Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

**dimviii** · 13th April 2020, 12:13

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

**dimviii** · 13th April 2020, 16:37

about JOLLY CLUB

https://www.dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/w...nt-to-the-wrc/

**denkimi** · 14th April 2020, 09:23

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.

**AnttiL** · 14th April 2020, 10:33

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.

**Rallyper** · 14th April 2020, 13:40

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.

**Rally Power** · 14th April 2020, 23:08

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).

**AnttiL** · 15th April 2020, 11:56

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.

**doubled1978** · 15th April 2020, 12:44

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....

**Fast Eddie WRC** · 15th April 2020, 16:26

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.

**AnttiL** · 15th April 2020, 16:47

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...