Grand Prix Rejects

Posted: **12 Mar 2013, 18:14**

Wallio wrote:
As an American, I can say what you're all thinking. Block is so damn overrated. The worst part is, he's not even the best rallye driver in the US. Tanner Foust and Travis Pastrana are MUCH better. Travis has gone to NASCAR sadly, and Tanner just gets no love, despite back-toback FIA Global Rallyecross titles against good competition.

I think Block is overrated mostly because of the gymkhana videos. But I think he is not that bad except for the part of keeping the car on the road for 3 straight days. He just made across the pond mainly due to being famous for something else and having the doe to do it, which none of those you spoke of could do (I think Travis could, if he really wanted).

Posted: **12 Mar 2013, 18:42**

I think rallying has a lot to do to recover it's image, at the moment it doesn't even interest me in the slightest. Which is plainly wrong.

Posted: **12 Mar 2013, 19:13**

pasta_maldonado wrote:I think rallying has a lot to do to recover it's image, at the moment it doesn't even interest me in the slightest. Which is plainly wrong.

The only thing I'm interested in in rallying is how Robert Kubica is going to do in his categories. I don't really care what happens in the main championship.

Posted: **23 Mar 2013, 03:35**

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
pasta_maldonado wrote:I think rallying has a lot to do to recover it's image, at the moment it doesn't even interest me in the slightest. Which is plainly wrong.

The only thing I'm interested in in rallying is how Robert Kubica is going to do in his categories. I don't really care what happens in the main championship.

And he is so bathplugging talented that it is almost ridiculous. Seriously, I am in awe now.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/erc-kubica-makes-spectacular-debut-canaries-193225315.html

Posted: **23 Mar 2013, 13:36**

DanielPT wrote:
BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
pasta_maldonado wrote:I think rallying has a lot to do to recover it's image, at the moment it doesn't even interest me in the slightest. Which is plainly wrong.

The only thing I'm interested in in rallying is how Robert Kubica is going to do in his categories. I don't really care what happens in the main championship.

And he is so bathplugging talented that it is almost ridiculous. Seriously, I am in awe now.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/erc-kubica-makes-spectacular-debut-canaries-193225315.html

Even though the field he is competing against is somewhat devoid of talent, the fact he's so far ahead of Jan Kopecky and Craig Breen is worth something.

Posted: **23 Mar 2013, 14:01**

NOOOO, he retired!

Posted: **23 Mar 2013, 17:24**

Stramala [kostas22] wrote:Even though the field he is competing against is somewhat devoid of talent, the fact he's so far ahead of Jan Kopecky and Craig Breen is worth something.

It is worth more if you think that the rest of the field have been rallying for years non stop, that the man himself only came back from serious injury and subsequent timeoff last year and only done a few outings.

Shizuka wrote:NOOOO, he retired!

Still, no man is devoid of faillings. The talent is there regardless.

Posted: **29 Mar 2013, 17:04**

So, it looks like Kubica will be receiving some additional assistance from Citroen ahead of his maiden WRC event (the Rally of Portugal) - Yves Matton has confirmed that both Sebastian Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen are going to be advising Kubica on how to modify his driving style to maximise his performance for gravel events, since Kubica has currently only racked up about 40 miles worth of gravel track testing.
It has also been confirmed that Kubica will take part in the Fafe Rallysprint, which kicks off on the 6th April, as part of his preparations for the main Rally of Portugal and to let him get used to a WRC spec car in gravel trim. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106437

Posted: **29 Mar 2013, 17:28**

That's good news - he gets tutored by Loeb and Hirvonen, who'll possibly both give useful advice. Go Bobby!

Posted: **29 Mar 2013, 17:50**

Shizuka wrote:That's good news - he gets tutored by Loeb and Hirvonen, who'll possibly both give useful advice. Go Bobby!

Driver A suggets driving tip X. Driver B suggets driving tip Y, which directly conflicts with driving tip X.

When A = Sebastien Loeb and B = Mikko Hirvonen, on a scale of 1 to 10, how wrong is driving tip Y?

