New to WRC--How should I watch and what should I watch for

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Originally Posted by Revman

Thank you. Why wouldn't WRC allow gravel crews for gravel/snow, etc.?

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It's expensive.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

I forgot to mention where the gravel crew is the most important - Monte Carlo (it's also asphalt event per official classification). There they are used foremost to locate icy patches, especially black ice. Monte Carlo is the most tricky event in terms of conditions of all.

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Probably the event where the whole gravel/ice crew tradition has started from

Quick question about driving technique.....

The announcers on WRC Plus said that before a driver jumps they dab the brakes to get the nose to stay down. Truth?

yes at highspeed jumps.

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Originally Posted by dimviii

yes at highspeed jumps.

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Thank you.

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Originally Posted by dimviii

yes at highspeed jumps.

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And even more so with older cars with less advanced suspension. Mikko Hirvonen says that with the current cars you can go mostly flat out.

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

And even more so with older cars with less advanced suspension. Mikko Hirvonen says that with the current cars you can go mostly flat out.

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Thank you.

And of course, apart from the above stated issues with unsettling the cars over the jumps, you also have the obvious problem of not propelling the car forward as the wheels are in the air. It's a fine balancing act though, brakes before jump vs time lost in the air. Actually to put some numbers on this - at 200kph, the air drag on a current WRC car would cause around 0.2g braking and this is if the car flies straight ahead, which very often isn't the case with all sorts of pitch and yaw attitudes possible.

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Originally Posted by NickRally

And of course, apart from the above stated issues with unsettling the cars over the jumps, you also have the obvious problem of not propelling the car forward as the wheels are in the air. It's a fine balancing act though, brakes before jump vs time lost in the air. Actually to put some numbers on this - at 200kph, the air drag on a current WRC car would cause around 0.2g braking and this is if the car flies straight ahead, which very often isn't the case with all sorts of pitch and yaw attitudes possible.

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Wouldn't the car's natural tendency to be rotate forward anyway? So why the need to set the nose? Or, as you said, it's a balancing act......A bit of braking, a bit of throttle....Is the goal to land as quickly as possible given the braking while in the air? Fascinating. Thank you.

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Originally Posted by Revman

Is the goal to land as quickly as possible given the braking while in the air?

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Depends on the jump. Some of the bigger ones the drivers see how far they can jump and there's records for who did the longest one, though it's just for fun. Probably not as fun for the guy who tweaks the suspension.

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Originally Posted by Revman

Wouldn't the car's natural tendency to be rotate forward anyway? So why the need to set the nose?

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The car would generally try to tilt forward because it has an engine in front, but in high speed jump the aero will have a significant role. The huge back wings can push the butt down, tilting the nose up.