Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

[lmmjvss]

What I meant about the Hype about Dakar was "THE HYPE", not the actuaaal race, cuz yep, it is a great racing. But I was feeling that the whole "OH NOW EVERYBODY WANTS TO RACE DAKAR" hype was cooling off, u'know?
Just read that Audi is shutting down their program to focus on F1, for example. Such a shame, that was a really cool and different car. WEC hype will probably also cool off after 2025 (maybe?) Same way Rallycross, TouringCars and FormulaE hypes ended. Motocross is experiencing this huuuuge boom with Stark, Beta, GasGas, Triumph, Ducatti all joining (or at least trying to join) the American and World Championships.
Cycles... motorsport is all about Cycles.

[Rallyper]

Haven´t seen Dimviii for a while now. Anyone did? Would like to share a good cup of coffee with him again. Or beer...

[dimviii]

here i am Per!
will you come at Greece again?

[Rallyper]

here i am Per!
will you come at Greece again?

Aaahhh! Great!! I´d like to. Nothing written in stone yet. We´ll see.

[lmmjvss]

Sudden Thoughts: If we exclude "WRC" from "Rally discussions in life in general", theres no "discussions" anymore.. just good racing, great videos on the internet, great fun for drivers and spectators, rad cars, ugly cars, people trying new weird stuff. MAYBE the WORLD Championship is the problem........... We keep talking about this here and it sucks and we are missing all the great stories happening in every other national championship, local championship...... u'know? We are not sharing local stories, we are not talking bout OUR rally cars... we keep talking about WHAT MILLION EURO CARS THESE RICH COMPANIES SHOULD BE RACING NEXT YEAR? hahaha dammit, WRC is losing me day by day

[Rallyper]

Sudden Thoughts: If we exclude "WRC" from "Rally discussions in life in general", theres no "discussions" anymore.. just good racing, great videos on the internet, great fun for drivers and spectators, rad cars, ugly cars, people trying new weird stuff. MAYBE the WORLD Championship is the problem........... We keep talking about this here and it sucks and we are missing all the great stories happening in every other national championship, local championship...... u'know? We are not sharing local stories, we are not talking bout OUR rally cars... we keep talking about WHAT MILLION EURO CARS THESE RICH COMPANIES SHOULD BE RACING NEXT YEAR? hahaha dammit, WRC is losing me day by day

10+

So I change subject.

Guys, what rallycars did you own and actually drove in (local) rallies? Tell me. Brand, years (wins?) etz.
I promise I will give answers too.
Please, get started!!

[becher]

EPS Motorsport is building a replica of the mid engined quattro mule, one can follow the build on YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@EPSDaveRowe?feature=shared

[fiscorpun]

I have a feeling that Toyota will not win WRC and WEC in 2024. Add losing Dakar too.
It could be a "bad" year for the Japanese brand.

[240RS]

Monte Shakedown confirmed what many suspected all along - the drivers' championship is a three-horse race.

If you add the interloopers - Ogier, Rovanpera and Lappi - you get a total of 6 who can realistically win a round outright. Overall, Abiteboul's stated target of 5/6 wins would appear low if he is keen on both championships. It does appear that Toyota and Hyundai will split all 13 rounds between them. Even allowing for a higher ratio of second car placings, the minimum target cannot be less than 7.

On a different note, there is bound to be an intense rivalry between Neuville and Tanak. Some tasty fights worth looking forward to.

[Morte66]

I suppose since I decided on Thursday morning to support Pajari in WRC2 because I like the sound of his name, I should pass some comments on him.

It turns out he's Finnish (I thought he was Hungarian) and drives for Toyota. He looks so young. He has a woman co-driver, Enni Mälkönen, which is nice to see. He won JWRC, I knew I'd heard of him somewhere.

I watched him through the stages in RMC. He... came for snow and ice, and kind of ambled around on the tarmac. I suppose I shall draw comfort from him coming top of the drivers who weren't entered for points. I am also tickled that Ciamin said at one stage end that he was in a battle with Pajari because I don't think Pajari was having a battle with Ciamin.

So, I think he'll do.

The Toyota 3-cylinder, though, sounds like half a V6. Not good.

Roll on Sweden.