HANDBRAKES &HAIRPINS The wworld’sorld’s FIRST dedicateddedicated rallyrally eMagazineeMagazine - every week!week! Issue 297 • 10 OctOctoberober 2013 • http://wp.mehttp://wp.me/pkXc/pkXc Hybrid Head & Neck Restraints offer the lowest profile, designed for easily exiting the car without the danger of getting hung up on other gear. Plus, they provide you with maximum comfort and maneuverability! DID YOU KNOW…… If your helmet is currently fitted for a HANS device, you can easily upgrade to a Simpson Head and Neck Restraint. Simpson hardware connects to HANS clips! NOW IN STOCK AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY SPECIALISTS (PTY) LTD 30 Schoongezicht Road Bergbron 1709 Johannesburg South Africa Private Bag X26 Auckland Park 2006 South Africa TEL: +27 (0)11 670 8400 – FAX: +27 (0)11 673 5185 WEBSITE: www.ats-motorsport.co.za Your insight into the world of rally! INSIDE Issue 297 • 10 Oct 2013 EDITORIAL INFORMATION CONTACT INFORMATION THIS WEEK E-mail us [email protected] Call us +27 83 452 6892 05 • Loeb & Elena tribute Surf us http://wp.me/pkXc 09 • CRC Pacifi c Forest Rally review To receive your FREE weekly HANDBRAKES & 10 • WRC Rallye de France-Alsace review HAIRPINS eMagazine, or if you’d like to share 11 • ERC Rallye Sanremo preview this with a friend please send your e-mail address to [email protected]. HANDBRAKES & HAIRPINS is not a SPAM e-mail: email addresses are added to the mailing list voluntarily. Editor Evan Rothman Favourite rally car? Audi Quattro S2 ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Current favourite WRC driver? Mads Østberg Favourite WRC rally? WRC Rallye Deutschland All content copyrighted property of HANDBRAKES & Favourite rally? Total Rally, South Africa HAIRPINS, 2007-12. This publication is fully protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted in whole Tweets too much about rallying, loves nothing or in part without written permission from the editor. more than spectating on a forest rally, and has While reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure aspirations of being the world’s greatest rally the accuracy of information from sources and given to journalist. He’s also oftentimes seen with a readers, the editor cannot accept responsibility for any camera in one hand and his mobile phone in the inconvenience or damage that may arise therefrom. other. Photojournalist Eva Kovkova Favourite rally car? Citroën C4 WRC Current favourite WRC driver? Mads Østberg Favourite WRC rally? Vodafone Rally de Portugal Favourite rally? White Nights Rally, Lahdenpohja, Russia Likes to walk in the Swedish snow forests or on Portuguese dusty hills, likes to freeze, to get wet Handbrakes & Hairpins has created this rally-powered in the rain or to melt from the heat during photo wallpaper for the Apple iPhone 5. To download, simply hunts for fl ying cars and smiling faces. Also is save the image to your Camera Roll, or click on this link to known as a press ice bear working for South download: http://wp.me/apkXc-4xU. Africa :) OPENING SHOT Sebastien Ogier and Julian Ingrassia did the impossible for their team: after sitting out of the WRC (but still competing in the S-WRC), Ogier and Ingrassia debuted with a new team, a new car and a new attitude to dominate in 2013’s World Rally Championship. Meet the new World Champions! Picture: Volkswagen Motorsport NEWS TTOO SSEBEB & DDANIEL,ANIEL, IINN YYOUROUR WWORDSORDS Words by H&H and YOU • Main photograph submitted by RallyGallery.com in tribute to Loeb/Elena; Citroën Racing Motorsport’s top rally discipline is followed and and I guess - in true form - went out in a blaze of glory “My fi rst-ever experience of Seb Loeb was at the Portugal supported by passionate fans and enthusiasts. trying to fi ght and push for the win. Loeb has always been Rally in 2007. It never felt real and had to pinch myself Capturing the imagination of millions worldwide for there to win, and we rarely saw him play the points game. a few times. But, wearing a rally overall put me in very the past decade were the fi gures of Sebastien Loeb “Another memory that defi nes Loeb’s career for different situation to the public and being able to stand and Daniel Elena. Nine-time WRC Champions, their me would be the 2006 World Rally Championship that he around and listen to the chats between these great drivers records will stand for many years to come. They have won driving a Kronos-run Xsara and missing 3 rallies due was amazing. [Editor: Jon competed in the Production shaped a generation, as much as Group B shaped to a broken arm. All that said, he may statistically be the World Rally Championship as part of the Pirelli Star Driver the history of the sport. Of