Wanna see the driver who really was involved in motorsports for a veeerrryyyy long time?
Meet Stig Lennart Blomqvist - 1984 WRC rally champion!
His first rally was in 1964, and, hell, he is still racing in local rallies and getting wins and podiums!
http://www.tiemporally.com.ar/wp-content/u...lomqvist_02.jpg
And, anticipating the question - yes, he was the inspiration behind Top Gear Stig.

Wrong. This says that "Stig" was used because new boys at Clarksons school were called Stig.

Who trusts Wikipedia these days?

Anyway, that Stig Blomqvist proves that you can do rallying for a very long time.

Getting closer to modern times.
This
http://autosport.aeiou.pt/users/0/51/acce111c.jpeg
is Citroen S2000, which the Citroen team is going to use in 2011

Nice thread

Yesterday MTV3 interviewed our rally expert Tomi Tuominen, here's what he had to say:
http://www.mtv3.fi/ralli/

Team strategies has always been a part of WRC-rally and last season Citroen made strategies on several occasions in order to get Loeb as many points as possible. Will Kimi Räikkönen help Loeb get his 7th WDC if needed?

Loeb got his WDC this year partly because of team strategies. Next year Kimi Räikkönen might get to enjoy the bitter taste of team strategies or will he?

- He will shut off the phone in his helmet if he hears stories like that (laughing) but I don't think that these concern K. Räikkönen. If he wants to try it out for a year and if he is even well paid for it - and they pay Citroen for it - I don't think that they do it and then again, what is the possibility of Räikkönen being ahead of Loeb in some rally? Except of course if Loeb has a tyre puncture or has drove out or something like that but I don't think that it will happen by driving at any stage and I don't think that they will give him many team orders. I think that Kimi is there more as 'K. Räikkönen Racing Team' than as Citroen.

Rumours are taking Kimi to Citroen's number one team even though he hasn't drove one single super stage yet. What are the possibilites of Citroen taking Kimi into their number one team to drive beside Loeb after one year?

- The possibilities are none. Unless of course they become a three car team, this is possible in 2011, that we have five teams there and they all have three cars, then it's possible. But if they have two cars then it's unlikely.

I can well see Loeb & Ogier at Citroen main team 2011,
but if Kimi shows great promise 2010 and main teams
start using 3 cars, then I strongly expect him to get also
car in main team 2011.

*burp*

excuse me...

I think Kimi is going to do really well in 2010. I think he could outscore Ogier and maybe make the podium in some tarmac rallies at the end of the season. He arrived in F1 having only done 24 car races and immediately impressed, so there's no reason why he can't do the same in WRC, especially since he is at the peak of his career.

If he outscore Ogier in first season, that would certainly mean that he is God.
Can't see that happening. But let's wait and see. Maybe he is.

I thought Ogier would do better this year than he did so I think Kimi maybe has a chance to beat him, but only a small chance.

+1. Ogier is the most promising young driver in WRC today.

God herself wouldn't beat Ogier if she only had a couple of rallies under her seat belt.

Why she?

IMO, Jari-Matti Latvala is better and more talented...

I agree with you Trust. Im a big Kimi fan, but rally is probably the hardest motorsport to master. The other drivers know a lot of the stages by heart now since they have driven them for years. They also have pace notes already in place they can use. Kimi is starting pretty much from scratch. This is a learning, adjusting and coming to grips with the C4, year for Kimi.
As for the arriving in F1 after only 23 professional car races is incredible and it will never be beaten, it is not directly comparable to rally. He had raced in karts and open wheeled cars on closed tracks before F1, so it was more like an evolution for him. This is a completely different motorsport. To exaggerate a bit, he might as well have switched to bikes, thats how different it is.
Having said that, Kimi is unique in the racing world I believe. He has something resembling a photographic memory and his depth and room perception are off the charts according to his doctor. So if any rookie could get a podium it would be Kimi. Because it just comes naturally to him. Best bets would be a tarmac rally or Rally Finland since he drove it already.

