boring boring loeb

Stephenb170 · 1 Aug 2011 at 20:03

please does anyone agree with my longing for a more competative wrc exsperience as we had in the late 90s early 200s,the events then were won and lost by seconds between the top ten or so drivers,they are heading in the right direction by reverting back to mechanical diffs as a posed to electronic and the loss of launch control all puts the onus back on driving skill but to get back to my original heading the lack of talented drivers to compete against the relentless loeb,theres him ogier,latvala and hirvonen as for the rest their minutes behind its getting stale,its killing me as i love this sport I've competed in several national b events so do know a little about what I'm talking about.i find myself watching my old dvd year reviews to see the close driven events with makinen,mcrae,burns,sainze,gronholm,auriol,panizzi,rovanpera,kankkunen,delecour etc etc all fighting for the win

Kerming · 1 Aug 2011 at 20:45

agreed........rally has died due to restrictions on the cars, we need flames, loud engines........and most of all, better drivers, loab is boring the living daylights out of me.

Gaverick · 2 Aug 2011 at 13:47

Certainly is quite stale in WRC. I was marshalling at the Tyneside stages in Otterburn on Sunday and at SS7 of 9 the two top drivers (Simon Mauger and Damien Cole) were within 3 seconds of each other.

Skeeter · 2 Aug 2011 at 14:00

^^Might want to try using one of those occasionally.

I think the major issue with WRC is its promotion. This year was arguably the most important year in WRC for a decade. New manufacturer entering and 3 brand new cars with all new regulations, yet they have made no effort to promote it. The TV coverage is shocking and with no British drivers doing well the British media have no interest.

K1LLSW1TCH · 2 Aug 2011 at 14:04

It's become incredibly boring to the point where I just cannot be bothered to watch it anymore. Bring back the 90's and the early 00's when it was so exciting to watch, I miss Tommi.

weyland yutani · 2 Aug 2011 at 14:18

I feel the op's pain

I still follow WRC, even though it's not what it used to be but I love rally regardless.

It's a real shame the competition isn't tighter but you can't deny Loeb is a class act. Fast as hell and almost never makes a mistake, or even suffers mechanical issues . . . the guy is untouchable. The likes of Latvala, Hirvonen, Solberg and Ogier only keep in touching distance when they push like hell so often make errors, the rest like Henning, Kimmi and Wilson are deadwood, minutes off the pace.

For me the best era was the 90's and early 00's, just a tad too young to remember Group B.

Kerming · 2 Aug 2011 at 19:06

K1LLSW1TCH said:
I miss Tommi.

your not the only one......in a way im glad he has moved on becuase i hate to think of what he would think of the rally today.

Fr0dders · 2 Aug 2011 at 20:20

WRC as a whole has been boring lately

We all miss the Hay Day of the WRC rally GB going all over the UK, with Colin & Richard battling it out. Carlos Sainz putting his helmet through his back window as he broke down yards from the finish. The drama ! the excitement !

Something modern WRC has none of :/

ins0mn1ac · 2 Aug 2011 at 20:23

What channel is WRC footage even on these days? last I saw were short episodes on Dave every now n then.

Stephenb170 · 2 Aug 2011 at 21:35

free wrc coverage

im glad there are like minded rally fans in the forums,as for coverage its on motors tv on sky.

Vampire · 3 Aug 2011 at 16:39

I followed WRC for years, and for ages attended the whole of each UK rally, travelling from stage to stage in the Land Rover and sleeping overnight. I bought 3x Imprezas (including a P1) and was a guest of SWRT for Wales Rally GB one year, which was awesome.

I registered as a marshall and worked on 2x WRGB events, it was brilliant.

The last few years though, I've become less and less interested to the point that I haven't been to a rally at all for 6 years, and haven't followed it at all on TV or the web the last 3 years. I phoned the MSA about 6 months ago and told them to stop sending me 'The Marshall' magazine, and that I was no longer interested in marshalling again.

IMO WRC has been killed off, for various reasons. I'd quite like to go and watch a rally (any rally tbh) in Finland/Norway/Sweden one day as it's something I've never done. But that's it for my interest in rallying now, unless big changes are made and all of the big manufacturers come back to it.

ng93 · 6 Aug 2011 at 19:08

WRC this year isn't great but it's much better than last year, hopefully this trend continues.

MissChief · 6 Aug 2011 at 23:27

WRC is on ESPN this year. kris meeke is doing some rounds for Mini in the Countryman WRC.

sunama · 10 Aug 2011 at 16:11

I'm not a fan of WRC, however, I've just looked up on Wiki, the results of the past few years. Looking purely at the statistics, I've garnered the following.

This 'Loeb' fellow - is he not the best driver on the face of this planet? The guy has even won the race of champions. He finished 2nd in the Le Man 24 hours race. My understanding is that whatever car he drives, he drives it better than anybody else.

Why on Earth hasn't this guy had a go at F1? He is far too good for WRC and judging by the comments in this thread, is killing the sport (for non-Loeb fans) and basically leaving other drivers with no chance of winning.

Just for reference, Loeb has won the last 7 WRC titles (in succession) and is also leading this year's title race.

The next best WRC (of all time), is 4 WRC titles (Makinnen/Kankkunen).

In the World of WRC, Loeb is by far and away the best driver ever. What's even more worrying, is that he still appears be at the peak of his powers.