It's going to be an exciting week as WRC Sweden kicks off tomorrow. It's the first time out for the new generation of WRC car and it looks like it's going to be a very tight battle. From today's shakedown stage the cars are very evenly matched which should lead to some great battles throughout the year.
The best thing about the new cars is that everyone is starting with a new car. There are no old cars, or customer spec cars, so the independents could be in with a shot of potentially winning the rally. PG Andersson has actually come out today and said that he thinks he can win! If he is confident enough to say that in public, after such little testing, then he must be feeling very good in the car. I would be delighted to see PG win. He has been in around the top level for a long time now and it would be great to see him finally get a chance to show what he is made off. As well as being good for PG a non works driver winning a rally would be great for the sport. The level of competition in the WRC this last few years hasn't been very good and the sport as a whole has suffered. People have lost interest in the WRC and that can clearly be seen from the difficulty that Petter Solberg, who finished 3rd in the drivers championship last year and a former World Champion has had in finding funding for this years campaign. A strong year of competition would do wonders for the WRC's profile.
It's a pity that they moved the coverage to ESPN and I won't get to see as much WRC as I usually do.
Craig Breen is doing Sweden in his S2000 Fiesta and I understand that I will be the last time he uses the S2000 car before he moves to the R2 Fiesta for the rest of the year. It will be a very tough rally against the local experts and I wish him the best of luck.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Getting the Nova ready 2011
With January over it's about time that I started getting the Nova ready for the year. There are a few small jobs that I need to take care off, nothing that would stop me starting a rally, just things that need tidying up.
First on the list is a blow in the exhaust. I have a full Ashley Exhausts system and it's always had a slight leak round the joint between the 4 branch and the centre section. There was no mention of it when I bought the system but there should be a gasket on the joint. It's a standard Vauxhall part (9044 8071) so I picked one up today and it only took a few minutes to get it fitted. So a nice handy job to get me back into the way of things, lets hope the rest are as straight forward.
First on the list is a blow in the exhaust. I have a full Ashley Exhausts system and it's always had a slight leak round the joint between the 4 branch and the centre section. There was no mention of it when I bought the system but there should be a gasket on the joint. It's a standard Vauxhall part (9044 8071) so I picked one up today and it only took a few minutes to get it fitted. So a nice handy job to get me back into the way of things, lets hope the rest are as straight forward.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Not the Boxing Day Rally 2010 +33 days
Well that was unexpected. It all came together at the last minute but I found myself navigating on last Saturdays "Not the Boxing Day" rally. I hadn't intended doing any navigating this year but as it's been a while since I've been out on an event I took the opportunity to guide Denis Bell round. Denis is a gentleman driver and as he delighted in telling me he is now in his 7th decade of competitive motorsport. He had managed to borrow his wife's car for the day and as it had to be returned at 6pm to do the shopping run we weren't going to be setting the stages alight.
The event itself is of a format that has become quite popular in NI over the last few years and involves using private lanes and yards for timed tests. Some are like mini rally stages and others are like open autotests. There is no restriction on cars or licences so its open to everyone and I can see more events like it springing up and being very popular in future.
Denis and I had a great day. We didn't make any mistakes, didn't do any damage and got on well in the car. Denis has plenty of stories about rallying in the old days and from his time selling Toyota's he has been lucky enough to meet a good few of the driving legends that I will only ever get to see on video. It was really interesting to get the chance to talk to someone from a different generation who has the same interests as I do.
Our "rally" car for the day:
Start line of Test 2:
Interesting double car transporter:
The event itself is of a format that has become quite popular in NI over the last few years and involves using private lanes and yards for timed tests. Some are like mini rally stages and others are like open autotests. There is no restriction on cars or licences so its open to everyone and I can see more events like it springing up and being very popular in future.
Denis and I had a great day. We didn't make any mistakes, didn't do any damage and got on well in the car. Denis has plenty of stories about rallying in the old days and from his time selling Toyota's he has been lucky enough to meet a good few of the driving legends that I will only ever get to see on video. It was really interesting to get the chance to talk to someone from a different generation who has the same interests as I do.
Our "rally" car for the day:
Queuing for Test 2:
Start line of Test 2:
Interesting double car transporter:
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Monte Carlo 2011, finish.
What a rally! One of the best I've watched for a long time, and even better as I got to watch 12 of the 13 stages live on TV. The live coverage that Eurosport is able to broadcast is very impressive, and years ahead of the WRC. It looks likely that it will stay that way too after it was announced that the WRC will be screened on ESPN this year, which is a subscription only channel. On the face of it this seems like a poor choice but I assume someone must know that they are doing, for the future of the WRC I hope.
