Very nice entrylist, a surprise to see Matthias Kahle in a competitive car again!
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Very nice entrylist, a surprise to see Matthias Kahle in a competitive car again!
8 Fabias, 3 Fiestas and one DS3 in R5. Not a single Peugeot 208.
Some photos from Valašská rallye 2016 at http://www.rallylife.cz/35-rocksteel...ally-2016-nowi
Some onboards from valašská rally are available: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy.html
With Černý You can watch SS1 and SS6. SS6 is quite a special kind of stage held on a testing polygon of Tatra. It used to be part of Barum rally in 90' but hasn't been used since.
Test of Karel Trojan with Fabia R5 from two different stages (test area in Bělá pod Bezdězem and former Bohemia stage Březovice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaQT...ature=youtu.be
One more onboard of Černý from Valašská rally. The last (and the nicest) stage of the rally: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8674.html
Strange to see BMW and Mini advertised on a Porsche.
For those who come to Šumava... due to an enormous number of entrants the timetable has to be modified. It will be soon released. Therefore wait a bit with the final planning.
Yesterday it was 40 years since Roman Kresta was born - in a house next to the road which would later become a stage Kopná with which his entire rally life is bound. He was one of several drivers who managed to get from nothing up to the works WRC team. As a young man from a common family without any rallying background he started his career as a mechanic in a small local team. First time he tried to drive with a Škoda Favorit in Horácká rally 1994. His main characteristic is perfectionism, his ability to work incredibly hard and to go deep into every problem. He spent incredible time studying how stuff works. Later he drove Felicia first in the narrow version and then the Kit Car.
In 2000 Škoda Motorsport gave him a chance to drive their Octavia WRC and Roman used it winning the Czech title and being the youngest ever driver to win the ERC Barum Rally. Next year he repeated the Czech title although he started in only four events. On the other hand he had a chance to try first WRC events and it proved to be a really tough challenge. Two technical problems and two accidents caused him not to finish a single event.
2002 season started with one of the most spectacular crashes in the rallying history. Roman's Octavia hanging upon a ridge on the telegraph pole is something what probably every rally fan have seen at least once. Overal the WRC season wasn't anything special to speak about. For next season Roman moved to French team Bozian Racing in which he felt like in a family as he once said. His best result was 8th place in Wales. It's worth mentioning that in that time it was out of 28 starters with WRC cars.
2004 season started with a hell ride on the icy roads of Monte Carlo with a privately entered Hyundai Accent WRC. Sadly a technical problem stopped him from reaching the finish. He was battling all the time for 6-7th place among 21 WRC cars. Another two starts in WRC ended with crashes - another famous one crashing into the standing car of Dani Solá (from 8th place of 23 WRC) and the second one in Germany in his return into Škoda works car. He was leading Škoda driver getting up to the 5th place of 23 WRC drivers with seriously underpowered first evolution of Fabia WRC.
2005 was the year. Roman was number two driver of Ford works team in their transition season. The expectations were high and sadly the pressure from sponsors was too high for Roman. Started well in Monte Carlo but a ripped wheel off spoiled the show. At least he is forever written in the list of people who managed to win the most famous stage over the Col de Turini. The first half of the season didn't go well, the worst moment was a big accident in shakedown of New Zaeland. Than came a story with changing co-drivers once and back. Anyway the second half of the season went reasonably well but sadly there was no will of the sponsors to continue.
2006 was a big downfall. Roman spent most of the time with development testing in M-Sport. He drove the useless Fiesta S1600 in BRC. The only positive highlihg was his only start at home. First time with production car he easily won Barum Rally, for the third time. In 2007 he was doing things like setting cars for Argentinian Ford drivers but without his own drive. He did only four events in CZ, all with gr.N car.He won Bohemia and Český Krumlov, crashed from first place in Šumava. His main highlight which restarted his career came in now IRC Barum rally. He lost 2:45 with changing tyre in SS2 but finished 4th only 2:28 behind the winning works Peugeot team.
2008 brought another Czech title with gr.N car but the main challenge IRC Barum rally stayed undefeated. Having rented a Peugeot 207 S2000 he crashed very hard in stage Pindula. 2009 another Czech title and 4th place in IRC Barum rally as the top scoring private driver behind Kopecký, Meeke and Hänninen. 2009 brought another milestone - Kresta Racing team was established, now one of the best and biggest teams in Czech republic. 2010 was a busy season. Some fun starts with gr.N car all around the world (the highlight being 6th place overall in IRC Cyprus Rally), Czech rallysprint title with gr.N car against WRC but only 4th place in Czech championship and another heavy accident in Barum rally - again with renting a new car for just this rally - Fabia S2000.
2011 and another Czech title, this time after a hard fight with his arch rival Pech but "only" 8th place in very strongly entered Barum rally. 2012 season brought back Škoda works team into CZech championship and Jan Kopecký managed to defeat Roman. Despite that Roman showed once more he can still drive when he finished second in Barum rally behind Juho Hänninen. It shall be also mentioned that Roman helped Škoda works team with the developepment of the S2000 car.
