WRC WRC - 2015

Justa Jim · Aug 3, 2015

Thanks Steve.

Fine Crash. How are you doing?

Steve · Aug 4, 2015

More on Evans' genius suspension fix.

Evans' spanner saves the day (wrc.com)

04 Aug 2015

Elfyn Evans has revealed how a humble 19mm ring spanner came to his rescue on Neste Oil Rally Finland after broken suspension threatened an early retirement.

The M-Sport driver was in sixth place on Friday morning when his Ford Fiesta RS ran wide early in the ultra-fast Ouninpohja stage. "We hit a massive rock very hard and straightaway I knew something was wrong," the Welshman told wrc.com.

"But the car kept driving okay so I continued at full speed. Eventually though the jumps gave it too much abuse and the suspension arm broke. When we got to the end, the right-rear wishbone was snapped in half and the wheel could move backwards and forwards freely in the arch."

Hungry for experience of the stages, and with six stages to go until the next scheduled service, Evans and his co-driver Dan Barritt got creative with the few spares they had in the car.

Evans said: "Our toolkit contained four or five spanners and some jubilee clips. The spanner was the first solution that came to mind, so I grabbed the biggest one and fastened it to the arm with the clips. Then we ratchet-strapped the arm in place and that was it. Actually it was a bit of a cheat because I'd once used a spanner like this to fix a gear linkage."

"We re-did the repair after every stage. It was a long afternoon with the wheel hanging off, but we still had to go quite quickly not to lose too much time. We had to do whatever we could to get the car through and thankfully we did."

Having run for more than 85 stage kilometres with the spanner in place, Evans reached the sanctuary of the M-Sport service area for a proper repair. Team boss Malcolm Wilson described Evans and Barrittâ€™s improvised fix as 'phenomenal'.

Click to expand...

Crashton · Aug 4, 2015

When I saw that picture I smiled. Great piece of side of the stage engineering.

Justa Jim · Aug 4, 2015

That was great thinking. They didn't even have to hook a computer to the OBDII port to see what was wrong. :lol:

Steve · Aug 5, 2015

When Kubica went out near the end of this rally he went big (pics of the car/aftermath in this post).

Crashton · Aug 5, 2015

Holy Carp!!!!!!!!!!! :eek6:

Steve · Aug 7, 2015

This one is ..... different.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-9SDgqRrxI"]WRC Rally Finland 2015 - JUMP, ACTION & FLATOUT - YouTube[/ame]

Angib · Aug 7, 2015

It's almost depressing how slow motion is needed so you can see how good these supernaturally-gifted drivers are.

Though part of me wonders how good I might be if I knew that I wasn't going to be paying for bodywork damage.....

Crashton · Aug 8, 2015

Not having to worry about the costs of mistakes & wearing parts out does make a difference I'm sure, at least it would for me. That being said those guys are farking amazing & it is all about flat out no matter what.

Steve · Aug 11, 2015

More great footage.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5EWTGARvQ"]WRC Rally Finland 2015 - Motorsportfilmer.net - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 20, 2015

Germany this weekend, here come the hinkelsteins! Here's a bit of video from the Shakedown.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ANEgJuauIE"]WRC Rally Deutschland 2015 Shakedown [HD] - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iVyj7-lq0M"]Shakedown - 2015 WRC Rallye Deutschland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 21, 2015

VW 1-2-3 already...

Ogier heads VW 1-2-3 in Germany (WRC.com)

21 Aug 2015

SÃ©bastien Ogier won seven of Friday’s eight speed tests to lead ADAC Rallye Deutschland after the opening leg.

He headed team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 9.5sec, while Andreas Mikkelsen completed a Volkswagen Polo R 1-2-3 a further 25.4sec back in this ninth round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Ogier’s statistical dominance doesn’t tell the full story of an intriguing day on asphalt close to the Belgian border and in the Mosel vineyards near Trier. He won the first two stages but Latvala claimed the third and ended the morning a tenth of a second ahead.

But the Frenchman fine-tuned his car’s set-up and won all four afternoon tests to regain the initiative and pull clear.

“I had a great afternoon, it was really good fun. It’s a long time since I pushed so hard on asphalt. I found a better set-up for the afternoon, but Jari-Matt isn’t far behind so we have to keep going the same way tomorrow,” said Ogier.

Latvala became frustrated by the conditions. Dirt dragged onto the roads this morning left them slippery when repeated this afternoon and he felt uncomfortable cutting corners to shave off tenths of a second.

Mikkelsen started cautiously but a string of third fastest times kept him ahead of Kris Meeke until a mistake from the Ulsterman handed the Norwegian breathing space.

Meeke was caught out by a patch of gravel in SS6 and slithered into a field. He regained the road but a broken front left compression strut cost more than nine minutes as he limped CitroÃ«n’s DS 3 through the rest of the day.

Hyundai team-mates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville traded places on four occasions as they duelled for fourth. Third in the final stage for Sordo secured the place by 1.9sec, the only test when Volkswagen failed to lockout the top three.

