| Author |
Message |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 705
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 1:02 am: | |
Barcelona!....Now there's a city!
I agree, rally Sweden is best enjoyed with a beer or glass of wine, a fire in the wood burning stove and my feet up. Call me soft....
V |
Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Intermediate Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 1269
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 10:55 pm: | |
Catalun(tilde)a! Party in Barcelona during and relax after the fact in the beaches.
Just none of those Nordic countries please. They're some of the most entertaining to watch, but I think I'd rather do that from the warmth and comfort of home!
Cheers |
rick catalano (Tatcat)
Junior Member
Username: Tatcat
Post Number: 97
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 10:52 pm: | |
greece might be nice. probably affordable too. monte carlo would be top notch but with a price tag to match. |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 698
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 9:21 pm: | |
BTW, 2004 season. |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 697
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2003 - 9:20 pm: | |
Cypress was sick. That island just eats cars!!!
What do you guys think of a WRC trip. 10 days in a country including the first or last weekend watching the WRC. I'm checking on some connections.
Vincent. |
Ronny Jones (Ronny)
New member
Username: Ronny
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 - 12:02 pm: | |
I agree that the drivers in the WRC are possibly the best all-round drivers out there. It's rare that a circuit racer can make a successful transition to rallying, whereas rally drivers are generally quick in all disciplines. Remember Colin McRae trying the Stewart F1 a few years ago ?
Talking of McRae, I read the other day he has just bought a Murcielago ( sic? )
Ron |
DamonB (Prova7)
Junior Member
Username: Prova7
Post Number: 69
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2003 - 10:18 am: | |
I love WRC! I was watching I think the Swedish rally one night and it's snowing hard while guys are doing 80 mph down a forest lane barely wide enough for the car to pass through. My gf walked in and asked if those guys get hurt a lot! I laughed and explained sometimes you hit car-size rocks, or big trees, or fall off mountains into the trees, or a goat wanders into the road, your car catches fire and burns to the ground, you tear off an entire corner of the car, your engine grenades, you roll over into a ditch and a crowd of people comes to throw you out again, you drive for miles on flat tires and then you get to spend the night in some tent in the middle of no where.
These guys are a special breed and I say some of the best in the world. |
rick catalano (Tatcat)
Junior Member
Username: Tatcat
Post Number: 95
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Monday, June 23, 2003 - 2:37 am: | |
speed channel does a good job of coverage.in car cameras are fun. i love it when they roll over. very amusing. rallying is truly the essence of motorsport. awesome. |
izel k. (Ferrarist)
Junior Member
Username: Ferrarist
Post Number: 246
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, June 21, 2003 - 3:34 pm: | |
I agree Vincent!
I was working in the media accreditation team at Rally of Turkey! And it was so nice to see all the WRC drivers and cars.
I watched the 20mins Subaru service on the service park. It was really amazing.
I wish i had a video camera with me. |
DGS (Dgs)
New member
Username: Dgs
Post Number: 40
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 2:43 am: | |
"As I mentioned, I don't really keep track anymore because it's hard to in the U.S."
I got DirecTV just to get Speed Channel for F1 coverage -- but they also cover WRC and SCCA ProRally in the US (although the SCCA coverage is a bit spotty). DirecTV was a pretty good investment, as there's lots of other good stuff on lots and lots of channels -- for about what I was paying for a third of the channels on cable.
You've probably heard by now, but the Lancer Evolution _is_ available in the US now -- without the active center diff or active yaw control, but still pretty impressive for $30K -- and it out-brakes the 360. The WRX STi just appeared here, too, with a NorthAmer-only 2.5L 300HP mill.
From the reports, the EVO still out-handles the STi. Most of the reporters consider the EVO "too edgy" for normal street use --- but by Ferrari standards ... ;)
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Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Intermediate Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 1045
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 2:25 am: | |
DGS,
Yeah, I found out after I posted. As I mentioned, I don't really keep track anymore because it's hard to in the U.S. Citroen...can't say I'm too happy with that either.
I do think that Mitsubishi might be planning to nab Sainz, and wouldn't be surprised if Sainz wants to head that way too.
Celica! Those were very cool.
Also agree about the other classes. There is a lot of good racing and it's also cool to see how drivers handle machines of different configurations.
Cheers |
DGS (Dgs)
New member
Username: Dgs
Post Number: 37
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 10:01 pm: | |
Taek, have you forgotten that El Matador is with Citroen this year? Only a one year contract, though. I wonder if he might be in an EVO next year, as Mitsu released their drivers when they decided to take a year off.
Carlos is awesome. I had one or two good years in local SCCA events, but Carlos has remained near the top of the WRC leader board for well over a decade. Impressive. Of course, I'm probably a bit biased, as my winter car is the homologation of the Celica ST-165 he took to the '91 WRC championship.
Vincent, the backfiring is the anti-lag system. A controlled backfire is used to keep the turbo spooled up.
I love the WRC and SCCA TV coverage, but I wish there was more coverage on the other classes, not just the "unlimited" machines.
