Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

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23rd February 2020, 07:54
AnttiL

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

I heard an interesting discussion on a recent podcast about Toyota vs Hyundai and their different driver strategies.

Hyundai are going with their 'driver rotation' system again, bringing in a different 3rd driver according to the rally; whereas Toyota are keeping the same 3 drivers on every round.

So who will have advantage this year, especially now that Toyota has an arguably stronger full-time line-up than in 2019 ? Is it better to rotate drivers for their best events, or is using the same driver's on all rounds and their extra seat-time going to pay off ?

Absolute Rally podcast, for the record.

I think the situation is different for this season. Last year both teams had a clear number one and then support drivers. Now it seems both teams have two title contenders and a third driver. Remember, last year Hyundai rotated even the second driver seat in some rallies. This year the third driver won't have as much pressure, and thus the rotating won't have as much of an effect, although it helps with some Friday road positions (but is negative for the tarmac rallies).

It's interesting that now Sordo is basically doing all rallies from Mexico to Sardegna. They get best of both worlds with him having most likely a good starting position having skipped two rallies, but also keeping him "fit" with continuous rallying.
23rd February 2020, 09:27
deephouse

https://www.croatiaweek.com/croatia-...nship-in-2021/

looks like Croatia are again interested in hosting a WRC round.
23rd February 2020, 09:51
AnttiL

Quote:

Originally Posted by deephouse

https://www.croatiaweek.com/croatia-...nship-in-2021/

looks like Croatia are again interested in hosting a WRC round.

Quote:

According to the president of the Croatian Auto & Karting Federation, Davorin Štetner, if Croatia can pass the candidate race in October with flying colours, then they will win the right to host the WRC for the next ten years.

:eek::rolleyes:
23rd February 2020, 11:55
skarderud

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Vanlandingham

And huge crowds and all the drivers are all unbelieveable fast so fast they have to use slow motion so that you can see them pr whoooooooooooooooooooosh! Lightning!

This is the elite of North America..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCTl0FH-2zs

What kind of tires do they use? Standard streetlegal tires?

Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk
23rd February 2020, 12:57
mknight

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnttiL

It's interesting that now Sordo is basically doing all rallies from Mexico to Sardegna. They get best of both worlds with him having most likely a good starting position having skipped two rallies, but also keeping him "fit" with continuous rallying.

Within 2-3 rallies Sordo could get somewhere around 5th place and the road cleaning advantage will get much reduced.

Anyway on paper switching drivers for best road positions sounds like a better idea. Problem is that you need drivers of about comparable (and stable) skill level who want to do that. Basically you need more Sordo's :). Younger/less experienced drivers are not stable enough to just jump in and do well (Breen) and drivers who have some wins are not very interested in that kind of program in the long run.
25th February 2020, 13:39
dimviii

nice read.

https://www.facebook.com/14056435728...596134243/?d=n
26th February 2020, 16:05
the sniper

I was looking at the ewrc donations this afternoon and noticed a reasonably big jump in the percentage after refreshing the page. Erik Veiby's name had appeared on the list. Good on him!
26th February 2020, 16:22
AnttiL

Quote:

Originally Posted by the sniper

I was looking at the ewrc donations this afternoon and noticed a reasonably big jump in the percentage after refreshing the page. Erik Veiby's name had appeared on the list. Good on him!

He has donated every year.

Craig Breen has also donated now.
26th February 2020, 16:54
the sniper

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnttiL

He has donated every year.

Craig Breen has also donated now.

I know, but when you can work out how much has been given it's more impressive. :D
26th February 2020, 17:49
TypeR

Ewrc-results is kind of a national treasure in rallying.. Soo much information, results, cars history etc, that one could only imagine..
Awesome! Keep up the good work!
27th February 2020, 02:48
Rally Hokkaido

Quote:

Originally Posted by skarderud

What kind of tires do they use? Standard streetlegal tires?

Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk

In Japan we use winter rally tyres without studs due to ban on studded tyres on public roads. IIRC, Canada does the same.
27th February 2020, 06:54
OHL

Quote:

Originally Posted by skarderud

What kind of tires do they use? Standard streetlegal tires?

Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk

As mentioned, the Yokohama A-034 was a popular tyre for many years around the world if there was snow and you couldn't take a studded tyre. I think those were discontinued a couple of years ago and not sure what people are using now.
For ice conditions, a Michelin X-Ice, Bridgestone Blizzak or similar are popular choices. They are usually also tractionized, a process involving spinning the tyre over steel rollers with small sharp pins that rip up the rubber on the tyre making it like carpet. This is the best possible tyre for ice.
If conditions are mixed with frozen gravel and risk of punctures, then some version of the Nokian Hakka line like the C series or other light truck/SUV tyre is a decent choice for overall grip and puncture resistance.
It looks horribly slow, because it is. Imagine having almost no grip and just trying to manage what you can find. Not ideal at all but required by the areas that hold the rally's.
27th February 2020, 07:02
skarderud

Then they need some changes in laws to run a decent winterrally?

Studless not top of the line street-tires is a good explanation of the slowmo video, even the standard nokian hakka9 would been a better choice then:)

Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk
27th February 2020, 10:23
Pršljen

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnttiL

:eek::rolleyes:

Ten years contract!? Well that would be something, even the traditional rallies can't get it for more than season or two. I am from Croatia and this thing went completely under the radar of media which is very strange because we don't get many sport events of this calibre.

Also, there isn't much talk about that October candidate event, where is it supposed to be held, no one knows. It's most probable that they are planning to do it in the region of Istra (NW of country), tourist region with some rally tradition, and that the surface will be mixed (at least that was rumoured couple of years ago when Croatia was mentioned for the first time as a WRC candidate).
27th February 2020, 12:46
Kaps

No, not Istra at all this time, from what I've heard.

But the whole thing looks somewhat strange ATM, so let's just wait and see...
27th February 2020, 20:02
deephouse

In some articles it's mentioned also that few stages could get across the border to Slovenia. But I think that they just assume this from last time they did want to enter and fail against Turkey.
29th February 2020, 18:07
Rallyper

Must see: Mattias Ekström in Swedsih Championship round one in Vännäs: says "when rallying at its best" about SS12 in Rally Vännäs. Note: Look all the way to the end. English speaking rounding up.

https://www.facebook.com/EKSRX/video...related_videos
2nd March 2020, 09:40
Fast Eddie WRC

If you didn't see @BBC_TopGear's moving tribute to Colin McRae and @harrismonkey's drive of his championship-winning Impreza then you can watch it on BBC iplayer here at 11 min 30 sec: https://t.co/oTzXk5rOgV
2nd March 2020, 20:29
Zeakiwi2

Meeke and Marshall for Rally Whangarei/ NZ in Mazda 2 AP4

http://nzrallychamps.co.nz/wrc-star-...UiGqar0WyqzMb8
5th March 2020, 09:31
Fast Eddie WRC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

I heard an interesting discussion on a recent podcast about Toyota vs Hyundai and their different driver strategies.

Hyundai are going with their 'driver rotation' system again, bringing in a different 3rd driver according to the rally; whereas Toyota are keeping the same 3 drivers on every round.

So who will have advantage this year, especially now that Toyota has an arguably stronger full-time line-up than in 2019 ? Is it better to rotate drivers for their best events, or is using the same driver's on all rounds and their extra seat-time going to pay off ?

https://www.dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/w...ised-eyebrows/
5th March 2020, 14:57
deephouse

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zeakiwi2

Meeke and Marshall for Rally Whangarei/ NZ in Mazda 2 AP4

http://nzrallychamps.co.nz/wrc-star-...UiGqar0WyqzMb8

“It seems,” he told DirtFish, “that Tommi has more free time to think about my drivers than I have free time to think about his comments.”

Hahaha what a legend
14th March 2020, 20:18
dimviii

nice video about the 205t 16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo
15th March 2020, 05:00
pantealex

If we count all points collected with each brand after 3 rallies:
(based on overall Top 10)

Toyota 150 (49+54+47)
Hyundai 91 (33+33+25)
Ford 47 (16+14+17)
Skoda 8 (0+0+8)
Citroen 7 (3+0+4)

Total 303 (101+101+101)
(MC+SWE+MEX)
23rd March 2020, 09:50
AndyRAC

Quick question to any people out there who may know - how many of the WRC drivers use a personal simulation rig? Following a weekend of watching virtual motorsport, some were quite good (IMSA Sebring, VLN, etc) there were/are plenty of drivers who use it as a tool of the trade. Now, we know rallying is different, but sims like iRacing/ rFactor2 are pretty serious. The reason I ask is I saw Craig Breen on instagram going to collect his system.
24th March 2020, 18:30
Fast Eddie WRC

