Rally of Great Britain.

[Speeddemon555]

The last rally of the year at the Network Q rally in England. Marcus Gronholm will try to make it three in a row in a couple of weeks. Watch out for Petter because he can win this rally in good fashion if he keeps his composure.

[SJ Spode]

I'll go for Marcus as Richard chucks it by trying too hard

[rdjones]

Originally posted by SJ Spode
I'll go for Marcus as Richard chucks it by trying too hard

I am going for Petter I think he may spring a suprise.....

[egor]

The last rally of the year at the Network Q rally in England

Sorry to be picky, but if your going to England to watch the Network Q, you won't see much

[SJ Spode]

I wonder what level of support Colin McRae will get this year. Could there be a backlash from the Welsh fans particularly after his split with Nicky Grist ???

[imull]

the webmaster on his website has already closed the forums becuase of some comments left there. I dont think that they were real rally fans though...

He will be as popular as ever.

[egor]

I wonder what level of support Colin McRae will get this year. Could there be a backlash from the Welsh fans particularly after his split with Nicky Grist ???

No a good driver is a good driver and I will support him, but a good co-driver makes him better.

Anyway we have another good Welshman sat next to Petter in a top notch Subaru

[Speeddemon555]

Colin will have to dodge the fans anger and make a run back to Scotland as soon as possible. Gee, I thought this thing was over, guess not.

[ss_collins]

I feel the Sainz/Mcrae/makkinen era is over and the boy who are going to light up the world net year (and on the rac) are Solberg, Loeb, Martin, Duval. The scrap I can't wait for is Loeb Vs Panizzi on tarmac. But of course the year will b about gronholms silver machine, unless (we hope) it lets him down a few times to let Burnsie close the gap a bit.

[SJ Spode]

Results after SS3

1. _Marcus GRÖNHOLM_(FIN)_ __0:00:00.0_
2. _Markko MÄRTIN_(EE)_ _+0:00:29.5_
3. _Petter SOLBERG_(N)_ _+0:00:30.3_
4. _Carlos SAINZ_(E)_ _+0:00:36.0_
5. _Harri ROVANPERÄ_(FIN)_ _+0:00:51.1_
6. _Tommi MÄKINEN_(FIN)_ _+0:01:12.8_
7. _Sébastien LOEB_(F)_ _+0:01:20.4_
8. _Mark HIGGINS_(GB)_ _+0:01:29.0_
9. _Juha KANKKUNEN_(FIN)_ _+0:01:33.6_
10. _Colin MCRAE_(GB)_ _+0:01:36.3_
_

[rdjones]

and Rossi is out - last update from me of to my uni graduation, hopefully I will see the highlights on Ch4 in the hotel before tonights ball.

[Liz]

Is Burns out already?

[garcon]

Burns lost 1 minute 30odd seconds on SS3 after outbraking himself and going wide - went off track, minor damage but knocked a turbo pipe off which (presumably) slowed him down a bit...

Latest news on BBC Online - "Crowd trouble" has meant cancellation of SS4 - Brechfa 2.

So I guess there'll be no WRC Rally of GB in 2003 then.

My money's on Solberg. No other reason than I'm a Subaru tifosi.

What's tifosi in Japanese?? :confused:

[SJ Spode]

Originally posted by garcon
Latest news on BBC Online - "Crowd trouble" has meant cancellation of SS4 - Brechfa 2.

It was cancelled because of spectator numbers rather than anything sinister that might be inferred by the BBC.

Unfortunately it's the first time in the event's 58-year history that a stage has been cancelled for safety reasons before it has run.

[egor]

What do they expect if you try to cram all spectators into a couple of stages a day, and make them all stand in the same place.

Did we have this trouble before?

I can't remember can you, and has anybody been injured like they were last year, stood in the wrong place at the right time.

[garcon]

I had assumed "crowd trouble" meant overcrowding/too many spectators.

But they were supposed to have sorted that by making it ticket only, restricting people to limited "viewing areas" and generally making it wholly unpalatable for old traditional fans like me.

They are cracking down a little this year, so no doubt the problems at Brechfa were no worse than they've been in the past when the stage has still been run.

It's been a disaster ever since they limited the 'proper' rally to Wales. I've been at Rheola and Hafren when it's taken hours to get in or out and rally cars are overheating in the traffic jams.

So they thought they'd solve it by centring around Cardiff and staying south, and in the process lost some of the best gravel stages in the entire WRC calendar (and a huge money spinner at Sweet Lamb).

But that didn't work - everybody just got snarled up in the valleys around Resolfen and so on. So this year they've tried the ticket only sheep pen approach. And evidently that hasn't worked either.

It's time to go back to the good old days of pay on the gate, a fiver per stage (or free if you can walk a few miles!).

It's the marshalls I feel sorry for most - I bet they're getting no end of grief this year.

[SJ Spode]

Not a good rally for the guest drivers.

