WRC drive

[jakaracman]

Uffff ...
Yesterday I got a chance to drive Peugeot 307 WRC (ex. Marcus Gronholm) for a few laps on a nice gravel circuit. Amazing, that's all I can say. First I was driven by Nicolas Voullioz (ex. mountain bike champion and now semi-works driver), then I had to wait for mechanics to fix the car (he jumped waaay to fast so sumpguard broke), then I had my chance ... It's very easy to drive fast, I was a bit suprised at that ... Slides rally nice, and the piower of the engine is just crazy. I'm not so impressed with 4-speed gearbox, though. I would prefer 5-speed.
It eas a bit tight behin steering wheel (the seat was not set for Gronholm, who is tall, but for Voullioz, who is short, so i bumped my hed on the roof on every bump), but not too much. Steering wheel gearchange is extremely fast (I have driven some kicars and ST cars, but this is completely different), you can shift from 3 to 4 while slidnig the car through a corner without breaking the slide. And steering whell has just over 1 turn lock to lock ...
Some pics (me driving):
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/2913/jw4.th.jpg (http://img103.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img103&image=jw4.jpg)
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4227/jw3.th.jpg (http://img103.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img103&image=jw3.jpg)
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/1096/jw2.th.jpg (http://img103.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img103&image=jw2.jpg)
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/4214/jw1.th.jpg (http://img103.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img103&image=jw1.jpg)
http://img103.exs.cx/img103/5102/jw0.th.jpg (http://img103.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img103&image=jw0.jpg)

[jakaracman]

I thought you would be the firs one ... I'm a journalist ... And how did you know tha they call me Lucky (really, not kidding, that's how everybody calls me)?
Anyway: next task: to drive Impreza WRC ...

[possessed_beaver]

dide, that is awsome, very lucky to get to drive one - damn

diden't know they had a 4 speed gearbox!

[jakaracman]

diden't know they had a 4 speed gearbox!
They have 4 or 5 speed, depending on rally. This one was from rally GB, so it had a 4 speed ...

[Wutputt]

This must be an amazing experience, lucky you!! And did you manage to set some fast times or were you scared to crash an expensive car like this?

[mk2 fan]

jakaracman what magazine do you report for ?

That is one awsome jod if you get to go in cars like that :o but me i hope to be doing the real thing in a few years :)

[jakaracman]

This must be an amazing experience, lucky you!! And did you manage to set some fast times or were you scared to crash an expensive car like this?
This must be an amazing experience, lucky you!! And did you manage to set some fast times or were you scared to crash an expensive car like this?

Look at the pics and you'll se that it was quite fast. Didn't go at 100%, though (more like 95%), you cat got 100% imediately in a road car, they are not that different from each other, but not in a race car or some supercars. So I do not want to know lap times if I don't have time to to get to know the car really well (at least 20 lap or so, now I did 5)

Mk 2 fan: Avto Magazin (from Slovenia) ... Real thing? You do rallying?

[mk2 fan]

Mk 2 fan: Avto Magazin (from Slovenia) ... Real thing? You do rallying?

Yes i do rallying, im going to be in a Peugeot 205 1.6 GTi from Next June

im only just gonna be able to drive then and im going straight into it :D

P.s. If you want to do a article for your Mag its ok ill do it :)

want to sponsor me ? ;)

[BADMIHAI]

The pics are stunning! :shock: How did it accelerate in comparison to a road car?

[jakaracman]

Hmmm....
Couldn't measure it, bud from seat of the pants feeling I wolud say about 5 sec to 100 km/h on gravel ... And on gravel it brakes better than 911 on road tires on normal road ...

[RC45]

Looks like fun.

Be sure to scan the article to share with us when it goes to press.

[gobs3z]

Thats gotta be amazing. Do you have or less respect for rally drivers now?

[jakaracman]

I would say more, but I allready had very high respect for them ...

[Toronto]

nice pics, some shots from the inside?

god I would love to be in your shoes.

[findleybeast]

uhhh.... ENVY!

[OVERLORD_CHRIS]

Lucky Lucky Lucky, aside from the car being fugly, you got to ride of your life, and then you get to do it agine in the Impreza! ENVY is what comes to mind! :x

[bmwmpower]

yes, great job journalist, but better is testman in M division or in Ferrari :D

[Anonymous]

One question jakaracman... if you crash the car... what happens? is there any insurance? the magazine pays? or is you the one who have to pay? do you know if someona has ever crashed a car like these in a press test???

Well good old clarkson crashed a focus rally car in one of his shows..... didn't do too much damage though i think :lol:

[mk2 fan]

he did???? really ???????? vot a vid of that so i can see it for real ????

[jakaracman]

nice pics, some shots from the inside?

god I would love to be in your shoes.

Pics from inside coming up in a few days. Got to get them from another photographer ...

One question jakaracman... if you crash the car... what happens? is there any insurance? the magazine pays? or is you the one who have to pay? do you know if someona has ever crashed a car like these in a press test???

If you crash it everybody is angry at you. Ther were a few jouralists to dtrive it after me (some spanish guys also, a guy from Sport Auto & AMS and an Italian guy), so I would spoil their day (for which they have travelled quite far). That would be the worst. Who pays for damage? The car company (Peugeot in this case). They know that we are not there to crash the car and will not be reckless with it, but accidents do happen, so they assume the risk in exchange for publicity. Anyway, beside some more local affairs (group N Evos or such) I have not heard of journalist carshing a rally car in a situation like this, at least not so much taht it couldn't be fixed imedialtelly. The end result on my day was 3 sump guards, a front bumper and a few sets of gravel tires ...

bmwpower: I have thought of that, but no thanks. I've been with those guys (from BMW, Pirelli and so) for a few days and it's mostly a very repetitive, sometimes boring work. You have to be really god and have the job for long time to be let's say suspension development test driver for BMW, doing laps of Nurburgring ...