World Rallycross R11 - Buxtehude, Germany

[chunder]

Petter changed the way Subaru went with their cars when he was driving for them, he went for a very understeery setup and it worked to some extent, but the longer he was there the less success he had.

World champ type drivers are usually demanding, Schanche was, Alamaki was, Isachsen was. its that extra drive they need to get the times.

I do think Petter bites off more than he can chew at times, and the days of his sort of setup being able to beat almost works teams is getting more and more difficult. but he plays on that card, and spends an awful amount of money! Dont let the image fool you!

[geordiecriag101]

Just too add a bit more, here's a few pics i managed to get of the M-Sport focus suspension at the Lydden round and also one of timur timerzyanov Team Austria set-up.

[Silhuette]

Fun to get such informed replies - yes, I totally agree wanting control yourself is very much a double edged sword. Could you please share some of the rumors on Petters big spending?

Fun to watch the race today, Ekky seeming quite rehersed for the media while Petters hair is straight up.

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by Silhuette

Fun to get such informed replies - yes, I totally agree wanting control yourself is very much a double edged sword. Could you please share some of the rumors on Petters big spending?

Fun to watch the race today, Ekky seeming quite rehersed for the media while Petters hair is straight up.

Unfortunately I have not heard any numbers, he has very good economy though. This guy I know though says that he probably spends more money than any other team on the engine. He has a different mapping on the engine compared to the other cars also, sounds a bit like a WRC engine.

Hearing the sound when he starts is pretty brutal, almost shuts out the sounds from other cars.

[tbtstt]

Well I was going to say the drive of the weekend belonged to Bakkerud, for his performance in Q4... right up until I watched the final. What a move from Eriksson, he came from so far back and just held that line. Very impressive!

A slightly underwhelming way for Ekstrom to take the title but, as much as I wanted to see Solberg take it again, Mattias deserved to win.

(Oh, and good to hear Petter already talking about 2017!)

[FIRE]

What a move from Eriksson.
Entertaining racing today.


Was Marklund punished for driving into Baumanis?

[chunder]

He did the same to Timur aswell in a heat, but Bakkerud also drove into a few people today too as he seems to regularly now, makes the Solberg thing recently even more weird sadly.

[J.U.]

As a spectator it was a great event. I have never seen so many people at the track (not even last year in June) which made it a little bit difficult. You had no chance to move to another part of the track during the day. But that´s the way it is... I´m happy to see that the Estering attracts so many people. Still, I´m not sure if it will be enough to get a renewed contract for 2017. There are events which are on a totally different level. World RX of Latvia was way more professional... And I think that´s what IMG wants.

By the way: The speaker told that Rustad´s Ibiza has an engine from Trollspeed inside while Münnich uses an engine of Lehmann. Probably for comparison...

[chunder]

I think you get the feeling IMG only want to run events at or near existing motorsport venues or near cities like Barcelona. Or preferably as they have there, both.

I think they prefer it, they can have their influence over the track.

Latvia did look great, because it's new. Let's see how it looks when it has been around as long as Estering or Lyngas. I would rather go to venues that have some history and natural features like those than false car parks like Canada, Mettet and Barcelona.

They do provide racing, but a lot of the time the track is lined with concrete barriers that do lots of damage and also block the view for fans.

It's clear the sport is in a transitional stage, where iMG think they have found a diamond mine and are pushing, pushing to make as much money as quickly as they can for their shareholders, so don't be surprised to see events soon in places like the MIddle East, former Soviet Union, as they have the money to burn.

Whether you think that's good or not is down to your preference.

[tbtstt]

Nice to see such a close fight for the Super 1600 and Touring Car titles as well. Yet another runner up spot for Linnemann!

[chunder]

Have to be honest unless you are there I have no idea who did anything in the support classes, there is so little coverage.

