KevM 44 Posted February 15, 2017 Meeke ran the later part of stage 17 in 'road mode' due to the frustration of how the car was acting, just to get to the end. Its not in his nature to not push. Heck, Citroen could let ME drive a C3 through the stages in road mode, if they want someone not to push, I'll oblige, just for the experience! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juu1ius 5 Posted February 15, 2017 KevM said: Meeke ran the later part of stage 17 in 'road mode' due to the frustration of how the car was acting, just to get to the end. Its not in his nature to not push. Heck, Citroen could let ME drive a C3 through the stages in road mode, if they want someone not to push, I'll oblige, just for the experience! Sure, but how many mistakes did he make before he slowed down? hat's not how you win championship. Craig Breen had mistakes on first day and slowed down, but Meek isn't some 1st year rookie. I do hope both Kris and Thierry will perform better on the next event. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevM 44 Posted February 15, 2017 Meeke is a No. 1 driver for the team. Pressure is on him to podium, wee Breen has a free hand to bed in and take manu points Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dytut 89 Posted February 15, 2017 Looking historically you can have a maximum of 3 bad events in a season, so the jig isn't up for meeke and neuville. But the pressure is on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SirPhilMcKraken 279 Posted February 16, 2017 Thoughts?http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128129/fia-to-clamp-down-on-excessive-speeds Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KingOfCoins 286 Posted February 16, 2017 It's really dumb, that's my thought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gfRally 448 Posted February 16, 2017 Does the FIA think anything thru? Add 70+ hp, lots of aero grip... complain they are too fast on stage. Ok they are going REALLY fast now, I don't think there has been a speed related incident in Sweden Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FloatingGrass 0 Posted February 16, 2017 What the FIA is doing is the equivalent of being allowed to either write on paper or type on a computer in class, except if you type it you have to write it later AND you cannot exceed the WPM you would achieve if you were writing.I've never been eager to jump on the FIA shit flinging bandwagon but this is beyond brainless. There's zero point in making cars faster, more complicated, more expensive and therefore more inaccessible if they'll be tied down to regulations for slower cars, especially when they've been advertised as equal to the second coming of Christ in awesomeness. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadD0g 0 Posted February 17, 2017 It's stupid, but it's not exactly surprising coming from the FIA. Seems like they're freaking out about one particular section of road on the fastest event on the calendar, I wouldn't be surprised if they jumped the gun on this due to the bad press from the Monte indecent. Even though that wasn't speed related, people who don't know the details will see "new, faster WRC cars" and "spectator dies in accident" and lump those together, so it isn't a great look for the FIA to have that hanging over them.On the bright side, this may encourage organizers to pick more technical and challenging roads. Maybe that will make things more interesting for the drivers, who knows. The unknown driver in the article says that one stretch of road was boring because it was just straight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cjl9 12 Posted February 17, 2017 Personally I think this has all the makings of another Group B disaster.I think we should go back to production-related cars that have to be homologated in reasonable quantities: 500 springs to mind.It would be MUCH cheaper for the manufacturers; many more drivers would be able to afford to drive them; it would be more interesting for spectators. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scyy 0 Posted February 17, 2017 cjl9 said: Personally I think this has all the makings of another Group B disaster. Not even close in my opinion. In group b there were almost no enforced spectator rules and the cars weren't even in the same league when it comes to safety. On top of that they were almost twice the hp as 2017 cars by the end of the group b Era. People really need to stop all the doom saying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
versedi 39 Posted February 17, 2017 RIP Finland & Poland entertainment. Every year some stage got canceled already, now there will be more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RallyDriven 398 Posted February 17, 2017 Thing is a straight road flat out is going to create higher average speeds than a series of high speed corners, but which is going to be safer? Average speed doesn't show the full picture.And no, this is nothing like group b. Those cars were ridiculously overpowered, and were going way faster than the safety features and standards available to them. Plus there was the insanely stupid crowd numbers and positions. In most places, if you left the road, you were guaranteed to kill or injure people. