RDRC S8 Round 6 - Rally Wales (8th May - 14th May 2017)

[Roy Magnes]

I do bellieve that during the hey-day(?) of Group B they were serviced between each stage or even on the stages themselves. I do recall reading hearing about the Lancia-team flying in parts and mechanics with helicopter on location on some rallies, just imagine the budget used on this

One thing I can't get my head wrapped around in Dirt Rally is the repair-system. I mean, how do you repair 1% of a leaking radiator? Du you glue one of the 12 holes that are leaking water? Wouldn't it be as fast and easier to change the whole thing, and then wouldn't it be 100% fixed instantly?

For this event I have actually practiced beforehand, and will not go into the stages "cold" as I usually do. I was told by @Dag Inge Hansen before an event we did in a different league that it is best to do all the crashing before the event itself, and it seems like I am a natural talent at crashing when testing

 

[fedoricoFH]

Wales event complete! Wow this was tough, but also REAL fun I'm amazed by how the top guys do stage after stage in furious speed no mather what car they r in! I'm pleased though and thanks for this AWESOME championship I hope the creators of this RDRC finds the time to do this again and again . Personally I prefer LOOONG tough rallies

! Once again, THANK YOU ALL competitors and "Admins" !

 

[Matthew Allington]

I'm amazed by how the top guys do stage after stage in furious speed no mather what car they r in!

And manage to do it without crashing at all

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Wow... as much as I enjoyed reading every other RDRC Event thread so far, some of the posts on the last few pages here make me feel.... kinda mixed. Come on people, we're playing a game here. A highly competitive game, but still.. Different people will always have different views and preferences, but this is a game league, it's free to join, and many people have put in countless hours to organize it all. Lighten up and cut them some slack, please

[PR-Glasses]On the flipside, it creates activity. Activity can be used for promotional purposes [/PR-Glasses]

On top of that apparently my premium expired last week so have to get that fixed too as I can't even do agrees/sads/hahas on posts now ?!?

That feature have been disabled as the plugin used were suspected (and I guess confirmed) to be a source of major slowdown on the forums

One thing I can't get my head wrapped around in Dirt Rally is the repair-system. I mean, how do you repair 1% of a leaking radiator? Du you glue one of the 12 holes that are leaking water? Wouldn't it be as fast and easier to change the whole thing, and then wouldn't it be 100% fixed instantly?

You remember how we... erhm... You tried to fix the radiator on the RX car I loaned from @Joakim Skalstad last year? That is how a 1% fix works! It works when the radiator is standing one way, but not the other!

For this event I have actually practiced beforehand, and will not go into the stages "cold" as I usually do.

The following part is rated PG-13
It's like sex you know, you can go in dry, but it is advisable to do some foreplay

 

[Kubica2012]

Stage 20, Rally Wales, Championship - all completed! I don't know how I feel now - I'm happy but also sad because it finished.. This championship has organized just so well, incredible work to you @Ole Marius Myrvold and the other admins, it is great fun and can't wait for Season 9! Oh and about the finish.. I think i made it stylish enough

Who wants to wash my car?

 

[Roy Magnes]

I am finished with Leg 1 of the rally. This is my short summary:

SS01 - SS04: Feels terribly slow, changing gears very early compared to how I have been doing. The pace seems to be OK, though, so it might just be the way to go forward.
SS05 - SS06: I can see the sun at some points! My first dent came on SS06, where I hit the post on the inside of an early hairpin... Silly mistake, and it looks even sillier on the replay
SS07 - SS08: And the rallys first roll came on SS07. Clipped a bank on a high speed place and flipped it all the way around. I could just downshift and keep going, though. Lucky escape!

I am currently 1min50sec behind Tommie who leads, so the times have obviously not been record breaking It seems like we are the only 2 in the 2WD+ class that has driven yet on PC, so I have no idea how my times stand against others in class.

Right, time to get something to eat before I head back out into the forest

 

[peg306]

Finished the last race of the season, and what a rally!! Classic Welsh weather with wet and slippery stages and really long loops between services that requires some real thinking about how fast you can go Maintaining the car will be crucial to make it to the finishline, so i started off with a pace i felt comfortable i could keep the car on the road with and just wait to first service and see how the car keeps together. Check engine light came on a couple of kilometres before service, but i don't think it slowed me down in particular.

Mechanics did a good job patching the Maxi's engine back to full power, and we could carry on for day 2. Even in the same steady pace as day 1 i managed to roll the car twice, losing about 40-45 seconds, but at least we were still in the race. And again we had that annoying yellow warning on the last stage before night rest.
Final day was just about cruising to the end, and doing so without mistakes. Really happy to have finished such marathon-like event with something that at least looked like a car in the end

Like many others i want to say thank you to the organization, you have been doing a fantastic job! I will definately be back for season 9 in whatever format it may be

 

[David Ross]

Well that's my rally finished. A bit earlier than I hoped for, my Mini Cooper gave up on stage 11, complete engine failure not bad considering it's my first retirement of the season

Have to say a big thank you to the organisers for making this great championship.

