2004 Race of Champions / Nation Cup, Dec 04

[TT]

There was already a topic talking about Schumi racing in this year's ROC, but here is a more extensive description of the event that will take place this upcoming December 04th! (And not on the Canary Islands like usually, but in France, Paris!)

The Race of Champions pitches the best circuit racers against the best off road drivers in the world to determine who is the fastest!

Created by IMP (International Media Productions) President Fredrik Johnsson and the worlds best female rally driver Michele Mouton in 1988, it remains the only event to allow drivers to race head-to-head heats in exactly the same cars and on a parallel-track. The premise is simple: using identical equipment and track, drivers can prove themselves based on their talent alone.

Sixteen rally drivers and racing drivers will compete in a series of knockout heats in their own division to determine their class champion.

Then, in a shootout to determine who is the master of motorsport, the winners from the two divisions, rally and racing, will go head-to-head in a super final.

The winner is rewarded with the title as “The Champion of Champions”.

History

The first edition of the Race of Champions, coincidentally held in Paris in 1988, gathered all the official World Rally Champions and was held in memory of the late Henri Toivonen, who died while leading the world championship during the Corsica rally in 1986. The Henri Toivonen Memorial trophy is still awarded to the winner of the individual Race of Champions.

The Race of Champions was originally conceived as the ultimate shoot-out between the best international rally stars. But experts from other disciplines have given the rally boys more than just a run for their money over the years. They include MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi, six-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Tom Kristensen and four-times NASCAR Champ Jeff Gordon.

This year Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard will be the latest in a long line of F1 stars to have accepted the invitation, including Fernando Alonso, Cristiano Da Matta, Olivier Panis and Nick Heidfeld.

Recent form

Now in its 17th year, the list of past winners features the 2003 “Champion of Champions” Sebastien Loeb as well as former World Rally Champions Juha Kankkunen, Stig Blomqvist, Didier Auriol, Tommi Mäkinen, Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and Marcus Gronholm.

In 2003, Sebastien Loeb ended his season on a high by winning a re-match of the 2002 final at The Race of Champions beating Finland’s two-time World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm. Loeb defeated Gronholm two heats to nil, both victories achieved by little more than a car length.

In 2002, World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm got the edge on the WRC’s hottest young star Sebastien Loeb by a nose length in the third and decisive final.

In 2001, first-timer Harri Rovanpera defeated Armin Schwarz to take the title and, in the year previous, Tommi Mäkinen defeated Marcus Gronholm in an all-Finnish affair.

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Over the years the event was always dominated by rally drivers (kinda obvious if you look at the cars used, but this year things could change :D)

Some of the past winners: Loeb, Gronholm, Rovanpera, Mäkinen, Auriol, McRae, Sainz, Delecour, Kankunnen...

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The 2004 Track

On 4th December 2004, the famous Stade de France playing field will be replaced with an asphalt race track, specially designed and built for the 17th Race of Champions.

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2205/concept-lrdesigntrack.jpg (http://www.imp.mc/rocwebsite/all_images/press_images/img_2004/hrdesigntrack280904def.jpg)
click for high-res

The 1 km long- 7m wide track is designed on a figure of eight style with a crossover bridge. The first corner is tricky whilst the oval sections and the straights are very fast. “It’s a very interesting track considering the short of space. “We have favoured long corners which must be spectacular”, said Michèle Mouton who has already tested the track. On each heat, the drivers have to cover two full laps, which means four runs past the start/finish line.

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The 2004 drivers

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/8075/drivers.jpg

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The 2004 cars

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6315/car01.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/678/car7.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/8367/car03.jpg

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6506/car04.jpg

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Some pics from the past editions

http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6039/final_seat_01.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=final_seat_01.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1048/girls_01.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=girls_01.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/5981/michroc_group_01.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=michroc_group_01.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/8940/nationscup_group.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=nationscup_group.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/493/nationscup_group_02.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=nationscup_group_02.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1923/NCwinners2001grand.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=NCwinners2001grand.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1930/roc_car07.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=roc_car07.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/5871/rossi2001.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=rossi2001.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1710/rovanp_schwarz_podium_01.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=rovanp_schwarz_podium_01.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/9207/rovanpera_03.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=rovanpera_03.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/1413/DaMatta3.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=DaMatta3.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/747/DSC_8529.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=DSC_8529.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/3744/Finalaction.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=Finalaction.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6103/flag1.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=flag1.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/9462/Gordon2.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=Gordon2.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/9448/Harri.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=Harri.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/251/JGronholm01.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=JGronholm01.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/6830/NationsGp.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=NationsGp.jpg)
http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2876/PodiumS.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=PodiumS.jpg) http://img102.exs.cx/img102/2431/TrophyMarc.th.jpg (http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=TrophyMarc.jpg)

Can't wait to see TV coverage of the event :D

[sameerrao]

Can't wait to see TV coverage of the event

Me too. Hope Yann is going to the event and get us some live pics ...

[TT]

Uhm.. Yann isn't really close to the Stade de France..

[ZfrkS62]

stuff the race, lets watch the girls wrestle in Jello :D

[stracing]

the track doesn't look as exciting as the one in canary islands. and they've reduced the teams to just two drivers.

[TT]

The idea of a 100% asphalt track seems dumb to me :( I would have liked to see Schumi and other F1 drivers flying in the air with some rally cars... for sure will be less exciting!

[stradale]

The BBC will be covering this, I made a note on it. It's supposed to be broadcast on 19 december at around 1.30 pm.

It's too bad the Stade de France is too small to have an asphalt AND a gravel track. But given the range of cars (which I very much approve of!) you can't have a rally style track as the only track. Rally cars do fine on asphalt as well.

Lots of strong contenders too! Watch out for Sarrazin. He could really shine in this event IMO.

[mrpushrod]

Looks awesome although some dirt would have been nice. Maybe they could have had dirt track next to the road sections so you could have had a rallycross track. If they ran the onroad cars first, dirt going onto the tarmac wouldn't have been a problem.

[possessed_beaver]

looks awsome, should be an even playing field where all the drivers have the same car, then you could see who's fastest!