Rallycross Lydden Hill Live

[winnie]

Well done Mark, car looked really quick.

I thought the driving standards were pretty good. As said earlier, it looked like Jordon had '4 wheels off' into the 1st bend on both the A final and super final, so he should have been disqualified.

Brilliant meeting - don't think i have ever seen so much action and over-taking in all of the finals.

Speaking to a few drivers and they said they were struggling to get heat into the tyres, which for the spectators was good as the cars all seemed to slide around a lot more.

Thought Dermot was quick concidering it was 1st time out, but both Citroens looked really quick and balanced.

Just confirms to me that Lydden is the best circuit in Britain, if we ever get a euro round it has to be there.

Historics were excellent. Watts was unbelievably quick in the Tiger.

[mivec]

Originally Posted by Rallycrossfreak

Where can we find pictures of last weekend?

Here are some pics (about 200)

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by winnie

Historics were excellent. Watts was unbelievably quick in the Tiger.

He was unlucky when he tried to go round the Porsche on the outside - it was pulling off into retirement and took him with it! Also some have learned the merits of removing or covering the headlights!

[Rallycrossfreak]

Originally Posted by mivec

Here are some pics (about 200)

thank you MIVEC, great job
a lot of smoke and spectacle on my PC screen ;-)

[mivec]

Originally Posted by Rallycrossfreak

a lot of smoke and spectacle on my PC screen ;-)

Remove the power cable then! When there's smoke, there's fire!

[BOY BLUNDER]

Eveing everybody,i would just like to say what a fantastic meeting the opening round was.Congratulations to the circut staff the circut looked really great,and the same goes to the organisers who done all the hard work.It has to be one of the best rallyx meetings there for a long time.Can't wait for rnd 2.It was so cool,

BB....

[Cryos]

Originally Posted by zac510

Did anybody else think the Supercars looked slightly slower off the start line? Perhaps Mark can comment on the new tyres?

Would have to second that theory, i have noticed that on the start in mondello we can all visably pull off the line quicker than Ian O'Connell off the line, anyone who knows ian will know he is some man to go! Dosnt seem to affect cornering but it definatly does seem that the take off isnt as great.

[richorton]

Hi everyone
just got back from lydden this afternoon .Had a great days racing even if the car did let me down on the last lap of the A final, some form of electrical problem as the car just died and wouldn,t even start when fetch back to the pits .been out to the car half hour ago and it fired up striaght away. got a few other jobs to do on it before we go to blyton in two weeks . Good to see some new faces in stockhatch to.didn,t get to see much racing but what i did see was fantasic .

[quantic]

Hi everyone, i'd just like to make a comment on the Lydden event from a spectators point of view. I've been going to rallycross on and off for 20 years or more and have to say it's long been my favourite genre and i always rave on about it a bit to anyone who'll listen. However i haven't been to a meeting for probabaly 5 or 6 years 'cos i've been out of the country, then more recently worked as a race mechanic on various saloons and sports cars so didn't really fancy having to pay to spend another weekend at a track..
Anyway went to Lydden with my dad, my mate and my girlfriend and i have to say that while we enjoyed it and saw some pretty good racing i can't help feeling the event was diluted somewhat by the amount of slower classes ie stock hatch and minicross.
Now don't get me wrong-i've got nothing against stockhatch (in fact i raced 750mc stock hatch for a few years..) but it seemed the majority of the races were for these classes and while some of the races were very exciting you could hardly call the cars spectacular, and they certainly don't sound very pleasing!!
I really wanted the people i went with to be blown away by the cars but quite frankly i think they were a bit un-inspired most of the time! What happened to all the screaming twin cam vauxhalls struggling to get the power down round chessons?! Sideways escorts?!! (ok, fair enough there was a couple there!) There just seemed to be a very limited number of modifieds and while the stockhatches etc are great for the competitors i just can't help feeling i had a bit of standard car overload.. Even the supercars didn't look as quick..
Am i just being a misery?!! I dont know-maybe i'm just remembering the 'good ol days' through rose tinted glasses...
Interested to know other peoples view

[Mad Mark Watson]

New tyres - I have to say not as bad as i thought they were ging to be. Starts are no way as good as Avon dont bite as good. So you had to watch how many revs you launched at quite easy to just sit and spin. The xsara was suited as it is very low and has good traction. I found that you had to be careful as you only started to get heat in to tyres and grip coming down hairy hill for first time. I cant say what compund I used but they seemed to handle meeting but i would say that one meeting is enough for them.
Some testing needed but we have to rebuild car first!
Still would say that Avon were quicker off line because the slick gripped better.
Hope that answers your question.

[Mad Mark Watson]

Hope to be ready for Pembrey was hard so hard in passnger side door was right on cage and cage was bent!

