Well, after four stages, the new Peugeot 307 looks to be a fine successor for the 206. Marcus Gronholm currently leads the rally by 8 seconds over Sebastien Loeb and 11 seconds over Ford’s Markko Martin. Each of the three has taken a stage win so far. The conditions have been typical Monte — snow and ice, with wet and dry tarmac mixed in. Tyre choice for this afternoon’s stages will be critical, as the snow and ice may begin to melt, leaving either slush or wet tarmac for the cars to deal with.
Ford is looking strong at the moment, with Francois Duval holding fourth place, and Citroen Carlos Sainz holding fifth. Reigning world champion Petter Solberg is currently eighth, over a minute off the pace. Mitsubishi is doing fine for itself on it’s return to the championship, with Gigi Galli holding ninth place, and Gilles Panizzi in eleventh.
Update
At the end of day one, Sebastien Loeb has taken the lead, and has an 18 second cushion over Markko Martin and Marcus Gronholm. Gronholm lost most of his time thanks to some gearbox issues, including what appears to be a bad ratio choice on SS5. Carlos Sainz has moved into fourth, just over a minute off the pace, followed by Francois Duval and Petter Solberg. Solberg has been hampered by the distinction of running first (a “perk” of being the reigning champion), so expect him to put his foot down tomorrow and pick up a place or two.
Posted on 23 January 2004
First post from the new job….
Two interesting politic tidbits this morning:
First, a radio interview with Dick Cheney on NPR, mostly focusing on the war with Iraq and the administration’s motivation for it. One thing Cheney repeated: we’re just following up what the Clinton administration started — regime change in Iraq. Hmmm. Go figure — neo-conservative foreign policy fueled by liberals.
Second, Slate has an interesting take on Michael Moore’s endorsement of Wesley Clark.
On the house hunt: the sellers are currently mulling over our offer. Our realtor is expecting them to decline the offer, but hopefully they’ll give a counter-offer, and we can go from there.
Posted on 22 January 2004
I start the new job today. This should be a nice switch. I’ve always enjoyed working for small companies, but my last job gave me some valuable insight — the small company atmosphere doesn’t work at all when people don’t get along. Not that I’m going to a huge corporation now, but I will be working for a larger company with a software development process in place. I’m sure people there still wing it when necessary, but at least there’s a plan to fall back on if things go wrong.
And in even bigger news, Jen and I took the plunge last night and put a bid in on this house. I thought signing all the paper work and applying for a mortgage would be so much more climatic than it actually was. Maybe it’s because we’re working with a great realtor and a good friend is helping us with the mortgage. Maybe it’s because despite the fact we’re going into debt, we’re going to be saving almost $100 on housing. I am a bit anxious to hear back from our agent tonight though, after he meets with the sellers about our bid. I’m sure we under-bid a bit, but better to start low and work our way up, eh?
Posted on 21 January 2004
The house hunt this past weekend was quite fruitful. I saw this place in Morningside on Friday, and took Jen and the boy over yesterday, and we all love it. It’s really in move-in condition, which is a bonus. And from the it’s-a-small-world department, I used to work with the guy who is selling it.
Posted on 19 January 2004
In six days, the 2004 season begins in Monte Carlo. I’ll wrap my season preview and Monte preview into a single entry, just for convenience sake.
This is Sebastien Loeb’s championship to lose. He made a few uncharacteristic mistakes on his favored surface (tarmac), missing out on big points in Germany and France. Don’t expect that to happen again. Hopefully Loeb has learned from Richard Burns’ example — that is, you don’t need to win every rally to contest the championship. Loeb had a few retirements pushing the boat out a bit too far — had he just finished in the points, he would have easily won the championship. Loeb has a fast, reliable car (the Citroen Xsara), so even though his car doesn’t have the number 1 placard, he’s the man to beat.
