My wife jokingly calls the co-drivers "Story Tellers" when she does her ditzy impression. I can't wait until she wakes up and I can show her this video.
I codrive for Martin Donnelly, an Irish lad living in Canada. He told me about this video on the way to our last rally. So on the last stage, coming to a super long straight away, I call the only Irish I could make up at that moment; "Go Martinboy! Go like a sheep drinking Guiness at a U2 concert." We waited till the stage finish before he busted out laughing. Now that I've seen the video, I'll have better instructions for our next rally in 2 weeks. Its going to sound like a frkn conbination of a soccer match commentator and a porn vid "it opens, it opens, it's long it's long, she's screaming for it" Here is another hilarious Irish rally incar video for fawks sake. You can close after the car comes to a stop. The last couple minutes looks like there will be a fight but it never happens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6rY1-pbeNM
From now on, I'm going to ask for that sort of driving encouragement from my fiancée when nipping out to the shops. Wow. Why the heck didn't the Subaru let them by? All the best, Andrew.
OK, here is one of mine from this year. We roll and driver has potty-mouth episode trying to get out. Turn down speakers if at work. http://www.bentmettle.com/videos/NEFR%202009.mov
That was good! "M/F'er, I *hate* this f/ing sport!"...... Did he kick out the window? - I've always wondered how hard that would be......
It was his second rollover in a row and he was getting tired of fixing body damage. He entered the very next rally so guess he doesn't hate it as much as in the moment. Car was pinned between tree and embankment so at first doors couldn't open. After pushing and shoving on door on embankment side, enough dirt moved to crack enought to get out. What pissed me off were we could see people outside w/ florescent media vest on standing there watching w/o helping. Here are my best 2 rollover stories not on tape. 1) Canadian winter rally w/ 3 feet of snow on ground, our supsension is seized so car is handling poorly. Bounce off road on corner, go thru snowbank and into nothing but air, off mountainside. Car is sliding down mountainside on roof while driver is sawing at the wheel like doing anything w/ steering wheel was going to help while wheels pointed skyward. Slid hundreds of feet into meadow and couldn't tell which way to dig out cause all windows were under snow. 2) Same driver in another Canadian winter rally. We roll. Car is FUBAR. Wait till all other rallycars go by. Has a flat tire so instead of rolling over and then having to jack up, deciede to change tire while car is inverted. Find the trunk release lever on 'roof' inside car and wham, trunk falls open and lots of loose stuff falls out. I hold tire w/ he breaks nuts. Rollcar back onto wheels and it has icicles pointed skyward. We drive 60 miles in the dark in the middle of nowhere Quebec with no headlights, no windows in frezzing cold to service area (pits). Icicles pointing up on car were hilarious.
Wow - you have some adventurous weekends! Just curious... when a rally car rolls over, how worried are you guys about the risk of petrol leakage onto something hot and a resulting fire? Or are these cars over-engineered to keep them safe in the event of crashing on their roofs? All the best, Andrew.
In my video above, power steering fluid was leaking onto exhaust and smoking which we could smell and why we really wanted to get out. Some cars have over-engineered fuel cells and others just the stock gas tank. So, it depends. Any can rupture but in my ~100 rallies, only seen 1 rallycar engulfed.
I was going to ask if you were in the proverbial "middle of nowhere" as it seemed nobody was around - WTF? What else was he going to do?...... I've been buried in powder while snowboarding in the past - You've really got to take a timeout, not panic, and figure which way is up - Spitting works well!.....But it was dark, cold, and you can't breathe - Scary stuff.... No pictures? Thanks for sharing, cheers, Ian
http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/11/web/803000-803999/803556_15_full.jpg Many have melted off w/ engine getting hot again but you can barely see some behind hood scoop. Here it is in the road. http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/11/web/803000-803999/803556_14_full.jpg
Holy crap! - And you kept on going - *Awesome*! I know it's been posted before, but this video cracks me up every time I watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqQhQSbe6fw "Gronholm knows sign language" Cheers, Ian
I've been to a few Rallies in Ireland, the best ones are on tarmac, they are completely insane! Here is a great vid in a Mk2 Escort http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1fTo23m8CA
