Modern WRC cars are much faster. Hell even a well modded Evo IX with a massive boost leak can be faster. Some guy on this site beat a "1200hp" RS200 at pikes peak this past summer. Don't get me wrong, those cars are works of art up close, but they're no match for modern technology.

Speaking of modern technology, those Fiestas were also amazing to see up close. Biggest surprise of the week though...seeing one up-side-down and noticing that their splitters were made of plywood.

Dave

 

y ken y? a ford fiesta? *disappointment

 

Holy ****! Dude haven't seen you in forever! Ford won't dump Latvala yet, but if he messes up another podium by breaking the car on the last stage, which happens to be a super special stage, in another rally I think Malcolm will strangle him to death.

Block has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the drivers, I don't know if he could keep up with Henning Solberg at this point, nothing against Henning in that comment.

 

Agreed.... Has anyone considered wether or not this is just a marketed scheme. It's Ken Block.. Who hasn't seen his gymkhana videos?? He is an internet "celebrity"... What better way to cast a wider net than put a "celebrity" in your sport??

 

I didn't think Ken was that old,42 years!

 

My oppinion is that he'll get to know how bad of a driver he really is. (Not that I'm bashing him for being bad compared to other rally drivers but WRC is simply a different dimention)


I've had a chat with one of the Slovenian drivers (he's way above anyone in our country driving skills wise and stopped competing in the national championship because there was no competition for him what so ever) - well from his words, he rented a car for a WRC race, full team, everything. He said this: "Those guys are nuts. You simply cannot go that fast. You have to be missing a few clockwork wheels in your brains to even think of hitting a corner the way they do."

Now I'm sure Block is messed up in his head about turn-in speed but I guess time will tell what he's made of. My oppinion however is: he will fail miserably.

I don't want to start a flame with this post, it's just I believe I know enough about the difference between rallying on a national level and WRC. And ... Let's just say they're nuts nuts nuts

 

yeah if you put a driver from a country has a , friendly way to say it , growing rally history vs the guys who born into the rally country ... There is not much chance. Also if you dont even start with the best driver from the US, then a chances even more slight.
I honestly wish him a best , and i will watch him , but i'm really nervous about his performance in WRC.
I dont think he could even can compete , competitively in my small country, Hungarian rally championship.
Now to go to WRC....

 

The Ford RS2000 was a grupe B rally car. SO the Audi was better and faster grupe B car.
I dont want to do this, but i have to damage your icon , and wake you up a little how much faster today cars are...
watch this, and make your own conclusion :
"In racing, RS200 was not very successful, despite it won its debut race in a less competitive event. Before Group B was axed in 1987, it raced for 2 seasons and was never as competitive as the dominating cars like Lancia Delta S4 and Peugeot 205 T16."'
Audi description short:
"The 2133 c.c. all-alloy 5-cylinder unit had 4-valve head plus a big turbocharger. Maximum power in race car reached 500 hp, while the road car still managed to put out 300 hp. No wonder R&T recorded 3.6 sec for 0-60 mph and 11.8 sec for quarter mile for the race version, both were faster than Peugeot 205T16, Ford RS200 and Lancia 037."

http://user.streetfire.net/video/Rac...ars_211097.htm


Grupe B rally cars history

http://www.autozine.org/strange_car/strange_60.htm

 

+1

I like Ken, he's definitely fun to watch. But he is a circus performer, the other guys are professional sport athletes in comparison. Sort of like the WWF folks trying to compete with the Mixed Martial Arts guys in the ring. But, he does have skill it just may not be enough to get a decent spot in short amount of time. Ford is doing well so I'm sure they wouldn't mind the extra eyes from the Internet looking to see Ken behind the wheel of their Ford Focus. I think this move is a gift to some of us who actually wanted this to happen, we want to see someone from the US compete in the WRC. This is good enough for me, either he will get up to speed in a year or two or fail miserably . Either way it will be cool to watch a US flag Ford Focus rally car going sideways in the WRC.

 

Sup!! yea still around :-)

All I'll say is market-stunt or failure or not, I look forward to watching his debut, hopefully on Discovery HD Theater!

 

This reminds me of Kimbo Slice coming to UFC. Internet celeb comes to UFC and everyone's scared and thinking he's going to wreck shop in the UFC and gets whipped twice in the qualifier series.


I agree it will be cool to see a US driver in WRC, but does this mean that Ford will bring the Fiesta or Focus RS to the US? I don't think so. I'll keep my evo.

Although I will say that I will be excited to see just how quick Sebastian Loeb is compared to Block.