Posted: **29 Mar 2013, 18:10**

Stramala [kostas22] wrote:
Shizuka wrote:That's good news - he gets tutored by Loeb and Hirvonen, who'll possibly both give useful advice. Go Bobby!

Driver A suggets driving tip X. Driver B suggets driving tip Y, which directly conflicts with driving tip X.

When A = Sebastien Loeb and B = Mikko Hirvonen, on a scale of 1 to 10, how wrong is driving tip Y?

Assuming 1 = 0% wrong and 10 = 100% wrong, then I would say... 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 approximately...

Posted: **24 Apr 2013, 12:29**

Not really WRC but have you guys seen this?
Not Suzuky monster like, but still...

I have to say that Pikes Peak will be a real humdinger this year with Honda, too, announcing a 10 model fleet (!) for the event spearheaded by a mysterious machine to be unveiled in June and driven by Pagenaud.

Posted: **30 Apr 2013, 07:07**

Suzuki's Escudo Pikes Peak will be hard to overcome. That was ridiculously fast.
Also, it's interesting to see Loeb driving a Peugeot outside Le Mans. Well, that is also a PSA company as Citroën is, so it's predictable. I have to say, the front of the car looks a little ugly.

Posted: **17 May 2013, 12:15**

Meanwhile, the Pikes Peak Pug has some 875hp with the car weighting some 875Kg. Those crazy specs mean that it reaches a top speed of 150mph in 7 seconds flat. The Suzuki of Tajima has some 900hp for 1090kg and not much of the tech the Pug has. Namely the gearbox. I reckon Loeb to smash the record although the previously set record from Tajima was back when there was still a gravel section.

Posted: **20 Jun 2013, 06:47**

VW decide to do the honourable thing and put the sport ahead of itself.

Posted: **20 Jun 2013, 10:53**

Says a lot about the popularity and success of the WRC that since the end of April, there has only been two posts in this thread. Whereas for NASCAR, IndyCar, _TCC, etc, there have been many more...

Posted: **20 Jun 2013, 15:50**

dr-baker wrote:Says a lot about the popularity and success of the WRC that since the end of April, there has only been two posts in this thread. Whereas for NASCAR, IndyCar, _TCC, etc, there have been many more...

Yup. I can honestly say I do not follow the sport whatsoever anymore. Whereas maybe 10 years ago I was totally invested in it. The golden generation is now a long forgotten era.

Nowadays you have two drivers who can win rallies on merit. Loeb (whenever he decides to show up) and Ogier. Any other winner will have lucked into it. I mean, look, Hirvonen is not a bad driver at all, but he's a bit like Massa - we all know he can do a good rally when he's on form, but, there's no way he's on the same level as Alonso. Ogier is the best full-time driver in WRC, and there is no-one even remotely in the same league as him. Latvala could have been perhaps, but the non-stop crashing, accepting being number two at Ford, appears to have left him permanently psychologically scarred, and unable to fight properly anymore. All the raw pace he had when he was at Stobart VK and his first season at Ford WRT has vanished.

There is no talent left. If you put everyone in the same car, Ogier will win 90% of the time anyway, regardless of whether he is driving a VW, Citroen or Ford. Back at the turn of the century, you had an absolute minimum of five guys who could win rallies on any given day. Makinen, Burns, Kankunnen, Sainz, McRae, Auriol, Gronholm, Panizzi (on sealed surfaces at least, he was one of the best). Now instead, we have people at the level of François Delecour, Armin Schwarz, Harri Rovanperä, etc...they are pretty good drivers, but not world class.

So, yeah, it's basically the Loeb generation all over again, but worse. Because the gulf in talent has just widened even further. I saw Ogier being a boss coming a long way off, but I was hoping some other guys, maybe Mikkelsen, Latvala, Nikara, Novikov, Tänak and Paddon would have matured into top drivers by now and be giving Ogier a hard time. But of those, only Ogier and Latvala have been given top drivers, and Latvala failed to translate his raw pace into results. Except, those guys were not given the kind of time Ogier and Latvala were to develop. Novikov had a crash-happy rookie season and was left for dead. He has matured a lot in his first year with M-Sport and is looking a much better driver now. But imagine if Citroen had kept him on for all the seasons inbetween, where he could have been now? Bizzarely, no-one is giving Nikara a chance, just because he has a small budget, and I think Paddon can only get finance to run in the Asia-Pacific championship rather than the world stage...

Posted: **30 Jun 2013, 12:00**

Seems Andre Villas-Boas has spent too much time socialising with Carlos Sousa...?

Also, in other news, Loeb is being Loeb again. :roll:

Posted: **02 Jul 2013, 18:18**

Stramala wrote:Seems Andre Villas-Boas has spent too much time socialising with Carlos Sousa...?

Also, in other news, Loeb is being Loeb again.

Villas Boas likes Racing. He appeared at Belgium 2011 and another GP later on

Posted: **05 Jul 2013, 03:32**

Goodbye Loeb... or is that it?

Some people will be pleased.

Posted: **05 Jul 2013, 12:44**

FMecha wrote:Goodbye Loeb... or is that it?

Some people will be pleased.

So, we can rule out Loeb replacing Hirvonen for 2014 then.

This may sound strange, but it's a shame. Imagine the dominant VW team facing off against a Citroen team with Sebastien Loeb and Robert Kubica for drivers. That'd surely produce a close championship fight.

Still though, if Citroen don't make Robert Kubica their number one target to replace Hirvonen next year, then Yves Matton deserves to be sacked. He's been blindingly fast in WRC2. Kubica is fourth in the championship there despite only entering literally half as many rallies as those ahead of him in the championship.

Also, I know Myrvold checks this thread sometimes, so, what do you make of Anders Grøndal? I always thought he had some talent but not the money to match it. But I guess you would know more about the Norwegian rallying scene so could elaborate a bit more. If he can find some budget, would he really be worth a look for the WRC teams?

Posted: **04 Aug 2013, 17:41**

Found a video of BobYes, I call Robert Kubica - 'Bob' nearly crashing again.

Posted: **04 Aug 2013, 21:27**

good_Ralf wrote:Found a video of BobYes, I call Robert Kubica - 'Bob' nearly crashing again.

He doesn't not give a single bathplug :lol:

Posted: **05 Aug 2013, 01:40**

Any of you guys subscribed to RallyMedia? well you should be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsUyCVyTUEY

Posted: **05 Aug 2013, 01:49**

Stramala wrote:Also, I know Myrvold checks this thread sometimes, so, what do you make of Anders Grøndal? I always thought he had some talent but not the money to match it. But I guess you would know more about the Norwegian rallying scene so could elaborate a bit more. If he can find some budget, would he really be worth a look for the WRC teams?

Yes I do. And the guy have got some talent. He was able to compete quite well with Østberg & Mikkelsen in Norway when he had fairly new equipment, he got himself a 2004 Subaru WRC car, and used it until it wasn't a Norwegian Champ. for WRC cars anymore. His biggest problem was that Østberg&Mikkelsen got a new car each year, and he was stuck with his old Subaru. Even the car he used to get 2nd place in WRC2 and 11th overall in Sweden this year, is a 2010 Gr.N car.
I'm honestly not sure why he haven't tried to pursue anything bigger lately, maybe he have given up, or it might be the fact that his workplace, which also gives name to his team (Bilbutikken AS), sell Land Rover, Range Rover, Subaru and Citroën. So I guess his real chance would be to get a newer spec Citroën and try to run that good enough to someone to notice him. But then again, he have worked with Prodrive when he have had some spare money to try to upgrade some parts of the cars he have.

I'm not sure what to believe anymore though. I really thought that Mikkelsen was the biggest talent in Norway by far, followed by Eyvind Brynildsen and then Grøndal/Østberg. Somehow Mikkelsen haven't showed the speed I hoped for so far in VW. Brynildsen looks like a car killer (even though, having more than a year off trying to build up budget makes you a bit rusty. He have done some good rallies back in Norway lately), and Grøndal have just stopped progressing, and staying with "old" cars.
While Østberg have gotten a drive where he doesn't have to pay to drive, and with ok success.

But to be honest, I'm struggling to see a good up&coming Norwegian driver now. The 4 we have, really need to deliver for many many years to come to keep any sort of Norwegian driver in the WRC.

