikkola is your choice. He is the only driver who has won WRC events with five different makes.

One guy who was fast as hell on any surface was Henri Toivonen, as he was coming into his own he was lightning fast, he was cut short unfortunately, however had he continued he would have turned into the most famous driver of all time I feel.