Rally Video

[Slow old poop]

This video illustrates why rally drivers are considered to be the best in the world.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2685781

It gets less jerky if you let it load once, then grab the cursor when it gets to the end and drag it back. If you let it run to the very end, it goes into an offroad video.

We used to do stuff like this in the olden days, but we did it at night. Damn, them trees are CLOSE! We used to say, "if you don't have dents in the rear corners from glancing off trees, you ain't going fast enough!" I wore my dents proudly.

This video also illustrates why I don't drive rallies any more. Seeing what it's like in the daytime is too scary for me. At night, you can't see all that stuff.

Rich

 

[Turbo Shogun]

Holy hell they need to get WRC back on SPEED.

WRC/Rally drivers are the best in the world because of the amount of variables they have to negotiate.

My dad used to crew for rally teams back in the Philippines as a field wrench. My uncle was usually the driver and whenever he'd come over to visit (ran Rim of the World last year) he'd tell me and my brother a few stories about rallying in the 70's.

Makes today seem like F1 in comparison to the rallies done in the 70's/80's.

 

[andymoraitis]

That's great stuff Rich.

When I lived in Florida, I was VP of Sales and Marketing for a Roush Performance franchise. The owners were Henry Bradley and Alberto Rocca (from Lima Peru) and both of them were former rally champs. Those guys could drive!

Watching that really scared the crap out of me.

 

[tstkl]

I wanted to be a rally navigator for a while, but that video is giving me second thoughts....

 

[Greg Collier]

His reaction time is beyond insane. The narrow road, the trees, the speed, the shadows like day from night, the speed, the trees...

So Rich, is it true that Rally drivers have three balls?

 

[Zero Bar]

Bah, he had at least 3-4 inches between him and those tress, way too big a gap. He also wasn't going fast enough, it wasn't a complete blur like it should be.

Those guys are freaks of nature, I could still barely keep up with my eyes just watching it let alone trying to drive. There is no "considered" to be the best drivers, they are the best, hands down.

Speed Channel should be nuked for dropping WRC!

 

[Slow old poop]

His reaction time is beyond insane. The narrow road, the trees, the speed, the shadows like day from night, the speed, the trees...
So Rich, is it true that Rally drivers have three balls?

One thing you gotta realize about rally driving is that -- these days -- the team has pace notes, so they know which way the road goes, and probably practiced the stage at least once. There are no surprises. In fact, on many in-car videos, you can hear the navigator calling the turns. "Flat over crest, medium right leading to flat left," and so on.

In the olden days, we ran without notes. In fact, the route was kept secret.

Of course, the rallies often used the same roads, so we locals could run last year's course for practice.

One time, the wife and I ran Forest Road 5--a notoriously evil, very fast stage on the Sunriser 400 pro rally-- in the daytime, just for practice. The road runs along the edge of a cliff, with trees on one side and a sheer dropoff on the other. At night, you can't see how far down it is. In the daytime, you can. That was the only time she ever got scared. When we ran the actual rally later, she just closed her eyes and said, "Tell me when it's over!"

*Sigh*. Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.

Rich

 

[Slow old poop]

Bah, he had at least 3-4 inches between him and those trees, way too big a gap. He also wasn't going fast enough, it wasn't a complete blur like it should be.

One time, I clipped a tree so close, I ripped off the navigator's side mirror. Didn't scratch the rest of the sheet metal though.

Rich

 

[Turbo Shogun]

One time, I clipped a tree so close, I ripped off the navigator's side mirror. Didn't scratch the rest of the sheet metal though.

Rich

One time, I clipped my buddy's basketball pole backing up, and ripped off my driver's side mirror. I DID scratch the hell out of my car.

Dammit, I wish I had some kind of beater Civic to go rallying ... OR at least have some rally-x events around the chicagoland area for me to go to ...

 

[housegsx]

I saw that video a while back. Pretty insane how narrow it is.

Also, F Speed. Go here http://www.motorsport-torrents.info/index.php?series=WRC

 

[TSIMonsteR]

The is definately not the type of racing to do with your Daily Driver!!! haha

 

[Slow old poop]

The is definately not the type of racing to do with your Daily Driver!!! haha

In the old days, it was run what you brung, no rules, no classes. It was works-prepared cars from Yurp running against everything, includng vans and full-size cars. 90% of any field (50 to 75 cars) were Datsun 510s, from bone stockers to 1800SSS fully modded cars. We ran a 510 with a bone-stock 90 hp engine and African Safari suspension, did OK (won one), and --what's most important--had an absolute ball! Rallying is FUN, even with the tear gas, roadblocks and angry farmers. I got memories that will last a lifetime (some of which I bore you with from time to time).

