165kph in FOG! by Peter Windsor
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, current leader of the FIA World Rally Drivers' Championship with two rounds to go, talks to Peter Windsor about the fine balance between scoring points and raw pace. Peter details the fog-shrouded SS11 on the recent Rally of Chile, which Neuville won by five seconds from Toyota's Kally Rovanpera, and also asks Neuville about recent comments made by Toyota's Sébestien Ogier re Neuville's view of the championship leader having to "clean" the roads on Day One of the three-day WRC events. Thierry also looks ahead to the October 17-20 Central European Rally - effectively his home event - and looks back on his early years, when he befriended another talented Belgian - the former McLaren F1 driver, Stoffel Vandoorne.
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And to TrackNinja, a lap-timer and data app designed to help users improve their on-track car and driver performance through analysis and an innovative Data Garage. A lite version is free; the loaded edition is US$9.99 pcm or $99.99 yearly
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Special thanks to Thierry Neuville, Hyundai Motorsport, Red Bull and WRC
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Images: Red Bull and WRC
Music: Casablanca Caravan (Chris Haugen)
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Nick: you're with us always
Good to hear from Thierry in his own words.
At about the point in every F1 season when I invariably lose interest, it's great that you've provided us with content from your (apparently) new-found interest in WRC. I've been an F1 fan since about 1966 but in the past few decades I've come to appreciate rallying and the WRC in particular as being the showcase of true car control. These guys are amazing! Thank you...I hope you can expect to see more!
love the rallying content!!!
I don’t know if Peter knows the Röhrl Arganil legend. A Portugese stage where Walter and Christian gained over 4 minutes over the next one in complete fog. This was around 70/80s turn.
The secret was detailing the pace notes to extreme to give distance marks on anything that you might see as a landmark in fog. And then Walter drove the whole stage again and again in his mind so that he knew it inside out and outside in and left to right as well as right to left. When Alen, “The king of Portugal”, went to have beer after the day, Walter went to his room to drive the stage in his mind again and again and again. Markku always drove with the big heart while Walter was always the one to drive with brains and rationality. Röhrl was the man to use the term tangential slide - the style which is now dominant among the top drivers. Hannu Mikkola said in an interview that Röhrl was the best of them all in his era. Walter managed his driving holistically better than anyone else. I still feel annoyed by being an Alen fan and I was convinced that Markku would smoke Walter going to 1978 … or 79 but in the end it was clear that Walter was simply better. Markku alias “Vilho” ran soon out of excuses and had to try too much spoiling his whole season.
And btw. I am convinced that Loeb’s prior career in top national level gymnastics was one of the key reasons to his success in rallying. Similarly Walter Röhrl was a top class skiing instructor which meant he had a highly developed instinct on weight transfer while Loeb could be thrown in any position and it would be nothing uncommon to him. He could have drank a cup of coffee upside down.
Back to Arganil. No one else was prepared to go such preparations for just one Special Stage. Röhrl’s real merit here was that he understood how important Arganil was for the result. It was the only place where you could gain minutes.
I think there are at least two videos in the RUclips Röhrl explaining what they did with Geistdorfer. The two vids Ive seen are both in German.
I think most rally fans hope that Thierry will wil the WC. It is high time. He has had more than a fair share of chances. Thierry’s strengths come from the Belgian rally scene: wet, muddy, corners often 90 deg junctions emphasis on rhythm rather than sweeping flow. He also seems to manage his temper better than most. He appears always very composed, a bit like Loeb. Opposite to say Tanak or Evans or even Ogier.
But there is no denying. There are problems in rallying that need to be solved. It is not good that drivers at the top of their development curve choose to step out because of too many rallies and the most stupid starting order. The cars are also too expensive to run, there are not enough top teams in WR1 and the point scoring system is weird. The FIA elite seems to be tangled also, maybe feet off the ground a bit.
Good post.
I think also back in those days, the drivers were a little more specialist on certain events and it didn’t matter as they didn’t have to enter the rallies they didn’t count all the rallies for the championship. For instance, Mikkola was expert in Finland and GB, Rorhl was a master at Monte, Corsica, San Remo etc. so they could pick and choose a bit.
Walter also has a photographic memory, which in those days made a big difference as the pace notes were nothing like today where they can watch the video and make notes in the hotel.
So great to celebrate these amazing drivers in an underrated championship these days, and especially Thierry who has been sensational this year particularly, but a star of WRC for years! Thank you both x
Great interview! Thanks Peter!!!
Love WRC, all those guys are beasts. Quite crazy some of the stuff they do in a world where other motorsports series are so scared of letting drivers do anything remotely dangerous.
Very happy to hear from a rally star
This was fantastic!
Hello Peter: Right foot braking in a road car, Thierry is human after all. Thank you.
It sounds even faster in KPH 😮
More content on other racing series please.
Hey Peter i really appreciate you pushing Rallying with your support and this great Interview! Obviously you are quite a fan of Thierry which is completely understandable. But i think you making a huge mistake in putting Ogier in that bad light just for one comment. Hes an 8 time World Rallye Champion and a true sportsman throughout, im sure you will see that aswell when spending a bit more time in this sport. Thierry also made some comments about Part time drivers "messing" with the championship when it was Hyundai all those years playing this exact game with their competitive part time drivers aka Sordo, Mikkelsen, Lappi and of course Craig❤
In the heat of the Moment, things are said fast. Rallye driver are a different breed, they are honest and they will say there opinion straight away, no drama queens like in other sports.
A critical person would say it needed Rovanpera and Ogier to go part time drive so Thierry even had a chance in the first place. Not mentioning the Stage times Ogier and especially Kalle had placed in which let the opposition looked cruising.
But on the other Hand this is for sure Thierrys strongest Season in a long time and for a lot of reasons. I was genuinely impressed with his performance in Greece for example. Hes shown real attitude this year (despite some ridiculous comments) and i felt that for the first time, since all the years im watching Rallye, Thierry looks like an actual Champion.
Thx for pushing our Sport, it is in a desperate need for attention, but thats maybe a good topic for another Video.
Cheers Peter, i know its hard times for you and i wishing you and your family all the best ❤
Re: Ogier, tbh I also felt it's disappointing that a 8 time wc resorted to that style of comments. It wasn't said in the heat of the moment, he said that to every microphone he got without being prompted, it was obvious he was trying to put pressure in Neuville. I find Ogier the voice of reason in many aspects but I cannot support or defend this style of posturing from any competitor - especially if they are multiple wc.
Neuville's reaction was the best one and even the way he commented on that matter here was very balanced.
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