Topgear presenters
10 February 2020, 09:13 AM
#62
Scooby Senior
Last night was extremely funny! That rear axle had to be genuine, there is no way H&S would have OK'd a stunt like that!
19 February 2020, 02:54 PM
#63
Scooby Regular
This series they have been genuinely funny so glad I gave it another look. I don't know what's changed perhaps they are more relaxed but they are miles better than the previous series 
03 March 2020, 06:45 AM
#64
Scooby Regular
Surprised no one commented about the episode on Sunday, had a feature on Colin Mcrae and his 1995 Rally Championship. They also had his car from that year too.
03 March 2020, 06:59 AM
#65
Scooby Senior
Just watched it last night! You can just about see me in the background during the trophy presentation at Chester racecourse! I was also at the Chatsworth stage that year!
03 March 2020, 08:54 AM
#67
Scooby Regular
Woulnt be that suprised if some forum subscribers no longer associate rallying with the present day incarnations , just look at audi 4 door diesel cab and other such posing pouches
03 March 2020, 10:10 AM
#68
Will watch it tonight!
03 March 2020, 10:18 AM
#69
Scooby Senior
You can say that again!
'95 was the last year that following the WRC was a proper adventure ('96 was the last RAC in the old format but wasn't a WRC event).
Back then Rally GB was a 5 day event. Shakedown and ceremonial start was on the Saturday, then Sunday you had the "Mickey Mouse" stages with the "Rally Proper" running from Monday to Wednesday.
The Mickey Mouse stages were the likes of Chatsworth House, pretty easy and short stages, often in the grounds of stately homes or parks, with great spectator access. The drivers hated them because you couldn't really make any times, but you could easily get caught out. They used to say "you can't win the rally on the Sunday, but you can loose it!". In the '95 season it was a water splash at Chatsworth on the Sunday that caught out Sainz and set up McRae for a relatively easy win!
The Monday stages took a loop up through Yorkshire, to the Scottish borders before heading down to the lake district.
Tuesday covered stages in South and Mid Wales and Wednesday Mid and North Wales before the ceremony at Chester racecourse.
Living in Lancs it used to be really convenient for us, travelling with two per car and usually a 3 car group. The Sunday we would head to Chatsworth, then drive up to one of the Scottish border stages and sleep in the car. Watch that stage in the morning then head down to the lakes where you could normally get two stages, they'd often run one of the Lakes stages twice. Then we'd head home for a warm meal, a quick wash and swap cars/drivers for the second half, and head down to Mid Wales for another over-nighter in the cars in the Welsh forests. We'd try to get in 3 or 4 stages on the Tuesday and overnight at the first stage for the Wednesday morning. If you were quick, you could get to two stages on the Wednesday morning before heading back to Chester to get a decent place for the finish. We all drove with CB's in the car and used them to aid overtaking on the country lanes - the lead car had to overtake in a safe place, then would relay any coming traffic to the others so they could safely overtake at any time, even on blind corners
There must have been some seriously freaked out drivers thinking we must be insane! 
To be honest, sleeping in our cars in late November on top of some remote Welsh mountain was pretty insane, but at the same time an absolute blast!
As for McRae, he was really something else to see. He really was faster and more sideways than anyone else! There was no holding back, for him it was either come first or go home! Tommi Makkinen dominated that era of rallying because he drove a little bit slower than McRae and capitalised on his crashes, of which there were many! The statistics don't really show Colin as the amazing driver he was, but all the fans knew who the fastest driver was and certainly the most entertaining to watch.
I can't talk about the Welsh forests though without mentioning Richard Burns. Probably the most impressive drive I have ever seen from any driver was Burns in a Subaru one morning in the Brecons, I can't remember the year, but could have been '95 when he was the third driver at Subaru alongside McRae and Sainz! It was really foggy that morning and the cars were all going pretty pedestrian through the forests with near zero visibility. Colin came through visibly faster than anyone else until Burns came through at full pelt as if was clear visibility. He made up well over a minute on that stage alone, but once the fog cleared for the next stage he was back slower than the others again. By all accounts, Burns had the most detailed pace-notes of any driver at the time, such that he could almost drive the stage blind. I remember at another rally his bonnet came loose early in a stage and flipped up over his windscreen, yet he only lost around 30 seconds. Burns was never the fastest driver out there, but had a precision in his driving that I've never seen beaten. In poor visibility or bad weather, he was untouchable, even from McRae!
'95 was the last year that following the WRC was a proper adventure ('96 was the last RAC in the old format but wasn't a WRC event).
Back then Rally GB was a 5 day event. Shakedown and ceremonial start was on the Saturday, then Sunday you had the "Mickey Mouse" stages with the "Rally Proper" running from Monday to Wednesday.
The Mickey Mouse stages were the likes of Chatsworth House, pretty easy and short stages, often in the grounds of stately homes or parks, with great spectator access. The drivers hated them because you couldn't really make any times, but you could easily get caught out. They used to say "you can't win the rally on the Sunday, but you can loose it!". In the '95 season it was a water splash at Chatsworth on the Sunday that caught out Sainz and set up McRae for a relatively easy win!
The Monday stages took a loop up through Yorkshire, to the Scottish borders before heading down to the lake district.
Tuesday covered stages in South and Mid Wales and Wednesday Mid and North Wales before the ceremony at Chester racecourse.
Living in Lancs it used to be really convenient for us, travelling with two per car and usually a 3 car group. The Sunday we would head to Chatsworth, then drive up to one of the Scottish border stages and sleep in the car. Watch that stage in the morning then head down to the lakes where you could normally get two stages, they'd often run one of the Lakes stages twice. Then we'd head home for a warm meal, a quick wash and swap cars/drivers for the second half, and head down to Mid Wales for another over-nighter in the cars in the Welsh forests. We'd try to get in 3 or 4 stages on the Tuesday and overnight at the first stage for the Wednesday morning. If you were quick, you could get to two stages on the Wednesday morning before heading back to Chester to get a decent place for the finish. We all drove with CB's in the car and used them to aid overtaking on the country lanes - the lead car had to overtake in a safe place, then would relay any coming traffic to the others so they could safely overtake at any time, even on blind corners
There must have been some seriously freaked out drivers thinking we must be insane! To be honest, sleeping in our cars in late November on top of some remote Welsh mountain was pretty insane, but at the same time an absolute blast!
As for McRae, he was really something else to see. He really was faster and more sideways than anyone else! There was no holding back, for him it was either come first or go home! Tommi Makkinen dominated that era of rallying because he drove a little bit slower than McRae and capitalised on his crashes, of which there were many! The statistics don't really show Colin as the amazing driver he was, but all the fans knew who the fastest driver was and certainly the most entertaining to watch.
I can't talk about the Welsh forests though without mentioning Richard Burns. Probably the most impressive drive I have ever seen from any driver was Burns in a Subaru one morning in the Brecons, I can't remember the year, but could have been '95 when he was the third driver at Subaru alongside McRae and Sainz! It was really foggy that morning and the cars were all going pretty pedestrian through the forests with near zero visibility. Colin came through visibly faster than anyone else until Burns came through at full pelt as if was clear visibility. He made up well over a minute on that stage alone, but once the fog cleared for the next stage he was back slower than the others again. By all accounts, Burns had the most detailed pace-notes of any driver at the time, such that he could almost drive the stage blind. I remember at another rally his bonnet came loose early in a stage and flipped up over his windscreen, yet he only lost around 30 seconds. Burns was never the fastest driver out there, but had a precision in his driving that I've never seen beaten. In poor visibility or bad weather, he was untouchable, even from McRae!
The following 3 users liked this post by BMWhere?:
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post