When SCCA took over pro series, they instituted so many rules, you pretty much had to spend $5,000 to $10,000 to prep a car to meet specs: full cage, etc.

Now that somebody else has taken over Pro Series, and NASA has a rally series, let's hope sanity returns to rallying, and they make a place for lightly-modded cars. DSMs are a terror in their rally class, but it cost too bloody much to compete under the old SCCA rules.

Rich

 

[jtmcinder]

When SCCA took over pro series, they instituted so many rules...

It's funny (although not in the "ha ha" manner). In order to make an autocross course easier to see and more fun to drive, you delete as many cones as possible. Similarly, to make an event more welcoming and fun, you delete as many rules as possible. Many people in the SCCA understand the first concept and completely boot the second.

- Jtoby

 

[Greg Collier]

When SCCA took over pro series, they instituted so many rules, you pretty much had to spend $5,000 to $10,000 to prep a car to meet specs: full cage, etc.
Rich

Didn't the SCCA get out of rally do to the high cost of the liability insurance?

 

[Slow old poop]

Didn't the SCCA get out of rally do to the high cost of the liability insurance?

Yes, that is my understanding.

Rich

 

[Suparata]

Holy hell they need to get WRC back on SPEED.

WRC/Rally drivers are the best in the world because of the amount of variables they have to negotiate.

My dad used to crew for rally teams back in the Philippines as a field wrench. My uncle was usually the driver and whenever he'd come over to visit (ran Rim of the World last year) he'd tell me and my brother a few stories about rallying in the 70's.

Makes today seem like F1 in comparison to the rallies done in the 70's/80's.

http://enormouslysideways.net/wrc2006.html
It's better than watching it on TV.

 

[Ludachris]

Didn't the SCCA get out of rally do to the high cost of the liability insurance?

I know the SCCA is doing "Rallycross", but I don't think anyone is doing true Rally anymore in the States due to our litigious society.

 

[Ludachris]

Holy hell they need to get WRC back on SPEED.

WRC/Rally drivers are the best in the world because of the amount of variables they have to negotiate.

My dad used to crew for rally teams back in the Philippines as a field wrench. My uncle was usually the driver and whenever he'd come over to visit (ran Rim of the World last year) he'd tell me and my brother a few stories about rallying in the 70's.

Makes today seem like F1 in comparison to the rallies done in the 70's/80's.

I can't wait until all types of racing are available online so we don't have to depend on cable networks like the SPEED Channel, who only show the stuff that makes them money.

 

[Slow old poop]

I know the SCCA is doing "Rallycross", but I don't think anyone is doing true Rally anymore in the States due to our litigious society.

NASA is doing "true rallies" according to the latest issue of Grassroots Motorsports. Alas, it costs $1,000 to enter! Crikies!

What we need is to bring back the old MONY Series rallys from the 1970s -- the Saturday night, crash-and-burn rallies I remember so fondly. We didn't need no steenking insurance or permission or closed roads. We just ran on roads way back in the forests, hills and strip mines of Michigan, Ohio and New York. No rules, no classes, and low entry fees.

If anybody knows of any such rallies in the midwest, let me know.

Rich

 

[griffsfsr]

Ludachris,

Rally is very much happening in the states. Between NASA and Rally-America.com you can attend at least two rallies a month. Throw in Canada and you could rally almost every weekend. Here is the main schedule http://www.rallyracingnews.com/2006rallyschedule.html DSM's still show up at many of the rallies along with a handfull of EVO's. Next weekend at rally TN there will be 10 Mitsu's in the field. I will be there crewing for both a EVO 7 and a SRT-4
This event will be a full tarmac event. I agree that from what I have read and heard about the 70's it was definatly a crazy time for rally, and still today there are some people dedicated to bringing the sport back up to speed.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=235654

Those are some photos I posted here from Maine. If you would like some rally coverage on this site i think we could work something out. Like I said I will be at rally TN next weekend so let me know what you are looking for, and we can discuss.

Chris G.