 18 Nov 2002, 18:15 (Ref:431549) | #19 | ||
Veteran Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 601
| Toivonen would have prefered to race than rally. Theer was an article about it in teh Motorsport magazine a couple of months ago, I think. At the top of the thread some guests were talking about accuracy. consider this, the narrowest Formula 1 track (Monaco aside is wide enough for about 3 cars... Very rearely do rally cars see more than a basic one lane each way road. Most Formula one cars average what a rally cars top speed is, but a rally car weighs 1230kg compared to about 600kg(ish). F1 is on Tarmac, usually of a single grade, rallying will see several surfaces in each stage, and in some cases a couple of hundred yards. Just ask Marcus Gronholm When you pick tyres on an F1 race, you pick specific tyres for dry/intermediate/wet. On a rally cars, you have to take into consideration thiings like amount of grit about (and depth), type of surface, weather conditions. On a rally tyre they can alter things like, width, tread pattern, extra cuts (can have extra cuts in tread etc), compund and many more. Back to accuracy, Yes, F1 cars are closer together but I reckon that rally drivers have to be more accurate. Often, a rally car is travelling at well over 100mph and will have a corner coming up where there is no run off area. Trees on road side in Oz, huge cliffs in Corsica... If an F1 driver make a small mistake he can run slightly wide and use the huge run off areas available (now even more with tarmac ones). Occasionaly they will get stuck in gravel or crash. On a rally a driver can be a split second too early turning in and roll his car into a ball (McRae last year) or too late and will be off the road and into a tree (Delocour in Oz). In rallying, if you get it wrong there is a fraction of the space available to corect it. Rally drivers, have as someone said, to turnin, brake and get back on the power whilst following a line. This is the same as in F1, but in rallying the line is about 12" wide and then they get on the loose stuff and almost all grip vanishes. On a circuit this line is only imaginary. Rallying is a more demanding and skillful discipline for me every time. Just wish Schumi would take up McRaes challenge. As for the challenge day thing at Brands hatch, the Race of Champions is heald every year (maybe every two years) in Gran Canaria. This is a sprint event open to champions and invitation drives. They drive modern, old and specias during the contest. I dont think a racing driver has won it yet. | ||
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