course, these rally giants greatest rally driver we will ever see, though if Formula campaign in 2007, a series of six WRC rallies of which he are only human. Here Handbrakes & Hairpins pays One is anything to go by and everyone said the same about won]. I will never forget my fi rst-ever shakedown stage: tribute to its favourite champions the best way how: Michael Schumacher, perhaps another Frenchman will come I lined up and the next moment I had Loeb in front of me through the voices of rally fans for the fans! along and rack up ten WRC Championships. and Marcus Gronhom behind me... No pressure there! “I will conclude with this: all the stats and the There was a crash in the stage, and a delay meant we all Pete Graham, Australia, @triplecaution on twitter: measured drives don’t impact on my favourite memory of stood around our cars chatting; I had Marcus sitting on “When asked if I’d like to contribute to the memories of Sebastian Loeb. It’s that cheeky cigarette break at service my bonnet and Loeb chatting to him. Loeb was always so Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, a whole heap of ideas outside of the Citroën catering tent when I got to meet him relaxed and yet so very focused. I got to see him in action came rushing into my mind. When you think about it, and Daniel at Rally Australia in 2009 that will always stick for six rounds of the WRC and spent a lot of time seeing Loeb’s a nine-time World Champion plus all those other in my mind. Just three guys having a cigarette at the end him at press conferences and driver briefi ngs. Seeing him stats we saw on his car for Rallye de France-Alsace. The of a hard day’s rallying: all equals, just chatting about the in action was breath-taking: the speed he carried through fi rst thing that comes to mind, and something that Malcolm rally, the weather, all passionate about the sport and what corners, his commitment and the trust between co-driver Wilson mentioned recently, was Loeb’s ability to play the next day will bring.” and driver was amazing. He even had time to have a himself into a rally. Not always the fastest starter at times, photograph with my wife and mother at Rally Spain... The but a very measured driver and more times than not he is Jon Williams, South Africa, Rally Driver, entire package of Citroën and Loeb/Elena was like a hand there when it matters. He played himself into his fi nal rally @JonWilliams07 on twitter: in a glove: they worked very hard at being the very best. “The recce runs before rallies was also lots of fun, no excuses and for those 3.6 seconds I was mesmerised! Dani Sordo, Petter Solberg and Mikko Hirvonen. It was and we all got up to some good fun chasing each other “He is so good that he has less to think Mikko who claimed the fi rst stage of the day, but Loeb from stage-to-stage: I can’t give too much detail here, but consciously about when taking a corner. Where other benefi tted from an Ogier spin and found himself leading you can only imagine what happens... Again, stopping for drivers see green letters and numbers, Loeb see’s “The the rally. For the second time in the rally, Loeb went off lunch and sitting amongst Loeb et al was just so unreal! Matrix” of competition driving. He is so utterly talented, road on the next stage returning the lead to Ogier. With “I was very lucky to see such a world class and that added with ice-cold focus, and a confi dence-building just two stages remaining, the top six drivers were all multiple champion in action at the top of his sport. Rallying early WRC run, he is able to step back a bit more than within 30 seconds of the lead and Loeb was lying in fourth. will defi nitely miss him.” everyone else, and just manage and tweak as corner after Going into the fi nal stage, the 30km of Whaanga Coast, corner fl ashes past. His in-car is spectacular to watch for a the top six were now stretched over 32 seconds. The Valmar Viisel, Estonia, motorsport news on twitter, driver, with the odd tweak of the steering wheel, or pedals atmosphere was electric standing at my favourite spectator @paddocknews on twitter: rousing a “wow!” from time to time. He’s just awesome.” spot, with panoramic views of the ocean and about 2km of “Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena (everyone always forgets stage in view. With six potential winners, it was time to let the bloody navigator) have done what no other sporting Gary Boyd, New Zealand, @KiwiWRCfan on twitter: the action unfold: I can’t say I specifi cally remember any fi gure or athlete has done on such a level in any sport: “My favourite memory of Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena driver that day as everyone was on the edge.