Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-06-2014, 09:35 AM
 
Location: Cold Springs, NV
4,613 posts, read 12,210,292 times
Reputation: 5208

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by scarabchuck View Post
I'd have to say my favorites are the Trophy trucks and technicalities aside, WRC.

Trophy Truck Unlimited Off-Road Desert Racing Trucks

My other choice is technically "offroad" but they aren't trucks or cars... Offshore powerboat racing.
I've always enjoyed Baja, and have been there a number of times, but never to the race. One day I hope to make it there. La Paz is a very pretty city, and downtown is very nice.

The powerboats are cool too, I've watched the event on Lake Washington near Seattle before.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-06-2014, 10:12 AM
 
5,681 posts, read 5,058,584 times
Reputation: 5149
WRC isn't 100% off-road as it has tarmac stages/rallies, but close enough. That would be my #1 favorite due to growing up in Europe (even if WRC wasn't all that widespread in my own country). Makes sense why I like small Euro hatchbacks as well (the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evoluzione is my idea of a muscle car from yesteryear). I'm not as keen on World RallyCross, but getting there, as well.

I also like rally raids, i.e. Paris Dakar, although the name is largely ironic these days as neither France nor Senegal are involved. Same deal, I grew up staying up late to catch glimpses of the races on Russian TV. Helps that KAMAZ tends to do fairly well there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 12:03 PM
 
28,867 posts, read 14,232,275 times
Reputation: 14153
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrWillys View Post
I've always enjoyed Baja, and have been there a number of times, but never to the race. One day I hope to make it there. La Paz is a very pretty city, and downtown is very nice.

The powerboats are cool too, I've watched the event on Lake Washington near Seattle before.
I think both the Baja stuff and Offshore are quite a like. Both require a tremedous amount of skill driving, stamina etc AND it's not just winning the race but keeping the hardware together long enough to finish it. Plus anytime you keep a motor WFO for extended periods of time it has to be cool.

One of my favorite clips, sadly I can't find it on youtube was someone in a trophy truck, I don't think it was Baja but down in MX somewhere. Anyway , he was WFO at night down this long stretch of two track. All of a sudden he rows the wheel to the right , aiming at a group of "spectators" not even lifting on the throttle..they of course scatter, well what they had done was dug a trench to basically crash the truck, the driver must have known an knew it was them so went around the obstacle. He had to be going 100 + ... just crazy.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 12:07 PM
 
Location: Sunnyside
2,008 posts, read 4,703,265 times
Reputation: 1275
Quote:
Originally Posted by urban analysis therapist View Post
I don't consider WRC and rallying as off-road racing per se, but rather as racing that often takes place on off-road surfaces. I say this because 100% tarmac rally events exist, and many other rally events include both tarmac and gravel surfaces.

In addition, the elitist in me considers the WRC as a true serious racing series compared with the other types of off-road racing you have listed because it's the only one amongst them that's sanctioned by the FIA. Any racing series sanctioned by the FIA means that there's big bucks spent by the teams, which means that there's a ton of emphasis placed on including the latest technologies and designs in your cars. By contrast, I see other racing types you've listed as more grassroots-oriented, appealing more to DIY mechanics, tinkerers, and amateur racers.

I like the fact that these more grassroots types of off-road racing exist. In fact, because of the extreme expense of more formal racing, I respect the fact that grassroots motorsports even exist at all as a way for the common man to get his racing fix on. But I can't really respect them more than a sport whose end results are sometimes measured in tenths of seconds (very rarely, but it happens).

So if I sound a elitist here, I apologize, but it's just how I feel about racing. I do enjoy racing as a spectacle event. I enjoy the sounds of a screaming V-12, and I enjoy the sight of a slinky GT car speeding down a straightwaway. But I enjoy it more as a sport that pits drivers looking to use every advantage they can to shave tenths of seconds per lap (or in rally terms, per stage) and per corner. So sure, I like watching a WRC car speeding down a gravel road while drifting sideways, but I like watching a side-by-side view of two drivers and noting what one driver is doing to be slightly faster than the other even more.*

I guess that's why I'm rather displeased by the way rallying is represented in video games nowadays. The game developers realize that younger gamers are more enamored by the spectacle of rallying rather than the the racing aspect of it. So they transformed the more serious Colin McRae Rally series into the more spectacle-oriented DiRT rallying series. And as if to emphasize their intentions, rather than bringing in a top-level WRC driver as a consultant, they brought in Ken Block, whose claim to fame is mostly spectacle-based (his very entertaining Gymkhana videos) rather than racing-based (some Rally America success**, zero WRC success).