Yep..He sure does...
He is in line at the Job Centre

Jp

He probably wants to join a mediocre retro jazz band and spend most weekends doing "gigs" for pocket change. What a layabout junkie Raikkonen has become

Flat brim lives!

Question: The jr. team uses the same racesuit as the main team?

Agreed

The difference is, Kimi had raced some kind of open-wheelers pretty much his entire life. His experience of rally stages and working with co-driver is virtually nil. He might be able to learn rally cars pretty well in one year, but it will take far longer to learn being fast & consistent on proper rally courses.

I think 3-5 years is more realistic target. Expect Kimi to be far from top pace for quite some time, even if he adapts well.

Happy New year to all of you, people!!! Wish you happy new year, full of incredible performances from Kimi!

Actually, from what I remember he started his driving career with a Lada in the woods around his house so I think from a pure driving perspective a WRC car is quite comfortable for him, which he proved in the Finnish Rally. Driving with a co-driver is different though, it takes quite a while to get used to. That can on the other hand be reasonably well simulated with the help of computers up to, say 85%. Of course, 85% is not nearly enough to win a championship but if he starts the season there he will probably end it at 95%. 2011 will be interesting.

Oh come on...rent a sense of humor will ya?
Jp

I agree, I think he'll get to grips with the car itself quite quickly, it will be interesting to see how he develops his skills with regards to a co-driver, pace notes etc, I get the impression that Kaj Lindstrom is reasonably impressed with how Kimi did last year, and if anyone should be able to make an accurate assessment of a drivers abilities he should.

I'm quietly confident as to how well he will do over the coming season, but I wouldn't underestimate the task ahead, particularly with regards to working with a co-driver full time, I think if he can keep up with Ogier that will be an acheivement, but however he does i'm sure Kimi will give a good account of himself, and the anticipation is building with just over a month before we see him in action

The Citroen Jr team seems to have random liveries and racesuits... red, white, blue of some sort for the Citroen backed young gun.

Presumably Kimi's car will have a Red Bull livery of some sort, in some colour.

Not necessarily.
In fact, even the livery of cars is different not only between the teams but within the team. Drivers choose their own livery design for cars. For example, Novikov in Citroen jr. used to have yellowish design.

Yep, to keep the sheep safe

That was a sheep shot.

Er..... NOT exactly!

The drivers do not 'choose' their livery per say, but they do have personal sponsors for such drives, and as such the car will carry a great deal of the personal sponsorship. as opposed to a driver saying....'hmmmm I think I want my car to be yellow...'

With Regards Kimi's car, I suspect it will have a majority of Red Bull about it...with some white and black livery from his personal sponsors.

He should have gone to the IRC.

Without the manufacturers and the Monte Carlo, the WRC isn't the WRC or of any relevance anymore.

IRC is a colossal waste of time for nerds who cannot get laid so why go there?

Car pulls into the pits underbody sitting on the road: "Suspension trouble all round" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5hSVxhhffs...feature=related No wonder, when they are jumping F1 cars like rally cars!

Maybe F1 and rally aren't so different, so Kimi should be quite competitive, at least on tarmac races.

When is his debut race in rally?

It was in 2009 in late January in the Arctic Lapland Rally in Northern Finland.

In 2010 the same rally will open his rallying season for the year. It is done in preparation for the Rally Sweden which is the opening round for the WRC season. Both Arctic Lapland Rally and Rally Sweden are expected to be in snowy and icy conditions. Kimi will drive the Citroën C4 WRC in the Arctic Lapland Rally.

The Rally Sweden will be on 12th to 14th February 2010. That rally will open Kimi's WRC career as it is the first event Kimi will race a WRC car in a WRC event. The Arctic Lapland Rally of January 2010 is part of the Finnish Rallying Championship and that cannot count when speaking of a WRC career.

It has been rumoured that Heikki Kovalainen could drive a Proton in the Arctic Lapland Rally. There has been no confirmation to this. Proton is related to the new Lotus F1 team. Heikki has been a rally co-driver a couple of times as far as I know so he is not entirely new to the sport either. Oh, and he beat Loeb in a rally car in the Race of Champions... first time he ever drove such a car he beat Loeb... Loeb must have kicked himself for letting him do that.

