Quote Originally Posted by MrJan View Post
Not even 'the old days', seem to remember Loeb doing it fairly recently. Although in '96/'97 (around then, can't recall which exact year) Makinen lost a rear wheel in Rally GB but was stopped by the police from carrying on. IIRC Gronholm had a similar problem a few years later. Of course the cars still have to comply with traffic laws of the country, people have been stopped for speeding in the past at several events.

Things didn't used to be quite so strict there's a great video of Ari Vatanen on a rally in the UK where they borrow the driveshaft from a spectator's road car (think it was a Capri)

Edit: Was actually the diff - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LmzOKiJfiQ
The reason why it is now forbidden is exactly that the outcome was completely unpredictable and as such quite unfair. Sometimes the traffic police closed eyes and the show went on (Loeb in Mexico for example), sometimes the police was strict and the crew was fucked (Mäkinen in GB). Now the rules are stricter but same for everybody.