Elfyn Evans was sixth in a Ford Fiesta RS despite an early handbrake issue, ahead of team-mate Ott TÃ¤nak who dropped 10sec after hitting gravel in a braking zone and understeering into a field.

Hayden Paddon was eighth, Mads Ã˜stberg gained confidence late in the day to hold ninth and StÃ©phane Lefebvre rounded off the leaderboard on his World Rally Car debut in a DS 3, despite a mistake at a penultimate stage chicane.

Robert Kubica started with a five minute penalty after an engine change following yesterday’s shakedown. The Pole went off the road into the vines in the final stage, stopping shortly afterwards to kick out the damaged windscreen in his Fiesta RS (below).

Drives face a marathon day tomorrow with more than 13 hours behind the wheel and 170.79km of action. It includes five stages on the daunting Panzerplatte military roads at Baumholder.
Click to expand...

Kubica's solution to having to drive without a windshield.

Steve · Aug 21, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sR8HTgcHdU"]Leg 1 - 2015 WRC Rallye Deutschland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

Crashton · Aug 21, 2015

Looks like Kubica came prepared.

Steve · Aug 22, 2015

Some good video.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grRi0vPxgCI"]Highlights Rally Deutschland 22 08 day 1 by Ouhla lui - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 22, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BLyVb28Eg"]WRC - ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2015 Stages 5-6 - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 22, 2015

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGx7v60A1Kk"]WRC Rallye Deutschland 2015 Day 1 | Crash, Mistakes, Limit [HD] - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 22, 2015

Well, this is a little sad. Unless you're a rabid fan of VW or any of their drivers.

What did I write yesterday? VW 1-2-3. Ditto today, and in the same order.....

Quoting MaxRally:

Vorsprung durch Technik

Yes, we know this relates to Audi, but whether itâ€™s through legendary Teutonic reliability (as demonstrated by the three metronomic Volkswagens at the head of the field), unusually clement weather, or other reasons, we canâ€™t deny that today has been a little bitâ€¦boring. In fact, with the exception of Mads Ostberg unspectacularly making his way up from ninth to seventh, the top 10 at the end of the day is exactly the same as it was at the start of the day. We can only hope for utter chaos tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Ogier on course for Germany victory (WRC.com)

22 AUG 2015

SÃ©bastien Ogierâ€™s mastery of the famous Panzerplatte military roads put him in control of ADAC Rallye Deutschland after Saturdayâ€™s second leg.

He crushed team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala through both runs of the marathon speed test on the Baumholder ranges to extend his lead to 33.8sec with four tricky stages in the Mosel vineyards remaining tomorrow.

Ogierâ€™s lead stood at 9.0sec as the rally ventured onto the daunting tank training tracks for the first time this morning. On roads ranging from smooth asphalt to broken concrete, lined by huge kerbstones normally used to keep tanks in line, the Frenchman was supreme.

He won both the 45.61km test and the preceding two sprint stages to more than double his lead to 18.5sec. His performance on the afternoon pass was even more stunning, blitzing Latvala by more than 15sec to extend his lead beyond half a minute.

â€œIt was a perfect day,â€ Ogier admitted. â€œWe made most of the difference in Panzerplatte and that was the key to the rally. We had the right set-up and tyre management, but itâ€™s never easy without split times because you never know where you are with the rhythm.â€

Latvala was deflated after his Panzerplatte punishment. â€œIâ€™m surprised, I donâ€™t understand. I thought I had a good run,â€ admitted the Finn, who won three of the nine stages. Ogier won the other six.

Andreas Mikkelsen was third, a further 1min 13.7sec back to retain Volkswagenâ€™s 1-2-3 with the Polo R car on its home event. The Norwegian felt comfortable enough to test a different differential this afternoon in preparation for the seasonâ€™s remaining asphalt action.

Hyundai team-mates Dani Sordo and Thierry Neuville duelled for fourth in their i20 cars. Neuville moved ahead this morning but despite gearchange problems when shifting down from second to first, Sordo regained the initiative to end 9.5sec ahead of the Belgian.

Elfyn Evans completed the top six in a Ford Fiesta RS, the Welshman feeling he may have been too aggressive with his tyres. He was only 3.2sec ahead of the closing Mads Ã˜stberg, the Norwegian relegating Ott TÃ¤nak and Hayden Paddon.

TÃ¤nak lost a minute after going off the road and struggling to restart his engine due to a broken starter motor. Paddon was perplexed by his below-par performance until a faulty turbocharger was diagnosed in his i20.

World Rally Car debutant StÃ©phane Lefebvre rounded off the leaderboard, the Frenchman impressing en route to second fastest in SS12.

A broken driveshaft slowed Martin Prokop, Kevin Abbring lost time with broken power steering and Robert Kubica [below] retired after damaging the suspension on his Fiesta RS.

Two identical loops of two stages covering 67.34km remain tomorrow, the rally ending with the live TV Power Stage and bonus points for the fastest three drivers.

Click to expand...

