Quote from AndroidXP :

Nah, that would be unfair. The broken windshield or possible suspension damage could cost a driver the race. I can already see Loeb fans hurling their bodies on Solberg's or Grönholm's car.

Whose car?

Playing a lot of RBR lately I've had a few moments where a marshall has been much too slow to get out of the way and I've had to adjust my pace + line considerably more than seemed reasonable. That always felt a bit unrealistic to me since I thought everyone knew better by now...guess it's just another example of how brilliantly uncompromising RBR really is . Bird strikes are also one of these extremely rare curveballs thrown at you - I've only experienced one after years of occasional championships.

Quote from chunkyracer :

Yes, it was in the Rally of Portugal in 1986 when the Ford RS200 of portuguese driver Joaquim Santos crashed into the public killing 4 people and injuring about 30 more. In the 80´s the portuguese rally was considered the best of the world, but the behaviour of the spectators was incredible... I watched some of them, by that time, and it was completely insane what people did, staying on the road and just moving with the cars on top of them... For those who don´t know the story here´s a video about it:

http://www.smog.pl/wideo/3383/wjechal_w_tlum/

Portugal was the worst for spectator safety. As I said earlier, people played matador with rally cars. They'd stand on the road and see how close they can scrape with the cars. Some of them would just stand there, take a photo, and then leap out of the way.

The cars themselves were very dangerous too. Ari Vatanen almost lost his life when his seat detached from the floor when he rolled his car. Then there were the flammable alloys those cars were made of.

All in all, a very spectacular era in rallying, but also very crazy.

Quite a coinsidence the apartments I was working on today looked onto a big car park, where there was a Audi Quattro sitting, red, was a beauty.

Quite an offtopic post but it's probarly one of my al time faveroute cars, #1 because we used to have one when I was growing up and #2 the effect that this car made on rallying was huge.

Quote from Stigpt :

that portuguese movie reminds me of something... Natural selection

I say remove the cops and marshalls from the roadside, let ppl stand wherever they want, and let natural selection do its work. I'd predict world free of morons in 10 rally seasons.

Great Idea!

Quote from Stigpt :

that portuguese movie reminds me of something... Natural selection

I say remove the cops and marshalls from the roadside, let ppl stand wherever they want, and let natural selection do its work. I'd predict world free of morons in 10 rally seasons.

Seems I missed this post, what a stupid idea.

I think people would be alot more careful but their is allways those people who either have no fear or are a complete idiot. You seem to be forgetting one thing, it was mentioned in the video about the RS200 crash that stopped the Group B cars. It was about how loss of life can never be accepted in rallying, especcially when it is something that can be controlled.

Look at another example, think about the rally drivers who would kill these people? Through a genuine mistake or a fault with the car, imagine having the feeling inside you every day that you were driving the car which took peoples lives. This would ruin drivers, look at Markko Martin, he lost his co driver and has never returned to the WRC, that's how big an affect it had on him.

I don't think Stigpt was being serious

but did u see the cop, at the end of the video he just stand there like nothing happened weird guy, might sound rude but it made me laugh, and after reading comments like "some needs a ne pair of pants" i just couldnt stop laughing. That policeman was sure born under a lucky star

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Something similar happened to me, except I walked into the side of a moving van and smashed my ankle to bits, which then caused another car to rear-end the van. I wasn't paying attention when crossing the street because I was distracted by boobies.

Kev I hope those said boobies stopped and comforted you?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7zyhcdSTnTE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KYGgwgNmJuY

If there were problems with spectators, these pretty much sums up the safety aspects of the cars.

I just hate people who uploads fatal crash clips to youtube with incomplete/false/zero info about the accident: The first link has false info in the title, only the co-driver Michael Wyd was killed. That happened in Germany in 1986, which wasn't part of WRC calendar but deserves to be mentioned. And in the second link, also Toivonen's co-driver Sergio Cresto was killed. That in Corsica 1986. In addition to these, Attilio Bettega died in Corsica 1985 ironically in a Lancia, in a similar crash exactly year earlier.

Someone asked about the paychecks, info from a Finnish sports magazine so no point linking it here:

Loeb: 3.5 - 4 million € / year.
Petter Solberg: 3 million € / year (multi-year deal in 2006)
Hirvonen: estimated 1.5 - 2 million € / year
Atkinson: estimated 1.5 - 2 million € / year

Latvala: every point, podium finish and final manufacturer position is separately priced in the contract.

Also Sordo, Gardemeister and Henning Solberg gets salary but details unknown.

I wonder how much Groenhoelm got?

Quote from ShannonN :

Kev I hope those said boobies stopped and comforted you?

Not quite... The boobies in question belonged to the girl who was driving the car that collided with the rear of the van that I walked into.

I bit the road, he screeched to a halt thinking he'd hit me, then she hit him, then I got up and hobbled off making thumbs-up signs and saying "No I'm fine, honestly!" to avoid getting involved in the insurance debacle. I got about 50 metres and ducked into the next street for a quick scream. Then managed to hop another 100 metres to a pub and had a pint(!), then took a bus home assuming I had a particularly badly sprained ankle. Luckily a neighbour saw me get off the bus and drove me home from there.

I went to the hospital three days later when my foot was three times bigger than it used to be and it had gone various shades of purple and orange.

Loeb on a french TV channel (approximative translation):

Loeb (after watching at the video): Yep, that video is impressive but it was OK from the inside of the car. I saw the gendarme about 150-200m before the corner and I always had him in sight. And I knew what he was doing and what I was going to do.
TV: What is the distance between your car and the gendarme ?
Loeb: Hm, about 15-20 cm.
TV: Isn't it a bit short ?
Loeb: No, we are always doing that in rally. If it was a rock it would be the same.
TV: What is your speed at this moment ?
Loeb: About 100-120 km/h.
TV: And you were sure it was going to be OK ?
Loeb: Yes, absolutely sure. I was 200% sure.

No typo, he said 200%.

LOL, seems to take it pretty calm way...

Quote from deggis :

LOL, seems to take it pretty calm way...

Unlike normally when he's in a flurry of emotion? That man's a robot.

It sounds like he doesn't even take it seriously, no matter how it looked from the cockpit but the video shows that it was pretty damn close and that kind of stuff doesn't happen on every stage.

And this "If it was a rock it would be the same" Then again, rally drivers already used to say in the 80s that you can't think the spectators as real humans, otherwise you loose concentration.

Yeah it does seem a bit cold, but I totally believe him when he says he was in control. He saw the guy, calculated his and his own speed, and then turned over juuust enough that he didn't hit him or lose too much time.

The likes of Colin McRae would probably have done a huuge powerslide around the gendarme, scaring him into a ball, all the while looking awesomely spectacular. Loeb is efficient.

I think Colin did a powerslide into a fan once and broke his legs, and destroy his car a bit, then carried on. I think Loeb is spot on though, to a rally driver that distance is huge, and they are thinking a lot faster than the spectators, if he was going to hit him he would of avoided it. I would rather do that sort of thing infront of a rally driver, than a single mum trying to shut her brats up in the back of her chelsea tractor, while on the phone to her new boyfriend talking about the sti he just gave her.

Reminded me at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... ksGK4&feature=related

The old man crapped the shit in hes pants imo.

Quote from FL!P :

Can you believe that retard was a cop?

But one hell of retardet one

That's some terrible marshalling right there, what an idiot!

Casually strolls across the road just as the car comes, what a pleb!!!