Why do you like rallying ?

[Craig]

As a blokey brought up on circuit and short oval racing, i'm interested to hear what you love about your area of motorsport - rallying.

[marcus]

well ..while Im not a huge fan of rallying (basically because of lack of knowledge in this area..I must say it is nice to see this forum back up and running.

my biggest problem with rallying is that it is a very remote sport and doesnt cater for the spectator to well and therefore I tend to lose a bit of interest if I carnt see alot of a sport.

but i will say i have the utmost respect for the drivers ..they are amazing people..either very brave or there is a roo loose in the top paddock..their car control is excellent and i would say probably up their with the best skilled racers in all of motorsport.

the world scene I dont get to see much of ..but i like richard Burns from what I have seen and think he is going to be at the top of the sport for quite a few years..

the best footage I have ever seen of rally is from the USA and the pikes peak hill climb..i dont know what year but it was Ari Vaatenen in a peugeot and i have the short film somewhere on tape..it is incredible these guys risking their lives with sometimes only millemetres to spare..

all too scary for me ..i tend to prefer a nice big run off area with a lovely gravel trap waiting to pull me up anyday..instead of head on into a tree..but it must be an adrenalin rush thats for sure.

anyway now the forum is back i will definately take more notice of what is going on in the world of rallying.

[elephino]

It is partly the remoteness of rallying that appeals. It is down only to the driver/co-driver and the car. No other cars to get in the way.

Also the variation in what they race on. No other motorsport is as diverse.

The dust makes for good photos too

That film of Pikes Peak is just amazing...and only 5 minutes long.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I've attended a few ARC rounds and for sure rally is spectator friendly but the true enthusiasts are a very hardy bunch. I'm extremely impressed by the extraordinary bravery and car control of top rally drivers. I'm a keen racer but I doubt I'd ever have what it takes to be a good rally driver. I love the variety and diversity of the conditions and the competeing cars.

[Liz]

I love it because it is surpassingly dangerous and because I could imagine myself doing it - sitting in the nav seat and being driven along laughable excuses for roads at heart-attack speeds with trees and rocks and spectators and flags barely missing us as we fly by....

I cannot imagine myself in an open wheel race car. But a rally car is easy.

I am amazed that they all live through the season. Those cars must be strong enough to be shot into space.

[elephino]

Nav seat Liz? I've been looking for a co-driver

[Liz]

Yee Ha!

[kev]

First of all there's the adrenaline rush that goes with any speed sport.
There's the remoteness and surface variety alresdy mentioned.
There's also the fact that you rarely see the same corner more than twice in the same event. And even then as the weather changes and the road breaks up it may as well be a different corner.
I used to rally a '79 Corolla Levin. Even the straights were a buzz. When you're sailing down a one and a half car wide gravel road at 150+ kph on 2nd hand tyres, it seems really narrow. It take a bit of will power just to keep your foot down when you start thinking 'If I step off these tram lines there'll be no bringing it back' and you nervously eye the trees running along the side of the road.
Then theres the corners. Even if you could practice each corner 20 times you wouldn't be able to remember them all. The blind ones are the most fun. You go in as fast as you dare and sort out the exit when you can see it. Too bad if there's a spun car, or a cow, or a tractor (it happens!) in the way. Because although the car is going in the general direction that you are pointing it (the door handle, that is) gravel, mud, clay, ice, or goodness knows what, is not conducive to rapid changes in direction. When you get it right, theres nothing like it. When you get it wrong, it's just plain scarey.

I'll stop short of telling you it's more fun than 'roundies' because I've never actually done a lap of a circut. I was going to, but an incident involving a blind brow, a sharp corner, and a ditch, put a bit of a dampener on things.

[Arska]

Why do I like rallying? Well, first I was asked to be a co-driver. In my first rally event I was scared as hell, but now, 10 years later, I think it's the best thing a man can do with his pants on...

Driving aroung track is repeating, repeating and again repeating the same lines, but in rallying you must adapt. Your co-driver is telling what is coming ahead, but still you can't know how exactly to drive the next corner...

[djb]

I don't regularly follow rallying, other than seeing the odd one on Speedvision, so I do not have the background or detailed knowledge of it. That said, I have exactly the same feelings of several of you regarding the huge respect I have for the car control that these drivers have. My interests (and a wee wee bit of experience) has been with circuit stuff-but watching WRC in-car footage is right up there with The Isle of Mann TT footage in getting my palms to sweat and generally giving me the willies!!
It always astounds me how focused they all must be to put to the back of their minds the dropoffs etc etc and concentrate on road surface conditions- plus the often very small time differences between drivers after many stages. I would have thought that all the surface variables would produce generally much bigger times between cars.

[TRD]

I love watching the cars do 180's that's the coolest and all those spectators just standing on the outside of that turn without even flinching. Most of the racing seems to be "edge of your seat stuff" unlike circuit racing where sometimes there is a lull period. It is very, very, very entertaining to watch. As much of an F1 and CART fan that I am, I'd have to confess that I've fallen asleep the odd time watching some of those races, but never ever have I while watching the WRC.

Its too bad that it doesn't get more TV coverage. Speedvision does a very good job in WRC coverage.

[Ross]

Although I love touring cars it often is like watching a giant scalextric race, rally cars move around are noisy dirty, fast.
Rally spectators are an odd bunch but some of the best conversations I've had have been with two solicitors, a pig farmer and an estate agent stood at an old airfield in the middle of lincolnshire on a freezing cold night last march!
As soon as I have the funds I want to compete

[touringlegend]

Touring cars are my first love also, and I also like rallying because both sports are 'based' on a car you could buy down you local car dealer.