2013 and 2014 were kind of farewell seasons with only several starts. Roman managed to finish 5th in Barum 2013 coming back even stronger for one-shot Barum rally 2014. Sadly a stupid technical problem (cracked exhaust manifold) stopped him while leading the rally. Since 2015 Roman doesn't drive anymore, moreover after his long time co-driver Petr Gross suffered very serious injury in a rally accident from which he hasn't recovered. But there's still a hope that we could see him again behind the wheel. Last year before Barum rally he drove the Fabia R5 of Jaromír Tarabus in the test to help him with setup. He was very happy about the car and his words gave a hope he might try once more with this car. He has two in his team now so maybe...
Recently Roman Kresta lives in Luhačovice, close to Barum rally center Zlín, has a family and two children. His main job is preparing cars and setups for other rally drivers. He is also an expert on Reiger dampers. His testing stage is - well, part of the Kopná stage.
One funny note at the end. Pavel Dresler, now co-driver of Jan Kopecký, has been a huge fan of Roman Kresta and it's a bit funny that he later became co-driver of his big rival (in fact there is bigger rivality among the fans than the two drivers themselves).
http://www.autosport.cz/img/clanky/b...0729884085.jpg
Nice story of even more nice man. Happy Birthday!!
A nice video of Škoda test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls2MUu_YZas
Unfortunately Kostka can not start in Šumava.
What is the reason that he is not able to start?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Car is not ready. He was supposed to start with Lukyanuk's car damaged in Ireland, but some parts didnt arrived in time.Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
Online results of Rally Šumava tomorrow since 17:25: http://rally-base.com/2016/rallye-sumava-klatovy-2016/
Historic ERC Rally Vltava since 15:30: http://rally-base.com/2016/historic-vltava-rallye-2016/
This is how SS6 looked today :eek:
https://scontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ce&oe=57AAD8E5
Anyway latest forecast says that it shall be all dry during the rally. Mornings will be very cold but since there is no early morning stage I don't expect some problems with ice.
First stage win for Pech - but maybe his last this year.
Yeah, much slower on the 'normal' SS2.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiat-131-Abarth
Pech is really insane. Fastest driver behind the works Skodas
I don't think his driving is, but I'd love to see some onboards from Sumava.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiat-131-Abarth
Valousek doing a good job, up to third now.
Had a good day today in the beautiful weather (it was snowing for three days but the weather got really warm and sunny today). Saw shakedown, SS1 and SS3. I decided not to spectate the night section as it started too late. Also met some people in service, among them our forum member Jeppe currently fighting on 8th place in historics :)
What I can say...
Kopecký - league on his own, very precise, spectacular but not brutal driving (now it looks like he made some mistake on SS5, but nothing major), his main advantage today was that he keeps extra speed in very fast or even dangerous places where others are more cautious, I don't think he risks more, he is rather more precise
Tidemand - very aggresive but cautious in really difficult fast places
Pech - very nice driving, very accurate as always but the car is all about power, in corners it's a lot slower than R5 cars, also often touching ground by the sumpguard
Dohnal - quite nice driving but he has reasonable advantage in his car, he nearly went off in front of me in SS3
Valoušek - looking comfortable, fluent and rather safe, no crazy things from him today
Černý - very spectacular and aggresive, hard to say if it's possible to do much more with S2000, he looked crazy fast on SS1 but he spent loads of time in RPM limiter there
Odložilík - better than expected, really nice driving
Jakeš - I had a feeling that the car lacks a lot of power, maybe only the feeling but it looked really lazy
Kopáček - a league of his own in gr.N, a bit crazy on SS1 with a very spectacular safe of a near crash
Kristiansen (for our Norvegian members :) ) - I think he shall do some proper asphalt training, he is for sure brave, takes some risk, drives very spectacular but he drives too brutal and agressive, for example he steers with very sharp rapid movements, he would be for sure faster if he drives in more fluent and clean way
I forgot one thing. Érik Comas with the Stratos is a very nice surprise in historics. He's driving very well and finally I saw someone who drives Stratos really fast! :)
EDIT: Once I wrote it he retired with broken gearbox while having a one minute lead :(
4 s/km lost for Pech on the city stage (12 seconds on 3 km). Also today's stages have many chicanes. I think the car is way too clumsy for this type of tight obstacles. By the way he is on Hakooks.
First short onboard shot of Pech with a mistake in junction: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8702.html
Kopáček unfortunately all the time today with some technical problems and moreover a costly off on SS8...
Final results of Histric Rally Vltava. Sadly we lost both fastest drivers today, Comas (Lancia Stratos) retired with broken driveshaft with a big lead and Myrsell (911 RS) retired with broken engine. On the other hand it helped our friend Jeppe to finish 5th overall (4th in ERC) :)
1. Jensen (911 RS) 1:30:22,2
2. Ballek (Impreza 555) +1:13,3 (only Czech championship)
3. Silvasti (911 RS) +1:29,9
4. Jansson (Escort RS2000) +4:08,6
5. Kirvesmäki/Jämsen (Corolla GT) +4:46,2
6. Jírovec (BMW E30 M3) +5:27,8 (only Czech championship)
7. Káňa (Sierra RS Cosworth) +5:30,4 (only Czech championship)
8. Storäng (Escort RS2000) +5:57,1
9. Wirtman (Escort RS1600) +6:09,3
10. Mekler (Alfa 1750 GTAm) +7:24,2
Final results of Rally Šumava. Out of top 20 starters only 1 retired (!!!) - Štajf with broken steering rod (probably he hit something). Today the most important thing was that Černý managed to climb from 6th to 4th place. Pech lost quite a lot of time in the first runs and it looked like he may loose even 6th place but he managed to fight back in the second loop and climbed to 5th. After all the problems of Kopáček Szeja brothers from Poland won the gr.N classification.
