The decline of rallying to a parody of its former self continues a pace.
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The decline of rallying to a parody of its former self continues a pace.
Woh,Quote:
Originally Posted by trickydicky
Great insight there.
Were you planning on competing or marshalling at the event?
Studded tyres are illegal in the UK so marshals and due to the fact that the stages were covered in sheet ice the safety crews would not have had access to the higher parts of the stages. And maybe you haven't been to mid-wales before but most of the stages run on high ground so at least 30% of the route would not have had any safety personnel whatsoever.
I used to live in mid Wales, I have driven a large portion of the Dyfnant stage quite a few times, though not in a rally car, and I am aware that most of the stage is over or around 1000ft asl. Most rally stages, forest ones anyway, are high up in this country, coniferous forest plantations tending to be situated in moorland areas, rather than town centres. Most of Kielder is also over 1000ft, Radnor nudges 2000ft.Quote:
Originally Posted by catty
There are many many instances where rally's have taken place in the British Isles following snow storms. The RAC Rally's of 1971, 1985, 1993 and 1996 being fairly obvious examples. In all of those instances studded tyres were not allowed, in all of those instances the stages went ahead anyway, barring a few in 1971 I think where cars got stuck and the stage blocked, somewhere near Aviemore. The first couple of stages of 1996 were on stages with fairly deep, albeit soft, snow cover. It accounted for a few of the favourites, Kankunnen and Vatanen being 2, Schwarz was the only decent car left running, and Stig Blomqvist ended up third in a hamster powered Skoda. It created an interesting story, now of course there can be no interesting stories, because rallying has become a sanitized joke.
Are you sure they were not using studded tyres on those occasions? I am not sure either but I believe there were allowed to use studded tyres back then. The videos I have seen at least from 1993 show that the cars have good traction in snow ice conditions that with a control tyre would not have been possible.
Yes I am sure, I am not aware of any instances where studded tyres were allowed on the RAC Rally. They shred roads, and as the roads were privately owned i'm guessing that's why they weren't allowed.Quote:
Originally Posted by makinen_fan
On the Swedish Rally in 1973 (I think) studded tyres weren't allowed. A rally 100% on snow and ice. It was a bit of a farce and they had to push some cars off the start lines, but it did happen!
But the snow wasnt the problem. The sheet ice was.Quote:
Originally Posted by trickydicky
Can you imagine trying to descend Gartheinog (probably wrong spelling I know) on sheet ice with absolutely no grip and a sheer drop on one side the whole way?
That wouldnt be rallying, it'd be suicide
And while your knowledge of the location of forests is quite impressive, you just decided to skip acknowledging the fact that safety crews and marshals would not have been able to access the higher areas. Then again maybe you think another rallying death would be a good way to start the year?
I agree that safety crews having no access to certain areas is an issue, and this event wouldn't have had the resources and man-power that the RAC would have had in the day I suppose.Quote:
Originally Posted by catty
On a completely different note I have just been watching videos of Romain Dumas in his Porsche 997 GT3 RS in the French Rally Championship over the last couple of years; and I've just read the entry list for the Lyon-Charbonnieres Rally. It strikes me that the difference between the French organizers and ours is that they want as many cars to compete as possible, and for the events to be as watched and popular as possible, without worrying about the various different classes and rule changes of the last 15 years. I can't imagine a GT3 RS would be much of a gravel car, but if there was even half a chance of seeing one on the Manx or Ulster I'd be ordering my ferry tickets now.
2013 Pirelli driver Mark Donnelly will discover his car in rallying this coming week-end(Granite City Rally) ;)
He already discovered his new car in Omagh Fivemiletown Spring Rally!Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom206wrc
By the way...pre-entrylist Pirelli International Rally can be seen on the official website ;)
Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally