It’s Taken 20 Years But Mountain Bikes Are Finally Faster Than Rally Cars!

Around 20 years ago Rob Warner had long hair! Damn, we hope you were sitting down for that shocker… Not only did he have the hair of a Nordic God but he also raced downhill against a rally car.

The race was staged for TV show You Bet, and saw a lycra clad Rob Warner steer his Saracen branded Sintessi down a 90’s style downhill against the mighty Escort Cosworth driven by Malcolm Wilson.

The race resulted in Rob losing the battle. Rewatch the excitement in the video below (or here).

20 years later and a similar race has just taken place using modern machines and resulting in a new winner!

Orange Rider, Ben Moore was the challenger this time around beating an off road buggy down an aggressive downhill course on this Orange Alpine. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Ben wasn’t up against any ‘normal’ WRC but instead the bonkers Ariel Nomad! Check it out below (or here).

For you non-car-loving readers out there, the Ariel Nomad is a lightweight space framed off road version of the Ariel Atom road car. In terms of power, the Nomad boasts a whopping 600 horsepower per tonne, whereas the Escort Cosworth WRC had nearer 192 horsepower per tonne!

What will another 20 years of development result in?

Andi Sykes

Andi is a gadget guru and mountain biker who has lived and ridden bikes in China and Spain before settling down in the Peak District to become Singletrack's social media expert. He is definitely more big travel fun than XC sufferer but his bike collection does include some rare hardtails - He's a collector and curator as well as a rider. Theory and practice in perfect balance with his inner chi, or something. As well as living life based on what he last read in a fortune cookie Andi likes nothing better than riding big travel bikes.