Cloverleaf
4th December 2009, 23:43
I had saved this way back in 2004 from Codemasters Community Forums.
It's interesting to see Colin's predictions about the sport are just about right.
Big Colin Interview!
To Celebrate, We're publishing this big interview with the big man himself.
You can find some new PC screenshots in the downloads section.
For reading the interview- RT is me Richard Tysoe, your intrepid CLO, CM is the man McRae, and SB is the lovely Sarah from our licensing department.
RT- Last time we spoke you said that you wanted to do Le Mans because it was a big event that everyone’s heard of- is there anything else you’d like, I dunno, Daytona or the Indy 500 or Pike’s Peak that you’d quite like to do?
CM- pike’s peak’s one that I’d love to do. Because it’s the most famous hillclimb in the world and great cars. That’s the thing, I just enjoy driving really extreme cars, and you can do that in that kind of event.
RT- That kind of leads on to the next one, because I know you’ve got a metro 6R4- so you have like a collection of classic cars- what else have you got?
CM- I’ve got most of my cars that I used. I managed to get them back again and rebuilt them to their original state. I’ve got the 6R4, and I’m building an Escort just now.
RT- what kind of escort- because it’s quite a wide…
CM- Yeah, I know, an older MKII type, a classic type car. With some modern bits and pieces on it. It’ll look like an old MKII, but it’ll be quite a special car underneath.
RT- So modern cosworth stuff in it
CM-Yeah- so just something a bit different. I’m playing around with it, really.
RT- That sounds like fun. Ok. If I gave you the keys to the world rally championship, and it’s yours to do whatever you like with, what would you do?
CM- I would change quite a lot of it, at the moment. Definitely put three cars per team back in, because that was in a couple of years ago and the idea was to bring in younger people into the sport and give them an opportunity with a third car in the team, so that’s something I would definitely put back in. I would cut back on a number of rallies because the manufacturers are complaining about the cost of the sport, and part of the big cost is the number of rallies you’ve got to go to, so I’d cut back to, maybe ten quality rallies. Change the rallies quite a bit- change the format of the events- nowadays there’s an awful lot of running around on the road or liaison sections. You’d start at five in the morning and finish at nine at night and only do four or five stages a day- that’s a lot of hanging around so obviously I’d try and get more competitive mileage into a day. And I would change the spec of the cars quite a bit as well- go back to more… maybe basic’s the wrong word, but take some of the electronic aids out of the car
RT- the active diffs, that sort of thing
CM- Yeah the active transmissions. And I would certainly- definitely go back to normally aspirated motors. I think maybe fifty percent of the spectacle’s in the noise that comes off something like that and the turbocharged engines don’t really sound brilliant.
RT- what I’ve always thought is odd is that they have a turbocharged formula, which is 2 litres, and they restrict it to about 300 bhp where, you can get 300 horsepower out of a 2-litre naturally-aspirated engine anyway. You can buy road cars approaching that much.
CM- Well, the big thing is everyone always looks at horsepower, but torque’s the thing that makes the car move, not the horsepower. I mean, a WRC car now’s got over 700 pound-feet of torque. So it’s way way over what any, any road car would ever achieve. And that’s where they get the performance from. But I would go back to normally aspirated motors and more of a basic- still keep some active stuff in the transmission, ‘cos it makes the cars great fun to drive because they’re very, very responsive. But I think they’ve gone too far that way- with yaw and G-sensors and brake systems, and basically- if it keeps going the way it’s going, rally cars in three or four years’ll be driving as if they’re on rails. And then what’s the point in going to watch something like that? Rallying’s all about driving on a loose surface and sliding the car around, and they’ve gone away from that. I would go back to that more, sort of five years ago, group A type era, when the cars were a bit more sort of- you had to manhandle more than actually drive to the electronics that are in the cars.
RT- it’s odd to think that there’s almost as many aids helping the real drivers as in the games.
CM- It’s the same in F1 at the moment, there’s a big debate as to what spec the cars should be as they’re basically driving on rails. In rallying, five or six years ago, if you had a very good driver and a mediocre car, you could still win because the driving ability would come through. Nowadays that would never happen, you’ve got to have a good car and a good driver to win.
RT- Right, well, good answer. Obviously this leads on from it a bit is that you got a fairly raw deal out of the down-to-two-cars thing, and with Richard Burns out of the picture, it’s not really a great year for British fans.
CM- no, it’s really unfortunate
RT- Do you know, do you follow, up-and-coming drivers- is there a young British guy who might be coming up? Because I’ve not really heard that much about it.
CM- Yeah, I mean what you’ve got to look at is the junior championship. We at McRae Motorsport look after a young Irish driver Chris Meeke- he finished third in the first event in Monte Carlo and we’ve had a huge gap until, next weekend, the Acropolis rally. So we, personally look after him, and he’s one of the quickest guys. I’ve obviously put a lot of money on him making it to the top as the next British driver in the limelight and the WRC.
