Which motorsport requires the most skill?

[Duncan]

Let the discussion begin

Of course there will be some cheap shots at the lesser forms of motorsport, but lets try and keep it decent

[relicr31act]

Rallying, so many variables, different surfaces from snow to sand and everything in between. Driving at 200 with trees either side!! Rally drivers tend to be good at other forms of motorsport, very rarely is the reverse true.

[Duncan]

BTW feel free to post vids to support your argument.

Heres one for motorkhanas, http://tom.kat.free.fr/mini.wmv 54 sec 2.3mb

[GTRgeoff]

Tried circuit, rally, motorkhanas, drag and hill climbs. Rally is toughest to master. Drift is crap. no times = no cred.

[oscar32]

Yeah, rally for sure. You only get to see the corners once or twice. the conditions can change - look at the rally of sweden, the spikes were ripping off the tyres because their wasn't enough snow.

Racing on snow closes my argument

[B-Man]

You missed one.....

4 Wheel Driving

[Laurence]

Circuit racing... rallying is all about going SLOWER to respond to the road conditions.

On a circuit the driver and vehicle form a pure gestalt striving for absolute perfection. The skill in circuit racing is going faster, the skill in rallying is going slower

[Silver-Arrowz]

They proved it scientifically that rally drivers are the better drivers. What it comes down to is rally drivers have to deal with more variables than F1 drivers. Rally drivers have to adapt to conditions given to them.

[ferni]

haven't never done it i wouldn't be sure, but rally looks like it would be mega hard, anyone can jump in a car and do most of the others or at least have a decent go at them, rally would just be way scarey.

[relicr31act]

Circuit racing... rallying is all about going SLOWER to respond to the road conditions.

On a circuit the driver and vehicle form a pure gestalt striving for absolute perfection. The skill in circuit racing is going faster, the skill in rallying is going slower

Did you watch the Rally of Sweden? Didn't see too many guys trying to go slower! In fact on one straight they topped 200 kmh on snow with trees less than ten metres from the side of the road!! Also in rally the cars regularly leave the road altogether don't remember seeing that in circuit racing too often (except for Mark Webber at Le Mans a few years back). Also in circuit racing you can have multiple attempts at perfecting a corner until you get it right! In rally it all about commitment and SKILL. It is a no brainer rally drivers are the best by quite a long way!

[poyz]

Rallying for sure.

Anyone who's seen Too Fast to Race and/or Still Too Fast to Race would agree.

[Lukas]

I voted for rally, but when you think about it, all of the above mentioned motorsports need a range of skills. It's pretty hard to say which needs the 'most skill' They all need specific skills for each one. Yes, rally does require a 'large' number of skills. 'Rally' is a fairly broad word (as there are various types of rally) it basically involves cars having to get from one place to another in the shortest possible time, on different road surfaces, therfore requires skills not really needed by drivers of circuit, drift etc.. but having said this, I believe ALL motorsports need a lot of skill and yes 'drift' too. I for one really like drift, it takes a LOT of skill. How many of us accidnetly slide out in the wet and think sh it! Imagine being able to have the skill to pretty much slide all the way around a track at such speed with such precision. Anyway... my thoughts, so don't slam me!

[fatz]

i think if your at the top of each sport there is a fair bit of skill in all of the above

[Roy]

But what if your in the bottom:( I say i am the most skillful person in the drivers seat of my car whilst im driving it at the track...outside of that its all fluff.

I think the most flexible drivers are the rally drivers. In that tests have shown they can get on the pace pretty easily when jumping into other classes.

What about Grand Prix bike riders?

[slow13dude]

Drag racing...

LOL, j/k. Definitely rally. In all racing you're trying to get from the start to the finish (or complete the laps) as quick as possible. Rally drivers have to deal with awful road (or-lack thereof) conditions. Other drivers get a nice smooth bitumen road.

Also, Rally drivers incorporate the skills required by the other types.

They use drag skills off the line,

Circuit racing throughout,

and drift skills around those funky corners through the mud.

It's like the difference between batting on an astroturf pitch and a real pitch.

[gtrken]

Done em all in my time( except dragging, but who cares )

Rallying, as in gravel rallying , especially on non pacenoted events is by far the scariest, most dangerous and most adrenalin of them all bar none.

Driving flat out over crests at night with the car set to slide one way or the other depending on which way the road goes and in a 4wd turbo car is something to experience...

The knowledge that the tree about 1m to the left or right is NOT going to move if hit just adds to the thrill

Pace noted rallying is next as you have only seen the road twice before but you tend to push harder.

Targa Tasmania which combines the elements of rallying( unknown roads, surface changes etc) with black track is right up there as well.

Racing is next as the skill is required but the road gives you no surprises plus there is barriers/safety officials close by.

Drifting is fun but as there is no real speed involved plus in the correct enviroment( ie. not on the street) is safe as.

Cheers

Ken

[Snowman]

My opinion is Rallying is No. 1. Only because there is a huge change in surfaces throughout the sport, a large amount of variables to contend with (such as jumps and rivers) and tree's and things are damn close!

The one thing Rallying doesnt have that circuit guys have to deal with is traffic / other cars. Overtaking skills - especially in something like a fragile open wheeler is a massive component of true circuit racing. Also - there is a level of constant perfection in circuit racing that is probably missing in rallying. I'm pretty sure when Petter won the rally of Sweedon recently he didnt take EVERY corner to its maximum potential. However - in a few weeks time you can be pretty sure that Michael Shcumacher will take 99% of the corners in the Melbounre GP to his maximum potential.

I think at the top level the 2 are pretty close as far as skills required go - but I think Rallying requires a slightly larger range of driving skills to be at the top.

Biggest skills in say Top Fuel Dragsters is reaction times and the ability to not pass out when those crazy G's hit you! I reckon that would have to be close to the biggest rush in motorsport!

[Duncan]

hmm no votes for drag racing yet? where are they all?

[Roy]

Is wathcing motorsport a form of motorsport?

I think next weeks F1 Grand Prix is goin to take huge reserves of skill, wiht all the beer and oil food being consumed, all the late night sessions, combined with heat stroke from the sun. Its going to be an effort to make Hunter S Thomas proud:)

[relicr31act]

hmm no votes for drag racing yet? where are they all?

As an ex drag racer who has driven cars other than road cars down the strip I would have to say that the "skill" is having the ticker to get in one and drive it. I offered quite a few ppl the opportunity to drive my big block front engined dragster down the quarter and never got anyone that would have a go!! But having also competed in and finished an internationally sanctioned rally it is obvious that from a pure test of driving skill rally is by far the more challenging. Having said that I haven't driven a fuel dragster!! It may only take four seconds but I think that there is quite a lot that can and does go wrong in those four seconds and how it was handled would be a very severe test of instinctive driving skills!!