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Jack Habits (Ferraristuff)
Member
Username: Ferraristuff
Post Number: 770
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 3:14 am: | |
Vincent,
If MS call those cars very predictable, I wonder what you could call a F1 car... Plain boring?
Hahahahahaha!
I think he might have said that in defence of F1 but IMHO the competition is so tough in rallying that everybody tunes their car to the max.
We often have split-screen shorts here comparing the fastest drivers and 13 KM (or more) long stages with only a couple of 10's of a second difference but HUGE differences in driving style.
GREAT!
As far as I know, the backfire comes from running the engines overly rich and not completely cutting off fuel supply when they lift the throttle.
Jack |
Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Intermediate Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 1041
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 2:42 am: | |
Well Michael Schumacher is a different story.
If they can power a toaster I'm sure he could find a way to steer it and break some sort of record in it.
For any other mortal, there is no way that rallying can by easy. It might be predictable, but you can't account for every rock that's going to throw your car offline while you're flying down a dirt road. Can't account for ice on the snow stages either. To top it off, these psychos go at it mere feet from huge drops and trees. One small mistake and off the edge you go (it has happened before)!
RESPECT! Then again, I imagine these WRC guys are not all there upstairs to sign up to do this sort of thing.
Cheers |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 554
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2003 - 12:28 am: | |
Jack,
I agree, though I heard an interview with MS who said that those cars are very predictable and thus not much of a challenge. I think MS is awesome but I'd like to see how he reacts to the bonnet lifting up halfway through a stage. Martin only lost 5 seconds, amazing.
I have a question: those cars seem to backfire a lot. Why? Is it the constant feathering of the gas as they search for traction?
Vincent. |
Jack Habits (Ferraristuff)
Member
Username: Ferraristuff
Post Number: 766
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 9:00 pm: | |
I LOVE the WRC!
To be honest, I respect those guys much more than any track racer.
To me, racing on a track is like racing in a laboratory...
Rallying is REAL racing!
Ever changing road conditions, not knowing the track etc.
I love to watch it on TV and we have pretty good coverage here in The Netherlands.
Jack |
Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 985
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 2:35 pm: | |
Yeah, I bought the Eclipse because I loved Mitsubishi's Lancer, but the car wasn't available in the U.S. The Eclipse 4wd was the closest with it's turbo and 4wd. I know, miles from a Lancer, but I was thinking of massaging the powerplant to Lancer status. Decided against it when I realized everyone with an Eclipse was putting exhaust cans and all other sorts of silly stuff with no intention of performance gains. Didn't quite want to be associated with that community, and the ralley community here is pretty sparse. As a matter of fact, I didn't think there WAS a ralley community at all in the U.S.
My all time favorite marque has to be the Lancia. Those Evo IIs are awesome. If I still lived in Europe I would get one. Those were beautiful cars.
But, I've always loved the Lancers as well. Ugly but brutally effective.
The feet definitely do their dance. Funny thing is that their foot use is different from road racers.
As for Greece...The Acropolis ralley (rallye) definitely takes its tolls on cars, but nothing is more brutal than the Safari ralley. As a matter of fact, I think they got rid of it because it would just kill the cars. Not sure, haven't watched in a while.
Bob,
I'm not surprised. The amount of punishment those shocks must take! Wow!
Cheers |
Bob Campen (Bob308gts)
Member
Username: Bob308gts
Post Number: 647
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 8:06 am: | |
Some amazing driving, I sure I couldn't drive a Focus with the hood up that fast in a straight line on a runway, much less on a mountain road.$40000 for springs and shocks on the Fords |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 544
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 2:38 am: | |
Taek,
Carlos is the Iceman of the WRC. I think that Ford is going to step up. They had a pretty good finish in Greece. And Greece kills most cars, if not all.
Have you ever seen the camera they have pointed at those guy's feet? Also, how they can control the brakes is just amazing.
I've had a peugeot MI16 awd and now have an Audi. Both very fun cars, good torque, not great hp, but very responsive higher up in the rpm range. All that, and some cool styling IMO. The WRC is an awesome proving grounds for these cars.
I have the PS2 WRC game and it's awesome, though I haven't played it much since the time change.
Vincent. |
Taek-Ho Kwon (Stickanddice)
Member
Username: Stickanddice
Post Number: 972
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 2:23 am: | |
Amen Vincent.
Having lived in Spain, I consider WRC to be some of the most entertaining racing in motorsports.
That's why my cars tend to be 4wd sports cars. C4, Turbo, Eclipse. Recently I've looked into rwd cars, and would love to get good enough to track them.
I like Carlos Sainz, El Matador. I watched him from the 80s when he was with Renault. Don't like him in the Ford team, especially since he's not winning as much as he should. He was much better off in Subaru.
Cheers |
Vincent (Vincent348)
Member
Username: Vincent348
Post Number: 540
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 1:37 am: | |
i can't seem to get enough. Though I wish they showed more of what happens during service. they have 8 or 10 mechanics working on the car for 20 minutes rebuilding just about anything that has broke. It's pretty awesome.
Some of the technology in those cars is just amazing!
vincent. |