 

[Roland]

Just some images to show how my practice session went:

In my defense: shots 1 and 2 were from my very first attempt at these. Shot 3 is my first attempt at night...

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Well that's my rally finished. A bit earlier than I hoped for, my Mini Cooper gave up on stage 11, complete engine failure not bad considering it's my first retirement of the season

Have to say a big thank you to the organisers for making this great championship.

This makes me sad! I've really loved to see you pop up on the results all season long with the Mini Cooper S!

 

[Roland]

I just finished Days 1 and 2 of the rally in one session. That was very enjoyable, but also hard work!
Earlier on I considered doing all 3 days at once but I really need a break now..

The good news though, is that so far things went WAY better than I anticipated.. I did take things very easy (read: slow) hence I'm now 24th and last in the standings, 3:30 mins. behind RubenM_ who's in 23rd, but at least I'm still in the rally!

DAY 1: The early stages went by remarkably undamaged. I had my first scary moment on SS7:

Lucky for me there was plenty of runoff area and I could make it back onto the track in time.

No further issues in SS8 and at the end of the day the car was in remarkably good nick:

DAY 2:
Halfway SS9 I had my first heart-attack: Two wheels in a ditch, a few meters before the ditch ended: The car was launched and performed a mid-air barrel roll, landed on its side and lucky for me it had enough momentum to roll back on her tires again. Thankfully there seemed to be minimal damage, as I NEED this car to last another 6 stages.. (Sorry, no pictures, pressed the wrong button after stage finish)

Later on: Water splash, anyone?

And the view from inside:

All the other stages went fairly well. Also: My night racing skills have improved considerably .
Just look at that virtually undamaged beauty :

And here we are: at the start of SS15, the final stage of Day 2.
Miracle: Even the windscreen is still in one piece
Spoiler alert: It did not stay that way

Looking forward to Day 3 already, need a nap first though

@Matthew Allington and @David Ross : Bummer gents, I feel for you guys.. so please understand I only 'like'-d your posts because now I REALLY miss that "sad" rating.

 

[David Ross]

This makes me sad! I've really loved to see you pop up on the results all season long with the Mini Cooper S!

I was at the tail end of the timing sheets but happy to even be there.
The old girl could handle the snow and ice of Sweden and Monte Carlo, the jumps in Finland , the heat and rocks of Cyprus but the big muddy puddles of Wales was just too much for her.

 

[Roy Magnes]

...but the big muddy puddles of Wales was just too much for her.

Did she sink in one of those deep puddles?

 

[David Ross]

Did she sink in one of those deep puddles?

She sure did, let's hope no-one else hits the submerged mini

 

[IanRobson]

First rally and I've picked a tough one
Really struggled on Day 2 and, unsurprisingly, I've killed my car before reaching the next service station. Early bath and car wash for me.

Video of one stage from Day 1 below

As I say it was really tough but incredibly enjoyable, thanks again to those who spend their free time organising and running these events, hats off to you!!

Looking forward to the next one

 

[Roy Magnes]

After some food and rest it was time to do the rest of the rally. This is my notes from leg 2 and 3:

SS09 - SS11: Pretty much kept the car in the middle of the road, did a good time on SS11 for being me on this Welsh stage
SS12: The engine warning light came on, but I do not feel any loss of power...yet...
SS13 - SS15: I had a scare on SS14 in the dark when I hit a bank and almost slid off into the field bellow, but managed to get through with a minimal time loss.

SS16 - SS17: Oh, look - more rain I had another scare midway through SS17 where I bounced off a bank into a bank on the other side of the road. Thankfully I stayed on the road this time.
SS18 - SS19: Touched a bank and got radiator damage, but it seems like the water is still staying inside.
SS20: I lost 15 seconds when I clipped a bank on the inside and got thrown into a tree on the outside early on the stage. Had to reverse and wiggle the car a lot to get it back onto the road again. The rest of the strage felt fast-ish.

And then the season was over. I am more pleased with my driving in this event than the other ones in the season, and I seemed to keep the car relatively undamaged for the most part of the event. I dropped some etime on the final leg in particular, but that is more down to fatigue due to doing the whole rally in one day rather than splitting it up. But it had to be done this way this time, as I will have to spend the rest of the week preparing for the RDLMS where RMI Motorsport will be in our Ferrari on saturday.

