One HANs device please, HOW MUCH????

Sebastien Loeb has this week given the HANs device a big thumbs up over on the offical WRC website.

Yes you're safe, but you're also bankrupt

Our world champ has rated the Head and Neck Support device as being the most significant safety feature introduced to the WRC since he began competing.

Seb told wrc.com that although he found the device uncomfortable when he first started wearing it he doesn’t even think about it now and feels strange and ‘too loose’ without it.

I recently went to a marshals training day where I tried one of these little gizmos on and couldn’t believe how light it was. Sure it’s tight round your neck and shoulders and does feels a bit claustrophobic at first but you definitely feel secure.

I’m neither a rally driver or codriver myself but thought I’d have a quick look at how expensive these things are out of interest.

Prices ranged from about £500 to £1500 but for a top-notch HANs device you’d have to fork out £5000!

I know, it’s extortionate!

If motorsport bodies are to introduce this safety feature to all levels of rallying I don’t know how the average rally driver competing for fun is going to be able to afford it especially when the sport is already so expensive to compete in.

Saying that though Jari-Matti’s accident has shown us how important these features are so maybe I shouldn’t be putting a price on safety.

£5000 though……

Well done Jenson!

Yes, this post’s a bit off topic.

You all know I don’t particularly like Formula One, I don’t half rant about it on Remote:Service, but I had to mention Jenson’s win, well done JB!

It’s a win that I’m sure will go down as an absolute classic in motorsport history.

I wonder if all Lewis’s ‘fans’ will jump on the Jenson bandwagon now…

The real reason behind Seb’s success

In the past month or so our World Champion has finished second twice.

Ok, they may not have been rallying events – one a quad biking event in Monaco organised by Daniel Elena, the other a time trial against Motocross ‘legend’ Stephan Everts.

Irrespective of whether it is rallying or not he still finished in the first place of the losers position and it got me thinking….

When Seb has been on his own in little events such as these he has always failed to make the mark and Daniel Elena says it himself…“When I am not next to him, Sebastian does not win!”

He might be right with that one.

I’ve always liked Daniel, he provides the comic value to Loeb’s slightly tedious nature, although the poor bloke does get some stick from his driver from time to time.

I can’t remember what rally it was but Sebastien’s time on a stage was down on what it had been the previous year. When asked why this was Seb replied “Well Daniel is fatter than last year so he’s slowing us down!”

Seriously though, I don’t think the guy gets the credit he deserves – he’s a record breaker too and Seb wouldn’t have got to where he is without him.

Loeb’s new job

He’s a cleaner.

No, you didn’t read that wrong and no I don’t have photographic proof, I don’t think Citroen will let gems like that loose in the public eye.

Our friends over at the official WRC website are reporting that Sebastien and his C4 went head-to-head with Motocross ‘legend’ Stefan Everts on the ‘Mur de Grammont’ in Belgium, a week before the Tour of Flanders is due to pass over it.

It was the first time that a car was allowed to drive over the famous cobbles.

After two test runs the final duel went the way of the bike rider, yes Sebastien lost!

Shock horror!

King of the stages or king of cleanliness?

His forfeit was to clean Evert’s bike…so, well, I’ll admit it my post may have been a bit misleading and I don’t think our Seb will be swapping his racing gloves for some rubber gloves any time soon.

Good on him though.

Moon man Matt

Take a minute out of your busy lives to take a look at these pictures…

I forgot to mention this in my earlier post and this in no way is meant to be a nasty post.

But don’t you think our lovely Matt has a spookily similar face to that of the moon man?

I think it’s his face colour, nose and jawline that give this rather moon-esque appearance.

All those who criticize his driving prowess just stop for a minute and allow yourselves to revel in the fact that although his driving talents might not be up to scratch his space-age like features are wonders to behold.

Don’t see it? No??

Maybe it’s just me then.

Too close to home???

I was doing a bit of background research for this post and I came across this little gem and it got me thinking.

His dad is his boss and his mum apparently travels to every WRC event with her boy.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Mr and Mrs Wilson a lot but surely it can’t do much for Matthew’s street cred to have your mum waiting for you in the service park of every rally.