Posted: **24 Aug 2013, 22:11**

ATTENTION EVERYBODY! After Ogier retired in Germany and Latvala did which we all were waiting for since Ogier retired, a Latvala.......we suddenly have a situation in our hands where it's gonna be a duel between two unexpected men for the win...Thierry Neuville, the rising Belgian star looking to snatch his maiden win aaand......ta-da - the very eternalest number two in the history motorsport, 34 podiums 0 wins....DANI SORDO too has the keys to win. And it's probably his very last ever opportunity, Ford is about to turn into a sucking machine and no one else wants Dani anymore.

Pressure is on ladies and gentlemen. Watch this space tomorrow...

Posted: **24 Aug 2013, 23:06**

Sheesh, I never realised Sordo had gotten so many podiums!

Posted: **25 Aug 2013, 00:17**

The fact that nobody in Belgium cares about Neuville's lately good results are a good indication of the state WRC is in. It's not that we don't want him to win, it's that nobody knows he exists.

Posted: **25 Aug 2013, 01:55**

dr-baker wrote:Assuming 1 = 0% wrong and 10 = 100% wrong, then I would say... 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 approximately...

Dr. Baker must be a Moonbase Alpha player.

Posted: **27 Aug 2013, 15:34**

DOSBoot wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Assuming 1 = 0% wrong and 10 = 100% wrong, then I would say... 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 approximately...

Dr. Baker must be a Moonbase Alpha player.

Oddly, not heard of Moonbase Alpha before. And playing that clip meant I got some odd looks from my dad and sister, wondering what I was looking at...

Posted: **11 Sep 2013, 21:38**

I predict Toyota will come back to the WRC in the 2 years.

The signs are there.
An article on there engine in Race car engineering and this interesting article I found while taking a break at collage today on the TMG website
http://www.toyota-motorsport.com/en/f-careers
Feel free to discuss

Posted: **11 Sep 2013, 22:05**

roblomas52 wrote:I predict Toyota will come back to the WRC in the 2 years.

The signs are there.
An article on there engine in Race car engineering and this interesting article I found while taking a break at collage today on the TMG website
http://www.toyota-motorsport.com/en/f-careers
Feel free to discuss

There's your answer

Posted: **12 Sep 2013, 10:09**

I'll always think of this Yaris... too much GT2 :oops:

Posted: **12 Sep 2013, 14:13**

Shizuka wrote:I'll always think of this Yaris... too much GT2

There is such a thing as too much GT2?

Posted: **12 Sep 2013, 17:25**

Salamander wrote:
Shizuka wrote:I'll always think of this Yaris... too much GT2

There is such a thing as too much GT2?

As in, too much playing Gran Turismo 2.

Posted: **12 Sep 2013, 17:32**

FMecha wrote:
Salamander wrote:
Shizuka wrote:I'll always think of this Yaris... too much GT2

There is such a thing as too much GT2?

As in, too much playing Gran Turismo 2.

... yes, I know what GT2 stands for.

Posted: **13 Sep 2013, 06:22**

Indeed, that is what I meant to write there.
I do hope that Toyota doesn't go down the F1 way, overspending with no results.

Posted: **13 Sep 2013, 07:35**

Shizuka wrote:Indeed, that is what I meant to write there.
I do hope that Toyota doesn't go down the F1 way, overspending with no results.

If the efforts of TMG over in Cologne are anything to go by, it seems that Toyota are probably going to be much more risk adverse when it comes to spending money on motorsport projects - their WEC program, for example, is rumoured to run on about a third of the budget of Audi's efforts ($40 million versus about $125 million for Audi), and that includes the cost of their customer engine supply deals as well as the works outfit.
With the FIA's moves in recent years to simplify rally cars as a way of cutting costs, I imagine that Toyota will probably aim to run their operations on a fairly modest budget as a result.

Posted: **13 Sep 2013, 08:53**

If that is anything to go by, their F1 program will be looked at as a completely pointless 10 years.

Posted: **19 Sep 2013, 18:59**

Shizuka wrote:If that is anything to go by, their F1 program will be looked at as a completely pointless 10 years.

Was it viewed as anything else anyway? :lol:

Grand Prix Rejects

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