2020 WRC and Off Road Discussion *DAKAR 2021 on now*

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Everso Biggyballies
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#61

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Bottom post of the previous page:

WRC Rally Mexici went ahead this weekend despite Coronavirus interfering, but sadly due to new travel restrictions had to be trimmed of the final day to allow teams and personnel to get out prior to conditions chanfing, so the 3 stages due to run on Sunday were cancelled.

It still qualifies for full points as over 75% of the stage miles were completed.

In the end Sebastien Ogier took the win from Otto Tanak and Teemu Suninen.... Neuville had car problems and stopped on a stage on Friday but restarted the rally under Rally 2 regs. Evans finished down the order in 4th position with Kalle Rovanpera 5th.

Espakka Lappi’s M-Sport Fiesta had already gone up in flames on the Friday while Hyundai’s Dani Sordo went out with an overheating engine on just his first full day of competitive action of the season.

Thus Ogier now leads the Championship.

Drivers’ championship (Top 9)

Pos Driver Pts
1 S. OGIER 62
2 E. EVANS 54
3 T. NEUVILLE 42
4 K. ROVANPERÄ 40
5 O. TÄNAK 38
6 T. SUNINEN 26
7 E. LAPPI 24
8 S. LOEB 8
9 T. KATSUTA 8

With Argentina cancelled the next round (I would say very provisionally) is Portugal on May 21-24.

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


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#62

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

WRC Calendar resumes this weekend.

After a Covid-19 forced break from competition, one that had stopped WRC from the shortened Rallye Mexico some six months ago, the WRC championship is back, with the Rally Estonia currently underway in a reduced three day format.

Lappi and Ogier lead the rally after the opening short spectator stage.


WRC Rally Estonia SS1 times
POS CLASS DRIVER CAR GAP
1 RC1 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia Toyota 1m17.0s
1 RC1 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Ford 1m17.0s
3 RC1 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja Hyundai 0.1s
4 RC1 Craig Breen, P.Nagle Hyundai 0.4s
5 RC1 Elfyn Evans, S.Martin Toyota 0.6s
6 RC2 Mads Ostberg, T.Eriksen Citroen 1.2s
7 RC2 Pontus Tidemand, P.Barth Skoda 1.4s
7 RC1 Takamoto Katsuta, D.Barritt Toyota 1.4s
7 RC1 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Toyota 1.4s
10 RC1 Teemu Suninen, J.Lehtinen Ford 1.5s
10 RC1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai 1.5s
10 RC2 Jari Huttunen, M.Lukka Hyundai 1.5s

The rally goes into a full day today with 11 stages.

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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#63

Post by Cheeveer »

2021 Rally Sweden cancelled. Sucks balls, but the winters are pretty much gone from there. I think it'll move north, so we might have seen the last of Colin's Crest....
***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

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#64

Post by Cheeveer »

Oh, we haven't talked about Rally Monza?

Saw it live when Evans slid of the road! Was a dramatic moment, but those conditions were very hazardous. Ogier almost slid off too at like 30kph. I liked that kind of rally, around all of Monza. Ogier was a worthy champion, obviously, but that sucked for Evans. Hope he can rebound in the future.
***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

The universe, look at the hugeness of it... it is a dizzying thought that little ol' me is the centre of it all!***
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#65

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Cheeveer wrote: 3 years ago Oh, we haven't talked about Rally Monza?

Saw it live when Evans slid of the road! Was a dramatic moment, but those conditions were very hazardous. Ogier almost slid off too at like 30kph. I liked that kind of rally, around all of Monza. Ogier was a worthy champion, obviously, but that sucked for Evans. Hope he can rebound in the future.
Hehehe I also saw bits live and did write a post about it but managed to delete it posting from my phone, and never got round to writing it again. :whistling:

Very sad for Evans, but it has to be noted he is a class act. After he went off on a silly bit of road it was he who flagged Ogier down to warn him of the conditions, without which Ogier said he would have been off as well. So kudos to Evans. Could see his disappointment though, obviously.

Neuville managed to have his own accident missing an entrance and into the fence.... that wrecked any chance he had of winning. Never really watched the Monza Rally before so was great to see the cars using the old banked section in anger, albeit with little chichanes built in.

