Rally Acropolis 2018 (June 1-3)

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Surely there should be tyres able to better withstand these rough rallies ?

It would be good to see driver's able to test their speed and car set-up and suspension here, rather than mainly who can best protect their tyres...

[RS]

Surely there should be tyres able to better withstand these rough rallies ?

It would be good to see driver's able to test their speed and car set-up and suspension here, rather than mainly who can best protect their tyres...

I agree.. of course you are always going to get more punctures on an event such as this but here (and in Portugal WRC2) it was excessive, and I fear the same again in Cyprus and Sardinia.

Maybe someone can tell us, do they really use the same tyres here as they would use in Finland, or New Zealand for example?

[Mirek]

Surely there should be tyres able to better withstand these rough rallies ?

It would be good to see driver's able to test their speed and car set-up and suspension here, rather than mainly who can best protect their tyres...

Anything is possible but there is one principal issue with that - without proper involvement of the works teams tyre manufacturers won't bother to prepare anything special. But people are calling for ERC to be a privateer championship and that simply means that the teams are bound to use what is possible to buy from the shelf.

That's why I also think that it would be good for the organizers to rethink the route and consider skipping some of the roughest sections. The works teams can cope with that for sure (remember Škoda Dakar-like setups for IRC Rally Sibiu for example) but for the privateers it's more or less an expensive lottery.

[Sal the 2nd]

Anything is possible but there is one principal issue with that - without proper involvement of the works teams tyre manufacturers won't bother to prepare anything special. But people are calling for ERC to be a privateer championship and that simply means that the teams are bound to use what is possible to buy from the shelf.

That's why I also think that it would be good for the organizers to rethink the route and consider skipping some of the roughest sections. The works teams can cope with that for sure (remember Škoda Dakar-like setups for IRC Rally Sibiu for example) but for the privateers it's more or less an expensive lottery.

Its a bit of a dilemma. On one hand organisers get stick for not making their events "traditional" enough and then when they do they get flak for making them too rough, too fast or too short. Having said that it's obvious that today's ERC is basically a championship for well healed privateers/young drivers without the full support of a manufacturer and therefore the machinery is not always up to the task that a full factory/WRC car and team would be able to deal with.

A good driver should be able to deal with any conditions (Colin won the Acropolis on several occasions and he had as we all know a rep for wrecking cars) and maybe this is not a bad lesson for the current crop however when the rest of the championship (Cyprus apart) is run on smooth-ish roads then maybe a rough event is too much out of keeping with the other rallies and its time for a change in approach.

[Lehus]

Maybe someone can tell us, do they really use the same tyres here as they would use in Finland, or New Zealand for example?

Actually there are no other options. You have few tires to choose from, and have to figure out how to survive in different conditions.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The experience of Magalhaes paid off here re tyres and the others need to learn the lesson.

Luky was also trying to be more careful with the tyres and slowed down, but maybe this caused another problem - a drop in concentration...

[dimviii]

Actually there are no other options. You have few tires to choose from, and have to figure out how to survive in different conditions.

Congrats fr your pass at 13,2 km of Thiva.
World class pass!

[bomber21]

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[bomber21]

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These are two pics I took from Acropolis Rally. First is from SS Grammeni an second from SS Amfissa.