Your greatest rallying moments

Seeing as this is a new forum, and the WRC is now in its winter break, I thought it might be interesting to resurrect this old thread idea. What are your favourite rallying moments, from the WRC or other series? They could be particularv drives, particular events as a whole, or particular incidents. Here's a selection from me, rather off the top of my head, to get things going...

- The 1983 1000 Lakes Rally. An incredible event, featuring one of the greatest drives of all time: Hannu Mikkola's recovery from 143rd place after the 1st stage to win from Blomqvist and Alen.

- The 1987 Portuguese Rally. Has there ever been a more spectacular performance in an underdog car than Jean Ragnotti's drive to second place on that occasion in the Renault 11 Turbo, pressurising Alen all the way, even in the wet?

- The 1987 Manx International. A drive to rival Ragnotti's from Pentti, in contention for the title in the Kadett GSi; he led while the Cosworths were fighting back from early incidents, charging all the way to make up for his power deficit.

- The 1985 RAC Rally. A really legendary event. No wonder it attracted the biggest crowd ever seen on the RAC: the entry list was the best of the year, and Tony Pond's performance in the Metro 6R4 deserved that level of attention.

- The 1987 RAC Rally, for Alen's early roll and subsequent mishaps; Derek Bell stalling in the water on live TV, along with all the other British-entered Kadetts; tremendous performances by Louise Aitken-Walker and Jimmy McRae; and Kankkunen becoming the first man to successfully defend the world title.

- The 1985 San Remo, for Walter Rohrl's majestically victorious performance in the incredible Sport Quattro S1.

- The 1985 Monte Carlo Rally, and one of the great recovery drives from Vatanen.

- The 1981 Monte. Who would have believed that Ragnotti would win in the Renault 5 Turbo? And it was the Quattro's WRC debut.

- The 1964 Monte. Well before my time, but the Mini Cooper S' first win has to rank amongst the most amazing moments in world rallying history.

Maybe 81 too for me to see Mikkola driving the Quattro, other one was when Tommi won his first 1000 Lakes with the Ford. It's difficult actually to pick, there has been so many.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

Seeing as this is a new forum, and the WRC is now in its winter break, I thought it might be interesting to resurrect this old thread idea. What are your favourite rallying moments, from the WRC or other series? They could be particularv drives, particular events as a whole, or particular incidents. Here's a selection from me, rather off the top of my head, to get things going...

---

Unfortunately for me I never got to see a rally before '88 so all my rally memories are of rallies that are nothing compared to the ones mentioned. Being young I remember cars and drivers more than what actualy happened. Before the mid to late 90's it's somewhat of a blur tbh :)

I´m probably forgetting one or two, but it´s quite a list already:

* 1964 Monte Carlo - As BDunnell said, amazing moment in rallying history. Mini Cooper on top!

* 1980 Portugal - Classic fight between Alén and Röhrl. Not the first, nor the last one. Always close fights and this was their best.

* 1981 Monte Carlo - Revolutionizing Audi Quattro enters the scene, stunning everyone. Historical moment in Rallying.

* 1981 Sanremo - First win for a women. It´s about time a new Michele Mouton enters the scene soon.

* 1983 1000 Lakes - What a comeback from Hannu. Certaintly one of his greatest drives in all those years he´s been competing.

* 1985 Monte Carlo - Ari Vatanen on top. Great drive.

* 1985 RAC Rally - Probably one of the best Rally´s in the whole Group B era.

* 1986 Monte Carlo - Great event, great entry and seeing a great driver winning it.

* 1988 1000 Lakes - Real breaktrough for one of my personal favorites. Didier Auriol getting to 3td place in his Sierra Cosworth.

* 1988 RAC - Last win for Alén. Magnificent driver, maximum power all the time :up:

* 1992 Monte Carlo - Most beautifull Rallycar ever winning the event, driven by one of my favourite drivers too.

