RDRC S9 Round 1 - Rally Monte Carlo (1st February - 7th February 2021)

[LukeT222]

Well that was an experience...

My first time doing any kind of competitive racing or rally and it really showed. Got overconfident from the off and managed to get myself a double puncture and damaged radiator on the very first corner on the first stage. Forgot to bring a second spare tyre so only changed the one and limped through the first few stages while spinning at what felt like every other corner. Nearly made a joke when I signed up saying that last place had arrived and I lived up to it tbh. Was last by a few minutes in J-RDRC by SS3

Didn't have the time to make much in the way of repairs other than a quick fix for the near dead engine so inevitably by SS7 I was seriously down on power again. Felt like I didn't do too bad on SS5 or SS6 though other than a slow slide that beached me on a snowbank in SS5 and matched my best time in SS6 which was nice. Just a shame I had to limp back to the service with no power again.

Managed to repair the engine and finally the radiator in the last service so was looking forward to having some power to just finish the rally until I got distracted, made a mistake and flew over a snowbank and off the cliff to end my rally early. Pretty frustrating from start to (early) finish, especially after my practice run literally 2 hours before my proper go went surprisingly well (would have been around P35-40 based on the current times, way better than I'd ever expected) but oh well. Here's hoping for a better run in Sweden

in rallies with longer time between services (oups. Spoiler alert)

This will only go well God help us

 

[Lytorxx]

Just finished Monte Carlo without major problems. Her some RWD action pictures.

 

[diport007]

RDRC S9 - Round 1 - Monte-Carlo - Pra D'Alart - Peugeot 208 R2

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Just finished Monte Carlo without major problems. Her some RWD action pictures.

That's one way to put it.


Here's another way: "Just finished Monte Carlo, had no major issues. Destroyed the competition. Look at my awesome sideways driving!"

Well done, man

 

[C-R.17]

Thank you to Race Department and everybody that has taken the time to make this event happen, it is awesome. And even newcomer friendly! Lol.

The magazines are an excellent touch as well, very nicely done.

With the first week nearly over, I'm happy to see that it looks like the midfield will be competitive in the R5 class, so hopefully there will be some good battles throughout the season to be had.

Here is a video of someone's Granny driving the icy roads of Monte Carlo:

DR 2.0 - RDRC S9 - Wk 1 - Monte Carlo - Ford Fiesta R5 MkII - Race Department Rally Championship

 

[bogani]

Last half of the rally was def interesting. Mixed in some really good times with a hairpin stall and even a roll on SS8. Luckily the car landed on all 4 wheels so only lost 5 seconds. All in all I believe I lost around 20 seconds on pure mistakes along the rally which still wouldnt have gained me any place.

I went in to the rally hoping for top 20 in RDRC so currently sitting P5(this will change for sure) is well above expectations! Snatching some green sector times here and there is just an added bonus

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Even with Swedish colors, I really love that Polo!

 

[peg306]

And also a short report from the second half of the Swedish Volkswagen team. Started off in a pace way beyond my expectations, battling for top 5 positions on the opening stages. On stage 3 i hit an icy spot that didn't cope well with my slicks, spinning the car around. As always you should try to catch back that time lost, and it took me a full 3 corners to be facing the wrong way again.. A quick spin on the following stage aswell before we headed into service. Winter tyres mounted on the car for the remainder of the rally saw no more drama, and we have finished in what for now is a fantastic 4th place+powerstage win.

 

[Thomas Lambaerts]

My Monte Carlo run...
I took to the softs on the first leg, with a tarmac setup. All want really well there. S4 was really tricky with the rear engined Renault turbo. The thing always tries to be a front engined car in every corner. Lost the lead (provisional) there. After service 2, i got onto the winters. Couldn't retake the lead. On S8, the winters kinda gave up on the turbo power. Last sector before finish i was sideways everywhere. After Last service, i changed to a more snow setup. This felt great, to great. On S9 i did a spin, and went off the edge of the road. I got away with it by instantly getting reset onto the road. 9 second penalty , so lucky. Tried to save tires for the last stage. But i did 3 spins trying to go fast, to fast... Lost loads of time there and no extra points i think. Still, P2 so far.

