(Insert stupid Blog name here)

Except for the right turns. We're confused by those.

 

Some NASCAR fans & drivers don't like the road courses, but just this past weekend AJ Allmendinger won the Grand National race at Road America and Martin Truex Jr won the Cup race at Sonoma - both road courses. And the trucks will be racing at Mosport near me on Labour Day.

 

And unlike the pit strategy parade of F1 or the interval starts of rally, the NASCAR (and Aussies) race door to fender.

...the NASCAR (and Aussies) race door to fender.

Same in WTCC.

I used to follow NASCAR in the 70's, but then in the 80's - once the U.S. collectively started making the ugliest cars in the world - I lost interest. I watch it very seldom now. If they ran more road courses I'd probably have more interest in it. Road courses probably aren't liked because they can't see the entire course from the grandstands or the roof of an RV.

Loeb's racing Pikes Peak this week. That probably won't be on TV either.

I tried to watch the race on Red Bull live stream yesterday, but the presentation was absolutely terrible. The helicopter camera permanently lost focus and/or connection, the hosts where on permanent repeat without giving out information and there wasn't even a clock running! So it took ages to get the time of Loeb, I even used the stream client recording to coarsely estimate his time.

 

But (as usual) Loeb was brilliant! 8:13!

 

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=6QKdnz8i14E

(better switch out audio after Loeb has started)

 

 

This onboard video of Loeb's record drive is GREAT!

 

http://www.redbull.com/en/motorsports/stories/1331598982312/video-loeb-pikes-peak-record

Wow. Just watching him fly along those sheer drop-offs gives me vertigo. I wonder how fast he could get up there in a WRC spec car?

 

I hope they put the course in Gran Turismo 6. I wish they wouldn't have paved the whole thing though.

Taking 15% off the previous record is a significant accomplishment. I wonder if there was some improvement to the car (it is the unlimited class after all), or if it was just the driver & his guts.

I wonder if there was some improvement to the car (it is the unlimited class after all), or if it was just the driver & his guts.

I think the difference on top driver level is pretty low. E.g. two F1 drivers using the same car often differ by 1/10th per round (~90s). So that's much less than 1% difference. Loeb however is probably in a different league than his competitors at Pikes Peak. Still I doubt he made more than 5% difference. Probably just 2 or 3%.

 

Another 5% may come from the car, which uses highly sophisticated technology not available to Loeb's competitors. Remember when Audi did the same with the Quattro 30 years ago.

 

And another 5% may come from the less slippery track. Most likely here is the biggest difference.

I blame Thomas.

Yup, that was me!

Well, a win by attrition is still a win. Despite that, Dani Sordo probably won't keep his job next year.

Meh.

So hey - congratulations to Sebastien Ogier for securing the championship in what is the least surprising development since Sebastien Loeb won it last year.

 

Ogier also won Rally France. Loeb crashed out on the last day, trying to catch him. Too bad Loeb didn't make a full season out of it this year, the competition between them might have been fun to watch.

 

Except, of course, for the fact that we still get no TV coverage of the WRC in the States, so I couldn't watch it anyway.

 

However - Velocity has now started carrying ERC highlights from EuroSport. They're running through the whole 2013 season, which is cool, since I didn't follow it and therefore it's new to me. I have to get used to some new names, but at least it's interesting to watch. The coverage is a bit sparse, but it's better than nothing.

I'm sure this was very exciting to watch.

 

Wonder if Hyundai will make things any better next year, or if Ogier is untouchable?

Yawn.

Want me to predict the next year?

Pretty sure it'll be a repeat of this one.

 

 

I think the only real questions are: where will all of the drivers (except Ogier) end up, and will M-Sport and Citroën decide to quit the WRC after next season if they don't improve?

Elsewhere...

 

The new WRX (no longer an Impreza variant, although it still looks like one) was announced by Subaru today.

 

 

While not as sleek as the concept (they never are), it's a far sight better than the current gen WRX. Disappointingly though - no five-door version is planned.

 

Pics should be floating in from the LA Auto Show soon.

It comes pretty close. But they ruined radiator grill with that pieces of plastic around and at the bottom.

Yeah, it should've been cleaner than it is. It'll be interesting to see what they do for the STi variant. I'm just glad they're finally moving towards getting rid of the old models.

 

Not that I'd buy one anyway… I have no use in my daily driving for a performance car, and the next car I get is most likely going to be a five-door.

 

In probably another 8 years.

New WRX pics are up on Autoblog now. It looks better from some angles than from others. I'd rather see it in the traditional rally blue w/gold wheels though.

 

 

This, on the other hand, looks fully awesome. It's like a throwback to the (original) Speed Racer series:

 

This could explain why my Subaru knocks on cold mornings...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMutpNEMF2E