Petter Solberg had a combination of skill and luck to win the championship last season. Poor weather conditions during the fall tarmac rounds allowed Solberg and the notoroiously underperforming Impreza to steal a win and a load of championship points. Solberg learned a lot of from his ex-teammate Tommi Makinen, and expect him to put that knowledge to good use this year. If Solberg is to repeat as champion, he’s got to maximize his gravel wins and take advantage of the fact that Loeb loses a tarmac event this year (the Rally Italy has been moved from the sealed surfaces of the mainland to the gravel roads of Sardina). Can Solberg repeat? It’s possible, but it will an uphill fight, unless the Subaru engineers really re-tooled the Impreza’s engine this winter.
Markko Martin is the darkhorse. The Focus is incredibly quick, but it suffered from reliability issues last season. If the Ford M Sport engineers ironed out the bugs, Martin has a shot, but he’s still not my favorite to win the championship. And what about Marcus Gronholm and Carlos Sainz? Sainz kept himself in contention last season by taking Richard Burns’ route — not many rally wins, but loads of points. His retirement from Rally GB nixed his hopes, but he was in the running until then. Gronholm had a terrible season last year, after owning the circuit in 2002. I’m not sure Gronholm’s fortunes will change this year with the debut of the Peugeot 307, which will no doubt be plagued by reliability issues.
My Top 5
1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Petter Solberg
3. Carlos Sainz
4. Markko Martin
5. Marcus Gronholm
Monte Carlo
Citroen absolutely owned this event last season, with Sainz, Loeb and Colin McRae sweeping the podium spots. Don’t expect much to change this season. Loeb is Tommi Makinen’s heir as the master of this event, and Loeb should start his season with third consecutive win in Monte (it could be four, but he was given a time penalty in 2002 and lost to Makinen). This event has never been kind to Peugeot or Subaru, but Solberg at least needs to score points to get his season off to the right start.
Monte Carlo is always a bit of a crapshoot, with variable weather conditions, and the chance for rain or snow in the mountains. Loeb seems to have mastered the rally already. Solberg should have a better finish this year, due to more experience and a more mature driving strategy. Markko Martin should be a favorite, but he’s not had much good luck at the Monte in the past.
My Top 3
1. Sebastien Loeb
2. Carlos Sainz
3. Petter Solberg
Posted on 17 January 2004
After a year’s sabbatical, Mitsubishi returns with a new drivers line-up and a completely redesigned Lancer WRC. The car features a redesigned body and engine, and promises to be a strong competitor once the bugs are worked out. New number one driver Gilles Panizzi said the car has felt very good during the tests, and he expects it to be up to speed by the end of the season.
Panizzi was a big catch for the Japanese outfit, and the French tarmac specialist was happy to join the team to get the opportunity to contest a full season (something his previous team, Peugeot, had never given him). While Panizzi is not a real contender for the overall title, he can upset the balance with a few solid rallies. He should have best chances on the new gravel rallies (Mexico, Japan, and Italy) if the car is reliable. A points finish (like his fifth place in Turkey last year in a customer-spec Peugeot) could upset someone else’s title hopes. Whether Panizzi will be able to retain his crown as the tarmac remains to be seen, and ultimately relies on the performance of the Lancer.
Joining Panizzi are a group of junior drivers who will get their shots to compete in a WRC. Kristian Sohlberg, Gianluigi Galli, and Daniel Sola will take turns in the number two car. Galli is committed to run in Monte Carlo, and Sohlberg in Sweden, but otherwise, the drive will go to driver with best shot at competing.
This is a learning year for Mitsubishi, but by the end of the season, with Panizzi’s help, the Lancer should be well-equipped to compete next season.
Posted on 14 January 2004
Salon’s criticism of a Howard Dean interview that mentions the word “God”
I’m not quite sure what all the fuss is about here. Howard Fineman did not attack Dean with his questions about Dean’s faith. He didn’t try and twist his answers. Fineman was trying to learn to learn more about Howard Dean the person, and Dean obviously didn’t mind the question, as he provided a straightforward answer. Perhaps the Newsweek editors got a little carried away with their headlines, but please, don’t fault Howard Fineman for doing his job, and doing it well.
Posted on 13 January 2004
Pittsburgh City Council to raise parking tax to 50% to provide budget relief.
