2017 World Rally ChampionshipRally 

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Something I saw from Autosport wich made me mad as hell

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128098/what-troubling-meeke-and-citroen

It's the last one that'll sting the most for Meeke. Had he shaken hands with Tommi Makinen just over a year ago, it could have been him sitting where Rally Sweden victor Jari-Matti Latvala was.

Yeah sure It´s the cars fault, this is just getting more and more outlaughable that people still excuses Kris Meekes mediocrity and they are gonna have him for a full seat next year? I predict Citroen are gonna end up in the bottom as manufacturer both this and next year unless we see some incredible results from Breen and Lefebre.
 
Something I saw from Autosport wich made me mad as hell
Haven't you heard? Meeke is British, so of course he's the most naturally gifted driver out there.

I appreciate that Autosport are writing for a British audience first and so some degree of bias is to be expected and even tolerated. But this is the kind of reporting that I despise - openly and obviously biased, and not at all representative of reality. It was like some of the "reporting" in Formula 1 last year - Lewis Hamilton was well within his rights to ignore unfavourable team orders in one race, but equally within his rights to expect favourable team orders in the next.

Yeah sure It´s the cars fault, this is just getting more and more outlaughable that people still excuses Kris Meekes mediocrity
To be fair, Meeke is quick on his day. He won Portugal and Finland on pure pace - he didn't inherit the lead by virtue of another's mistake or misfortune. You can't do that, least of all in Finland, without having talent. And when he was driving last year, he did look like the most likely driver to challenge Ogier. I think a lot of people were expecting him to fight for the title this year, and I suspect that the article you linked to is motivated by disappointment that he isn't.

Likewise, the C3 isn't great. As Porter and Desborough pointed out during Rally Sweden, the rear of the car is visibly unstable over bumps, especially in slow and medium speed sections. My guess is that the rear suspension geography is causing the problems, and it's not helped by a conservative aero package. I'd say the car is at about 70% of its potential. Meeke isn't helping his cause with driver errors, but Breen and Lefebvre aren't immune to it either. The C3 certainly looks like the most difficult car to drive.

Don't get me wrong; I'm no Kris Meeke fan. I think he's overrated, but not without talent. The thing that annoys me is that he's a whinger, but unlike Ogier, doesn't have much cause to complain. And he always seems to get a free pass from the media. So I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least until Citroën sort themselves out. But I do agree that the Evans article takes the defence of Kris Meeke too far, if only because it would crucify any other driver.
 
Meeke isn't getting the criticism he deserves, he's one of the best bottlers in the sport. I'm really happy he ended the British win drought in the WRC, but he seems to either win or crash. Some media stick might make him sort out his act.

That said, he has got the pace over Breen, so he is the best driver Citroen have at the moment. What Lefebrve is doing, I don't know. I can see him being dumped for Mikkelsen before the season ends. Then Citroen might have a good chance of challenging for victories more often.
 
Likewise, the C3 isn't great. As Porter and Desborough pointed out during Rally Sweden, the rear of the car is visibly unstable over bumps, especially in slow and medium speed sections. My guess is that the rear suspension geography is causing the problems, and it's not helped by a conservative aero package. I'd say the car is at about 70% of its potential. Meeke isn't helping his cause with driver errors, but Breen and Lefebvre aren't immune to it either. The C3 certainly looks like the most difficult car to drive.
Also, I'm watching the Rally Sweden review, and there was a helicopter tracking shot of Meeke on Vargåsen. The front end of the C3 is definitely lifting under acceleration, which isn't a problem for any of the other cars. Combined with the unsettled rear end, the car looks like a real handful to drive.
 
Meeke isn't getting the criticism he deserves, he's one of the best bottlers in the sport. I'm really happy he ended the British win drought in the WRC, but he seems to either win or crash. Some media stick might make him sort out his act.

That said, he has got the pace over Breen, so he is the best driver Citroen have at the moment. What Lefebrve is doing, I don't know. I can see him being dumped for Mikkelsen before the season ends. Then Citroen might have a good chance of challenging for victories more often.
How does Meeke have pace over Breene when Meeke spends half of every rally in the ditch?

Breene brought last year's DS3 home to a top 6 in Monte, and is responsible for the majority of Citroen's points at the moment. He's one of those for whom snow is consifered a weekness, so with the 2 winter rallies out of the way, he's doing pretty damn good...better than Meeke :lol:

As for Lefebvre, what is he doing so terribly? He's the future, so no need to expect mad results from him right now...he's where Paddon was a couple years ago. Citroen put him in a DS3 for Sweden since it was his first ever time doing Sweden in WRC, and he did pretty damn good all things considered.


