A bit surprising.......

[ANDYJDMSTI]

Peugeot and Citroen are quitting the WRC after next season.

Wonder who will take their places and where their drivers will go?????

The way things are going there will only be about 3 teams left soon

BRING BACK McRAE!!!!!!!!

[the squiggle]

I dont think both are leaving, the hierarchy at PSA, Peugeot-Citreon parent group, are finding it hard to justify spending masses of dosh on development for the 2 separate teams which are both one and the same company

Peugeot say it should be them as they have been competing longer but Citreon say it should be them as they have the better car which is winning at the moment

Ford have confirmed that they are staying in the WRC for another 4 years, Mitsu-shit-i are also looking at a full program next year as are Skoda. Suzuki are toying with the idea of getting involved as thier JWRC car performed better than expected

I wish Subaru would see sense and bring back the mad Scotsman and sack that eejit Hirrvonen

The revenue generated from increased sales of Subaru cars and merchandise would more than pay McRae's wages

But wether or not McRae still has the hunger to compete for the title is debatable as it wasn't the same McRae that drove for Citreon in 2002 to the one that drove for Subaru in 1995

Grant

[ANDYJDMSTI]

bloody french!!!!!!!!

garlic swilling idiots

[MCCRASH]

Teletext seems to think both are pulling out from the end of 2005. I also thought just one of them would go, but seemingly not - shame.

The only good driver from either camp is Leob anyway so there is no great loss. With the exception of Sainz and Gronholm of course, but one has retired and I would expect Marcus to go at the end of next year too.

Totally agree about Hirvonen - besides being useless, he is far to ugly to be allowed anywhere near a Subaru WRC. Surely they will punt him. I too would love to see the master back where he belongs, but fear that if it was going to happen, it would have this year. You are totally right about increased sales of the car.

I would now rather see someone like Guy Wilks get the Subaru seat - he is the future.

M.

[ANDYJDMSTI]

bloody french!!!!!!

garlic swilling idiots

trust them to mess everything up

[ANDYJDMSTI]

seem to have trouble with my posting

[the squiggle]

<< Teletext seems to think both are pulling out from the end of 2005. I also thought just one of them would go, but seemingly not - shame.

The only good driver from either camp is Leob anyway so there is no great loss. With the exception of Sainz and Gronholm of course, but one has retired and I would expect Marcus to go at the end of next year too.

Totally agree about Hirvonen - besides being useless, he is far to ugly to be allowed anywhere near a Subaru WRC. Surely they will punt him. I too would love to see the master back where he belongs, but fear that if it was going to happen, it would have this year. You are totally right about increased sales of the car.

I would now rather see someone like Guy Wilks get the Subaru seat - he is the future.

M. >>

I like Guy Wilks but the one i would tip for the top is Kris Meeke, he has a driving style which reminds me of the master at his peak

I dont want the sport to lose Gronholm then we would miss classic lines like

When a traffic cop stopped him in Wales for driving a car with only 3 wheels

Traffic Cop ................. " Im sorry sir but you cannot drive that car on the Queens highway with only 3 wheels"

Gronholm ..................." I can and i just have driven for the past 20 miles "

Traffic cop .................." You dont understand, i am telling you that you cannot drive that car with only 3 wheels any further "

Gronholm ..................." No you dont understand i can drive the car with only 3 wheels "

Traffic cop .................." If you try to drive that car any further i will have to arrest you"

Gronholm .................. " But i can drive the car "

Traffic cop .................." If you try i will arrest you "

Gronholm, determined to have the last say on the matter, " But i can drive the car"

Gronholm after stopping at the end of a stage in Finland

"We have a problem, Tino is hurt, something has entered the car via the floorpan, punched a hole in the seat and went right up Tino's arse. I am stunned because Tino is screaming in pain and has something metallic in his arse, what do you want us to do"

Gronholm after the Peugeot gearbox gave up the ghost for the umpteenth time

"You can go tell Corrado to build a gearbox with only one speed but that would probably snap as well"

Tha guy is a genius you cant get rid of the only guy to backchat a Traffic Cop ........ superb

Motorsport news had an excellent feature with Guy Frequlin and Corrado Provera talking about the future of PSA in the WRC

Grant

[Allan]

Am sure Colin McRae has sponsored Kris Meeke . He was on a programme a while ago saying he likes his driving style and he feels he needs to help keeping young guys coming thought the ranks.

[the squiggle]

Yeah its a shame when the only way for any UK driver to progress is for someone in the know to look after them and foot some of the rather large bills that will rack up on the way. Where as the Garlic swilling bloody idiots have a government sponsored programme that has produced Loeb in such a short space of time to world champion level. Of course this doesn't apply to Mathew Wilson, he just has to ask daddy if he can have a shot in one of his company cars. Tell you what give me a Ford WRC and enter me in every single round of every championship and i would do better than Wilson jnr. I remember on the Malcolm Wilson Rally at Cockermouth this year we were servicing right next door to the Ford team. We all gathered round the Ford service area after we heard that Wee Matty had skelped a tree on the third stage and when the car came into service looking a right mess, front bumper, bonnet, lights and wings all mangled, possibly retirement material for the majority of us but not a problem when your dad owns M-Sport. The solution was to send the mechanic up to the factory, about 2 miles away from the central service area, to pick up all the parts required for a rebuild. Remarkably 20 mins later the car leaves service looking brand new only for him to leave the road again on the last stage........... DOH

At the Colin McRae stages in Perth this year Kris Meeke was driving a Millington powered MK2 Escort with 300 odd horses and RWD, the amazing thing was he was posting times quicker than the Grp A Impreza's and Evo's with 4WD and modern day suspension

Grant

[wrxmania]

Yeah,

Colin McRae has been pushing and "sponsoring" him all year and was interviewed various times this year saying his goal for this year was to get Chris Meeke one step closer to driving a WRC car.

McRae would be a major boon for Subaru but may not be as determined as before - let's face it - he has nothing to prove really and if it was not for him, chances are mny of us would not know Subaru so well.

Brian

[spooks]

copied my post from General cause feeling lazy

I guess they just didnt see any competition

Seriously this is bad news for the sport, rule changes next year teams dropping out next again with as yet no one to fill the void(I know Im a bit early). Hope the sport weathers this storm and develop rallying into a bigger sport, it deserves more recognition than it currently recieves.

Spooks