Don't get me wrong here. As I said above, I do enjoy the spectacle of rallying. But I don't like it when the spectacle vastly overshadows the serious racing aspects of it, and I don't like that rallying in America has essentially become an X-Games sideshow that attracts skateboarders and BMX athletes like Bucky Lasek and Dave Mirra (and even Ken Block himself) because it looks like a cool sport to try out.



* 9 time WRC champ Sebastien Loeb has done much to bring the racing aspect of rallying to light by adapting circuit-based tarmac racing techniques for use on gravel and snow surfaces. When you watch old videos of Loeb driving, you'll see that he keeps his car pointed straight at the road nearly all of the time and rarely makes big drifts going sideways. Or, in other words, the fastest way to drive in most situations.

** Though Rally America is considered the premier rally championship in the U.S., it's essentially grassroots racing event that attracts mostly amateur rally drivers. I think the only manufacturer backed team is Subaru, which pulled out of WRC several years ago for money reasons and because its Impreza was no longer competitive compared with the smaller and lighter WRC cars at that time (and at the present). Ken Block and other higher profile rally drivers bring their own money and sponsors to back their private efforts.

You necessarily don't need to spend big bucks to compete against the WRC guys...

Case in point:
How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers: Four Years Later
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Cold Springs, NV
4,613 posts, read 12,210,292 times
Reputation: 5208
Quote:
Originally Posted by scarabchuck View Post
I think both the Baja stuff and Offshore are quite a like. Both require a tremedous amount of skill driving, stamina etc AND it's not just winning the race but keeping the hardware together long enough to finish it. Plus anytime you keep a motor WFO for extended periods of time it has to be cool.

One of my favorite clips, sadly I can't find it on youtube was someone in a trophy truck, I don't think it was Baja but down in MX somewhere. Anyway , he was WFO at night down this long stretch of two track. All of a sudden he rows the wheel to the right , aiming at a group of "spectators" not even lifting on the throttle..they of course scatter, well what they had done was dug a trench to basically crash the truck, the driver must have known an knew it was them so went around the obstacle. He had to be going 100 + ... just crazy.
I built my own frame and complete chassis linked on coilovers for my Willys. This gave time to look into the suspension systems these guys are running. The independent wheel travel is awesome on the rigs. I've read drivers are warned about locals who set traps just to watch.

Have you seen Dust to Glory? This is a bit long, but pretty cool.


Baja 1000 off-Road Racing - Trophy Truck 2013 - YouTube
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 01:51 PM
 
Location: Queens, NY
347 posts, read 645,535 times
Reputation: 225
Quote:
Originally Posted by skinnayyy View Post
You necessarily don't need to spend big bucks to compete against the WRC guys...

Case in point:
How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers: Four Years Later
It's a nice uplifting story, but the title is extremely misleading. For starters:

1. He was not competing in a WRC race. The WRC was hoping to attract some publicity by allowing some American rally drivers to drive on the same Rally Mexico course in 2010. They drove in their own private "Rally America Mexico" class (which apparently has nothing to do with the Rally America championship).

2. It's hard to find info about the race, I can't seem to find the results of the "Rally America Mexico" class anywhere now. But from what I can gather, here's what happened:
- There were nine competitors racing in this "Rally America Mexico" class. Of the nine, five managed to finish the event.
- He raced in the Open N class with the other 2WD NA cars. He managed to finish 3rd in that class.
- Overall, he finished 4th in this event, beating only one other competitor who finished the race (possibly from the same Open N class).
- The winner of the nine competitors happened to be an A8 class car (the same class as the top WRC cars).

