wrc - and then there were three.....

[Eagle104]

just read that Richard Burns will miss the RAC Rally Great Britain, leaving the fight between Sainz, Loeb(tied) and Solberg(-1pt).

he's undergoing test after becoming ill recently. no rpt yet to his condition or illness.

Peugeot is appealing to the fia to allow Freddy Loix to take over his next year's seat early.

[Ankf00]

PETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.swrt.com/cpimages/457110.jpg

[pchall]

Meanwhile, Max and his minions seem determined to screw up the one last great open venue in motorsports.

Be prepared to kiss it goodbye folks -- gone to Bernie's and Max's marketing nirvanna...

[mapguy]

Originally posted by pchall
Meanwhile, Max and his minions seem determined to screw up the one last great open venue in motorsports.

Be prepared to kiss it goodbye folks -- gone to Bernie's and Max's marketing nirvanna...

Exactly. These new rules were put out after all the teams signed two drivers. So that screwes Colin McRae. Can you imagine the FIA putting out rules that prevented the signing of someone like Schumacher, Raikkonen or Montoya?

Now the most successful and most popular rally driver is now having to run rally raids because that is all that he has left to do.

[RichK]

What was the reasoning for this new rule for number of drivers? Seems dumb to me.

[Barton]

Originally posted by RichK
What was the reasoning for this new rule for number of drivers? Seems dumb to me.

There was no reasoning. Well, it was to allegedly help lower costs. But then the FIA went and added two more rallies and cut back to only two cars instead of three. And that was after they had previously announced you could run three cars but the third driver had to have not scored a podium in the past two seasons or some time frame like that.

It's just another Mosley Special Hatchet Job. Skoda and Ford are both seriously reconsidering their rally plans for next year since the second rules revision came out. They want to see estimated costs before they can determine if they can scrounge up enough budget to run the season.

[Eagle104]

i think it's all under the guise of "cost savings"..as usual.

the fia is also disallowing recce purpose cars, and making them do all their notes on the mornings of each leg.

also planning to do away with 'gravel crews', which the drivers rely on for last minute conditions updates.

then, they're also adding two more events.... :saywhat:

i think the discussion will heat up thru out the off season...but, who can do anything about it?

other than an 'interest' in just how much a popular series could affect f1, i don't think bernie has much up front, anyway.

dave richards controls the broadcast rights. his hopes, of course, are to see wrc become among the top-5 broadcast sports events in the world. has big plans to ultimately make it available in live format. in fact, one stage of the final leg this sunday will be their first attempt, by providing live coverage to a limited audience. i think i read they'll utilise 54 cameras and aerials in coverage of the particular 14km stage.

yeah, it's easy to think the fia's is -- again -- 'fixing' something that really didn't need fixing..at least to this extreme, imo.

can just hope for the best............

FMM :mad: :laugh:

[Ankf00]

only 2 cars score points so WHO THE FECK CARS WHO'S IN THE THIRD CAR?!?!

-and mcrae would be "most successful" if he quit stuffing his cars in trees :D

[mapguy]

Originally posted by Ankf00


-and mcrae would be "most successful" if he quit stuffing his cars in trees :D

At 25 wins he is the winningest WRC driver out there. Of course, sometimes he pushes it just a wee bit.

http://www.wrc.com/NR/rdonlyres/9B5916DC-CE85-4C18-A20E-05E40ACFC972/15284/kick.jpg

[Dr. Corkski]

2 Citreons in the top 3 but neither is driven by an overrated Scot. :D

[mapguy]

Originally posted by Dr. Zhivago
2 Citreons in the top 3 but neither is driven by an overrated Scot. :D

I see the good doc is also an expert on rally drivers. :rolleyes:

[Dr. Corkski]

1. Sébastien LOEB (F) 10 2 0 5 0 0 6 10 4 8 10 0 8 63 Pts :thumbup:
2. Carlos SAINZ (E) 6 0 10 0 8 8 4 3 5 4 5 8 2 63 Pts :thumbup:
.
.
.
7. Colin MCRAE (GB) 8 4 5 0 0 1 5 5 0 5 3 4 0 40 Pts :thumdown:

:D

[mapguy]

1. Colin McRae 25 WRC wins.
2. Carlos Sainz 24 WRC wins.
.
.
.
? Sebastien Loeb 3 WRC wins.

NEXT!