The conditions overall were diabolical though and a bit of a naff way to decide the title.

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


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#66

Post by Warren »

What if?
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#67

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Warren wrote: 3 years ago
Great minds... I knew it was starting anyday now and just went online to get some details to post here as we normally have a bit of a following.

Having said that I was a little disappointed with the last one..... more the venue I think.
I notice this year they have introduced a max speed limit to stop the X Raids running away with it...... Revised FIA Cross Country regulations for 2021 restrict competitors in the T1 (which includes Toyota, X-raid and Prodrive's new BRX1 contender) and T2 classes to 180km/h (112mph), while T3, T4 and T5 vehicles must stick to 130km/h (81mph).

On the plus side it is motorsport and it is happening at this time of year. In fact today. Now. So that has to be something of a plus.

Usual website has all the news, live timing, highlights videos the next day etc. https://www.dakar.com/en/

Here is the 2021 route FWIW

Image


Nice to see some females competing in all except trucks this year. Shame they have only just allowed women to drive in Saudi. Stick that up you jacksie Sheik Whoever he is. Hopefully things in terms of equality will catch on more. But thats another subject.

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

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#68

Post by DoubleFart »

Hopefully it's a safe event for all participants.
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#69

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

For those of us in Australia, SBS are again doing the half hour days highlights which are shown daily live at 5:30 pm.

Failing that you can watch it on their "On Demand/Catch Up" service. (You might need to do a simple email/password registration to take advantage of that.) Incidentally I just logged in to their catch up service and I notice they also have a Preview show and some other Dakar stuff.

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/search/ ... 20Prologue
Or a direct link to the Prologue highlights: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1 ... 1-prologue

As I mentioned you may need to log in. Other thing I noticed the prologue is only available on demand until midnight on the 4/1/21

For others not in Aus there is a drop down link on their website homepage showing all the official broadcasters.
https://www.dakar.com/en/#

I think you can also follow it on highlight videos from their website on this link:
https://www.dakar.com/en/home-gallery

Stage 1, being the start in anger is underway now

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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#70

Post by Cheeveer »

Such a shame that Dakar is doing so little with so much with their TV coverage.

I'm following Benediktas Vanagas Youtube channel instead, his onboard footage tell a much greater story than the product for TV.

***Some say you should live each day like it was your last... but who wants to live each day in wild panic and extreme death anxiety?

The universe, look at the hugeness of it... it is a dizzying thought that little ol' me is the centre of it all!***
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#71

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Got to take my hat off to some of the bikers. Big balls and plenty of guts.

I was just reading of the day Bike leader Benavides suffered.... with a simple yeah Im in pain but thats Dakar.“It was a really hard day for me,” said Benavides. Having crashed, broken his nose and cut his leg badly, suffering from blood loss he just got back on and raced to get back lost time. :bow:
“At the beginning I got lost like all the riders, but after that I started to push a lot.

“On one dune I jumped, a big jump, and I crashed because I hit another big one with the front wheel.

“I banged my head like this and broke the GPS and everything. I cut myself too and started to lose a lot of blood. There was also some pain around my ankle.

“In the end, I continued and kept pushing with a lot of pain, so, yeah, it was really hard for me today.

“My nose is broken and also I broke the helmet, it was really hard.

“I think I’ll be okay for tomorrow. I’m in pain, but it will be OK.

“I also tried to push on the last part to win some time, but it was hard and there was a lot of pain today. But it’s like that, this is the Dakar.”
It seems a major problem with the roadmaps and books as many are suffering navigational problems and getting lost. Carlos Sainz said it was a joke and more like a gymkhana than a Dakar. Theproblem stems from this year's Dakar Rally ibeing the first in the event's history where roadbooks are handed to the drivers 15 minutes before the start of each stage instead of the previous day, as had been the case before.

Since the crews no longer have the time to add their own notes like in the past, organiser ASO has compensated for it by adding more detail to the roadbooks. But there also seems to be glitches in the software.

Carlos Sainz comments:
"I am a little demoralised and upset, because the rally looks more like a gymkhana than a rally-raid," the Spaniard said. "I've been on 14 Dakars and I've never been lost two days and lost half an hour in each one, nor have I seen everyone lost. This isn't the Dakar.

