Car on fire? I ain't stopping

For Robert Consani, driver of this European Rally Championship Peugeot 207, the only thing that mattered was crossing the finish line of this special stage of the Ypres Rally.  

Clearly his navigator has a different plan, perhaps not as much of a Ken Block fan, he wants to get the hell out of the car and he "ain't care" if it's still traveling at 60 mph.

Tuck and roll seems like an attractive alternative at the time.

But all's well that ends well, much gallic screaming later and a fire bottle saves the week end!

Here's Sebastien Loeb Testing For Pike's Peak

Sebastien Loeb tested the Peugeot 208 T16, now in its full Red Bull livery on the windy roads of Mont Ventoux, in the south of France, in preparation for his assault on the Pike's Peak record at the end of June.  Sick.

A rally car is made up of 10174 parts...

...or "pieces of parts" as they say in this video from Polish rally team Cersanit. 

You may think it just a goofy translation but truth is, rally cars often do end up in 10174 pieces of parts.

(H.T.Master)

Rally Car Vs Skier even more awesome in extended version!

In this longer version of the clip we showed you a while back we get much more of the climb up Monte Zoncolan in North East Italy with driver, six time Italian rally champion Paolo Andreucci and skier,  his navigator, Anna Andreussi.

On the way up, the studded Pirellis help the Peugeot 207 reach 160 km/h, but it's hitting that same 100 mph on the way down with the huge jumps I can't quite imagine, "Porca puttana" indeed!

Toyota aims to pulverize Nürburgring lap record...

...for electric vehicles. The current record is held by Peugeot which lapped its weird sci-fi looking EX1 in 9:01.338. Fast for a golf cart but in real life teams, way slower than a Range Rover Sport.



Toyota Motorsport GmbH has a 160 mph, 0-62 in 3.9 second electric car hiding in the forests of Germany and figures they'll send the Peugeot lion scampering home. Usually, when these things are announced, it means the time has already been beaten unofficially and now it's just a matter of finding a nice day to film the event...

You'll be amazed when the time is revealed, that's one fast golf cart! Care to take a guess?

(more on Pitpass).

Light, Nimble & Fast

Badass FWD Group A rally cars from the late 90's

Citroen Xsara specs
Renault Megane Maxi specs
Peugeot 306 Maxi specs

Amjeyes, the author of this compilation writes:

"The rally cars that produced the most memorable sounds of the late 1990s were definitely the notorius little hornets called the kit cars. Fast, nimble and light - no wonder the WRC class took a beating when these FWD bad boys were hammered to the limit on dry tarmac with top asphalt aces behind the wheel. This compilation features the best bits of the 1999 French Rally Championship with Citroen Xsara, Peugeot 306 Maxi and Renault Megane - with pure engine sounds of course.

Notice that during the 1999 season the FWD Citroen Xsara also won twice in the WRC with Philippe Bugalski clinching the grand prize in Rallye Catalunya and Tour de Corse."


end of post

Raikkonen and Loeb at the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours...

Keep an eye on the 2010 24 Hours, it has the potential of being the most interesting in years. The latest rumors are of a Red Bull sponsored Peugeot 908 Hdi driven by Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastien Loeb and perhaps David Coulthard. Certainly would attract media attention, something RedBull has show to have a certain talent for over the years...

Also in 2010, BMW will return to contest as an official factory team for the first time in years. There will be GT2 M3s but perhaps also the new GT3 class Z4 racer the bavarians have cooked up. Stay tuned for updates.
(autohebdo.fr, motorsportblog.it)






end of post

15 days 16 hours 6 minutes and 04 seconds

I'm not sure if it took 15 days, 16 hours, 6 minutes and 04 seconds to assemble this Peugeot 307 WRC. Perhaps that included the 35 hour week and a couple of strikes. In any case, eleven days after completion Marcus Gronholm and Timo Rautiainen drove this very car to a win at the 2004 Rally of Finland.

(video: Peugeot Sport)

2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, June 14-15

This week end, it will be an Audi vs Peugeot oilburner fight in the top class with Porsche in LMP2 and the usual Corvette vs Aston Martin and Porsche vs Ferrari lower down the pole.

The Clip below is in part from yesterday qualifying and ends with another frightening LMP crash (remember Monza?). Hideki Noda walked away from the wreck of his LMP2 Lola-Mazda, his team will have little sleep until Monday!

No video feeds yet, but you can listen live to Radio Le Mans
You can find a handy "spotter's guide HERE
Lots of good resources found HERE

download high rez clip HERE

I made a quick clip of the Noda accident from stills by Christian Vignon


Hideki Noda crash from AxisOfOversteer.com on Vimeo.

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP preparing for the oil burner battle with Audi in the ALMS (automotoconso.com)

Psycho...

We discussed psycho rally drives earlier in the week... I happened to find this gem:
2000 Safari rally in Kenya, Gilles Panizzi, pissed off that another driver dared kick up dust, goes psycho aided and abetted by his thug brother...Officials were not impressed and after manhandling the two french goons, fined them $50,000.

"My helicopter..he says to him, STOP and he do not stop and me:....Paff!....(whistle)..." has to be an all time classic motorsport quote.

A symphony in B

The Axis featured a few mechanical symphonies before however this one comes to us via Axis reader Tom Schreuder from Eindhoven in the Netherlands.

We touched on the mythical group B cars before but these videos, as Tom points out, are especially cool as they are devoid of any of the usual lame techno or death metal music that tends to accompany similar montages. They are pure mechanical sound.... oh yeah and people's screams. Not having music somehow brings into sharper focus the collective insanity of rally spectators, essentially a mechanized and more dangerous version of the Pamplona running of the bulls, nuts.

All the Group B stars are in the video, the Audi Quattro, The Lancias 037 and Delta S4, the Renault 5 turbo, Peugeot 205t16, the Rover Metro 6R4 and the Ford RS200, even the Porsche 959 makes a brief appearance in act one.

Thanks Tom.