1. Kopecký (Fabia R5) 1:19:05,9
2. Tidemand (Fabia R5) +26,1
3. Valoušek (Fabia R5) +1:05,8
4. Černý (Fabia S2000) +1:36,4
5. Pech (997 GT3) +1:47,3
6. Dohnal (Focus WRC 08) +2:02,8
7. Odložilík (Fiesta R5) +2:08,8
8. Sýkora (Fabia R5) +2:53,0
9. Jakeš (DS3 R5) +3:01,6
10. Trněný (Fabia WRC) +3:30,4
12. Kristiansen (Fabia S2000) +4:15,2
14. Kahle (Fabia R5) +5:03,4
15. Szeja (Impreza STI gr.N) +5:43,7
Overshoot of Kopecký from SS5: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8713.html
Kopáček off on SS8 (those damned chicanes again): http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8711.html
Retirement of Štajf - the steering rod got broken without hitting anything in the video but it may have been damaged from something before
http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8715.html
Now I see that mediasport puts the videos also on youtube.
Accident of Růžička on shakedown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9gzW1c3CI0
Spin of Jelínek on SS1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H866Vf1wQRg
What's wrong with Kahle?! It this his current speed?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Congratulations to Kopecky and Szeja!!!
Kahle drove a new R5 car which his co-driver bought (I think). It was clear he was learning the car driving very cautious. He shall drive next events of Czech championship too. Let's see how he can progress.
For me the real alarming "What's wrong?" question goes to Jakeš. Aside of the car which didn't seem to run very well I didn't see any sign of speed with him. It looked like he was just cruising. I just don't know...
Szeja has made an incredible progress for the time being here in CZ. He still drives quite dangerous way in my opinion but he got really fast (I saw one his strange big moment at approximately 160 km/h).
By the way Kopáček drove all four stages of the first loop with broken driveshaft and as he tried to keep Szeja behind him he made that off.
Kopecky-no surprise for winning this rally, actually anything else as victory would be deep disappointing for him...
About Pech-over the season he will improve more.
Kahle-biggest disappointment of the race.
Spectacular video of the rally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QndS8wWhYs
Very good video! Thanks for sharing!
Spectacular, indeed!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
And video from JNK. Super spectacular and I'm pretty sure none other can beat it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI3fXz45-QA
Only for notification - Kahle was sick last two days before the rally. Also after shakedown he wasnt so well, so he was also going to medical check. But he wanted to start.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ucci
First full stage onboards: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy.html
One for Ucci with Pech over a normal Czech stage: http://www.mediasport.cz/rally/onboardy/8728.html
I have to say that for me the onboards with Mini were way more entertaining for me and he also drove a lot more sideways with it than with the Porsche. But ok, it's the beginning.
video: Rally Šumava + Vltava https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1ZosI2ExwQ
Thanks Mirek for sharing this Pech's onboard, here is my observation :Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
- the stage is almost ''tailored'' for P911 GT3, except extreme bumpy surface (as 99% of Czech stages are). We must be aware, that P911 has a very short suspension travel and therefore the main issue for Pech & team is going to be adaptation of circuit suspension to those extreme requirements. The suspension travel is probably biggest disatvantage compare to S2000 / R5 cars and even to gr.N evos & subys...Not to mention ''stupid'' speed barriers, which are preventing Pech to exploit full speed advantage on long straights. But this is also a security matter, so let it be....
- at the moment are the steering inputs by Pech very ''soft'' - if you watch onboards from Zeltner, you notice immediately, that his inputs were much more agressive. This is just a proof that Pech doesn't trust at the moment 100% to the car.....
- looking back the huge progress which Invelt team made with Mini RRC, I do not doubt that they will perform in the similar manner with P911. That way I'm looking positive in the future for Pech & team.
I don't agree about the steering. Ideally the steering on asphalt shall be done in a soft gentle way with minimum corrections. Look at Meeke or Loeb. Those two steer very gently. Maybe Lundefaret can tell us more but I do believe that sharp steering is mostly a habbit as it helps feeling the car more. Sometimes it can be a result of lesser confidence. There are still enough examples of drivers who are very fast even with very sharp steering and therefore it's hardly a rule that You must steer softly to be fast.
Still I believe that soft and gentle approach is faster if You are confident to drive that way. See this onboard of Meeke, that looks even like he's brigning no effort into the driving: http://www.mediasport.cz/jezdci---ra...-kris/928.html
But I do agree that Pech will get faster with the car. On thew other hand rallies a lot more difficult for the car are about to come (Hustopeče, Barum).