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'05 rally drivers finalized

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ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
18
NM
citreon : loab & duval : : michellin
subaru : solberg & sarrazin : Pirrelli
peugeot : martin & gronholm : Pirrelli
skoda : mattais ackstrom & schwarz : michellin
ford : gardmeister & kresta : michellin
mitsubishi : rovanperä & panizzi : pirrelli

50% pirrelli and bib

 

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
Anyone wanna make a paypal bet now on the championship?? I think Im gonna live dangerously and go with Markko, even though Loeb would probably be a better bet.
 

steve45

Monkey
Sep 30, 2003
483
1
Dundee, Scotland
i've got my money on solberg for a couple of reasons, considering he can keep it on the road and that the watersplashes dont blow the engine-bay all to hell.
1. i believe citreon has already reached full potential with the xsara during the 04 season, where as the rest of the teams except maybe ford have plenty of developement left in the cars, so mid/end of the season i can see the rest of the teams get the upper hand.
2. the subaru team have been running pirelli's for longer and know how to get the most out of them on the gravel, although it will probably be a very quick learning curve for the other teams, i think subaru has the advantage at the start of the season.
3. i dont know if peugeot have fully worked out the reliability problems yet but if they havnt then subaru have got another advantage, but they were making a lot of progress near the end of the season, only time will tell.

i believe gronholm will be a very serious contender for the title next season, and obviously you cant count out loeb, considering he's the world champ and all, but i think loeb will loose that dominent edge he had over the 04 season.
but whoever next season turns out you can be asured it will be a close fight between those three.

yeah, nico has no drive for 05, peugeots budget cuts left its 2 limited program drivers without any backing. very unfortunate but what can you do about it:confused: .


i cant say i'm very happy with the driver choices though seems as though some teams like ford and subaru have taken some very big chances.
subaru - sarrazin, i dont think he has proved himself enough, i think its a huge mistake when it comes to the gravel rallies, but he will no doubt be good for the tarmac.
ford - both of there drivers are reletive newbies who are lacking in experience.
but i'll probably be wrong, they have obviously chose these drivers for a good reasons, we will hopefully find these reasons out when the season starts.

but anyway its good to see the teams finalised and the testing is underway, not long until Monte Carlo, only a bit over a month, i'm looking forward to watching it.
 

mack

Turbo Monkey
Feb 26, 2003
3,674
0
Colorado
lets make it 200. :evil: not, i dont even have 5 dollars to piss off if i want these new wheels in time for x mas.
 

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
steve45 said:
i cant say i'm very happy with the driver choices though seems as though some teams like ford and subaru have taken some very big chances.
subaru - sarrazin, i dont think he has proved himself enough, i think its a huge mistake when it comes to the gravel rallies, but he will no doubt be good for the tarmac.
ford - both of there drivers are reletive newbies who are lacking in experience.
but i'll probably be wrong, they have obviously chose these drivers for a good reasons, we will hopefully find these reasons out when the season starts.

but anyway its good to see the teams finalised and the testing is underway, not long until Monte Carlo, only a bit over a month, i'm looking forward to watching it.

I'm still waiting to see Ramana Lagenenn's name on a factory roster one of these years. Although ideally an american WRC driver would have a name like Steve Miller or something, not something that sounded scandinavian. I dont know if you can call Gardemeister a "newbie," he may be no Gronholm but considering how young alot of these drivers are he's really no more of a newbie than most others (Duval, Martin, Loeb, Solberg). As for Sarrazin, I've always wanted to see how an F1 driver would do in rally and vice versa, it will be fun to watch.
 

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
I was actually talking about the whole season, but I will bet on monte carlo as well... need to do a bit of reasearch to pick my driver though... :think:
 

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
18
NM
So, i will start a new thread on year end pics.

also we will bet on each race. 5 dollars is not enogh.

$10 makes it worth while.

$20 for year end.
 

ska todd

Turbo Monkey
Oct 10, 2001
1,776
0
TheInedibleHulk said:
I'm still waiting to see Ramana Lagenenn's name on a factory roster one of these years.
Anyone remember when Ramana used to race Jr Expert XC in New England? He used to have a Ted Wojiak dualie.

-ska todd
 

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
18
NM
ska todd said:
Anyone remember when Ramana used to race Jr Expert XC in New England? He used to have a Ted Wojiak dualie.

-ska todd
no way really?! cool.

what has jesse whistle been doing.
has he finished his VW? i saw him in
some rallyX results.
 

ska todd

Turbo Monkey
Oct 10, 2001
1,776
0
bcd said:
no way really?! cool.

what has jesse whistle been doing.
has he finished his VW? i saw him in
some rallyX results.
Ya a cpl years ago I saw Ramana's name during SCCA pro rally coverage and couldn't remember why I knew it. Then they showed his face and I knew it was him from racing. He used to go to a prep school in CT and was friends w/ one of my teammates from UMass.

I haven't talked to Whitsell in a few months. I hope he's tearing it up w/ that Dub. The kid has a lot of skills behind the wheel. Hopefully he'll show up at Mtn Creek sometime this season and ride.

-ska todd