WRC Croatia Rally 2021

[Myrvold]

Only one major issue... Katsuta 10/10. Stage wins are nice but when he is last WRC 20s (1s/km) behind on the stage before they don't matter much. He was also on the way to finish 7th before Greensmith hit issues. So something like 7/10.

Breen would get like 3/10 from me mostly due to hitting the curb for puncture 30m into the stage.

Greensmith 7/10 is British bias, 5/10 from me.

The second issue I have is... well, Loubet went off, so 3/10 is fair, but saying he struggled "to find any decent pace". Then later on when giving Greensmith 7/10, Greensmith "set some encouraging times". Loubet was ahead of Greensmith when he went off.

[Myrvold]

This is not showoff. This is the most important action against having an accident in the first corners of a stage because of cold tyres. Especially on slippery tarmac it is a necessary safety measure for both crew and spectators, believe it or not. All drivers do it. It is utter stupidity not to do it.

It's all fine, until something happens when warming the tyres like that.

Most important action against having an accident in the first corners are driving according to the grip you have. The best drivers in the world should be able to do that? Gryazin seemingly managed it in Croatia after his long hold.

[flykas]

I don't know about WRC, but the Wilwood A, the Carbone Lorraine RC6 and the OMP pads I have experience with do not need any warming up. They work from 100 degrees Celsius and the amazing Carbone Lorraine from ambient temperature. The Ferodo DS3000 need some slight warming to 250 degrees, but one or two hard brakings are enough. Only the old Ferodo DS11 needed significant warming-up, but these are not produced anymore.
The big danger is the tyres. Especially on slippery tarmac, cold tyres are hell. Use of handbrake on straights and braking are preferred for warming up the tyres because it is much less provocative to brake than to do slaloms on public roads. As far as I know, this method started in France because the French police gave lots of fines for slaloms. So French drivers started using the brakes and the handbrake on straights, which is not illegal, and they avoided the fines. In Greece we use the handbrake and the brakes only when warming up is done in populated areas. In all other areas slaloms are the standard method, even in front of police.

I heard that they are warming up the brakes not to make them work but to keep them warm and to keep the whole wheel warm which helps retain the heat in the tires longer.

[AnttiL]

The second issue I have is... well, Loubet went off, so 3/10 is fair, but saying he struggled "to find any decent pace". Then later on when giving Greensmith 7/10, Greensmith "set some encouraging times". Loubet was ahead of Greensmith when he went off.

True, but Greensmith seemed to drive his best WRC car event so far. He was the slowest WRC only on a few stages (not counting Sunday when he had technical issues) and didn't make his own mistakes.

[Norm75]

It's all fine, until something happens when warming the tyres like that.

Most important action against having an accident in the first corners are driving according to the grip you have. The best drivers in the world should be able to do that? Gryazin seemingly managed it in Croatia after his long hold.

Bit daft overtaking a vehicle on public highway then slamming brakes on to warm tyres. While it might need to be done to warm brakes tyres etc, some appear not to be considerate to other road users.
In that YouTube clip towards the end of the video is a tocsport Skoda that slams brakes on quite hard, Vauxhall insignia travelling behind brakes so hard the rear brake lights flash indicating heavy braking warning to following traffic. Driver of Vauxhall appears to take avoiding action by veering to the left, with an oncoming vehicle heading towards him.
A rally fan may be aware of this tyre warming procedure, Regular road users not so much.

[Jarek Z]

Audi is back

https://scontent.fktw4-1.fna.fbcdn.n...64&oe=60AD4090

[mknight]

Bit daft overtaking a vehicle on public highway then slamming brakes on to warm tyres. While it might need to be done to warm brakes tyres etc, some appear not to be considerate to other road users.
In that YouTube clip towards the end of the video is a tocsport Skoda that slams brakes on quite hard, Vauxhall insignia travelling behind brakes so hard the rear brake lights flash indicating heavy braking warning to following traffic. Driver of Vauxhall appears to take avoiding action by veering to the left, with an oncoming vehicle heading towards him.
A rally fan may be aware of this tyre warming procedure, Regular road users not so much.

I think you need to re-watch again.
- the Toksport Skoda is not overtaking anyone and had good distance behind (white Movisport Skoda before that overtakes a Citroen and hits brakes... but also into 40 km/h+speedbump+school zone and the Citroen basically doesn't need to hit brakes even though he touches them)

- the Insignia is far behind and accelerates in that low speed zone just after passing the cameraman (into a 40 km/h+speedbump+school zone, note that there is also a speedbump before the cameraman) which is why he closes up the distance. He even seems to continue to accelerate after the Skoda starts braking.

- reason why the Insignia is "avoiding" the Skoda to the left is because the Skoda gives a right indicator indicating he wants to stop/pull over, at that point both are doing like 10 km/h and the Insignia already stopped braking

[Norm75]

I know what car overtook.

Think you need to watch the video again if you think the Citroen didn’t need to brake, and the Insignia driver wasn’t doing anything wrong either, Tocsport Skoda brakes to a near standstill, way below 40 limit.

Watch again and this time from the viewpoint that you are driving the insignia, and imagine the car in front is not a rally car, then tell me if you were the driver would you consider the Skoda drivers actions acceptable driving?

[mknight]

I know what car overtook.

Think you need to watch the video again if you think the Citroen didn’t need to brake, and the Insignia driver wasn’t doing anything wrong either, Tocsport Skoda brakes to a near standstill, way below 40 limit.

Watch again and this time from the viewpoint that you are driving the insignia, and imagine the car in front is not a rally car, then tell me if you were the driver would you consider the Skoda drivers actions acceptable driving?

- Citroen didn't need to brake for Movisport Skoda, he lightly touches the brakes after that Skoda already stopped braking and has same speed as the Citroen, with one car length between (see the shadow)

- The Insignia is visibly accelerating for no reason (possibly over the legal limit) to close the distance ("fan" racing) and because of that has to brake a lot. Then he seemingly tries to start overtaking/passing immediately without using signals while the Skoda actually uses signals to indicate he is stopping/letting him pass.

I find it extremely strange that from that long vid with many cars warming the tires by crossing left-right over both lanes you pick on these two. As mentioned by others it's the warming up by slalom across the street that is frowned upon by the police. Braking is by itself legal (unless you do that a few cms in front of a car), though off course drivers should have a look in the mirror before doing that. Problem is when the guy behind is racing you for some reason, like the Insignia did.

[Norm75]

Because overtaking someone then braking immediately or slamming the brakes on with a car closely following is shit driving.