Thank you to everyone invovled in the championship, be it arranging or participating, and I will see you again in the next season of the RDRC

 

[Dag Inge Hansen]

This was my second day of the last rally, and only one day to go! Even though I made mistakes on day one, I couldn't complain about getting away with a gentle roll and a spin on stage 6, and a spin on stage 7. Got ready today with the day-2-stages, and did five decent stages. Then I managed to go into the ditch and go far offroad on stage 14 by the windturbines, and a spin at stage 15 by the Sweet Lamb gates. Can't beat mr. Panic in his Delta S4, that's for sure, but I'm running up to my best, and after doing well in a Ford Focus a few days ago, I can say I'm slightly faster in this Lancia than in the 07 Focus. I complain so much about service-intervals, but after the first two days I'm must withdraw my complaints now. Figured out that my old Lancia is much better off in Wales than in Greece and Finland in comparison. So can I say sorry for bringing it up here, and instead point the complaints at the past Finland rally instead where criticism is more suited?

Some photos taken today, and the repair status after stage 15:

 

[Deleted member 217114]

League event done in 2WD- class (1970s Opel Kadett). Had some bigger mistakes on the 10 last stages due to car didn't handle that well anymore (it bounced couple times off the driving line -> crash). Here's highlight of my full run https://www.twitch.tv/videos/141446455

Shjit, man. You are great in Opel Kadett. Respect :O I am sure it won't be a podium anymore, hehe.

 

[Thomas Lambaerts]

i finished day 1 today.
The rain stages went pretty well. No problems there.Just another rally where i start off not really fast. But improving over the next few stages. Stages 5 and 6 nothing major. Pretty good times there.
But then the next 3 stages, i lost some of my concentration. Every stage untill the end of the day something went wrong. A wheel next to the road, the back of the car brushing against the wall of mud/rocks. I'm not keeping up with the front runner of 4wd-. Still only 10 seconds behind the guy in front of me. And a lot of guys from my class close behind. So far 3rd in class but it's early in the week, though i think most of the front guys in 4wd- already did day 1.

Pretty happy with my performance but those 4 or 5 mistakes have got to go if i want any chance for a podium. But to be fair, i am placed higher up than i expected. Not my greatest surface the mud in wales. I did have more damage than expected, Going to ignore it though and push on. Not flat out though, i don't want to crash at all.

My view from inside the car. No hud, no nothing, just a dash

My biggest mistake, offtrack on the inside of the corner, All in all not to much time lost there but still... Not happy with it.

Enroute to the nearest carwash... Has anyone seen any?

 

[Lexrax]

Heys All.

I started the RDRC Season 8 Round 6 , Wales rally tonight and done all 20 stages in succession. I decided to use a special setup that i made and oh boy was it a nice one. I managed to finish it ... PHEW ... Just ....

I streamed it live as always and had some interesting company, who i talked to and answered questions. Thanks to @karik134 and @Fabian Jiron for watching the mayhem and wishing me luck We all had a laugh at the mistakes and some cursing was said on my part

Lets get down to the Meat `n` Potatoes of the Rally........ Here goes

Stages 1-5 went without any major hiccups but had 2 near moments .
Stage 6 on the other hand caught me out, Went over that left 4 down the hill and WHAM , clipped the Goal Posts and gained 1 puncture that Cost me 1 Minute and 10 Seconds in lost time
Stage 7 was a great big pile of , 3 Crashes with major somersaults and 1 puncture and loosing 40+ seconds Car looked like a Countach (Remember " Cannonball Run ") from how flat the bonnet to the roof looked.
Stage 8-9 was lots of silly mistakes And below is how much damage the car had at the first service park stop.

Stage 10 was uneventfull
Stage 11 , Engine light came on and co-driver announces we are loosing power So had to nurse the car to 2nd Service Park Repair Area.
Stage 12-15 were slow going , lots of silly mistakes but no crashes , thankfully
Below is the screenshot of the damage to the car on the 2nd service park repair.

By the start of the 2nd Service Park i was in LAST PLACE in the 2010 Class

Stage 16, had a major Flip `n` Crash , that cost me 20+ seconds.
Stage 17-20 had to run with 3 Cylinders for the last 4 stages.

Below is the screenshot of how the car looked and ended at the 20th Stage..

She`s battered and bruised as being in a fight with them pesky goal posts
Out of the all the times that i went over the " Left 4 over hill with the goal posts" , i managed to miss them 2 times and hit them the rest I finished 3-4 Minutes behind the slowest 2010 Class car driver who was no 15 overall.

Thanks to the Race Department Staff, @Ole Marius Myrvold and the rest for laying on a nice Season 8 of Rallying. Cant wait for the Dirt 4 , Season 9