Can anyone beat Loeb

Wow some people can be dense. I remember through his career Loeb has always been criticised by the Scandinavians always looking for excuses as to why he whipped their boys:

First it was Xsara being the best - then he dominated in C4
Then he was only really a tarmac driver - then he won Sweden and Finland
Then it was the differentials - he still won
Then it was Michelin 'special' tyres Citroen had - he won on Pirellis
Then it was...well who knows.

Some people need to face facts. He's the best driver of his generation by a long, long way and arguably the best ever (not just in terms of pure statistics).

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Originally Posted by I am evil Homer

Wow some people can be dense. I remember through his career Loeb has always been criticised by the Scandinavians always looking for excuses as to why he whipped their boys:

First it was Xsara being the best - then he dominated in C4
Then he was only really a tarmac driver - then he won Sweden and Finland
Then it was the differentials - he still won
Then it was Michelin 'special' tyres Citroen had - he won on Pirellis
Then it was...well who knows.

Some people need to face facts. He's the best driver of his generation by a long, long way and arguably the best ever (not just in terms of pure statistics).

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Yes, absolutely, but that's far too simple for some people to accept. There must be some other reason......

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Originally Posted by I am evil Homer

Wow some people can be dense. I remember through his career Loeb has always been criticised by the Scandinavians always looking for excuses as to why he whipped their boys:

First it was Xsara being the best - then he dominated in C4
Then he was only really a tarmac driver - then he won Sweden and Finland
Then it was the differentials - he still won
Then it was Michelin 'special' tyres Citroen had - he won on Pirellis
Then it was...well who knows.

Some people need to face facts. He's the best driver of his generation by a long, long way and arguably the best ever (not just in terms of pure statistics).

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well i feel great sympathy for the finish managers...i think we need a memorial for them and their talents....i mean they work hard night and day paying the teams to manage and get a seat for their youngsters and here comes this french kid who starts rallying at the age of 21 and kidnaps their dogs out of their back yard...i would be furious too, so they come up with all these best car, best tyres best man in law and best hairstyle to cover their lack of skills in spotting talents.

the only thing i don;t like about Loeb is his modesty and sportmanship i would prefer him to be an arrogant knowit all person like myself and ridicule all these "successors", jump on his rivals cars every time he won and laugh loudly at their faces. but i guess none can be as sad as myself and that unfortunatelly makes the sport less humourus.

In every champion you can spot weakness and make a million excuses to diminish him. But nobody bothers with LOSERS....they are not even worth to talk about them.

Apart from money what else do you need to study finish rally managerial skills ? i am interested....

and by the way Loeb is the greatest rally driver of all times....2nd comes kankunnen and nobody cares who is 3rd.

The question was "Can Loeb be beaten"
The answer is YES,as he has been beaten,but probably he cannot be consistently beaten,but he learnt his trade peddleing SMALL cars like the Saxo,so instead of learning his rallying in WRC cars as some do (Mathew wilson),he came up the hard way making small cars go FAST!!!

He deserved to be a champion 'cos he came here from NOTHING (no millions behind him from that moment)..

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Originally Posted by N.O.T

and by the way Loeb is the greatest rally driver of all times....2nd comes kankunnen and nobody cares who is 3rd.

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If Loeb had been around 10 -15 years ago, he would have not won as many rallies.

Kankkunen was a legend not only because he won alot of rallies over many years in many types of car but because he took the win after ignoring team orders in Argentina 1999. :)

He would win as much rallies as he did now !! From 2001 to 2008 he betaed drivers like Marcus , McRae, Sainz , Solberg , Kankkunen , Burns , Auriol , Makinen (ALL WORLD CHAMPIONS ! ) and talents as Martin , Duval , Hirvonen ad Latvala.

Seriously guys , this discussion is funny . Not really funny but reading some comments it's actually sad.

Langdale, I have you pegged as a 17 year old kid. How would you know what happened 15 years ago?

Were Loeb competing 15 or more years ago he would have still been very successful. Whether or not he would have won as many rallies as he has over the past 5 years is unknown and speculation in this area is as pointless as it is ridiculous.

Why you would choose Kankkunen as a comparison is also unclear. I don't believe he's ever been widely considered a "legend".

Loeb will dominate until he decides to quit or the WRC decides to deregulate itself and ditch the homologation rules and go with a simple set of safety rules making it enticing for more manufacturers to get involved. The IRC is in a perfect position to over take as the worlds premier rally championship with the WRC being so week right now and with the IRC having more manufacturers and the classic rallies they have on their calendar. If that happened then you would see loeb in trouble. Until then he will dominate the two car race.

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Originally Posted by Langdale Forest

If Loeb had been around 10 -15 years ago, he would have not won as many rallies.

Kankkunen was a legend not only because he won alot of rallies over many years in many types of car but because he took the win after ignoring team orders in Argentina 1999. :)

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can you rephrase the first line ??? all i get is BLAH BLAH BLAH


your second sentence has a point...but kankunnen never was the Fastest driver of any year he participated he was just the best...Loeb is Both.