This Week in Motorsport
On Friday, Armistice Day, I was able to watch the Rally Catalunya, recorded the previous Sunday & run two to three weeks before broadcast. 'Twas bughouse even by the standards of the other W.R.C. rallies I've seen. Woo hoo! Rallies are run in timed stages; each car drives the same course, leaving at different intervals; the cumulative times are added up & the lowest time, the quickest car, carries the day. On gravel, or other "loose surface" stages, the first car is at a disadvantage, because it is driving on more loose material than any other car; it's passage will "sweep" the road for the following cars, giving them greater grip, allowing them to take corners at higher speeds. Not so the case in Spain. The first car was reigning World Champion Sébastien Loeb, of Citroën. While his run did sweep the road for the trailing cars, it also threw up a huge plume of dust that he not yet settled to earth by the time Ford's Mikko Hirvonen began his run. Hirvonen ran in almost zero visibility at some points along the stage, severely compromising his pace. Hirvonen's dust mixed with Loeb's, making visibility even worse of the third car, the Citroën piloted by Sébastien Ogier. Rally cars go too fast for the driver to navigate his way without pace notes even under the best of circumstances. In the dust cloud, the situation was all but hopeless.

The dust situation did not persist beyond the first few stages, but by then Loeb had an enormous lead as they heading into the next two days stages, which would be almost all run on tarmac (streets). Loeb is the undisputed master of tarmac. Some stages had both gravel & tarmac portions, which played hell with the cars' performance. The ride height of the cars is set as low as possible on tarmac, & tire pressure is increased; the cars are raised up on their suspensions on gravel, & run on soft, low-pressure tires. It was wild to see the compromises struck to try & balance the variable conditions.

The more I see of the World Rally Championship, the more I like it. A developing issue is that I like both of the Ford drivers, a pair of flying Finns, the aforementioned Hirvonen & the youthful Jari-Matti Latvala. Yet I remain implacably opposed to the Ford Motor Company, for which they race, creating quite the conundrum. In my first year of watching F1, I didn't take sides, I just watched the races. Such has been the case this year in the W.R.C. Can that neutrality persist? I am doubtful, I think it not in my nature. In the accusatory words of Zapp Brannigan, "What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?"

Next up: the race run this past weekend, the Wales Rally G.B., the season finale, to be broadcast the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Antje Duvekot, "Merry-Go-Round" courtesy of The Watergirl (The Watergirl)