*SPOILER* Acropolis Rally *SPOILER*

Another interesting race this month.

I really felt sorry for Gronholm. First he gets he victory at Cyrpus pulled due to an "illegal water pump" and then he can't seem to choose the right tires and just has a terrible weekend on the road...didn't even finish the race. Any one know why he was determined to drive on the older tire rather than the new one designed for this race? Other folks on the new tire were killing him, and he was just slipping all over.

I was also sorry to see Marko Martin wreck so early and not even be competitive. I think he would have made the competition between the top 5 drivers even closer than it turned out.

Soldberg is on fire! I was impressed to see that at one point he a lead of over a minute. I think the judges were sticking it to him by charging him 30 seconds for not having mud flaps. The crew was pretty funny with their "spare mudflaps" they were wearing in the service area at the end of the race. That penalty, a stage with NO BRAKES, and he still wins by 18 seconds.

Why did Mitsubishi even bother this season. I think the car company would be better served by just bailing out of racing all together and focus on their survival as a company. Their racing days are done unless they figure something out. The car not only doesn't seem to want to run well, but it looks like crap too (not that apperence matters, but it looks like something built for "Scrapheap Challenge").

I was glad to see Skoda back in the race. After seeing the segment on their history in the sport I was even more pleased. Too bad they had so many problems and ended up just drving for test purposes. I'm a sucker for traditions, lets hope they can get the car squared away.

How did Peugeot get an "illegal" water pump anyway? Aren't all of the car parts certified by FIA before they are added to the car either at the beginning of the season, or as changes occur?

Originally Posted by Desertnate

Why did Mitsubishi even bother this season. I think the car company would be better served by just bailing out of racing all together and focus on their survival as a company. Their racing days are done unless they figure something out. The car not only doesn't seem to want to run well, but it looks like crap too (not that apperence matters, but it looks like something built for "Scrapheap Challenge").

I was glad to see Skoda back in the race. After seeing the segment on their history in the sport I was even more pleased. Too bad they had so many problems and ended up just drving for test purposes. I'm a sucker for traditions, lets hope they can get the car squared away.

I agree about Mitsubishi. With all their red ink, the last thing they need is an expensive racing program that loses all the time. In fact, I kind of feel the same way about Skoda.

If these companies get trounced every race, what do they gain from it? Certainly not much good publicity. Are they really worried about getting their engineers some training? They should both give it up.

It's nice to see Petter winning rallies. Hopefully he'll be first in the championship soon. The only rally driver I don't really like is Loeb.

Originally Posted by PhilH

If these companies get trounced every race, what do they gain from it? Certainly not much good publicity. Are they really worried about getting their engineers some training? They should both give it up.

My thoughts were the same when you had Hyundai and Skoda consistantly on the bottom season after season. Very often they would not even score high enough to recieve manufacturer points, loosing out to the smaller corperate/independant teams. That has to be terribly embarassing, I wonder how they kept their lesser sponsors. I don't know if I would want my corperate logo displayed on a car that continuously was a "bottom feeder".

Mercifully, both bowed out for a while and it looks like Hyundai is out for good. I'll root for Skoda simply because I like the underdogs and I admire their spirit.

Yeah, but did you hear how Skoda may not be around WRC much longer. I guess the uppity-ups were watching Greece and with a poor showing in the rally, they may bail from rally racing all-together.

That'd be a shame. With Hyundai, Mitsu, and Skoda gone, it would be a somewhat boring 4-horse show with only Subi, Peugeot, Ford and Citroen. It would be really nice to see teams from the past like Audi, Mini, Lancia, Toyota and others return to WRC.

Originally Posted by OBS3SSION

Yeah, but did you hear how Skoda may not be around WRC much longer. I guess the uppity-ups were watching Greece and with a poor showing in the rally, they may bail from rally racing all-together.

Yes, I did. I hope they will be patient and at least let them finish out the season and see how the new car shakes out. Bringing a new car in is always a challenge, look at the terrible time Peugeot had the first two or three races with their new 307...not pretty

That'd be a shame. With Hyundai, Mitsu, and Skoda gone, it would be a somewhat boring 4-horse show with only Subi, Peugeot, Ford and Citroen. It would be really nice to see teams from the past like Audi, Mini, Lancia, Toyota and others return to WRC.

I was thinking the exact same thing. It's high time some of the heros of rallies past awaken and come back to racing. Watching that footage of Carlos Sainz in the Lancia and Toyota Celica were great.

What the WRC needs right now is a 350hp AWD Mini! Lancia could bring out one of the old Delta's they used to race. From what I remember they had 350+ hp and left due to the restrictions on HP FIA imposed. Nowdays they would be mid pack and competitive in their old car.

Wah, another race series I can no longer watch because of my damn cable co!

From the little I've been reading, though, it seems like Pug is continuing their up-and-down season. I don't get the debacle over the water pump, either.

As for new teams, with the cars getting smaller every season (except for Peugeot), it's getting easier to imagine BMW getting MINI back in, though that's a LOT of development time to put in. And bringing back old machinery just isn't going to be competitive. As much as I liked the Delta Integrale and Ur Quattro and such in their day, there's no way that they'd be competitive with today's rules, and the much more sophisticated aerodynamics and such.

Besides, Lancia and Fiat Auto aren't in much better shape as a car company than Mitsubishi. And VAG doesn't seem to be putting much of their winning history behind the Skoda effort.

Peugeot acutally had a pretty good race. It was Gronholms choice of tires that seemed to cost him. Both cars did well and the number two driver/car would probably have still finished second (though 30 seconds farther back)

Still wish Marko Martin hadn't wrecked his car. He and his car have been doing pretty well and would have really made things entertaining.

It is a shame the VAG isn't really doing much. Are they doing any racing at all outside of the TT's running in DTM? They should help out Skoda, or bring on a WRC S3

So where is Loeb in all of this? Early in the season he seemed to be quietly taking the lead.

Originally Posted by Desertnate

It is a shame the VAG isn't really doing much. Are they doing any racing at all outside of the TT's running in DTM? They should help out Skoda, or bring on a WRC S3

Well, Skoda IS part of VAG. The Fabia is a VW Polo (the Octavia was a Bora/Jetta, but that was far more obvious). Considering how big VAG is, they seem to do little racing.

Some US and Australian(?) touring cars
GT prototype (was Audi R8, now Bentley Speed 8)
Desert rally (i.e. Paris-Dakar)
WRC

Loeb took second and is in first overall by 5 points. Citroen is still first overall in the manufacture points, followed by Ford and Subaru.

I knew Skoda was part of VAG. The point I was trying to make was with the considerable weight they could bring to bear for a WRC team, Skoda just isn't seeing it. I imagine that might have been a problem with their old Octavia as well. Sure it was a larger/heavier car, but they weren't loosing because the car was breaking. They lost due to the performance of the car and/or driver. I think they could do better if given the proper resources.