Bryan Bouffier's name topped the time sheet at the end of the Monte Carlo, but that doesn't give you the full picture. A good tyre choice, or rather a poor tyre choice by other crews moved him from 7th overall to leading the rally in just one snow covered stages. I think if the weather hadn't intervened he would have had trouble breaking into the top 5. The real star of the show was Juho Hanninen. Up until stage 7 it looked like no one would be able to catch him. His turn of speed for a man who isn't considered a tarmac expect was remarkable. It is clear to see that he has lifted himself above the IRC regulars and that he fully deserves his chance in the WRC.
I was pleased to see that the 207 is still a match for the Fabia. I had worried that the championship wouldn't be that exciting this year if it was just between the Skodas, but it looks like there will be a good battle. Guy Wilks had a good event, set some quick times and didn't put a foot wrong to finish with 3rd place points, which gets his 2011 campaign off to a good start. Andreas Mikkelsen only made it 4 corners into stage 1 before sliding wide on cold tyres and hitting a wall. Let's hope that his luck changes before the next round.
Chris Patterson and Petter Solberg were having a great run until it snowed and with the chance of victory gone it seemed to knock the wind out of Petter sails. Petter was fully on the pace up till then, running as high as 2nd and leading Peugeot which just goes to show the man's class. Unfortunately the car let them down on the road section after the last stage and they were not classified as finishers. Eamonn Boland had a good rally, consistently running in the top 5 in Group N and finishing 28th overall and 6th in class. Daniel Barry was also setting some good times in Group N, until he got caught out on the wrong tyres in the snow on stage 8 and put the car off the road.
Results:
http://www.acm.mc/ramc/ramc_main.php
Bryan Bouffier's name topped the time sheet at the end of the Monte Carlo, but that doesn't give you the full picture. A good tyre choice, or rather a poor tyre choice by other crews moved him from 7th overall to leading the rally in just one snow covered stages. I think if the weather hadn't intervened he would have had trouble breaking into the top 5. The real star of the show was Juho Hanninen. Up until stage 7 it looked like no one would be able to catch him. His turn of speed for a man who isn't considered a tarmac expect was remarkable. It is clear to see that he has lifted himself above the IRC regulars and that he fully deserves his chance in the WRC.
I was pleased to see that the 207 is still a match for the Fabia. I had worried that the championship wouldn't be that exciting this year if it was just between the Skodas, but it looks like there will be a good battle. Guy Wilks had a good event, set some quick times and didn't put a foot wrong to finish with 3rd place points, which gets his 2011 campaign off to a good start. Andreas Mikkelsen only made it 4 corners into stage 1 before sliding wide on cold tyres and hitting a wall. Let's hope that his luck changes before the next round.
Chris Patterson and Petter Solberg were having a great run until it snowed and with the chance of victory gone it seemed to knock the wind out of Petter sails. Petter was fully on the pace up till then, running as high as 2nd and leading Peugeot which just goes to show the man's class. Unfortunately the car let them down on the road section after the last stage and they were not classified as finishers. Eamonn Boland had a good rally, consistently running in the top 5 in Group N and finishing 28th overall and 6th in class. Daniel Barry was also setting some good times in Group N, until he got caught out on the wrong tyres in the snow on stage 8 and put the car off the road.
Results:
http://www.acm.mc/ramc/ramc_main.php
Friday, 21 January 2011
Tour of the Mournes 2011
Tonight was supposed to be the first round of the Northern Ireland Navigation Rally Championship with the Tour of the Mournes rally organised by Rathfriland Motor Club, but unfortunately due to the bad weather during the crucial weeks leading up to the event it has had to be called off, which is a great shame. The Tour of the Mournes is one of my favourite navs of the year because the weather is unpredictable, but this time it is that very variable that has forced it to be called off. With the event route being up in the mountains, in January, the grip level is constantly changing and for me it just adds an extra bit of excitement to the driving.
I competed a couple of years ago in an old Passat estate that had been bought for £100 to do the Scally Rally and it was brilliant fun. The big car was a bit of a handful and getting stopped at a few junctions on the ice was a real test of my ability, but we got round to the finish with no damage and a respectable score which earned Neil and myself a trophy for 3rd in class.
I hope that the bad weather doesn't become an annual event and the Tour of the Mournes returns again in 2012.