It's interesting to see Colin's predictions about the sport are just about right.
Big Colin Interview!
To Celebrate, We're publishing this big interview with the big man himself.
You can find some new PC screenshots in the downloads section.
For reading the interview- RT is me Richard Tysoe, your intrepid CLO, CM is the man McRae, and SB is the lovely Sarah from our licensing department.
RT- Last time we spoke you said that you wanted to do Le Mans because it was a big event that everyone’s heard of- is there anything else you’d like, I dunno, Daytona or the Indy 500 or Pike’s Peak that you’d quite like to do?
CM- pike’s peak’s one that I’d love to do. Because it’s the most famous hillclimb in the world and great cars. That’s the thing, I just enjoy driving really extreme cars, and you can do that in that kind of event.
RT- That kind of leads on to the next one, because I know you’ve got a metro 6R4- so you have like a collection of classic cars- what else have you got?
CM- I’ve got most of my cars that I used. I managed to get them back again and rebuilt them to their original state. I’ve got the 6R4, and I’m building an Escort just now.
RT- what kind of escort- because it’s quite a wide…
CM- Yeah, I know, an older MKII type, a classic type car. With some modern bits and pieces on it. It’ll look like an old MKII, but it’ll be quite a special car underneath.
RT- So modern cosworth stuff in it
CM-Yeah- so just something a bit different. I’m playing around with it, really.
RT- That sounds like fun. Ok. If I gave you the keys to the world rally championship, and it’s yours to do whatever you like with, what would you do?
CM- I would change quite a lot of it, at the moment. Definitely put three cars per team back in, because that was in a couple of years ago and the idea was to bring in younger people into the sport and give them an opportunity with a third car in the team, so that’s something I would definitely put back in. I would cut back on a number of rallies because the manufacturers are complaining about the cost of the sport, and part of the big cost is the number of rallies you’ve got to go to, so I’d cut back to, maybe ten quality rallies. Change the rallies quite a bit- change the format of the events- nowadays there’s an awful lot of running around on the road or liaison sections. You’d start at five in the morning and finish at nine at night and only do four or five stages a day- that’s a lot of hanging around so obviously I’d try and get more competitive mileage into a day. And I would change the spec of the cars quite a bit as well- go back to more… maybe basic’s the wrong word, but take some of the electronic aids out of the car
RT- the active diffs, that sort of thing
CM- Yeah the active transmissions. And I would certainly- definitely go back to normally aspirated motors. I think maybe fifty percent of the spectacle’s in the noise that comes off something like that and the turbocharged engines don’t really sound brilliant.
RT- what I’ve always thought is odd is that they have a turbocharged formula, which is 2 litres, and they restrict it to about 300 bhp where, you can get 300 horsepower out of a 2-litre naturally-aspirated engine anyway. You can buy road cars approaching that much.
CM- Well, the big thing is everyone always looks at horsepower, but torque’s the thing that makes the car move, not the horsepower. I mean, a WRC car now’s got over 700 pound-feet of torque. So it’s way way over what any, any road car would ever achieve. And that’s where they get the performance from. But I would go back to normally aspirated motors and more of a basic- still keep some active stuff in the transmission, ‘cos it makes the cars great fun to drive because they’re very, very responsive. But I think they’ve gone too far that way- with yaw and G-sensors and brake systems, and basically- if it keeps going the way it’s going, rally cars in three or four years’ll be driving as if they’re on rails. And then what’s the point in going to watch something like that? Rallying’s all about driving on a loose surface and sliding the car around, and they’ve gone away from that. I would go back to that more, sort of five years ago, group A type era, when the cars were a bit more sort of- you had to manhandle more than actually drive to the electronics that are in the cars.
RT- it’s odd to think that there’s almost as many aids helping the real drivers as in the games.
CM- It’s the same in F1 at the moment, there’s a big debate as to what spec the cars should be as they’re basically driving on rails. In rallying, five or six years ago, if you had a very good driver and a mediocre car, you could still win because the driving ability would come through. Nowadays that would never happen, you’ve got to have a good car and a good driver to win.
RT- Right, well, good answer. Obviously this leads on from it a bit is that you got a fairly raw deal out of the down-to-two-cars thing, and with Richard Burns out of the picture, it’s not really a great year for British fans.
CM- no, it’s really unfortunate
RT- Do you know, do you follow, up-and-coming drivers- is there a young British guy who might be coming up? Because I’ve not really heard that much about it.
CM- Yeah, I mean what you’ve got to look at is the junior championship. We at McRae Motorsport look after a young Irish driver Chris Meeke- he finished third in the first event in Monte Carlo and we’ve had a huge gap until, next weekend, the Acropolis rally. So we, personally look after him, and he’s one of the quickest guys. I’ve obviously put a lot of money on him making it to the top as the next British driver in the limelight and the WRC.