[Cryos]

Originally Posted by richorton

Hi everyone
just got back from lydden this afternoon .Had a great days racing even if the car did let me down on the last lap of the A final, some form of electrical problem as the car just died and wouldn,t even start when fetch back to the pits .been out to the car half hour ago and it fired up striaght away. got a few other jobs to do on it before we go to blyton in two weeks . Good to see some new faces in stockhatch to.didn,t get to see much racing but what i did see was fantasic .

Exact same happened to myself at mondello last day out, died comming off rx1 and wouldnt start. Towed into the garage and it fires up Thats motorsport for ya!

[StockHatch782]

What a fantastic day out for everyone at Lydden!

The track was superb, the weather was perfect, the racing was close but clean (well, except in the the supercars...!) and well-organised, the crowds were enormous, the day ran almost without a hitch, there was a great atmosphere in the paddock, and I can't remember the last time I heard so many people cheering for a race as during the superfinal. You could see the whole crowd waving their arms and hear them screaming as Dave passed Mark!

My dad (whose age I will not divulge for fear of having my features brutally rearranged by an angry parent) assures me that the crowds were almost ALWAYS like that back in the eighties, but since I was only three, I'll have to reserve judgement on that.

Anyone else remember the good old days? And if so, how did Monday compare?

[Stephen Green]

I reckon that was the largest crowd I have ever seen at Lydden.

[schanche]

I can recall a number of the European Championship rounds having vast crowds at lydden but as for the British championship I think that was by far the biggest.
Did any of you guys print of the BRC Poster from Pats website for the event! I know i did a few strategically placed posters where around the local area Any little bit helps.
how very dare me!

[shhh]

[QUOTE=Thundersports One point though A Final and Superfinal starts, did Andrew Jordan have all 4 wheels on the grass going in to Chessons in a effort to get in front of JMC? If so I thought the rules were you conceded the place?[/QUOTE]

Is this what you are referring to?

[IMG][/IMG]

[Cryos]

not sure what way the rules work in the uk, but in ireland its strictly forbidden to make such manouvers on the start of a heat(upto 100yards?? anyone know) unless its safe to do so (on the tarmac!).

[zac510]

Great photo and to my limited viewing experience of rallycross it pretty much sums up the first corner of a rallycross final!

Somebody has put the super final on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTwINDLenHc

[HrRACING]

Nice vid

When Daves behind GT and Mark going though the chicane the lotus looks so nimble and responsive. Makes the supercars look quite cumbersome.

[Thundersports]

Think the photo is fairly conclusive so why was he not disqualified and why did JMC not protest?

[zac510]

I don't think it looks 'conclusive' at all.. You can only see one of his wheels. You can't even see where the grass verge starts. You can't even tell whether he is alongside or behind JMC! To see that as conclusive based on that photo alone you need to make a whole lot of assumptions which I don't believe the Clerk of Course/etc are allowed to make!

If anything it makes it look like he was pushed out there with nowhere else to go.

[winnie]

One rule for one .........

If it was Andy Grant, Steve Hill or Steve Munday i suspect they would be disqualified. I've noticed that whenever Doran, Evans or Carnege make a jump start they never get put to the back - other drivers get moved straight back.

Look at the amount of paddock space taken by Doran. If Andy Grant or a stock hatch driver took that much they would be asked to move. Does anyone know how much Doran paid the BRDA for taking that much space - i can guess it was not a lot.

[leonidas]

There are a couple of very simple things British rallycross could do to stop start line disputes. You could make sure that there are clear 'hold station' lines at all startlines and enforce the existing rules to stop people weaving (as they do in Europe). There should also be 'hittable' tyre barriers on the inside of the first corner to discourage cutting (Croft started doing this after issues at the grand prix meeting).

As for the jump start business, I don't understand how people can get away with it in these days of transponders and electronic gadgetary. However you can only penalise people if the lights are working properly... and as we've seen they sometimes don't!

[BertMk2]

Some of the "jump starts" that people are referring to aren't in fact jumps - what happens is the exhausts of the supercars kick up the dirt on the tarmac and break the jump start beams. The lights change to show a jump and that triggers a driver (or drivers) to launch - the lights show which row has jumped and that has happened with empty rows of the grid. From the far side of the circuit you see a car launch and the rest stay still so you assume they've jumped - when in fact the lights have been triggered by dirt kicked up by the exhausts - so that's why nobody is penalised in those situations.

[leonidas]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

Some of the "jump starts" that people are referring to aren't in fact jumps - what happens is the exhausts of the supercars kick up the dirt on the tarmac and break the jump start beams..

That's certainly what was happening at last year's Easter meeting. Not sure what you can do other than try to keep dirt off the grid - and that's easier said than done when 60-odd races are taking place!