I did some more test driving and suddenly I lost the ability to drive the Audi. However I found out the secret for driving the Lancia! Stay the hell away from that throttle! I basically only use half throttle, except in tight turns to drift and when there is a long straight road in front of me. That car still scares the crap outta me.
So yeah I picked the Lancia and went for it. Of course packing two spares because it actually improves handling. That’s the only reason. Yep, definitely.
Sadly I hit the invisible rock again. Twice. Also rolled the car twice and had to change one tyre. And once I missed a turn and ploughed into a tape. I was already on my way back but still got a minute of penalty. Grrr…
Anyway, I finished and it wasn’t too dire for the most part. But I am certainly not a contender for the 1st place.
That’s Group B in a nutshell. It’s really about survival and minimizing crashes, not going quickly. I can use full throttle for about 3 seconds before I’m back to half throttle just so I don’t kill myself. Most of the time it feels like I’m extracting maybe 60-70% of the car’s true potential. Any more than that and it’s insta-death.
That said, I hate the last two sectors of Stages 4 and 5 (Stage 5 is just the second half of Stage 4, so same thing). It’s the mile long downhill stretch with logs every 50 feet. The turns seem tighter through that section than the calls would indicate, and in both instances I got a flat (different turns, but same result). Oh well, at least I don’t have to do that section again (at least in that direction).
Overall, I love it, I hate it. It’s terrifying, it’s awesome. Man I missed this competition!
Oh, and @Aginor, you’re right there with me on a few stages. Only 1 second off on Stage 3, and a full 20 seconds clear of me on Stage 5. You’ve improved massively mate.
When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Despite the extensive bodywork, the principles of physics apply to all classes the same. Where the group B cars gain most is accelerating out of the corners, the rest they can’t do faster than any other car that can go fast enough to fly off the track.
Through SS6 and fun rally so far. It’s interesting how much tighter the stages feel in the Group B cars compared to an R5. I’m afraid to touch the handbrake in the Audi, worried that my big rear end will clip a stump. Baby got back. @Aginor has gotten in touch with his inner forza and going like blazes in the Lancia. For now, I am plodding along hoping that Vorsprung durch Technik is more than a corporate slogan
I admit that the nice color scheme did play a role in selecting the car.
Also: I really dislike two additional things about the Audi which helped decide for the Lancia: its motor sound and its cockpit instruments. The Lancia has the lights more visible and it sounds more like the cars I am used to. It is easier to hear what the engine is doing.
Looking at my results again.
I think being within 5 minutes of @Roo makes this a win. (Still kicking myself because two of those minutes would have been easily avoidable).
Btw, are Phlyer521 and MagnesiumOvercast members on Mudspike? No problem if not, but I would like to hear their thoughts on the rally as well.
Hi guys, sorry about not taking part just now but I’m having a few important family issues to deal with at the moment so will probably sit out this week and into next week too. I will be back time willing asap though.
Enjoy the rally and I’ll be keeping an eye on things
It was a lot of fun. The Ford was fast when I felt like I could open it up. That didn’t happen often. I was just trying not to completely destroy my car. Had to change a tire or two.
Eeked out a few green sectors, so maybe if I can clean things up a bit I’ll be closer to the rest of the field. Thanks @Mudcat for the invite. I did video one stage, which wasn’t very good, my hood flew off and got stuck on my windshield and blinded me for some time. Once it was good I was much faster though. I’ll have to make a youtube page I guess to post it.
That sounds like a funny moment indeed!
I experienced something similar driving the Polo GTI once. Now that I think about it, that was in Scotland as well IIRC.
Finished up the rally last evening (as you’ve probably already seen from the time sheets). Had a bit of a rough start getting back into it. Stage 7 I dipped a wheel off the edge on one of the fast sections, ended up sucking the whole car over and skidding sideways into a tree. About a minute later I did a tiny cut, and slammed into an almost invisible tree trunk. Was down on power for that stage and the next one. A couple of burst tires on the following stages didn’t help matters.
For the last two stages I managed to clean up my driving a lot, and really got into the flow of it. Even though Group Bs can be terrifying, I think this was my most enjoyable rally. There are still a few calls/corners that annoy me in Scotland (the chicane, a “4 right” with logs outside that is most certainly NOT a “4”, plus a few more), but overall I’ve fallen for the locale. I think it’s my favorite rally now. And the Pug can be really fun when you get it flowing nicely along the road. I may even run the rally again against the AI I had so much fun.
Oh god that one is just… The other “worst” one for me was always the 3 left, but with the service road straight ahead and a big rock blocking your view. I’ve wanted to just jump that spot just once and pull an Anakin Skywalker Podracer scenario, but I know that wouldn’t go well.
Finished up this afternoon and was going ok, not super quick, but gaining the time back I lost after the puncture in the previous stages, then I hit stage 7 or 8, the long one after the repair and burst a tyre 20 seconds from the start, changed it and then immediately went sideways into a tree. Lost the car door and the back right tyre. I drove the rest of the stage and the next pirouetting everything more than a 3 left.
Last two or three stages I really enjoyed, as @roo has said, it started to flow better. I guess you’d had a problem @roo as I one one of the stages.
I too think I’ll run the rally again as I really enjoyed it. The turn I had was the 6 right - slowing, turn tight left 2. There was a definite pause after the “slowing” call as I was slowing but not enough for a turn tight left 2.
I really like the group B’s, plenty of opportunity for terror, yet when its good, its really really sweet.
Here is that video. A good stage it was not. I hit one piece of wood the entire rally. I got stuck on it too. Fell off a cliff and popped a tire. The hood coming off does not look like much in the video. It felt like it was blocking my view for ages when I was driving it.
The game said I was fast in the 3rd sector. That is a bonus I gave back smashing in a bank near the end.
I made it finally, thanks for the invite everybody. The race was pure survival mode. My poor Audi was beaten within an inch of its life on multiple occasions. The engine was near death twice, both times on uphill stages. The only gold star I’ll be getting for this race is just for surviving intact.
Sorry for being a bit of a slacker on the forum invite. Welcome and don’t worry there are plenty of more races to limp a car across the finish line left
@Camembert take care, hope it’s nothing too serious, but we’ll keep a car idling for your return
Less than 24 hours to go if anyone still wants to join in.
Hey @Mudcat can you please accept my application to the QL club? You are probably going to chuckle at this, but I actually dosed off with my hand on the mouse and accidentally left the club LOL.