You can seek it out obviously, but you shoudln't have to really. Be nice if they did a longer highlights show with everything in it. But on tv, not on social media so they can tell everyone how many hits they've had! lol

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chunder

You can seek it out obviously, but you shoudln't have to really. Be nice if they did a longer highlights show with everything in it. But on tv, not on social media so they can tell everyone how many hits they've had! lol

It did get mentioned (and coverage was shown) in the Livestream, but it was minimal. Yeah, would be good to see the highlights of all classes included on the TV show. From a personal standpoint, I actually prefer full shows appearing on You Tube as I'm rarely in front of a TV these days, so I can watch it when I get a chance. Of course "conventional" TV coverage is probably best for the mainstream viewer.

As an aside I was pleasantly surprised to see an OMSE Fiesta out front again. I know that their driver line up this year isn't as experienced, but I didn't think the team looked as confident this year, nor the cars as competitive. Great to see their Fiesta still has race winning pace.

[FIRE]

They are overtaken by the Austrian Fiestas.

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by chunder

Have to be honest unless you are there I have no idea who did anything in the support classes, there is so little coverage.



You can seek it out obviously, but you shoudln't have to really. Be nice if they did a longer highlights show with everything in it. But on tv, not on social media so they can tell everyone how many hits they've had! lol

I have mixed feelings as the technical quality of the footage is quite good. Also I don't have issues with the commentators. And the footage is about 2 hours long, which should be sufficient. But footage of the first 2 heats good be better and I would like to see more heats of the ERX. On YouTube is watched a totally different live footage of Latvia which was even more than 2 hours and is a stream for some foreign country, this showed a bit like you are live there, not much added or cut out.

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by chunder

He did the same to Timur aswell in a heat, but Bakkerud also drove into a few people today too as he seems to regularly now, makes the Solberg thing recently even more weird sadly.

Agreed, Marklund basically drove Timur into the wall on the back straight because Marklund ran out of talent (what little he has) out of the hairpin and was about to be overtaken. Cost Timur a place Jr the sem probably. No punishment makes the Solberg thing a total joke. I would rather see more punishments dished out on a consistent basis but reduce the severity of the punishment. Exclusion (and zero points) should be hard for the extreme examples (like Mertens in Dreux years ago). It's so punitive that it should be for clear cut bad behaviour, not 50/50 calls or a bit of excessive leaning.

Great drive from Eriksson, and nice to see that car competitive again.

[chunder]

What a lot of people seem to be forgetting about Eriksson is that the move he made is not original

Even the self claimed voice of rallycross berk Coley didn't remember.

The guy that did it first was Bjorn Skogstad in about 1991/2 in a Sierra, but it didn't pay off as I think someone broke his suspension on the way round but that was in an A Final he had to win, but Doran did the same in a black C4 a few years ago did he not, maybe not in the A final though.

Regarding penalties. I think most of the time driving standard judges are non existent. A lot of what goes on happens and does not get punished. Bakkerud is one of the worst culprits, as is Hansen, Heikkenen throws his weight around a lot too.

For me most series now run a points system. So after you get to say 6 pts you miss a round. But you can accumulate more or less with the severity of what you did. So, Petter would get perhaps 2 pts for what he did in Riga, Marklund would have had 4 from Germany. Bakkerud 2. And they tot up over the years so you don't lose them end of year. If you are on 5 in Barcelona 2017, you mess up, you get 2 more, you miss Montalegre and also get a point.

There has to be a threat of missing rounds. BTW Hick Mertens should never have been allowed a licence to run anything in rallycross again, neither should Schanche for what he did in 92. That sort of stuff should be almost criminalised as it was pure intent and has no place in any sport.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chunder

What a lot of people seem to be forgetting about Eriksson is that the move he made is not original

Even the self claimed voice of rallycross berk Coley didn't remember.

The guy that did it first was Bjorn Skogstad in about 1991/2 in a Sierra, but it didn't pay off as I think someone broke his suspension on the way round but that was in an A Final he had to win, but Doran did the same in a black C4 a few years ago did he not, maybe not in the A final though.

I can't remember at what point in the livestream it got mentioned, but they definitely mentioned Doran with regards to that corner. I'm pretty sure his cornering move at turn one has been brought up during every Buxtehude round since 2010: it will now be Eriksson at every subsequent one!

(NB: pretty sure Liam did it in a red Hansen C4, not a black one?)

Originally Posted by 1975DCS

I have mixed feelings as the technical quality of the footage is quite good. Also I don't have issues with the commentators.

Yeah, compared to the quality of the footage a few years ago (when the European Championship was being shown on Motors) I think the coverage is much improved: the driver positions shown are correct, there is a lap counter (and other info) on screen now and, for the most part, the commentary is error free.

Yeah, Andrew Coley is a bit shouty (and the "voice of rallycross" title is a little irksome) but at least he seems enthusiastic about the sport and they generally balance him out with someone with some technical knowledge. The only member of the current team who I'm not keen on is Neil Cole: he seemed very robotic when he was doing the WRC coverage and he is just as bad doing World Rallycross (and Le Mans this year as well).

[chunder]

I would guess Cole is probably involved somehow in the company doing the coverage as I agree, he is very wooden.

Coley is getting better and I actually have always liked Tim Harvey as a co commentator, enthusiastic and actually knowledgeable about cars in general not just rallycross.

[Janneman]

Originally Posted by chunder

What a lot of people seem to be forgetting about Eriksson is that the move he made is not original

Even the self claimed voice of rallycross berk Coley didn't remember.

The guy that did it first was Bjorn Skogstad in about 1991/2 in a Sierra, but it didn't pay off as I think someone broke his suspension on the way round but that was in an A Final he had to win, but Doran did the same in a black C4 a few years ago did he not, maybe not in the A final though.

As far as I know Eriksson himself did this move a week earlier in rally-x. So he had some practice...

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by chunder

There has to be a threat of missing rounds. BTW Hick Mertens should never have been allowed a licence to run anything in rallycross again, neither should Schanche for what he did in 92. That sort of stuff should be almost criminalised as it was pure intent and has no place in any sport.

Agree about Mertens, we were at Dreux and were in disbelief. Then he got out and cheered. Idiot. In my opinion what Mehlberg did against Rumsey in the last Lydden BOx round was worse (or at least as bad), then he got out the car and wanted to punch Rumsey! Animal. I hope he gets banned for a long time.

Marklund against Timur was not far from being a huge accident as the pit entry gap in the wall was just in front of Timur. I'd hate to think what damage that would do hitting the edge of an Armco at 70mph. And yet, no punishment. Hopeless.

[CS1]

Originally Posted by Hickey

Agree about Mertens, we were at Dreux and were in disbelief. Then he got out and cheered. Idiot. In my opinion what Mehlberg did against Rumsey in the last Lydden BOx round was worse (or at least as bad), then he got out the car and wanted to punch Rumsey! Animal. I hope he gets banned for a long time.

Marklund against Timur was not far from being a huge accident as the pit entry gap in the wall was just in front of Timur. I'd hate to think what damage that would do hitting the edge of an Armco at 70mph. And yet, no punishment. Hopeless.

Are any of these on video anywhere?

[chunder]

I have not seen the incident from Lydden actually, but I think the Mertens one was on vid somewhere, maybe in footage from the actual tv show as it was in the final! He was banned for a year I think.

The Marklumd incident is in the WRX live feed stream on youtube, and he does it twice. Hick is right though, it.s really dangerous as the barrier goes out and comes in again and anyone going in there would be into basically a wall, and he literally moves over and puts two guys in that hole.

Points system surely? Maybe IMG want the contact and to use it as feed for previews? Not sure, they don't seem to ever really criticise it much, though Coley was trying to in comms.

[Hickey]

Interesting side note, I met a German travelling at the moment and rallycross came up. Turns out that Buxtehude is a euphemism for "middle of nowhere" in German.

[chunder]

I remember Arthur D always used to just call it Hamburg!

Nearly went there in about 91/92 but did Valkenswaard instead, great day seeing Schanche bin it, Tommy K win his first and Gollop nearly champion!

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Well I was going to say the drive of the weekend belonged to Bakkerud, for his performance in Q4... right up until I watched the final...

I would still give it to Andreas! All these drivers have some freakish car control abilities but that was pretty impressive. I wonder if anyone will deliberately run some tow-out at the back. The thing could turn after the damage!

Reminds of me of whacking a barrier in a sim game and the car feeling much better around the corners after that once you got used to it.