[Dr. Corkski]

2003, driving the same cars:
Loeb 3 wins
Sainz 1 win
McRash 0 wins

And the David Richards excuse doesn't apply here. :laugh:

[mapguy]

Originally posted by corkscrewed
2003, driving the same cars:
Loeb 3 wins
Sainz 1 win
McRash 0 wins

And the David Richards excuse doesn't apply here. :laugh:

So according to the corkscrewed driver evaluation method Michael Schumacher is 'over-rated' because he didn't perform to his usual standards. Stick to rating Malaysian ex-F1 drivers and reporters who like wankers wearing Sparcos.

[Dr. Corkski]

4 more wins than any other driver during 2003 and not to mention a 6th WDC. Yeah, he wasn't as dominating as he was the last few years, if it makes you wish to call him overrated because he didn't exhibit complete dominance over every other driver this year, go for it. Just don't start trying to convince me how DC is better than Kimi because he has more wins.

BTW, They do call it the World Rally Championship for a reason.

[mapguy]

Originally posted by Dr. Zhivago
4 more wins than any other driver during 2003 and not to mention a 6th WDC. Yeah, he wasn't as dominating as he was the last few years, if it makes you wish to call him overrated because he didn't exhibit complete dominance over every other driver this year, go for it. Just don't start trying to convince me how DC is better than Kimi because he has more wins.

BTW, They do call it the World Rally Championship for a reason.

Let me ask you this. Colin McRae has the most WRC wins. He is the youngest WRC champion. In 1992, at the age of 22 he won every round of the British Rally Championship. He is also the most popular WRC driver out there. Also he one of the very few active WRC drivers out there who has won on every surface. (snow, tarmac, gravel, safari). So, with all these facts, can you please explain why he is overrated? Judging Colin on one season in a foreign car with non-english mechanics/engineers doesn't wash.

[RacinM3]

Plus, he'd cut off his finger if it meant winning the championship!

[Ankf00]

I think McRae would've been served better by shutting the hell up sometimes, but "overrated?" I don't think so...

Ford hosed him and Sainz for years.

Sainz still gets the nod for the man of the field, driving with a broken back... geeeeez

context wise, Makk and Sainz are sitting 1 win shy of Colin, but they've each got 4 championships to Colin's lone one of 1995 w/ Subaru. So I'd give "most successful" to jankkunen sainz or makk with their 4 titles per. Subaru did win manuf titles in 96 and 97 as well so Colin doesn't have a reason to have not won more titles...
Makk would be the man of the century if Mitsubishi didn't release a totally ****ty Evo VII, Makk was sitting on a few wins at the midway point of the season in '01, new car comes out to the new "WRC" specs, it defined suck, mcrae takes over the c-ship from there, but the whole stuffing it into the local lumber propensity threw away the '01 championship for him, to subaru's gain :D


and comparing schumacher's championships to his DNF:start ratio puts stuff in context, the Dr. went to school in the carribean it seems ;)

[Ankf00]

Solberg's got 2s on the Citroens through the shakedown. Loeb and Sainz went with too soft a compound apparently. Loix is filling in for Burns prematurely this rally.

[mapguy]

Originally posted by Ankf00
Makk and Sainz are sitting 1 win shy of Colin, but they've each got 4 championships

Sainz only has two titles.

And it doesn't look like he's getting three this year. (http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=25215&s=8)

[Eagle104]

lots of troubles for many, right out of the box on leg 1. for those who don't know, you can follow non-stop live reports during every stage atWorld Rally Radio (http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/default.htm).

very cool feature that i only found out about earlier this year. trouble is, you have to sacrifice alot of sleep to follow it on the 'radio'.

[Ankf00]

Originally posted by mapguy
Sainz only has two titles.

And it doesn't look like he's getting three this year. (http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=25215&s=8)

my mistake, just Kankkunen and Makinen then, but I'd trade in a second title for a 25th win, but that's just me :)

[Ankf00]

Solberg with 6"20 on Loeb after 6 stages, Mak 1'20" behind Solberg after the 5th, shaping up to be a nice shootout between the title contenders.

3 stages for Petter
3 for Seb

[JohnHKart]

More than just doesn't look like.....Carlos is done.

JH:mad: