Fifth Gear rally item, without any respect!

[GallardoGT]

This is imo too important not to start a topic about, I couldn't find another one.

What they did on Fifth Gear is really embarrassing, without respect and a huge insult to rallying!

And if you want to fullfil someone's dream to be 'a rallydriver for one day' it's totally irresponsible to learn it from a 'circuit drifter' with a giggle.

When you make a responsible item of it you need a rallydriver like Richard Burns or Colin Colin McRae and do it for instance like Top Gear did in the past.

I think it's very sad and maybe someone else can put it better into words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvvCkeFWMI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQjVSEjHBYY&feature=related

[Doon]

I do agree, when rallying is exposed on a mainstream TV program its alway so far off the mark!....and with the addition of 'Stif Needle', it makes me cringe! Tiff isn't even considered as a good racing driver, and in Rallying circles he's known as somewhat of a tw*t!

Although this is only a bit of fun, it still has all the wrong ingredients to make it credible. Fifth Gear (sh*t program), Tiff Needle (sh*t driver), and some gung ho Yank who smashes a £120,000 rally car to a pulp!!! That car, venue, and test could have been put to much better use. Why not get an up and coming British driver to show Tiff how to drive?

When Burnsie and Mcrae have been on TG or a Clarkson (the master of dis-respect) program he has given them much respect, but Tiff (with his laughs after crashing) and Fifth Gear have made Rallying look like banger racing!

Finally, watching Tiff drive over Sweet Lamb made me laugh at his skills....there was so much wrong with his driving....I know for a fact that I have driven over there better in my 205....and i'm relatively sh*te, lol! Fifth Gear is pants and Tiff is a c*ck, Top Gear rules and Clarkson is legend!

[N.O.T]

This is imo too important not to start a topic about, I couldn't find another one.

What they did on Fifth Gear is really embarrassing, without respect and a huge insult to rallying!

And if you want to fullfil someone's dream to be 'a rallydriver for one day' it's totally irresponsible to learn it from a 'circuit drifter' with a giggle.

When you make a responsible item of it you need a rallydriver like Richard Burns or Colin Colin McRae and do it for instance like Top Gear did in the past.

I think it's very sad and maybe someone else can put it better into words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvvCkeFWMI4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQjVSEjHBYY&feature=related

tiff was rallying in a peugeot 206 a while back i think....he is a track driver primarly (he has driven in 24h of lemans) but i think he respects rallying....he also took a ride with penti in his GB winning mitsubishi and he also returned the favour to penti and did it quite well....are you both from the USA and you know about him just from the show ?? he was also part of the top gear team long time ago.....he is definately not a bad driver since he was a professional driver but the fact that he puts so much emphasis on drifting is because thats what sell to the general ignorant public and its the public that bring the big money in not the selected few who know a thing or 2 more than just drifting.

[Doon]

tiff was rallying in a peugeot 206 a while back i think....he is a track driver primarly (he has driven in 24h of lemans) but i think he respects rallying....he also took a ride with penti in his GB winning mitsubishi and he also returned the favour to penti and did it quite well....are you both from the USA and you know about him just from the show ?? he was also part of the top gear team long time ago.....he is definately not a bad driver since he was a professional driver but the fact that he puts so much emphasis on drifting is because thats what sell to the general ignorant public and its the public that bring the big money in not the selected few who know a thing or 2 more than just drifting.

If I was from the USA I dont think I would have driven at the Sweet Lamb complex?...I live in England on the Welsh boarder. Can see some of your points though!

[FAL]

he was also part of the top gear team long time ago.....
When, in a demonstration run before a more modern RAC or Rally GB, he wrote off the 1977 RAC Rally winning Escort (or rather the car that purported to be it at the time...but that's another story...).

[gloomyDAY]

I bet ProDrive feel stupid for letting this moron roll their car.

[Barreis]

Rally insurance will pay..

[GallardoGT]

Yeah ok, I was it bit harsh about the item and seeing it again the overall message came across now.
Over the last years Tiff only showing off his drifting skills. Before that he was for me one of the favorites and I remember also a few items with a mitsubishi rallycar.