The problem with the Citreon isn't the drivers. In Monte, they "showed up with last year's touring car," the C3 bottoming out all over the place. In Sweden, the rear end of the car was all over the place (you could see the lose rear end at Monte too), and the car just looked sloppy to drive. Compared to the other 3, the change of direction was glacial.

Blaming drivers, replacing drivers etc is not going to solve Citroen's issues. They spent the better part of 3 years building a dud.
 
OK so I've just come back to watching WRC but....



These cars are easily doing over 80 in the snow?
Aero. Stupid unforgivable stupid Aero. Kill it now. Burn it with fire and then kill it again. Group B didn't need it. They don't either.
 
Sweden is one of the quicker rallies anyway, not much of that was to do with the cars, the 2016 Citroen wasn't far off.
 
These cars are easily doing over 80 in the snow?
Yes. The tyres have tungsten studs that bite into the ice and snow. The more energy that you put through the tyres, the more grip you get.

Also, it wasn't a case of Tänak doing over 80mph in the snow. It was Tänak running at an average speed of 80mph over a stage. It's not uncommon for them to get up to a top speed of 130mph.

They don't either.
Actually, they do. The engine power has increased from 300bhp to 380bhp this year. Without the aero to settle the car at high speed, it would be practically undriveable. Mads Østberg had that very problem in Sweden - the rear wing came off, and the car was bucking all over the place. It got so bad that Østberg had to retire.
 
Aero. Stupid unforgivable stupid Aero. Kill it now. Burn it with fire and then kill it again. Group B didn't need it. They don't either.

Canards and a transversely mounted surfboard on the 205T16, a massive rear wing on the Quattro S1, a double-plane rear wing on the Delta S4, an actual front wing on the Metro 6R4... quite a lot of dead weight on the cars coming from parts thay didn't need, huh?
 
Canards and a transversely mounted surfboard on the 205T16, a massive rear wing on the Quattro S1, a double-plane rear wing on the Delta S4, an actual front wing on the Metro 6R4... quite a lot of dead weight on the cars coming from parts thay didn't need, huh?
Comparing the understanding of Aero in them days to now? Really? Not even remotely close mate.

Actually, they do. The engine power has increased from 300bhp to 380bhp this year. Without the aero to settle the car at high speed, it would be practically undriveable. Mads Østberg had that very problem in Sweden - the rear wing came off, and the car was bucking all over the place. It got so bad that Østberg had to retire.

As per above. The End.
 
Haven't you heard? Meeke is British, so of course he's the most naturally gifted driver out there.

To be fair, Meeke is quick on his day. He won Portugal and Finland on pure pace - he didn't inherit the lead by virtue of another's mistake or misfortune. You can't do that, least of all in Finland, without having talent. And when he was driving last year, he did look like the most likely driver to challenge Ogier.

Yes sure pure pace, not like road order position had any effect whatsoever? His 2 victories last year would be the equivalent of Hamilton in F1 forced to sit and give some of the worst drivers a 50 minute head start. I find it incredible how people are so blind to see the obvious, namely the road order position wich gave him an enormous benefit and because he never participated in the whole season he never got penalized for winning.
 
Not in Finland. Why do you think it's so fast? The surface is hard-packed gravel with very little loose stuff to be cleared away.

You think there is no difference done to the road after lets say 20 cars have passed? Altough not as rough as Sardinia It´s still gravel
 
You think there is no difference done to the road after lets say 20 cars have passed?
There is a difference, but that difference is significantly smaller than at other gravel rallies.

I don't disagree with you when you say that Meeke is overrated, but I don't think that you can dismiss his win at Rally Finland as being solely down to his road position.
 
I just watched the Red Bull TV coverage for Sweden. As absolutely thrilled as I am to see Latvala win for Toyota, I was kind'a bugged that the announcers gave away the winner in their day 3 opening statements before I got to watch the final stages.
 
I can totally sew WRC stickers on that hot hatch Yaris.
My flatmate currently rents a Yaris, i told him to go into the dealership and ask if he could swap it for the Yaris "Gazoo" edition.

The guys at the dealership appreciated the joke a lot.
 
Rally Mexico entry list has been published. No Østberg, but Lorenzo Bertelli hascgotten his hands on a 2017 Fiesta.

Østberg never intended to enter Rally Mexico this year. His wife is expected to deliver their baby any day now, so he'll be on diaper duty for a couple of weeks. According to an article on a local newspaper here he was ready to leave Rally Sweden at any time if his wife was to go into labour.
 
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