I have way more screenshots on my steamprofile, but the post is long enough as it is i think

 

[Norman Bruce]

Round 1 disaster for me, completed 6 stages then I got distracted at the start of stage 7 and the timer ran down --disqualified-- I was not setting any records, but I was reasonably happy with my first 6 stages.
Oh well lesson learned and on to Sweden.

 

[bogani]

Even with Swedish colors, I really love that Polo!

Yup, Tommie Lindgr... Lindberg really outdid himself on those liveries

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Yup, Tommie Lindgr... Lindberg really outdid himself on those liveries

Ooooh, shut up you I didn't make that error in the Monte mag!

 

[LukeT222]

green sector times

Wait, they exist on here? Don't think I've ever seen one online

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Wait, they exist on here? Don't think I've ever seen one online

There's some rumours about it yes. Maybe if you start the rally 00:01 UTC on a Monday you'll see them? idk. Not seen it myself

 

[Viesturs Priede]

What a terrible rally for me but I guess that's exactly what you get if you only have a couple of hours in the sim. But even though I'm still a big fan of RBR and I've always kept rather sceptical view of DR or DR2 - throughout this Monte Carlo rally I learned to actually enjoy DR2. So I'm in fact looking forward for the next event now

A couple of big crashes in the opening stages of the rally made sure that I didn't have a fully performing car throughout the full event. My co-driver literally scared me when he yelled at me: "IS THE ENGINE OK?!". It obviously wasn't. Driving with a broken radiator for a few stages nearly killed it. I honestly think that it would have taken only a couple of more kilometers to kill the engine completely, I barely finished SS8 with it

Glad this championship is back! Thank you Ole and Jack! And hey to all the familiar faces from the old times! See you all in the next round!

 

[Obv1ouslyy]

Well, that was fun, until it wasnt Started off strong... or not... my handbrake gave up at the start of SS1, so 10s penalty right at the start... Great. Alteast I had extra motivation to go fast Then it went quite smooth, I was even surprised by my pace (still over 10s slower on every stage than those guys at front, insane pace, really impressive). Until SS10, where I lost focus for a while and slided across ice patch to hit a wall with my left rear. Puncture, about 3km from the finish. Babied it home, but lost over 30s. Then I just wanted to finish as soon as possible and that mindset didnt really work, I lost another 10s on the power stage, so not really happy with my performance. Hopefully it will be better next time Here is a video from SS7, definitely not the fastest, but it was one of my cleanest runs through there, so I had to save a vid https://streamable.com/8b4gaz

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

love reading your reports, guys, keep 'em coming!

 

[LukeT222]

There's some rumours about it yes. Maybe if you start the rally 00:01 UTC on a Monday you'll see them? idk. Not seen it myself

Know what I'm doing for Sweden

 

[Neilski]

ROFL. I got exactly one green sector in today's stages and it was my only one of the entire rally.
Finished the rally without any major drama (but with some heartstopping moments where I thought I had smashed the car up). Lying in P30 at the moment, comfortably outside the points (by over a minute!), and a crazy 5 minutes off the lead
Well done to the leaders!

Pace notes were definitely suspect in a few places (e.g. couple of 4s that I'd have called 2s!), and one corner in particular (a 3-right shortly after a hairpin on a downhill stage) had its pace note read out around the time I reached the apex on both my practice run and the real thing. Not ideal...

 

[Rawbear]

Well... Grandpa did it... Seventh stage, 3 curves before end on ice, where I usually do very good times, just a bit too much speed on exit, very (very) slowly hit the snowbank, then surprisingly CLIMB on it and when trying to get unstuck, the car went the wrong way and down in the forest. TERMINAL DAMAGE ! Frustrating. I was were all my practice led me until that moment, between 15th and 20th place. I think I'll have a couple more beers and go practice Sweden!