Rossi off the road in SS2 and Mark Blundell out with Mechanical problems in SS5

[SJ Spode]

After SS6_

1. Marcus GRÖNHOLM__ _
_2. Petter SOLBERG__ +0:00:49.6_
_3. Markko MÄRTIN _ +0:00:51.8_
_4. Carlos SAINZ__ _ +0:01:05.0_
_5. Harri ROVANPERÄ_ +0:01:43.2_
_6. Tommi MÄKINEN_ +0:01:46.4_
_7. Colin MCRAE_ +0:01:58.7_
_8. Richard BURNS +0:02:00.3_
_9. Sébastien LOEB +0:02:10.5_
_10. Mark HIGGINS +0:02:43.4_

[ss_collins]

It appears the rally is a turd - what a surprise.

[Lee Janotta]

Originally posted by garcon
What's tifosi in Japanese?? :confused:

"Otaku" is a Japanese word which, I believe, means something along the lines of an obsessive fans who brings shame to himself and his family by way of his obsession and lack of a life.

Probably works pretty well as the equivalent of Tifosi.

[Lee Janotta]

Jeez... Colin should have been on the brakes as soon as the word "two" left Derrick's mouth... You don't come out of a 6th gear corners towards a 2nd gear turn, on slippery welsh mud, without getting on the brakes pre-emptively.

Wow... It's just depressing watching poor Tommi anymore.

He hasn't lost it, but... Well, everything's been so much change for him in the last year and a half. New co-driver, new team... Two new cars. Tommi's... Just too old to start all over again, which is what he's had to do.

If Mitsubishi had any sense, they'd be running a Group A Lancer Evo VII, and they'd still have Tommi and Risto in it, and they'd be giving the Peugots hell!

There's way too much of a difference between the big and brutal Lancer Evo that Tommi developed such a mastery of, and the agile but delicate Impreza WRC that he's in now.

These new kids are something else, too... Colin and Marcus'll probably be the only ones left standing of the "Old guard" in a few years... Shame that... But, then again, they came along years ago and gave their predecessors quite a lot of trouble.

Rallying, though... The level of talent seems to stay _pretty_ damn consistent over the decades, unlike circuit racing, where the technical, strategy and fitness aspects have overwhelmed natural talent. Right now, it's just a case of a lot of young, really talented drivers all coming up at once, after the talent pool had very little turnover for quite a while. And that's not to say that Tommi and Colin aren't still extremely fast... But time is starting to catch up with them, as it's catching up with Sainz, and years ago caught up with Kankunen and Blomquvist. And it will eventually catch up with Gronholm. Yet they're all still capable of some real brilliance. It's something I really love about rallying... You might not be on top, but that doesn't mean you've got to hang it up.

[Liz]

i agree about Tommi, I really hope he hangs it up this year at least for awhile. Nicky Grist said last weekend that he hadn't really recovered psychologically from the big crash where he and Risto were nearly hurtled down a 100 foot cliff to their doom. And he has had some spectacular accidents since then too. He has a nice family and a good life and I think if I were he, I'd go home and enjoy them.

I was disappointed to see Rossi go out so fast, but he is a little dude and I guess even with his co-driver to help, he could not have moved that car out of the bog where he threw it. But I was surprised he didn't get out and try!

And personally I feel that Colin has proved now that whatever problem he's having has nothing to do with his co-driver.

I'm looking forward to seeing Loeb, Martin and Panizzi duke it out next year. WOO-HOO!

[Marcel ten Caat]

SS10 is carnage!!!

Rally leader Marcus Gronholm rolled and retired then in the same turn loads of other cars crashed out.

Mitsubishi lost Paasonen and Delecour in the stage and is packing up.

It's now between Markko and Petter

[Lee Janotta]

Oy... Double-DNF for the Lancers... That's gonna be hard to explain to the DaimlerChrysler execs.

What the hell happened??? A culprit blind corner? A super-slick patch of clay in the road?

Wow... Hmm, well, Sainz isn't out of the fight either yet... But the two remaining Peugeots are too far back to have a realistic shot at the win.

Jeez... Loeb's getting pretty damn good on dirt... This guy is going to win a WRC, there's no way to deny it.

Martin and Solberg fighting for the win... Wow, the guard really _IS_ changing right before our eyes!

[rdjones]

Well Stage 12 has just finished and the top 10 looks like this :-

1. 6 MARTIN-PARK 2h11'21"800
2. 11 SOLBERG-MILLS + 00'01"80
3. 4 SAINZ-MOYA + 00'27"40
4. 1 BURNS-REID + 00'56"50
5. 10 MAKINEN-LINDSTR + 01'37"80
6. 5 MCRAE-RINGER + 01'39"20
7. 21 LOEB-ELENA + 02'01"90
8. 24 HIGGINS-THOMAS + 02'59"60
9. 18 LOIX-SMEETS + 03'08"90
10. 19 KANKKUNEN-REPO + 03'26"60

Thre is going to be on hell of a battle tomorrow..........