I competed a couple of years ago in an old Passat estate that had been bought for £100 to do the Scally Rally and it was brilliant fun. The big car was a bit of a handful and getting stopped at a few junctions on the ice was a real test of my ability, but we got round to the finish with no damage and a respectable score which earned Neil and myself a trophy for 3rd in class.
I hope that the bad weather doesn't become an annual event and the Tour of the Mournes returns again in 2012.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Monte Carlo 2011
The Monte Carlo rally start tomorrow and it looks like it could be a classic. The weather has been very mild so the route is almost totally free of snow and ice making the event a much more normal tarmac rally and the entry list is swollen with talent. Petter Solberg makes his debut in the IRC series and if things follow a similar path to the last two years then it should be Petter who is standing on the top step of the podium come the end of the rally. However I'm not sure that Petter will have the machinery to climb that high, the 207 is no longer a match for the Fabia. I don't think the Peugeots will be able to stop a Skoda pilot from taking the victory but there are so many top class drivers taking part that it could go to any one of the top 15 starters.
It will be interesting to see how Guy Wilks gets on compared to Andreas Mikkelsen, who took Wilks vacated seat in the Skoda UK Fabia. I hope they both have a good clean run but I think Mikkelsen will finish ahead in the final standings.
From the photos I've seen so far of the Citroen DS3 R3T it is a fantastic looking car, if I had the money it would be my current car of choice.
People of interest for Irish motorsport fans are Chris Patterson navigating Petter Solberg at No.2, Eamonn Boland in his Evo 10 at No.36 and Daniel Barry in his Evo 9 at No.47.
IRC website:
http://www.ircseries.com/html/
It will be interesting to see how Guy Wilks gets on compared to Andreas Mikkelsen, who took Wilks vacated seat in the Skoda UK Fabia. I hope they both have a good clean run but I think Mikkelsen will finish ahead in the final standings.
From the photos I've seen so far of the Citroen DS3 R3T it is a fantastic looking car, if I had the money it would be my current car of choice.
People of interest for Irish motorsport fans are Chris Patterson navigating Petter Solberg at No.2, Eamonn Boland in his Evo 10 at No.36 and Daniel Barry in his Evo 9 at No.47.
IRC website:
http://www.ircseries.com/html/
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Dakar Rally 2011 - Finish.
Congratulations to Nasser Al-Attiyah on winning his first Dakar rally. Nasser kept out of trouble, didn't seem to suffer from as many punctures as the others and his car was good as gold, all the things that need to come together to win such a grueling endurance event as the Dakar. It's a great achievement for the Qatari and I can see him winning many more Dakar rallies in the future.
Carlos Sainz eventually finished 3rd, behind his teammate Giniel de Villiers, after having a few terrible stages. On Stage 10 he got the car stuck on a hill with no one to help him, losing 18min 13sec, and then on Stage 11 he hit a hole and broke the suspension on his Touareg 3 losing a further 1h 14min 50sec which put him completely out of contention. Sainz drove well for the rest of the rally and now holds the record for Dakar stage wins in the car class with 24, beating Peterhansel who has 23 wins.
With a 1-2-3 finish for Volkswagen I don't see that they have anything else to prove on the Dakar. I wonder will they be back next year? There have been rumours going around for quite a while of Volkswagen entering the WRC, which is very exciting. It would be great to see them there, especially as their great German rival BMW is starting a full WRC campaign in 2012 with MINI. It will also be very interesting to see if VW Group choose to use a diesel engine in their WRC car like they have done in almost all of their motorsport activities in recent years.
Final results:
http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2011/us/stage-13/rankings/overall-cars-page-1.html
Carlos Sainz eventually finished 3rd, behind his teammate Giniel de Villiers, after having a few terrible stages. On Stage 10 he got the car stuck on a hill with no one to help him, losing 18min 13sec, and then on Stage 11 he hit a hole and broke the suspension on his Touareg 3 losing a further 1h 14min 50sec which put him completely out of contention. Sainz drove well for the rest of the rally and now holds the record for Dakar stage wins in the car class with 24, beating Peterhansel who has 23 wins.
With a 1-2-3 finish for Volkswagen I don't see that they have anything else to prove on the Dakar. I wonder will they be back next year? There have been rumours going around for quite a while of Volkswagen entering the WRC, which is very exciting. It would be great to see them there, especially as their great German rival BMW is starting a full WRC campaign in 2012 with MINI. It will also be very interesting to see if VW Group choose to use a diesel engine in their WRC car like they have done in almost all of their motorsport activities in recent years.
Final results:
http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2011/us/stage-13/rankings/overall-cars-page-1.html
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