Race of Champion memories

Seen as though all our Race of Champion dreams have been dashed I thought I’d post a few videos of happier times.

Enjoy.

Mattias Ekstrom (a fairly good rally driver don’t you know) beats Micheal Schumacher to the Champions title…nice to see Michael taking it so well.

The McRae tribute in 2007, great to see all the drivers showing their support like that.

Our Sebastien beats David Coulthard to the Champion crown, simple proof that rally drivers do it better….but I suppose it’s not that difficult to beat Coulthard is it?

Race of Champions 2009….in Beijing? Absolute pants

Well it’s been announed that the 2009 Race of Champions is going to be held in the Bird’s Nest, Beijing of all places.

Don’t believe me? Well just take a look here my friends.

It’ll be the first international sports event to take place in China’s national stadium since the 2008 Olympics.

The thing that’s worrying me is the organisers claim to have moved the event because of a fall in spectator tickets being bought.

Right so moving the event half way across the world is going to boost spectator numbers is it?

I admit, Wembley and the Stade de France might not have been as spectacular looking as the Bird’s Nest but they were central locations to motorsport fans all over the world.

How is the average loyal European motorsport fan going to be able to afford to get to the ROC now?

Loyalty to your sport is one thing but having enough money to follow it that far is another thing entirely and this is where the organisers are going to lose out.

Maybe they were thinking that holding the event in such a stadium would attract more TV viewers and this is what makes me laugh the most….

The ROC attracted a primarily European audience. Broadcasted live at a prime time on Eurosport fans could sit down late on a Saturday afternoon and watch motorsport to their hearts content into the early evening.

If Eurosport still plans to broadcast it live us Europeans will have no other option than staying up until the early hours if we want a piece of the live action, that’s not really going to boost viewing numbers is it?!

Plus, it’s the end of a motorsport season, all the drivers will be tired and after months of travelling the globe all they’ll be wanting to do is spend time with their families. All these drivers are based in Europe…how many of them are going to want to hop on another ten hour flight?

I would love to meet the person who came up with this fantastic plan, it’s absolutely pants in my eyes and a real kick in the teeth to dedicated motorsport fans.

Rant over, well maybe not, this one’s going to annoy me for a while.

Daft people, why don’t they think things through?!

WRC v F1 Round 3

• There aren’t any run off areas in rallying. If you’re in Monte Carlo you’ve got a rock face on one side of you and a sheer cliff dropping hundreds of feet, no margin for error there then.

Anyone remember this?

Or even better, this?

There’s no tyre walls to catch you in rallying, dangerous it is but it all adds to the excitement.

• Rally fans are real fans – we don’t sit in a grandstand but in a forest. Flowing alcohol, air horns, flags of every nation, sleeping under the stars, mud galore, camp fires, portaloos, hot dogs, beef burgers, the roar of a car coming out of the mist. It’s what we rally fans crave, ok well, maybe not the portaloos but you get the gist of it.

Click here to see rally fans in action, Wales Rally GB 2008.

WRC v F1 Round 2

• Rally drivers know how to behave. They’re down to earth, know how to have fun and they are the most approachable people in motorsport.

I mean, can you imagine Kimi Raikkonen doing this??? I think not – the guy can barely crack a smile so I very much doubt in his abilities to make plasticine models in front of a camera.

F1′s redeeming glory

Felipe Massa deserves a post of his own.

His beauty is F1′s only redeeming factor so here he is in all his glory……

He's the only guy who has a figure so damn fine he can pull off bright red overalls without looking like a tomato

He walks around without an entourage and more importantly without his Dad holding his hand

His lovely legs look great in shorts AND he carries his own suitcase

WRC v F1 Round 1

The new F1 season is just round the corner. Oh happy days.

Only joking, I don’t mind the “roundy roundy stuff” (as quoted by PWRC champ Martin Rowe don’t you know). Well, I like the beginning and the end and the odd crash here and there livens things up.

I normally just end up screaming bloody murder at the tv begging for a bit of excitement.

As per usual a new season looming got me thinking what makes rallying so much better than Formula One. So here’s my ideas on the matter. The list obviously could go on and on so I’ll post my ideas in posts every now and again rather than bombarding you all with rant after rant.

• We rally fans don’t follow the sport like sheep, we don’t jump on the bandwagon Lewis Hamilton-stylie. We are fans because we’re fans and always have been.

• Our drivers can do this:

Simply amazing.

• The WRC takes place in real conditions, on real roads, in real weather and in relatively real looking cars. Our drivers take stages and have to deal with the most changeable of conditions and surfaces but as soon as there is even the hint of rain on an F1 circuit you get the same old same old – just stop with all the whinging, get out there and just learn how to drive properly on your poncy manufactured circuits!

• 

  What a LEGEND

  We have this man. Our so-called Schumacher. He wins championships and breaks record after record WITHOUT having to resort to team tactics and cheating on the final round of the season.

Fancy that

I’ll mouth off about him ’til the end of time because he’s bored me to high heaven sometimes, but, this is a big deal for me admitting this, he’s bloody brilliant.

He’s got manners too, always an advantage in my books.

That’s enough for today I think.

The end is near….

If rumours are to be belived Max ‘the useless one’ Mosley is to get his way when new turbo-free techicnal regs are expected to be approved on March 17.

Oh dear. I know a lot of people are all for these new rules, they’re cheaper and supposed to be safer. If he wants to make things cheaper why can’t the wonderful Max turn his attention away from Formula One and give WRC a look in for once?  How much time has he actually spent working on this proposal? If he’s not out there promoting his beloved F1 he’s off doing, well, you know what.

WRC cars are supposed to be WRC cars not Super 2000. I mean have you actually listened a Super 2000 car?? Has he ever listened to a Super 2000? Obviously not. I’m just be being picky but nothing compares to the sound of a Ford spluttering and popping on a start line, it’s what makes them stand out, now they’ll just sound like any other car out there.

It’s one bad thing after another these days.