Event types

[owenk]

I have never seen the type of rallying in the USA like there is in other parts of the world. I think most motor sports grow out of what is part of the local experience. Take NASCAR that has its roots in moonshine running that came out of probation in the 1930's, which was a big engine and out running the feds. Then we have drag racing unsure of it's origins but I believe it came from Southern California. When you look back at the history of American cars, power was first then came handling a very distance 2nd. I think this comes from our wide open spaces where you do not have to turn very often. Heck my dad had a 69 Chrysler station wagon pumping out ~350HP (at the flywheel) that the power steering gave you as much road feel as the radio volume control knob it floated down the road. I was lucky because my first car was a 68 Cortina II and it was fun to drive. I grew up in the Mojave Desert and had a lot of fun drifting sideway around corners on dirt roads thinking I was a Rally driver. In fact the closest that we have to balls out Rally that I have seen is our off road racing with vehicles found on this web Link

Fun fact: Can anyone tell me the origins of the phrase “balls out” it is not what you think!

[Doehring]

Having seen the cars in the Link I would say that in our rallies the special stages are more similar to the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. European professional rallye drivers like Michelle Mouton, Ari Vatanen or the german Walter Roehrl were very successful there in their Audi Sports Quattros or the improved Peugeot works rally cars.

The big difference is that Pikes Peak is a race and the drivers have enough time for training and learning the line. In a WRC rallye you normally don't have that possibilities: The Co supports or even replaces the drivers memory. It's teamwork. On the other hand some special stages are the same in different events or they are repeated for years in the same event (like many at Rallye Monte Carlo) and so the experience of driver and Co. is improved every time and leads to better results - but sometimes you are too fast then.

Rolf

[Z-point]

Hi everybody,

To give you an impression what exactly WRC rallying means have a look /download this movie. It is 18Kb but it is worth it.

www.z-point.nl/wrc-high.wmv

and let us know if you like it or not.:tapemouth