Wow. Imagine for a moment you own a business, and you receive notice that the city will now be taking 50% of your revenue. Keep in mind these people will still be paying their federal and state taxes with the 50% of the revenue that remains. Wow.
First, part of me says “Good! Maybe more people will take the bus to work.” But this isn’t just about commuters. Mayor Murphy has tried valiantly over the course of his tenure to bring more businesses into downtown, including retailers and “nightlife”-type attractions. This isn’t going to help his cause. If you think for a moment that the parking garage owners/operators won’t pass this along to consumers, you’re nuts. Parking lots aren’t like retail stores — they can only do so much business in one day. If your lot fills up at 8:30am, and stays that way until 4:30pm, you’ve reached your earning potential for the day. The only way you can offset the tax increase is to raise rates.
This is the sort of budget “fix” that has gotten the Murphy administration in trouble before. Remember the plan to cut taxes for new businesses coming into the city? The expectation was that more workers would move into city, and the city would offset the loss of business taxes with more income tax. Too bad the majority of the workers moved to the suburbs, where their income was safe from Murphy’s hands. And where did that get the city? Into the current budget crisis. The parking tax increase will hurt retailers downtown, and at some point aftershocks will be felt by the city.
Given the circus that the local government has been over the past few years, it’s really hard to take anyone seriously. I don’t follow local politics much, but I’ve seen the city’s leadership make bad decisions over and over again to try and cure their budget woes. There really needs to be a change in leadership. I’m not advocating impeaching Murphy, or throwing out the members of council, but the voters of the city (myself included) need to shoulder the burden and find leadership that can get the city out of this crisis.
Related note
Actually, a question to my intelligent readers. I know that the Pittsburgh Parking Authority owns and operates many parking lots downtown, but for other lots, is the land that the lot occupies owned by the city or the lot operator?
Posted on 13 January 2004
I finally wrestled the anklebiter.net domain name from our lame hosting provider, which means that everything now points to the same servers as ankle-biter.net. Including email. The old provider’s service would just mysteriously disappear every so often. That shouldn’t be the case anymore, though. Hoo-ray!
Posted on 12 January 2004
If one established factory team was a model of inconsistency in 2003, it was Ford. The team debuted the new Focus, and it was incredibly quick — when it was running. Markko Martin showed poise and skill in winning Rally Finland — but retired or crashed out of a handful of other rallies. Francois Duval showed glimpses of brilliance — when he wasn’t pulling his Focus out of the trees. This will be a year of huge expectations for the car and for Martin.
Let’s begin with Duval. Team manager Malcolm Wilson believes that Duval has what it takes to win rallies and fight for the championship. It’s just a matter of whether or not the young Belgium wants to gain experience the easy way or the hard way. Duval found himself in the doghouse several times in 2003 after not following team orders to lay off the throttle a bit and get his Focus to the finishing ramp. While Wilson has stated that Duval is still an important part of the team, he’s decided to nominate Janne Tuohino, a Finn, as the team’s other point scorer for several rallies this year to improve Ford’s chances for the manufacturer’s title. Duval will still contest these rallies, but it remains to be seen if this will be in a factory-spec Focus or a privateer car.
Much will be expected of Markko Martin this season. When his Focus was running, Martin was setting scratch times no matter the surface. His win in Finland was his most impressive, as it’s rare for a non-Finn to win the event. That victory proved that Martin was a threat to win the title, and that the Focus was the fastest car on the circuit. It’s important to realize that while Martin has shown he’s fast, he’s still inexperienced — he’s a full season behind Petter Solberg as far as WRC experience. The two were teammates at Subaru in 2001, the year Solberg had his first full factory drive. That season Martin ran a limited programme in the factory-spec Impreza. Martin will be dangerous next season, as he’s not doubt learned from his mistakes in 2003.
Ford is really the only team that should give Citroen a run for the money in the manufacturer’s championship — if Duval has a consistent year. The Focus is fast, and a winter of testing and development should iron out most of the bugs. Martin should be in contention for the driver’s championship this season as well. He’s shown he has the ability to win rallies, but can he do it over the course of a 16 rally season?
Posted on 11 January 2004