In all, his victory here is that he managed to beat one other car in this race and outlast others who probably crashed or experienced some mechanical difficulties. And that one car he beat was probably another 2WD NA car, not a 4WD turbo car, let alone a "$400K rally car".

3. He spent way more than $500 on the car. The $500 was the cost to purchase the body shell alone.



So to clarify, he didn't beat any professional WRC, P-WRC, or S-WRC drivers here. He beat a few amateurs (but really just that one driver finished behind him) who also probably scrapped together their own money to prepare their rally cars to compete in a non-sanctioned event that the WRC allowed to be run for publicity reasons.

It's still a commendable feat to do what he did. But the way he (and Jalopnik) paraphrases his results in the race is meant to mislead a Americans who are totally ignorant of racing and the WRC.

Last edited by urban analysis therapist; 03-06-2014 at 02:14 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 02:22 PM
 
Location: Londonderry, NH
41,478 posts, read 59,521,434 times
Reputation: 24856
I like to watch the International European Rally races. My favorites however are the off road amidships engine single seat "spider" cars. These things just dance over the landscape. Looks like great bruising fun.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 02:51 PM
 
Location: Sunnyside
2,008 posts, read 4,703,265 times
Reputation: 1275
Quote:
Originally Posted by urban analysis therapist View Post
It's a nice uplifting story, but the title is extremely misleading. For starters:

1. He was not competing in a WRC race. The WRC was hoping to attract some publicity by allowing some American rally drivers to drive on the same Rally Mexico course in 2010. They drove in their own private "Rally America Mexico" class (which apparently has nothing to do with the Rally America championship).

2. It's hard to find info about the race, I can't seem to find the results of the "Rally America Mexico" class anywhere now. But from what I can gather, here's what happened:
- There were nine competitors racing in this "Rally America Mexico" class. Of the nine, five managed to finish the event.
- He raced in the Open N class with the other 2WD NA cars. He managed to finish 3rd in that class.
- Overall, he finished 4th in this event, beating only one other competitor who finished the race (possibly from the same Open N class).
- The winner of the nine competitors happened to be an A8 class car (the same class as the top WRC cars).

In all, his victory here is that he managed to beat one other car in this race and outlast others who probably crashed or experienced some mechanical difficulties. And that one car he beat was probably another 2WD NA car, not a 4WD turbo car, let alone a "$400K rally car".

3. He spent way more than $500 on the car. The $500 was the cost to purchase the body shell alone.



So to clarify, he didn't beat any professional WRC, P-WRC, or S-WRC drivers here. He beat a few amateurs (but really just that one driver finished behind him) who also probably scrapped together their own money to prepare their rally cars to compete in a non-sanctioned event that the WRC allowed to be run for publicity reasons.

It's still a commendable feat to do what he did. But the way he (and Jalopnik) paraphrases his results in the race is meant to mislead a Americans who are totally ignorant of racing and the WRC.
If you're in a WRC car and put in a time of say 25:00:00 for the whole course, and I put in a time of 24:35:17, that means that I beat you. That's how he beat 2 of the WRC cars because they had overall slower times than he did.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 03:21 PM
 
Location: Cold Springs, NV
4,613 posts, read 12,210,292 times
Reputation: 5208
This kid is a nut.


FULL RUN - Travis Pastrana's rally hillclimb up Mt. Washington - YouTube
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-06-2014, 03:26 PM
 
3,105 posts, read 3,806,027 times
Reputation: 4066
I love two wheels for off road racing/recreation.

4 wheel racing is just way too expensive. OTOH I've got less than $10K into my KTM. Pro bikes are ~20% lighter and have a few more ponies, but you really only need that if you're actually racing pro's.

Hell I just splurged on custom suspension re-valve with the works (up-graded damping circuits) and it only cost $1300. Took me about 10 mins to remove the forks and shocks.

Jumping is just so much fun on a moto. 4 wheels... not so much.

Racing four wheels isn't that hard (wining is obviously) but bikes require much more skill and fitness. Dirt bike are such incredible machines for the money.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZGK7d1RfDs
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top