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevM 44 Posted February 17, 2017 It's a similar rule to the Targa rallies I did a couple of. As we were essentially in road cars with no safety equipment, average speed was controlled by way of the choice of stage layout & the odd chicane etc. It left the average speed impossible to exceed but the stage was still great to drive. & despite many accidents & rolls, no one ever got hurt due to the speed involved Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juu1ius 5 Posted February 17, 2017 Finding new and better suited roads are not an easy task. Public roads are getting wider and wider, straighten or under tarmac or what's the distance from rest of the stages. Not to mention private properties near stages, there are plenty of people who don't like big crowds on their land. This is just another example of FIA's short seeings. I heard that for Finland stages they'll try to prevent corner cuting to reduce the speeds. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbtstt 2,385 Posted February 17, 2017 cjl9 said: Personally I think this has all the makings of another Group B disaster. Although our reasoning may differ, I concur with @cjl9 in that I think the current regulations do have the potential to spell disaster. I daresay it's that potential that has got the FiA rattled. Rallying often struggles with public image and, despite the best measures being taken, the WRC already has a fatality to it's name in 2017. These cars are a huge leap forward, and the last time such progression was allowed unchecked, it ended badly. The headline of that article is rather inflammatory as well: they are simply talking about bringing the average stage speed down by altering the stage. They are not talking about having drivers do the stage at half throttle... cjl9 said: I think we should go back to production-related cars that have to be homologated in reasonable quantities: 500 springs to mind.It would be MUCH cheaper for the manufacturers; many more drivers would be able to afford to drive them; it would be more interesting for spectators. ...I disagree with @cjl9 here though. In an ideal world I would fully support this. I have said on many occasions that I believe the Group A period was the best for rallying as, in addition to the close competition it produced on stage, it also put a fantastic range of cars in the hands of the general public.Forcing manufacturers to reflect competition cars in the production range is a costly endeavour though and, in the current financial climate, there are perhaps only a couple of current WRC marques who might actually consider it. I personally think such regulations would absolutely kill the sport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Janneman60 154 Posted February 17, 2017 So you are in charge at the FIA. Because a lot of people complain about the speed of the cars you agreed to make them faster. Now you rethink.. who will they blame if a horror crash kills people. No matter what, the faster speed gets the blame. So you order to make them slower... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevM 44 Posted February 17, 2017 It's likely only Finland & Sweden that the max average speed will be broken. They are the fastest rallies on the calendar Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RallyDriven 398 Posted February 17, 2017 KevM said: It's likely only Finland & Sweden that the max average speed will be broken. They are the fastest rallies on the calendar And Poland.Safety should obviously always be a priority, but I just don't think this is quite the right way to do it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbtstt 2,385 Posted February 17, 2017 They will add a few more chicanes to the stages, average speed times will fall and the problem will be solved.I'm not usually one to defend the FiA, but people seem to be jumping to conclusions based on one inflammatory headline... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SirPhilMcKraken 279 Posted February 17, 2017 I imagine they're under pressure but it feels like a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, if it was down to the death at Monte that wasn't speed related, looked like a combination of bad luck and standing too close to the track Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cjl9 12 Posted February 17, 2017 I'm not forecasting "doom." I just think we're going in the wrong direction.Rallying would be a lot healthier if we used production-based cars which ordinary people could afford to own and drive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scyy 0 Posted February 17, 2017 cjl9 said: I'm not forecasting "doom." I just think we're going in the wrong direction.Rallying would be a lot healthier if we used production-based cars which ordinary people could afford to own and drive. I will agree that it would be nice to have cars that more people could afford. I just took when you said group b disaster as expecting some horrible multiple fatality crashes like happened near the end of the Era. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KevM 44 Posted February 17, 2017 cjl9 said: I'm not forecasting "doom." I just think we're going in the wrong direction.Rallying would be a lot healthier if we used production-based cars which ordinary people could afford to own and drive. It's better PR for a manufacturer to race a beefed-up volume sector supermini Fiesta/Polo/i20/C3, than try to push a £27k, group 20 insurance, £500 a year tax Escos/Impreza Turbo/Evo 10/Celica GT4 in fairness Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BadD0g 0 Posted February 17, 2017 Jalopnik just did a write-up about average speed limits in rally for those interested: http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/why-rally-has-speed-limits-the-necessary-evil-no-one-t-1792456937 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