Steve · Aug 23, 2015

Good video, though.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sexUYnosXlM"]Flying on tarmac | ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2015 [Full HD] by JM - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4mGKt86Fw"]Prokop Crash | WRC ADAC Deutschland Rallye 2015 [HD] Devillersvideo - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwY-w4dCY10"]Saturday ACTION! - PANZERPLATTE: WRC Rallye Detschland 2015 - GHrallyemotion - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtasMMThyC8"]Leg 2 - 2015 WRC Rallye Deutschland - Best-of-RallyLive.com - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh5J8VAc8rY"]WRC ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2015 Day 2 (HD) - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Aug 23, 2015

Surprise!

Ogier wins, leading a VW 1-2-3. Yes, the top 3 at the end of the rally matched the top 3 at the end of the day yesterday, and the day before.

Ogier gives VW first Rally Germany win (racer.com)

Sunday, 23 August 2015

Sebastien Ogier ended Volkswagen's win drought on Rally Germany at the head of a 1-2-3 for the German manufacturer, securing his 30th World Rally Championship win in the process.

After crashing out last year, Ogier set his intentions out early, leading at the end of a fraught battle with Jari-Matti Latvala on day one. A perfectly timed dominant run through the second Panzerplatte Long test turned out to be the decider for the Frenchman, who doubled his lead over Latvala during Saturday.

Despite Latvala clawing back some time on Sunday morning, and winning the powerstage to make up for crashing out on its first running while leading in 2014, Ogier cruised home to win by 23 seconds.

Andreas Mikkelsen suffered a scare on Sunday morning as Dani Sordo reduced the gap to the third place man on the two early stages. Despite testing new differential settings for Cosica, the Norwegian was able to hold off the charging Spaniard's Hyundai with a couple of quicker times to conclude Sunday's action.

Fourth was still Sordo's best finish of the year and he also took a point from the powerstage.

Thierry Neuville was inconsistent throughout the rally, with last year's winner struggling with the i20. A hefty dose of understeer through the 28-mile Panzerplatte Long stage cost the Belgian a particularly large amount of time.

Just behind Neuville, Elfyn Evans had breakout performance on asphalt and was the only non-VW driver to win a stage. He suffered with setup and brake issues on the Saturday, but delivered at times the best pace of any of the best of the rest.

Mads Ostberg had a typically steady weekend, managing seventh behind Evans. He took over the position from Evans' M-Sport teammate Ott Tanak, who went off on Saturday afternoon and struggled to get the Ford Fiesta going again.

Tanak had previously clawed his way back from an excursion on the opening stage that dropped him to 14th.

Ostberg's Citroen teammate Kris Meeke had another difficult weekend. A trip off the road while pushing Mikkelsen for third on Friday led to a 10-minute delay as a compression strut broke. Two points for second on the powerstage was little consolation for a driver fighting for his seat at Citroen next year.

Robert Kubica was never a factor: incurring a five-minute pre-rally penalty for an engine change, losing another five minutes when a trip through a vineyard meant he had to smash his windscreen to see on Friday afternoon and then hitting one of the infamous hinkelsteins on Saturday. He at least reached the finish under Rally2 on Sunday.

Reigning Junior champion Stephane Lefebvre made a stunning World Rally Car debut in a third Citroen DS3, managing second fastest in the second Arena Panzerplatte stage on Saturday. He drove excellently to bring the car home 10th, behind Hayden Paddon, who suffered from a turbo problem on Saturday and was understandably disheartened.

Jan Kopecky took WRC2 honours in a truly dominant display, his championship-leading Skoda team-mate Esapekka Lappi having crashed out early on.

With Craig Breen losing three minutes with a puncture when second, Kopecky's final victory margin was 4m13.8s over Toyota protege Eric Camilli's ORECA-run Ford.

LEADING FINISHERS AFTER SS21:
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 3h35m49.5s
2 Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 23.0s
3 Andreas Mikkelsen Volkswagen Motorsport II Volkswagen 1m56.6s
4 Dani Sordo Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 2m09.3s
5 Thierry Neuville Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 2m33.8s
6 Elfyn Evans M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 2m52.1s
7 Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 3m12.5s
8 Ott Tanak M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 4m26.6s
9 Hayden Paddon Hyundai Motorsport N Hyundai 4m46.8s
10 Stephane Lefebvre Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 4m54.5s

LEADING POWERSTAGE TIMES:
Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Jari-Matti Latvala Volkswagen Motorsport Volkswagen 9m07.4s
2 Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 1.2s
3 Dani Sordo Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 1.7s
4 Robert Kubica RK World Rally Team Ford 3.5s
4 Ott Tanak M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 3.5s
Click to expand...

Forums

WRC WRC - 2015

Justa Jim Well-Known Member
Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Justa Jim Well-Known Member
Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Angib New Member

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Share This Page

Useful Searches

WRC WRC - 2015

Justa Jim Well-Known Member Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Justa Jim Well-Known Member Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Angib New Member

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Crashton Club Coordinator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator Staff Member Articles Moderator

Share This Page

Justa Jim Well-Known Member
Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Justa Jim Well-Known Member
Lifetime Supporter

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator

Steve Administrator
Staff Member Articles Moderator