MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Michelle Mouton was on 5Live yesterday afternoon giving an interesting insight into her career. There is a new documentary on Sky called Queen of Speed, for those who are slightly nostalgic for the Gp B days. Not watched it yet, but it's on the list.
Having just read an old Gp B thread I think I might lug the amp and speakers up from the garage for some proper sound.
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Some reading here - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/19/michele-moutons-trailblazing-rallying-career-shocked-male-dominated-sport
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It's a good watch, very nearly world champion but for a personal tragedy putting her off her game.
Damn, I don't have Sky.
They tried to touch the bodywork as the cars hurtled past and Audi mechanics would have to remove parts of fingers from Mouton’s car.
You forget how utterly bonkers some rally fans were/are 🙂
It's a brilliant film, some of the footage is incredible. She and her navigator are super cool.
The only fingers found were in the air intake of a 205T16.
I did the Welsh rally Hannu won in a Quattro in a little Group N Samba. The Group B cars had cut such deep ruts on tight corners my little car clattered along on the sump guard so I took adavantage of its diminutive size to take some unusual lines hooking on the outer rut. This caught one bunch of spectators by surprise and we heard a clatter from the back as we brushed past. We reported at the end of the stage but heard nothing more of it.
I gave up at the end of the year, 86. I'd been drawn to the sport by 220bhp Escorts and Fiats and the Group B stuff seemed ridiculous. I switched to sports using muscle power.
I gave up at the end of the year, 86. I’d been drawn to the sport by 220bhp Escorts and Fiats and the Group B stuff seemed ridiculous
I know what you mean. I saw Hannu driving the Quattro when it first came to our shores and it was stunning. But after a while I decided rwd Gp4 was better.
Edukator wrote:
I did the Welsh rally Hannu won in a Quattro in a little Group N Samba. The Group B cars had cut such deep ruts on tight corners my little car clattered along on the sump guard so I took adavantage of its diminutive size to take some unusual lines hooking on the outer rut. This caught one bunch of spectators by surprise and we heard a clatter from the back as we brushed past. We reported at the end of the stage but heard nothing more of it.
I gave up at the end of the year, 86.
Haha, I was a marshal on that rally in 1986 and did a stage start on Epynt, so got to see all the cars at one point. So if you were in it that year and still running you would have been waved off the line by yours truly 🙂
I finished first Group N 1300 so we met. You didn't give me a couple of seconds like some marshals in the forests though, 😉 all the timing on Epynt was spot on. Epynt was pretty wet but I had a choice of forest Pirellis or lightly cut TB15s. I took the TB15s and there were a few uneasy aquaplaning moments.
Thanks for the shout, looking forward to watching QOS
Really enjoyed that, thanks for the heads up.
Watched it last night. Absolutely fantastic viewing. She, and her co-driver both seemed to have a brilliantly matter-of-fact attitude to it all.
The footage from back then (particularly the Portuguese stuff) is absolutely bonkers! You look at it now and wonder how it was ever allowed to happen, and more incredibly how there weren’t loads and loads of deaths 😳
@Edukator, @welshfarmer - one of my mates was - I think - in that rally too, possibly in the VW junior team. 18th overall according to the eWRC site. Still rallying. And MTBing. He had Robert Reid as navigator once for twice, and Nicky Grist.
I had forgotten just how good she was.
She beat some of the best rally drivers ever by huge margins of time!!
That drive in the fog !!