Any youngsters want to see what Malcolm Wilson used to be like check out this vid from the 1984 RAC Rally:

https://youtu.be/N2lEZvLUcYQ at 3.40 in.
24th March 2020, 20:37
SubaruNorway

Benjamin Ward from the forum will be doing a live skype interview with Nicky Grist tomorrow the 25th at 16:00 CET on his FB page, you can also send your questions in.

https://www.facebook.com/benjaminwar...83932168331607
25th March 2020, 10:42
wyler

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyRAC

Quick question to any people out there who may know - how many of the WRC drivers use a personal simulation rig? Following a weekend of watching virtual motorsport, some were quite good (IMSA Sebring, VLN, etc) there were/are plenty of drivers who use it as a tool of the trade. Now, we know rallying is different, but sims like iRacing/ rFactor2 are pretty serious. The reason I ask is I saw Craig Breen on instagram going to collect his system.

https://www.dirtfish.com/rally/solbe...lying-contest/
25th March 2020, 13:12
doubled1978

Podcast/Interview between Chris Harris and Nicky Grist, it’s long but there are some good stories in there...

https://youtu.be/9OkI6-GK4fU
25th March 2020, 19:25
SubaruNorway

Interview with Nicky Grist live on skype if you missed it earlier!
https://www.facebook.com/benjaminwar...8177516123922/
29th March 2020, 08:07
AnttiL

https://youtu.be/5Yn5tHHL268

I made English subtitles for this 1988 Kankkunen/Piironen interview programme. Many golden lines there.
13th April 2020, 12:13
dimviii

how the times change.
he bought a ascona 400,move it with his trailer,and won a wrc round.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVepFlPX...jpg&name=large
13th April 2020, 16:37
dimviii

about JOLLY CLUB

https://www.dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/w...nt-to-the-wrc/
14th April 2020, 09:23
denkimi

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimviii

how the times change.
he bought a ascona 400,move it with his trailer,and won a wrc round.

the times when you could just buy those cars and drive them with a small mechanics team.
14th April 2020, 10:33
AnttiL

Quote:

Originally Posted by denkimi

the times when you could just buy those cars and drive them with a small mechanics team.

Really the end of those times. I think Hannu Mikkola said that Audi was the first real factory team on the level of professionalism.
14th April 2020, 13:40
Rallyper

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnttiL

Really the end of those times. I think Hannu Mikkola said that Audi was the first real factory team on the level of professionalism.

I should say a "new level of professionalism" maybe, because there were as we all know, professional factoryteams before the Audi-era.
14th April 2020, 23:08
Rally Power

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rallyper

I should say a "new level of professionalism" maybe, because there were as we all know, professional factoryteams before the Audi-era.

Yep, Audi was probably the first WRC manu employing wider resources but they surely weren’t more professional than Lancia/Fiat, Ford, Opel, Peugeot and even the European teams representing Japanese brands (btw, Audi only beat those on the Safari in 1987, Audi’s WRC final year).
15th April 2020, 11:56
AnttiL

Yes, that's what I (or actually Mikkola) meant with the quote. The level of effort and budget was so enormous to anything before that.
15th April 2020, 12:44
doubled1978

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnttiL

Yes, that's what I (or actually Mikkola) meant with the quote. The level of effort and budget was so enormous to anything before that.

Yes, it wasn’t only 4wd that they changed the sport with....
15th April 2020, 16:26
Fast Eddie WRC

Talking of levels of professionalism, remember when the Teams each had spotter helicopters in the Group B days. The costs were crazy and the modern teams do it on the cheap in comparison.
15th April 2020, 16:47
AnttiL

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

Talking of levels of professionalism, remember when the Teams each had spotter helicopters in the Group B days. The costs were crazy and the modern teams do it on the cheap in comparison.

Let's do a comparison table

Number of events - now 14, then you could only count 7 best from 12-13.
Length of an event - now 300-350 km, then 500-1000 km (and then the African rallies were something else)
Number of tyres allowed - now 32 per rally per car, in two compounds - back then you could change all tyres after every stage, in unlimited types and compounds.
Number of services - roughly two hours per day, back then a quick service between every stage
Type of service - now persistent service park with lots of buildings that take days to put up and tear down, back then the service vans ran after the rally cars
Recce length - now 2 days, back then unlimited, typically several weeks
Testing days - now basically one day per driver per rally, back then teams had dedicated test drivers doing long test periods and tyres had to be tested separately
Limited parts - Only three engines per season is now allowed - back then no limits.

the list goes on...

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