Next year’s team line-ups became a bit clearer today as Citroen signed Carlos Sainz to their second Xsara for next season, effectively leaving Colin McRae without a drive for next season. There are no longer any major works teams seats open for next season (with the FIA drivers rules in effect), so Colin will be faced with joining a second tier team (Hyundai, Skoda, or Mitsubishi) or trying to finance a third car on one of the major teams (McRae would basically pay for the right to drive a WRC-spec car, and he could not score manufacturers point for that team).
There may or may not be a drive open at Skoda, as Didier Auriol has to decide whether or not rejoin the Czech team next season, but with the new Fabia, it is expected that Auriol will resign to help with development. Hyundai may end up resigning Freddy Loix after manufacturers were limited to two cars per rally soon after Loix took the third seat for Peugeot. Mitsubishi has yet to settle on a second driver to join Gilles Panizzi, but this has got to be tempted for McRae. Though the start of the season could rough for Mitsubishi, things could get better very quickly, and suddenly the team could become a threat in the manufacturers championship given Panizzi skills on tarmac.
Posted on 12 September 2003
Chong gets 9 months in prison for bong sales.
The last line is worth repeating:
Chong will be allowed to self-report to prison.
Posted on 11 September 2003
Words fail me.
Posted on 11 September 2003
In case you don’t really follow this (which you probably shouldn’t, since it’s incredibly silly), SCO CEO Darl McBride wrote this error-filled open letter to the open source community. And, of course, the open source community responded. The response is thoughtful and concise, but I’ve got one question to all these folks who have made it their life’s purpose to fight SCO in the media. Who are you writing to?
If you’re writing for just the media, well, that’s very noble of you. And I’m sure that you may, in fact, change some people’s minds about SCO. But I suspect that most people, unless they are employees of Microsoft or SCO shareholders, understand that SCO is completely out of their collective mind.
And if you’re writing directly to the folks at SCO, well, you’re wasting your time. Do you really think you’re going to change Darl McBride’s mind on the subject? Do you really believe he’ll read an article by ESR and think “Wow! These guys are right. I’m going to drop this lawsuit immediately!”?
Some level of defense from the open source community should be expected. But this is too much. At this point, you’re not furthering your cause. Let SCO run out of steam, and let the courts tell them to pound salt.
Posted on 11 September 2003
For the sake of all humanity, I hope this is Photoshopped.
Posted on 10 September 2003
The FIA, the governing body of the World Rally Championship, passed a handful of changes to the general format and structure of WRC rallies. These changes will go into effect next season. Here’s a short list:
1. Expanding the calendar to 16 rallies, instead of 14. Added are Rally Mexico and Rally Japan, both gravel events.
2. Factory teams may only enter two cars in each rally, and both cars will count toward manufacturers championship points.
3. The traditional recce’s (reconnaissance runs on the rallies’ stages to make pacenotes) during gravel events will be changed to a Mille Piste format.
First, before I comment on the first two, here’s an explanation of the third change. Typically, for a gravel event, a driver and co-driver will recce each stage in a road car at slow speed, either creating pacenotes for newer stages, or polishing pacenotes for stages that have been used in the past. Then, the morning before the stages are run, each team has a “gravel crew” that drives the day’s stages, confirming pacenotes, and noting any changes in the surface due to either the shakedown, weather, or other recces. The Mille Piste format changes two elements. First, the teams will recce the stages in their rally cars. Second, gravel crews will be eliminated, thereby removing any confirmations on pacenotes.
The FIA’s reasoning behind this change was purely economics: teams would not have to hire gravel crews, and they would not have bring recce cars to each event. But the teams and drivers are not happy about this, primarily for safety reasons. The gravel crews provide a bit of security, confirming pacenotes, and making changes to them if necessary. The drivers (and co-drivers) also have issues with recce’ing stages in their WRCs. Why? Take a look at a photo of a WRC from the front. Note how you can barely see the co-driver’s head. Kinda hard to take good pacenotes when you can’t see the road. The co-driver’s seat is basically bolted to the floor to lower the center of gravity of the car. Richard Burns’ co-driver, Robert Reid, also pointed out how it would be write notes in the cramped interior of a Peugeot 206.
The two car rule will leave a few drivers out of work for next season, most notable at this point, Freddy Loix. Loix just inked a deal with Peugeot to drive a third factory car in gravel events next season, but now, he’s out of work. But, we should have quite a manufacturer’s championship next season….the Peugeot juggernaut is being dismantled, Citroen, Subaru, and Ford all have legimate shots at the championship.
And for the record…the extra rallies are a good thing, bringing a rally to North America, and another rally to the Pacific.
Posted on 9 September 2003
Just some random bits to start off the week….
Seb started gymnastics today. Not full-on, parrallel bars gymnastics, but lil’ baby gymnastics….rolling around, becoming aware of his arms and legs. Jen said he dug it, though he was a bit overstimulated by everything going on.
We’re closing on a new/used car. We’ve got our eyes on a 1993 Volvo 940 SE wagon. I know, a wagon, how sad. But, but, but….it is a turbo, though only an automatic (try finding a manual, I dare you). Leather interior and a CD player, too. I’d like to take a look at the service records, just to be sure it won’t fall apart on us, and we’ll have to haggle over a trade-in price for the Impreza, but soon we’ll be cruzin’ in a yuppy family-mobile. I wish we could keep the Impreza, but wow, is it a pain to only have two doors.