But to say here "..we coach him.." and then shout later on "..hard braking, hard braking.." at 6:38 min and loose the grip on the gravel just before the corner is irresponsible.

It was as if I showed my friend how to drive 'RallySchool' in the 'Richard Burns Rally' simulator and he thinks he can do that too in a blink.
Maybe indeed it was better that Fifth Gear had gave both John ánd Tiff the basic driving lessons on the RBR simulator.

Here just some quotes from Burnsie what you can learn in Richard Burns Rally and these are just a few of the basic skills:

"Max Brake Pressure: This is the maximum breaking pressure on the wheels. Increasing this pressure too much causes the wheels to lock and the car to skid. On a loose, wet or icy surface, you’ll need less power to initiate wheel lock"
"Tip: If you are happy with the balance of your car, keep the brake power distribution ratio consistent between Front and Rear Brakes. If the rear brake bias is too high the rear of the car may tend to step out. If the front bias is too high, the car may tend to lock up and it’ll be difficult to get the back of the car to break away on corners."

( still missing Burnsie btw )

[Barreis]

Loeb is for me the best rally driver of all time (results say everything) but drivers that I really enjoyed watching was: C.McRae and F.Delacour..

[TMorel]

Why not get an up and coming British driver to show Tiff how to drive?

Because the general viewing public dont give a stuff about up'n'coming drivers, they want to see a celeb that they know, and right now John is a pretty big star that will get the viewers in.

Lets face it, no one (in TV viewing figures terms) watches rallying, so the fact I've had two friends ask me about this "rallying malarky" (and then borrow DVDs cause the youtube clips I showed them looked fun) means the show is doing its job and also getting ProDrive a fair bit of exposure on gossip mags and forums etc. As they don't have much of a rallying future right now they might as well make some money flogging coats and baseball caps to middle aged women who'll wear them at conventions

[sollitt]

Didn't Needle have a brother who was killed a while ago?
And one of them, can't remember which, was a rally driver of some renown in the 80's in an Escort in the British national championship. If I remember correctly correctly, name was Tim?

All in all, I didn't think it was a bad article at all. The celeb looked wide all day and it's no wonder he got caught out eventually and fell off the outside of a bend.
Really don't know what you've got your knickers all twisted about.

[bowler]

Good TV

Shows what happens when things go wrong.
Bad TV would have been to finish after the previous stage, and cover up the result.

[sal]

Get over yourselves. Rallying in the UK has invariably got on tv in the UK when there's a celeb involved, infact Dave base their whole WRC coverage on this premise.

[Sami]

Wierd that you've been able to get the negative out of this. For me Tiff is brilliant in what he does, and by the way, even as a driver!

The whole point of the article seemed to be (right from the beginning) that those of who think that it is easy and that you are great driver and capable of driving like those heroes in tv, watch how you'll end up. It was first and foremost a very welcome traffic safety program!

I don't know this John-guy, but he seemed to be a classic example of those drivers making the headlines of traffic accidents. And they need to learn a lesson!

About Tiff, he is the one and only car tv program host I know who can really drive and who can test the cars and their capabilities on the limits. And he makes a great show of it. (drifting is great show, and he does those fast laps too driving more optimally)

In Finland those who host the tv car shows drive the car slowly through corners and fast only on straights (accelerating test, oh how interesting...). And then it is easy to like some fwd high power so called sports cars like focus rs or Golf gti. When they drive a BMW M3, they think it is difficult to drive because of rwd and when the car tries to slide a bit, they lift throthle and complain about that. I'm sick of this kind of a motor journalism. They should stick with their SUVs and mini-vans!

Tiff is a rare example of a good driver making the best tv show on cars. And in particular that rally item was brilliant!

And he has driven rally too, at least finished 1992 and 1996 RAC's...

[BDunnell]

Didn't Needle have a brother who was killed a while ago?
And one of them, can't remember which, was a rally driver of some renown in the 80's in an Escort in the British national championship. If I remember correctly correctly, name was Tim?

I think you are getting confused with Tim and Tony Brise. (Tiff Needell's real first name is Timothy.)