I wonder if Matthew moved to another team, away from the comfort of his family then we’d get a real glimpse of whatever talent his Dad claims he has.

To be honest I think that would be the best thing for him, having a real boss, a different car and a bigger opportunity to prove he’s not just in the WRC because Daddy’s paid for him to be there Antony Warmbold style.

Matthew, Matthew, Matthew, come on, give me a win

The questions is though, can he?

Our young Brit kept his nose clean out in Cyprus, finishing 5th overall he’s now 6th in the championship, two points above Jari-Matti Latvala.

He’s doing well, right?

Well not according to some people.

Since the deaths of Richard Burns and Colin McRae there has been no one with enough talent to make headlines and create interest in the WRC.

If Matthew had enough talent surely he would’ve already excelled on a rally which would have caught our attention.

This is yet to happen and with Matt being the only Brit out there it must knock his confidence when the critics launch the ‘he’s wasting a precious seat’ argument.

Well excuse me, no he’s not.

He may not be the best driver out there and at the moment he can’t be classed as a special driver, only a mere average driver.

But he certainly hasn’t ‘stolen’ anyone else’s opportunity to be in a factory team – I really doubt whether the seat would have existed if Matthew hadn’t come along.

In fact you could argue that his involvement in the WRC has created more opportunities for other up and coming drivers so leave the poor guy alone for once!

The big 5-0 for Loeb

Not literally, he’s old but not that old.

I predicted it would happen. It wasn’t that difficult a prediction to make, no Derek Acorah-esqe psychic talent needed with Loeb around.

With 50 WRC wins to his name Seb is now a staggering 20 wins clear of previous record holder Marcus Gronholm and to be honest there’s no one out there who’s going to catch him any time soon.

Well done Seb!

Henning out!

Weirdly, not many WRC news websites have picked up on this yet, well, except the WRC website but if they were slow on the uptake something would be a bit wrong.

Anyway, the big news is that Henning Solberg is out of Rally Cyprus already – he retired even before he got to the first stage on the road section from service.

What are these people thinking???? Maybe the driver was a Citroen fan…..

Apparently he crashed into the back of a truck which pulled out in front of him after indicating left but then turning right into Henning’s path.

I wonder how insurance details are dealt with in situations like this??? A Ford Focus RS WRC v a Toyota pickup, hmmmm.

Luckily no one was hurt but Henning was forced to pull out of the rally and we’re left waiting for news on whether the car is able to re-enter under SuperRally.

With Rally Cyprus being a mixed surface event it promised to be an exciting one from the off and it certainly is that. He’s a nice guy is Henning Solberg, just doesn’t have the best of luck sometimes does he, bless him.

Settle an argument

Well, there’s an argument going on over on rallyforum.

Apparently there aren’t any charismatic drivers in the WRC any more and there haven’t been since the likes of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.

I think these people need to take a minute to look in the dictionary, this is what they’ll find.

cha·ris·ma

a. A rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.

b. The quality or power of an individual to attract, influence, or inspire people [Greek kharis grace, favour]

I don’t like to admit it as I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of Colin but he did attract a hell of a lot of fans, but what about Petter????

I know his days of winning are long gone and almost forgotten but when he was at the height of his success the crowds around the Subaru service area were wonders to behold. You had to be there at least 2 hours before the car came in to service even to be in with a chance of getting an autograph.

I think he had that ‘rare personal quality’. The jumping around, screaming and shouting and pure excited passion commanded the devotion of thousands of people (or maybe just thousands of crazy Norwegians).

Perhaps though, could it be that it isn’t charisma rallying is lacking and this void is down to a distinct lack of head to head fights. It was the old ‘fueds’ that made for fantastic interviews where drivers experessed real fight.

Where are the likes of Burns v McRae, Makinen v the rest of the world???

You certainly don’t get what those guys had with Loeb and Hirvonen.

Dare I say it but perhaps we need a bit of the Bernie Eccleston magic to inject a bit of excitement back into the WRC……