Necx0

There are now two Lotus F1 teams, as there are two Lotus groups. Team Lotus, the one from last year, were allowed by the Chapman family to use the name. However, Proton, who owns the Lotus that actually makes the Lotus cars, have now bought a stake (or become a huge sponsor of) the Renault F1 team. Hence we have the schemozzle that is two teams with effectively the same name on the grid. Add to this the fact that if Petrov retains his seat next year, the Renault F1 team will be sponsored by Renault, Lada, Lotus and Proton. What a farce. And to add my two cents, adjustable rear wings are gayer than Christmas. I love F1, but the rule makers really haven't got a clue.

Just read this thread and obviously everyone has their differing opinions. So here's mine. I think the problem with V8s is the problem with almost every motorsport category around the world. Aero basically kills racing. I hadn't watched a V8 race all year until the enduros, but the spectacle at the Gold Coast was just fantastic. Take these specialised race cars out of their comfort zone and you automatically create great racing. Putting 650hp under-tyred race cars on a bumpy street circuit, mistakes are made and passing can happen. Same with wet F1 races, mistakes can be made it's more up to the driver. WRC follows the same formula, huge grip makes them fast but not spectacular. A basic rule for any entertaining race formula is that the cars must have more power than grip, aero usually makes sure that is not the case. That's why the V8s came alive at Surfers, yet are usually quite boring at the faster, smoother circuits. No-one is going to give a shit if the cars are 5 seconds a lap slower if they are sliding around inches from each others bumpers. My 2c

Super-duper driving Benny. Mega committed. With driving like that perhaps a factory drive should be on the table!

For pure nuttiness you can't go past Stefan Roser in 'Yellowbird' More from Herr Rohrl

Remember I am talking about a Tassie state round here though. If every round of the Tassie series attracted 25-30 cars it would be in rude health. Obviously for NSW/Vic you would expect more around the 50-60 mark (but I have no idea how many they attract). Look at the Alpine though attracting 100+ entries. You will get no argument from me about the ARC being rubbish and Group N being boring as batshit, which is unfortunate, but to say that justifies gravel rallying dying is a bit iffy. Hopefully ALL forms of rallying (gravel and tarmac) can find ways to live and prosper for many years! Rally on!

Sorry Benny but can't agree with that at all. I'm sure Timmy well tell you stories from last weekend's first round of the TRS. 25 entries, biggest field in Tassie rallying for a while. ARC is a bit of a joke sure but to say gravel rallying has no future is just absurd. There are still plenty of people out there willing to support gravel rallying, it will only die if people take an attitude like "oh it's got no future, may as well give up". Tarmac rallying is going through a purple patch at the moment, but that's because it is still relatively new and exciting. Personally I think we need both and the person that wins in both disciplines will probably be the best driver in Australia. As for the WRC thing, next year's Citroen challenger. I feared the next-gen cars may be a bit pedestrian, but they don't look much slower to me.

I wouldn't mind seeing a ZR1 either. Would be certainly capable in the power stakes. Not meant to be too good over the bumps though! R35 still the weapon of choice though surely.

Really Benny?? You would give up every other event during the year to do Targa Tas??? Amazing event and I would love to be able to do it, but just driving competitively once a year, even if its a 5 day event......I just couldn't do it. Great to hear you are entered again though, imagine how fast you can go now you are another year older and wiser (?)

That was a great effort Jessica. It was also a freaking awesome rally best one I have done so far. I want to do it again whereas normally I need a break! Mark is a pretty demon steerer and I hate to think what sort of numbers you were pulling on those l-o-n-g straights as the Charade saw over 150 quite often. Trophies are fun! See you at Huon (although I still think navigators have a screw loose)

HAHHAHAHHAHA QFT!!!!!!!!

Now why on earth would anyone want to see multi angles of you and Wooster in the bedroom Timmay? I think you are right Ben the lower the faster it seems. You check out this vid and it seems like the car is going 200mph (about 1:00 in)

Crikey I have watched all your videos Ben (which I suppose makes me some sort of sad groupie!) and Lowana is the fastest I have seen you drive. Damn that is commitment, could have gone horribly wrong on that one. I was scratching my head as to how a 32 can match a 996 but yeh, very impressive

wrong on both counts haha Lee's GTI is front wheel drive, as are they all I believe. Its also certainly not an average bit of gear. It is an absolute animal and Lee is a driver of top top quality. Had a few problems I think on day 1 and dropped a lot of time. Can't wait to hopefully see it in the forests this year as it is a sight for the eyes and especially the ears.

Now of course this is a personal opinion but to me there are very few Aussie journos worth listening to. Dean Evans, Michael Stahl and Peter Robinson spring to mind. Maybe all these GT-R hating journos should drive it in the wet, apparently its quite an animal.

Thats probably because you are as nutty as he is!

Hahahaha he certainly is. I especially love it when he yells at you to go faster and you think "Fark any faster we are going to crash!" Would you take financial advice from this man?

Miedecke unfortunately had a mix up with tyre compounds and chose one 3 softer than he should have. Unfortunate as apparently would have ended up 2nd outright without the penalty. Benny would have just gone another 100 metres further into the paddock in an R35 Remember AWD is not infallible, but it is a sovereign boon in getting back to the black stuff! These GT-R's are simply awesome weapons, you only have to watch one launch to see that. A V-spec (which we will no doubt see one or two of next year) would be a formidable contender indeed. I would love to see a ZR1 come and give it a shake. Probably the only current performance car that could give it a shake. Send Jan Magnussen over next year, and Walter Rohrl in a new GT3 while you are at it!

Ben and timmy are going hell for leather!!! He needs to stop attacking Tasmanian fences though! Getting revenge for Andrew. Modern has been totally shaken up as Steve Jones crashed this morning, Weeks has made a massive charge and also.........Jim Richards crashed! First time he has ever not finished a targa stage.

Geez who the hell fired up Wooster!!! Lets' take the last stage of the day as an example. His time would have put him 12th outright in MODERN!

Best of luck everyone, I will be at the finish so might meet a few if Timmy is kind enough to introduce me haha I have had that for a couple of years mate. Its not a whole lot of fun, you will generally feel pretty shit each day especially in the morning but you adapt and don't notice it so much eventually. Get on Somac 40mg makes life a whole lot more enjoyable.

At first I thought 5th as it looks f**king fast but wasn't sure. Dunno what the gears ratios on an R32 are but that must be close to 200k's? Balls of Steel. Should be an awesome car for Targa Tas.

What a scary race track Bloody quick and you can't see any of the corners. Not much in the way of run off either. That Turn One is damn fast, taken flat in...4th??

As nice as it would be to have had a stage 2 minutes from my house, I have to admit its not a bad idea to can it. Otherwise you would lose anything not firmly welded to the car.

I was talking to the Hutch TV blokes and the cost of their footage was about the same as buying one of those cheap cameras, guessing they are the Go-Pro ones. Given I could buy a camera for the hire charge I didn't see the point but if Go-Pro are rubbish (especially in a rally car) maybe hiring is the way to go!

Crikey first post on here in a long time. Anyway I will be cheering on MY navigator (yeh you hear that Woo?? He's mine haha) and Benny in the mighty dirty two in Targa Launceston. Will hopefully make it to Grasstree Hill as usual or the new Warrane town stage might be worth a look for some opposite lock. Will definitely be at the after party though