Posted on 8 September 2003
Petter Solberg won his third career rally (and second this season) today, beating Sebastien Loeb by nearly thirty seconds. Loeb held the lead overnight going into the last day of rallying, and Solberg and Loeb split the first two stages, exchanging the lead, but then the rains began to fall. Solberg retook the lead, but just barely, on the day’s third stage, then he capitalized on a bad tyre choice by Loeb on the last stage, and further extended his lead. Richard Burns took a comfortable third place, maintaining his lead in the championship, followed by Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, and Tommi Makinen. Solberg now holds second place in the driver’s championship, tied with Carlos Sainz, and Loeb is only three points behind them in third place. It should be interesting end to the season, with Loeb obviously favored to do well in mad scramble of three tarmac rallies over the next month, setting up what could be a dramatic Rally Great Britain to end the season.
A few observations/remarks:
1. Both Skoda Fabias finished the rally, with Gardenmeister and Auriol taking 12th and 13th, and setting some top ten stage times. This is great news for the team, and should further boost the development of the new Fabia.
2. If it’s a rainy gravel rally, Pirellis are the tyres of choice. Only Subaru still uses the Italian tyres (every other team is shod with Michelins), and looking back over the past few years, when the going gets messy, Subaru has done well: two consecutive Rally GBs, this year’s Rally Australia, plus the messy win by Ford (using Pirellis) in the 2001 Rally Portugal).
3. Both Citroen and Subaru have to pleased with their WRC development. Up until this rally, the Focus was the car to beat, but it wasn’t fast enough to compensate for Markko Martin’s lack of experience. Both the Xsara and the Impreza were quite quick, taking all but a few stage wins. The Peugeot 206 doesn’t seem so untouchable anymore either.
4. An exciting month is coming up, with three tarmac rallies over the span of four weeks. Gilles Panizzi has been quiet so far this season, but expect to see his name in the headlines quite soon. Loeb could run away with the title if he runs well…he’s already proven to be a man to beat on the sealed surfaces…..
Posted on 7 September 2003
Not much news from day 2 of Rally Australia. Rally leader Seb Loeb and second place driver Petter Solberg took four stage wins each, and Loeb holds a slim, slim 5 second lead going into the final day (which, for those us in the Western Hemisphere, starts in five minutes). Solberg is still the favourite to win however — his experience, combined with the wet forecast, gives him an advantage over Loeb, who up to this point was known as a tarmac specialist. Loeb must be thinking a bit about Solberg’s performace last month in Finland — entering the final day a little over five seconds behind Richard Burns, and driving like a man possessed (he bent his gas pedal) to overtake Burns for second place. It should be an exciting day.
The only real bit of news was Markko Martin being excluded (read disqualified for adjusting the weight of his Focus illegally by using a rock to wedge his space wheel in place after a strap broke. Martin gives up fourth place, moving Colin McRae into fourth and Tommi Makinen into fifth.
Posted on 6 September 2003
Ahh, the great thing about the Rally Australia? I can write up the results of Friday’s stages on Friday morning, because they happened yesterday. Go figure.
Anyway, it’s been a busy day down under, with a tight race for the lead. Sebastien Loeb (running only his second Rally Australia), Petter Solberg, and Marcus Gronholm had distanced themselves from the rest of pack, with Gronholm holding a ten second lead by the second service stop. Loeb and Solberg were trading stage wins to chip away at Gronholm’s lead, but Marcus managed to stay close. Then on SS8, it went all wrong for Gronholm, as he spun his 206 into a ditch and lost 15 minutes. No matter how quick Gronholm is, he’s lost the rally, and more and likely, the championship, unless he has a stunning run on the tarmac events. More and more this season is looking like Gronholm’s last title defence in 2001, when he only finished a handful of rallies.
Richard Burns is holding down third place, but he’s nearly thirty seconds off the pace, though he is playing the role of gravel sweeper running first on the road. He should be faster tomorrow, and he should be able to claw back into contention. Tommi Makinen is driving well, holding fourth place ahead of Markko Martin and Carlos Sainz. So far, it’s been good news for Skoda, as Didier Auriol holds ninth place overall.
It should be another exciting battle over the weekend between Solberg and Burns, the future teammates. The big question is, can Seb Loeb overcome his inexperience and fight for his first gravel victory.
Update
At the end of the first day of rallying, Seb Loeb has a slim 3.9 second lead over Petter Solberg, and Richard Burns is nearly 40 seconds adrift. Tommi Makinen is putting in a fantasic performance, another 20 seconds behind Burns. Markko Martin currently holds fifth, ahead of the rest of the Citroen team of Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz. Even if Sainz and McRae simply hold their spots, it will be enough for Citroen to overtake Peugeot in the maker’s championship.
Biggest news of the day? Marcus Gronholm doesn’t show up for the start of SS10. After putting his 206 in a ditch, Gronholm was nearly 20 minutes off the pace, and did not want to continue. Peugeot told him to finish the stage, but obviously Marcus won the debate, and his championship defence is in serious jeopardy.
Solberg played it calm at the end of the day, saying that the real racing would start tomorrow. After his effort in Finland, it’s obvious that he knows how to push the pace. Unless Burns can really turn up the heat, I expect this will be Solberg’s rally.
Posted on 5 September 2003