Im sorry, did you say my favorite driver in my favorite car will be running the coolest race in the US this year? I might have to plan a trip!
Im sorry, did you say my favorite driver in my favorite car will be running the coolest race in the US this year? I might have to plan a trip!
Worth the trip for the noise alone...
Oh my. I feel a sudden urge to go camp out on the side of a mountain....
great news-too bad its completely paved now.
^It will still be insanely cool.
I'm curious to see how much faster the unlimited cars will be without having to setup for the asphalt/dirt compromise.
Wow. I saw him run that car back in '87 when I covered the race for GRM, amazing driver. That year we also had the 3-car factory Peugeot team in 205 Turbo 16 WRC cars (Vatanen, Mehta and Zanini - and team manager Jean Todt!), a long-wheelbase quattro, a Lancia Delta Integrale, and I think a Ford RS 200 as well - and it was all dirt. IIRC, Rohrl ran a 10:47.
Story's not quite true, Vatanen came back the next year withthe 405 special and cut a couple more seconds off the record - still unpaved, and in a snowstorm on the top. This is the famous "cloud dance" video.
The Audi makes nice explosive noises on closed throttle, though. You could hear him coming up the mountain long before you could see him: rrrrrrr-whistle-POW!, rrrrrrrrrr-whistle-POW, etc.
My favorite Walter Röhrl video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyVHj3sHVHQ
I think it was playing at the Audi booth at a car show when I was about 12. The footwork on the pedals bends my mind.
Jim Pettengill wrote: The Audi makes nice explosive noises on closed throttle, though. You could hear him coming up the mountain long before you could see him: rrrrrrr-whistle-POW!, rrrrrrrrrr-whistle-POW, etc.
Early version of antilag. They had a 944 Porsche wastegate that dumped air straight from the turbo to the exhaust manifold.
http://www.bufkinengineering.com/Umluft.htm
Has it all been paved yet? Heard that it was 100% this year.
N Sperlo wrote: Has it all been paved yet? Heard that it was 100% this year.
Yeah, the deed's done. I read somewhere (perhaps Peter Brock's column in CM), it's actually made the erosion worse since the water now has a nice firm surface where it can pick up some speed.
In reply to friedgreencorrado:
Aren't engineers smart?
The Sierra Club is the one that sued to get the surface paved. Aren't enviro-nazis smart?
dinger wrote: The Sierra Club is the one that sued to get the surface paved. Aren't enviro-nazis smart?
Unintended consequences, no way!
The SC claimed that silt from erosion runoff was affecting fish in the streams lower down, whatcha wanna bet they will next say there's a problem with oil and rubber washing into the streams and demand the hillclimb be shut down? Don't laugh; one reason cited for demanding an end to motorcycle enduros was oil residue in water from stream crossings.
...they used to oil the road to cut down on dust.
Actually, the race had nothing to do with the lawsuit. The focus of the suit was the thousands of tourist cars that travel the road each year, I'm pretty sure that the race was never mentioned.
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