"Old" news as it happened yesterday but I just heard about this...

Quote :

Toni Gardemeister has been excluded from Rally Portugal for driving on three wheels on a road section.

http://www.eurosport.co.uk/ral ... 07/sport_sto1135038.shtml

I'm nearly speechless. I wonder how they are going to cope with this FIA monkey rule if Safari Rally ever makes (it probably won't) comeback to the calendar (if they want to see more than two cars finishing the rally).

I remember the Tommi Mitsu Evo getting pulled because of running on 3 wheels, that must have been 15 years or so ago ...

Well truthfully I'm not really sure that has this rule been there in the previous seasons... but as far as I understood from a sports news on tv where they discussed about this, that this was the first time someone got disqualified. I think the hullaballoo started last season on some rally where Loeb drove on 3 wheels with 2 meter spark flames coming from the bottom of the car...

I'm just concerned because FIA seems to take away the very last pieces of endurance element (not like there was much left of "endurance" anyway).

If the local police can't tolerate broken rally cars on public roads maybe that country shouldn't be hosting WRC event in the first place.

They weren't disqualified in the past, just not allowed to finish the stage ... sounds right to me, a car can't run without a rollcage, so surely inviting an accident by continuing to drive a seriously broken car should logically be against the rules.

The WRC has been going downhill for a long time though ...

There have been rules for years about the cars driving on public roads to the next stages.

Drivers have been fined before for speeding, and doing other typical manuevers a rally car would do . Plus it isn't so much the FIA, but the looney local Police that like to do these things. They are treated just like any other car on the road.

Its a public road, normal cars would get pulled over for missing a wheel so I don't see why rally cars should be a special case

In some ways, I think this is the right thing to do. If your were to drive on the road with only 3 out of your 4 wheels still on your car, you would be pulled over by the first policeman to spot you, and told not to go any further, and probably fined too!!

It's a shame its got to be like that but the rules of the road are there for a reason, and for the safety of the other road going public.

I am a big fan of rallying but it is probably down to the driver to take that little bit more care through the stages so that he can drive through the road sections legally. If the general public has to be road legal, why should a rally driver have any exceptions, its all part of their trade.

Agreed. Exclusion is a bit harsh, but I agree that they're creating an unnecessary hazard to locals by driving on three wheels.

why dont they just let them trailer the cars on the public road sections, that would sort it out?

I'm sure I remember Loeb getting a police escort to the service area when he lost a wheel

Keiran

the difference is it's the police who does this kind of job, not the FIA. The police stands up for their local law and public safety, the FIA stands up for the running of a race event.

rally cars get pulled over by police is nothing new, but the fact that now it's the FIA who does this is a a bit worrying, so what they are saying is a rally car should not try to finish when it's broken... that can be tacky imo, where do you draw the line? a car with broken suspension upright is dangerous, a car without windscreen is also dangerous? I thought damage and danger is an inherited part of rallying, or else why would people tune in and watch cars hotlapping alone.

Leave the police to do their own job, they can fine the driver, lock the car up, if you didn't get caught and manage to finish the stage, good for you! it's part of the color of the sport, too much rules would just ruin the point of the event in my opinion.

I think it was Seb's feat in last year's Acropolis that was the last straw (IMHO):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR_W09Lg3tU

Sure, it's the police that should have stopped him in this mad ride, with things popping out of his car and making life dangerous for other motorists. But the greek police instead helped him reach the service park instead of what UK police would have done the minute he entered a public road in this mess.

So the FIA woke up and made it a rally regulation, rather than leaving it up to the local authorities. Rightfuly so, IMHO.

You have to agree with the rule, its dangerous to other road users when you have parts flying off your car...also they don't exactly have full control over their car.

Anyway if you want something to complain about, how about all the Focus' being disqualified for having 'rear side windows not conforming to the homologation requirements' Last time I checked the rear side windows don't add much horsepower.

if you cant keep your car remotely road legal (as in not having half of it scrape across the road) chances are you wont have a shot at the points anyway

Quote from JJ72 :

rally cars get pulled over by police is nothing new, but the fact that now it's the FIA who does this is a a bit worrying, so what they are saying is a rally car should not try to finish when it's broken... that can be tacky imo, where do you draw the line? a car with broken suspension upright is dangerous, a car without windscreen is also dangerous?

Some of the last rallies last season (can't remember which it was) Hirvonen got disqualified because some roll cage on the car had bended (during a small crash on the stage). I don't want to see people getting killed but it's ironic that the cars are still going 120 km/h between trees on 2 meter wide roads and then you get excluded from the rally because of a broken finger nail.

In general I have lost hope two seasons ago. Only three factory teams is the best prove that FIA has simply ruined it. It's interesting that there isn't much "public conversation" about the situation (compared to F1).

Quote from dynofiend :

why dont they just let them trailer the cars on the public road sections, that would sort it out?

Wouldn't be surprised if some FIA monkey decides so... Driving the road sections between stages is part of rallying. Or at least it has been.

Quote from deggis :

Wouldn't be surprised if some FIA monkey decides so... Driving the road sections between stages is part of rallying. Or at least it has been.

This isn't exactly relevant to this topic, but it's of a very similiar context to something I've witnessed recently. Here in Melbourne Australia, there was some parliamentary meeting on the issue of stem cell research. The porfessors, scientists, researchers, etc had to attend the meeting and try to educate a bunch of ignorant, snobbish, overprivaledged and aristocratic old farts on stem cells before they could even say a word directly relevant to the topic.

The future of science and technology (possibly the future of human health), to be argued and decided by a bunch of muppets who don't even have a clue what an embryo is! No wonder the world is in a hopeless mess.