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The other day my son asked me why I could talk to no end about rallying when I was young while nowadays I had no interest in the WRC.
I never thought much about it but the reply wasn't a difficult one. I have no interest in WRC because WRC is NOTHING like what used to be World Rallying in the late seventies and eighties.
And these are the reasons:
- All rallies were different. Bigger, harder and just totally different from one to the other. MonteCarlo and its "verglas", followed by 3 foot high snow in Sweden, then the mixed tarmac/dirt of Portugal, the highly technical and jumpy 1000 lakes, the gruesome Bandama and Safari rallies in Africa, the car demolisher Acropolis rally in Greece, again a mixed tarmac/dirt at the SanRemo in Italy ... and the "no-notes-allowed" (last of its kind) RAC in Britain.
In fact, rallies were so different from one to the other that we could have teams and drivers to be very strong in some of them and totally hopeless in others.
- Also, all rally cars were different. You had asphalt killers like the 911, the Stratos, even Andruet's Ferrari 308, or later the R5 Turbo and the Lancia 037. You had African specialists like the Mitsubishis, Nissans and the panzer-like Mercedes (very impressive to watch, and hear). You had the very good all-rounders like the Ford Escort RS and its inevitable nemesis, the Fiat 131
Abarth. And, showing up even before the arrival of Group B, the first gen Audi quattro.
In fact, I told my son that my favorite era of Rallying was the immediate pre-Group B era. And I mentioned to him the awe I had when I was first able to really follow a rally and personally watch the cars go by. It happened in the 1981 edition of the Portuguese Rally, one that was won by Markku Alen, against Vatanen n in the Rothmans Ford RS, Toivonen and Frequelin in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, Mikkola and Mouton in the quattros, Jean-Luc Therier in the Porsche, etc.
Today I found a video that ilustrates, in a very simple way, all I explained to my son about different rallies and different cars. It's from the same 1981 year, at the Sanremo Rally (the one that would become famous because Michelle Mouton had there her first victory).
Behold, the might and diversity of the Group 4 cars. According to the video's description, you will see these going by:
[YOUTUBEHD]zedVvSqpxlQ[/YOUTUBEHD]
Rallyes just aren't like this anymore.
I never thought much about it but the reply wasn't a difficult one. I have no interest in WRC because WRC is NOTHING like what used to be World Rallying in the late seventies and eighties.
And these are the reasons:
- All rallies were different. Bigger, harder and just totally different from one to the other. MonteCarlo and its "verglas", followed by 3 foot high snow in Sweden, then the mixed tarmac/dirt of Portugal, the highly technical and jumpy 1000 lakes, the gruesome Bandama and Safari rallies in Africa, the car demolisher Acropolis rally in Greece, again a mixed tarmac/dirt at the SanRemo in Italy ... and the "no-notes-allowed" (last of its kind) RAC in Britain.
In fact, rallies were so different from one to the other that we could have teams and drivers to be very strong in some of them and totally hopeless in others.
- Also, all rally cars were different. You had asphalt killers like the 911, the Stratos, even Andruet's Ferrari 308, or later the R5 Turbo and the Lancia 037. You had African specialists like the Mitsubishis, Nissans and the panzer-like Mercedes (very impressive to watch, and hear). You had the very good all-rounders like the Ford Escort RS and its inevitable nemesis, the Fiat 131
Abarth. And, showing up even before the arrival of Group B, the first gen Audi quattro.
In fact, I told my son that my favorite era of Rallying was the immediate pre-Group B era. And I mentioned to him the awe I had when I was first able to really follow a rally and personally watch the cars go by. It happened in the 1981 edition of the Portuguese Rally, one that was won by Markku Alen, against Vatanen n in the Rothmans Ford RS, Toivonen and Frequelin in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus, Mikkola and Mouton in the quattros, Jean-Luc Therier in the Porsche, etc.
Today I found a video that ilustrates, in a very simple way, all I explained to my son about different rallies and different cars. It's from the same 1981 year, at the Sanremo Rally (the one that would become famous because Michelle Mouton had there her first victory).
Behold, the might and diversity of the Group 4 cars. According to the video's description, you will see these going by:
[YOUTUBEHD]zedVvSqpxlQ[/YOUTUBEHD]
Rallyes just aren't like this anymore.
