[Denise McMahon]

I got the e-mail that Stig is running 30th overall and doing quite well. FIA did the right thing and allowed him to run number 40 on the rally car. Since this is his 40th running of the Swedish Rally. Go Stig! You make us old farts proud!

Denise McMahon

 

[Denise McMahon]

Stig finished 24th overall and went up 10 positions. Congratulations Stig and for your 40th year running of the Swedish rally and wish you many more.....

Denise McMahon

 

[Topi]

- This just shows how hard the competition is at the sharpest end, which Stig admitted on the radio
- The GrN winner, 25-old Finn Juho Hänninen who drove his FIRST rally outside of Finland, beat Stig by 10+ minutes
- Even 3 1600cc FWD cars were faster

- Soooooo, if 3 top 1600cc FWD guys bother to come here they'd be 1-2-3 in the championship! Think about it....

 

[John Vanlandingham]

>Stig finished 24th overall and went up 10 positions.
>Congratulations Stig and for your 40th year running of the
>Swedish rally and wish you many more.....
Actually: Stage 1
Pos. No. Driver/Car Stage Time Diff Prev Diff Ldr
1. 3 M. GRÖNHOLM 10:25.7 0.0 0.0
2. 1 S. LOEB 10:28.5 2.8 2.8
3. 4 M. HIRVONEN 10:33.5 5.0 7.8
4. 7 M. STOHL 10:36.9 3.4 11.2
5. 12 M. EKSTRÖM 10:37.3 0.4 11.6
6. 6 C. ATKINSON 10:41.5 4.2 15.8
7. 14 G. GALLI 10:42.5 1.0 16.8
8. 16 T. RÅDSTRÖM 10:43.3 0.8 17.6
= 18 K. SOHLBERG 10:43.3 0.0 17.6
10. 63 D. CARLSSON 10:44.1 0.8 18.4
11. 8 H. SOLBERG 10:50.1 6.0 24.4
12. 10 K. KATAJAMÄKI 10:52.1 2.0 26.4
13. 15 J. TUOHINO 10:53.0 0.9 27.3
14. 19 J. JOGE 10:57.7 4.7 32.0
15. 20 T. SCHIE 10:59.8 2.1 34.1
16. 11 A. AIGNER 11:05.8 6.0 40.1
17. 21 D. SORDO 11:07.8 2.0 42.1
18. 62 A. GRÖNDAL 11:11.2 3.4 45.5
19. 9 M. WILSON 11:11.7 0.5 46.0
20. 2 X. PONS 11:11.9 0.2 46.2
21. 17 J. KOPECKÝ 11:14.5 2.6 48.8
22. 65 J. KETOMÄKI 11:17.6 3.1 51.9
23. 5 P. SOLBERG 11:18.3 0.7 52.6
24. 22 L. PEREZ COMPANC 11:18.6 0.3 52.9
25. 73 J. HÄNNINEN 11:21.2 2.6 55.5
26. 64 P. FLODIN 11:23.3 2.1 57.6
27. 61 M. ÖSTBERG 11:28.7 5.4 1:03.0
>>28. 40 S. BLOMQVIST 11:34.3 5.6 1:08.6<<<<
>
>Denise McMahon

Then:
down he went but 6 stages later on to a steady 28th or so.


And folks with fantasies that "we're as fast as......." should ponder deeply Topi's words.



John Vanlandingham
Seattle, WA. 98168
www.jvab.f4.ca

janvanvurpa(at)f4(dot) ca

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat!
Vive Le Groupe F!
Rally Anarchy Rallyist BBS
- http://www.rallyanarchy.com/

 

[derek]

>- Soooooo, if 3 top 1600cc FWD guys bother to come here they'd
>be 1-2-3 in the championship! Think about it....

I do all the time.

 

[JohnLane]

We really ARE just a bunch of Hooligans playing in the woods here in the States....
Perhaps we should pause to Re-Think how serious we are taking ourselves?
If we can get back to a 'Club of guys going and having FUN in the woods' we may even find ourselves enjoying it!!

John Lane
Overkill is consistently more fun.

 

[Bjorn240]

While Topi and John's overall premise may be right, it's silly to look at a table filled with A8 cars, so here are the results sorted by A6/N4 cars.

>Actually: Stage 1
>Pos. No. Driver/Car Stage Time
>22. 65 (N4) J. KETOMÄKI 11:17.6
>25. 73 (N4) J. HÄNNINEN 11:21.2
>26. 64 (N4) P. FLODIN 11:23.3
>28. 40 (N4) S. BLOMQVIST 11:34.3

Highest placing A6 driver on SS1 was PG Andersson with a 11.45.6

>And folks with fantasies that "we're as fast as......." should
>ponder deeply Topi's words.

Based on this, I'd guess Pat Richard could finish stages top 5 in N4. Actually, given the amount of hype around Ketomaki, Hanninen and Flodin, I'd have thought the time difference between them and Stig would have been much more significant.

I'd hope the young boys will be faster on gravel, though...

- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

[John Vanlandingham]

>While Topi and John's overall premise may be right, it's
>silly to look at a table filled with A8 cars, so here are the
>results sorted by A6/N4 cars.
>
>>Actually: Stage 1
>>Pos. No. Driver/Car Stage Time
>>22. 65 (N4) J. KETOMÄKI 11:17.6
>>25. 73 (N4) J. HÄNNINEN 11:21.2
>>26. 64 (N4) P. FLODIN 11:23.3
>>28. 40 (N4) S. BLOMQVIST 11:34.3
>
>Highest placing A6 driver on SS1 was PG Andersson with a
>11.45.6
>
>>And folks with fantasies that "we're as fast as......."
>should
>>ponder deeply Topi's words.
>
>Based on this, I'd guess Pat Richard could finish stages top 5
>in N4. Actually, given the amount of hype around Ketomaki,
>Hanninen and Flodin, I'd have thought the time difference
>between them and Stig would have been much more significant.
>
>I'd hope the young boys will be faster on gravel, though...
>
>- Christian
>
>Bjorn Christian Edstrom
>www.christianedstrom.com


Jepp jepp jepp,
but boys I talked to a while ago pointed out that the entry for any "Home VM" round is so expensive that the entry is in no way reflecting WHO IS FAST (and with the triumph of the "Buy Your Factory Seat" concept even in the top 10, this seems even more appropriate) but rather which rich guys, or old dinos want to drag out their cars for Swedish and South Swedish, just to keep the toe in.

OR of course "coming men" with good backing.

And no, you're stretching this making assumptions of what Pat _might_ do compared with Stig's times. 40 times driving those stages means 40 YEARS experience and that means a tendancy to make LESS costly mistakes. And aside from the second stage slip, Stigs time were very steady, restrained you might say.

The only way to find out how Pat would do now is for him to cough up some dough for the big entry and pull up to the line.

A whole bunch of the entrants did just that, he can too.

 

[Topi]

- Christian,
rally is more than one stage.... and you have short memory regarding your home event. When Pat went there he brought in the back.
- As John said, when all the big guns were there, Stig wasn't even close to top 5.
- You're thinking like a true American rallyist when you say "10 min is not much to loose"! Maybe it's navi thinking but if I, as driver, get my doors blown off by 3 min or so, it's a shame and I know I've been out classed.
- As John said, when the big guns were there, Stig wasn't even close to top 5, like 2004 when Stig was only 8th in class but closer to the winner than this year. Meaning, he drove faster but still 7 guys beat him. And there're many, many more who can't afford the tires, service and time off.
http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=result&rallyid=390

- Finally, Stig is one of my heroes and most down to earth guy. And I admit, at 60, he's still faster than I ever was...

 

[patr]

Since you've mentioned my name, and Sweden when I went, its important to note that we had a bad rally from an overall perspective. I didn't make any driving mistakes (like getting in a bank, or otherwise dumb ass crap). But lets put it all in perspective:

head on collision during recce - did not recce over half the stages
arm in a cast with cortizone shots at service
we were the only team on 'unsupported' tires in pwrc (we didn't know any better) - and to worsen things we ran on the crazy lappi's (budget) which meant major stud loss on the long stage. You can't count non-PWRC runners because they have major relaxing on rules (unlimied tires, no spec fuel, gravel notes, etc.)
2 complete tranny failures (I was the gunea pig for other people's BS - long story)
met codriver morning of ceremonial start
blah blah blah blah

so come on, give me a break. If people actually watched stage times, you will have seen that even back in 2002 we were killing stig on some rallies he has done dozens of times (i.e. rally GB was the only time I ever had a car in the WRC with a decent motor - too bad the team didn't bring any extra brake pads - we should have just retired but I was so mad I drove it out anyways with the front pads totally missing - twice. We only ran 4 stages at full chat). In all of the WRC events there were only three stages that I can say we had a decent shot at, the rest was BS due to budget problems.

You guys sitting in your armchairs really dont know the full context of what is going on.

If you want me to pull a bunch of stages out of context as well, its no problem either. Kind of like ss16 on rally gb 2002 (I can give over 11 pages of reasons for the overall results, but they are on the public record in the UK courts so you can infer what you want from that). meaningless, I know, but about as meaningful as some of the comments I read here. But I can assure you that I am not intimidated when I say "bring it on". That's probably what it takes to convince people here (North America), and that is exactly the reason why this sport is the way it is here (Attitude). The only well-funded North American to run outside in the last few years was Ramana at NZ... and well..

P.S. Apparently no one south of the border notices when your imported brits get spanked up North...

-Pat

 

[Bjorn240]

RE: Stig Blomqvist running the Sweden Rally

Topi,

My point was this - we all know rally is rally, and anything can happen over many stages, but to have any chance at all, you have to have the speed.

And in Sweden and Finland, there has been a lot of hype about Juha Ketomaki and Juha Hanninen and Patrik Flodin and a lot of talk that they're really quick. I'm saying, they look pretty quick, but they don't look as dominant as I was expecting.

So, I'll take even money on Pat finishing 5th or better in GrN on a gravel event in the WRC, given the right car, team, and opportunity. (Pat, sorry for bringing up your name, but you're the fastest in North America, so you had to be the poster boy!)

- Christian

Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com

 

[patr]

RE: Stig Blomqvist running the Sweden Rally

with the "lower quality entry" this year in GN you can finish 5th without actually finishing any stages... i.e. pull a Latvala. Thats a low order for 2006 anyhow.