* 1999 Finland - Best last win for a driver like Kankkunen.

* 2001 Portugal - Most interesting rally´s in recent years. Great battle between Mäkinen and Sainz.

* 2002 Safari - Last real rally..

* 2003 Deutschland - My first visit to a WRC event. Worth mentioning it. Never seen that many WRC´s in one rally :up:

* 2005 Australia - Was just great to see Colin going like hell in the Fabia. Stayed up nights and days following the event.

I forgot to mention the 1984 Ulster International, on which Walter Rohrl deputised for Hannu Mikkola, and made the British debut of the Sport Quattro. Before the start, he was interviewed for the ITV highlights broadcast and asked whether, because he was in effect testing the car and not in title contention, he'd be taking it easy. His reply? "No, because to test properly, you have to go even more flat out than usual." The first shot of the TV broadcast showed a field of cows all running away from the side of the road as the Sport Quattro approached. Of course, Rohrl blitzed the rest of the field and won easily. It was the last win for a factory Group B Audi in the British Open Championship.

81 Circuit of Ireland, Rothmans Escorts!! Was young but remember before the event a promotional night, racing on the slot set they had set up(Rothmans liveried MK1 Escorts!!) had to give the controls over to Pentti and Ari :-/

The 1987 Portuguese Rally. I remember in early 87, at a friends house about to go see a rally, feeling down about the end of GpB, he had recorded this and we watched it, after seeing Ragnotti's drive things didnt seem so bad :-)

The 87 Ulster Rally, Bertie Fisher in a Manta, trying to keep pace with Lovell in the Sierra, trading seconds all the way, 'technology' finally won

88? Ulster, waiting for a mad young Scot driving a Nova at each stage

90,91,92,93,94 RAC Rallies, watching the rise of Colin McRae on these events

95 RAC The atmosphere at the finish, and on the stages, unforgetable

99 RAC First event with a press pass.... Sweet Lamb stage, the best spectator area in the world, why oh why does Rally GB not use it now?

2003 Germany, a great rally to follow, 1st non English speaking event :-)

2006 NZ Eye in the Sky!! Watching Gronholm, that guy makes it look so easy

lots of other great events, but these are probaly the highlights

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cut the b.s.

The 87 Ulster Rally, Bertie Fisher in a Manta, trying to keep pace with Lovell in the Sierra, trading seconds all the way, 'technology' finally won

---

That was brilliant. So too was Fisher's battle with Stig Blomqvist on the '83 Ulster, which ended up with Stig taking the first international rally win for a Quattro on asphalt, but not by much. It must have been one of Blomqvist's few tarmac wins, too.

Jean Ragnotti also won the Tour de Course 1985 with the renault 5 maxi turbo. It was his only wrc entry of that year I believe, going against lancia, audio and peugeot. Pretty amazing feat.

If I remember correct, in 2003 marcus gronholm made a momumentum recovery to win New Zealand. He crashes out and was way in the bottom of the rank, I think richard burns or someone on top has problems and then Carlos Sainz in 1st or 2nd place has time service error and lost a minute. And than marcus fought back to win the rally.

First I just wanted to say I'm new hear and I think that this is a great forum. My favourite era of rallying is the late60's to late 80's although I still love the current WRC. Anyway my favourite moments was when:
- J.P nicolas won the 78 Monte Carlo rally in a Porsche 911
- Juha Kankkkunen won the first Australian WRC round
- 1997-1999 won four consecutive titles.
- 2001 Richard Burns won the championship by 2 points
- 2006 when Loeb was out for the rest of the seaon and Gronholm had a chance of winning but Loeb won by 1 point.

:) :) :) :) :)

Having Stiq Blomqvist's Skoda expire near me whilst I was marshalling at Rally Australia in 96 and having him sign the log book of my Group A GT-Four, then driving he and his co-driver in it to the start of the stage.

"We don't want to make your nice car dirty." As if I cared!