"This is becoming more of a gymkhana than a rally. What we have seen so far iit s not a rally. I just don't like it. It's more like a lottery, something like finding, this is not rallying. I'm really fed up.

"It's a gymkhana with the navigation. We've never had anything like it. Everybody gets lost, everybody tries to find the point. It's not what I like, at least."
Loeb was also pissed off.... he got given a speeding penalty of 5 minutes after he had to make time up in a monitored zone... he reckons he gained only a handful of seconds, and the loss was due to a software error in the first place. He accused the local organisation as being incompetent. :omg: Especially as the software manufacturer admitted there was a fault with the GPS.
"You've been getting to know me a little bit over the years and I very seldom make a face," wrote Loeb.

"But tonight, I need to share with you the incompetence of the stewards' panel of such a mythical event as the #DakarRally.

"We have just been penalised by 5 minutes for exceeding the speed limit in a controlled zone.

"During all my participations, during all the stages and during all the speed control zones, I have always done my best to respect this rule.

"The only condition is that the GPS system, via an alarm, tells us when we enter these "invisible" zones.

"Today, in this zone where we are penalised, the alarm did not sound when we entered the zone. So I couldn't slow down in time.
"In spite of our explanations but especially in spite of the GPS system provider's admission of a problem with his equipment in our car today (something that can happen of course), the jury of stewards didn't want to know anything and decided, sitting loosely behind his desk with the only risk of spilling his coffee when we risk our lives every day in the car, to impose a penalty much higher than what this GPS 'bug' made us save ... About two to three seconds by being generous.

"I am a passionate person but I am above all a competitor.

"And today, if I am on a race like the Dakar, it is first of all to achieve what I am employed for: to sign a result that is worthy of the team's ambitions and worthy of my ambitions.

"And for that, there is no room for incompetence or incompetents."

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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#72

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Toby Price crashes out of Dakar on day 9.... airlifted to hospital.

Toby Price has crashed midway through Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally and been airlifted to hospital.

The Red Bull KTM rider went down 155km into the 465km special around Neom, live tracking advises, and injured his left arm and shoulder.

He is being taken to Tabuk for x-rays, with hopes of a third Dakar crown now over for the time being.

Price had begun the day 1:06s off the overall lead and was third-quickest to the Kilometre 121 waypoint on the 465km special around Neom.

Thankfully his injuries dont seem to severe. A bit of a shame given he was getting back into the battle for the lead, despite troubles yesterday when he managed to finish the marathon stage with a rear tyre which was patched up with tape and cable ties. :shocked:

Talk about bush mechanics!

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#73

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Toby Price's injuries confirmed at being a broken collar bone, and bruising, so nothing too serious thankfully.

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“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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#74

Post by DoubleFart »

It's disgusting that they won't let him change it - that's a severe safety issue.
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#75

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

DoubleFart wrote: 3 years ago It's disgusting that they won't let him change it - that's a severe safety issue.
Agreed 100%. Literally the organisers put his life at risk if you saw the state of the tyre he was forced to run for so much time on. What a stupid and irresponsible rule.

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


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#76

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Everso Biggyballies wrote: 3 years ago Toby Price's injuries confirmed at being a broken collar bone, and bruising, so nothing too serious thankfully.
Toby Price has signalled that he will need surgery after breaking his collarbone .
He crashed heavily a third of the way into the 465km Neom loop stage, and required medical assistance.

Price has now taken to social media to recount what little he does remember of the incident, as well as thanking team-mate Sam Sunderland and Honda rival Ricky Brabec for stopping to lend assistance.
“Well, I’ve finally broken my 30th bone!” he wrote.

“Crashed out in Stage 9 yesterday, I don’t remember much but I’ve got a pretty sore collarbone, shoulder and hand and will need surgery for that…

“Disappointed to not make the finish and let down the KTM Factory Racing team and my sponsors but that’s racing unfortunately this time around.

“Thank you, Sam Sunderland and Ricky Brabec for stopping to help me.

“I was off with the fairies that day but I heard you took good care of me!”

* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left


“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)

* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
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