The rally is held on 28.-30. January in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland. It's the opening national rally. Last year JJ Lehto, Mika Häkkinen, Mika Salo and Kimi Räikkönen participated. It was Kimi's first rally and he came in 13th leaving behind him experienced rally drivers and also Mika Häkkinen and Mika Salo

Here is the website:
http://www.arcticrally.fi/english/arcticlaplandrally.html

This company will be there, just click on the Arctic Lapland -icon:
http://www.cricketsfilm.com/eng/

And here is the webcam from Lordi's square, now there's a Christmas tree but after some time you can see all the happenings there, including service park:
http://www.rovaniemi.fi/layouts/rovaniemi/...ukio.asp?sek=10

Hope these don't come twice:

http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/ralli/uutiset.s...2009/12/1024874

28.12.2009

Double champion Carlos Sainz thinks that Kimi's move to WRC is a courageous act but he predicts that the Finn will have some problems when making the pace notes.

The Spaniard thinks that Räikkönen's move to Citroën will be good for the whole serie.

- He makes a very bold move. It's really good for the WRC-serie that Räikkönen joins the serie, Sainz says on Autowelt's pages.

- I believe that he will present some good measures. He needs experience but with a good car Räikkönen should be in the top-6, Sainz trusts.

- I believe that he will get some results pretty quickly. He is a very talented driver. It isn't easy to get used to making the pace notes and other things rally requires but when he succeeds in them he can turn out to be good, the Spaniard believes.

- He needs to learn how to make 100 % pace notes after driving the route only twice. That might take some time. At first it might even work but when he makes a mistake it means damages. And if again the pace notes aren't in place, the speed is slower.

(MTV3)
_______________________________
http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/ralli/uutiset.s...2009/12/1025403

Räikkönen is Red Bull's driver

29.12.2009 18:40

Some new light has been shed over Kimi Räikkönen's contract.

According to Citroën's boss Olivier Quesnel Räikkönen isn't actually a Citroën-driver.

- He is not driving for Citroën, he is driving for Red Bull, Quesnel emphasises.

Therefore Räikkönen can't drive a Peugeot in next summer's Le Mans 24. Räikkönen has expressed his interest towards Le Mans but he would probably drive instead of Peugeot in some other Le Mans -team sponsored by Red Bull.

(MTV3)

Heh, I remember that webcam from last year You Finns are mental, minus 7 degrees, 3 inches of snow, and you have a table and chairs set up outside

I still remember the reaction of the crowd when Kimi set off

Fastest growth rally championship in the world currently, using a class of car that 10 manufacturers have decided to build cars for with 3 more soon to introduce versions.... clearly a waste of time for nerds!

I think it's a case of acronym confusion between IRC the championship and IRC the Internet chatroom protocol.

Ah yes, fastest growth...my favourite hyperbole of the decade..

"Give Mozambique a pair of fishing sticks and its GDP would grow by a few hundred percent"

I remember several times hearing comments from the rally drivers in the Arctic Lapland Rally that their feet are freezing etc. when the temperature has gotten really low, I'm thinking of -20 degrees Celsius or colder now. It's a problem you can face with normal road cars as well that your toes will feel very cold. I know I've had this same feeling many times driving a car in the Winter, sometimes the heating just isn't sufficient and the feet are the ones to take the hit first.

It's a bit funny that they work so hard in the car and their upper body must be a bit overheating but at the same time their toes are freezing

Just in the recent weeks we've had quite cold weather and perhaps it will stay like that for about a month so the rally up in the North could be driven in "properly" cold weather. Here in the South Finland where I live we've at the moment -13 degrees Celsius so it seems it's even colder here than in Rovaniemi at the moment.

Kimi's used to the cold weather and will have no problems with that. Keeping the car on the road is what we know will be the problem number one for him, not cold weather. I'm glad for him he showed already in his first rally outing that he's not the kind of cruiser in the rallies like Mika Häkkinen has been. Mika hasn't really been pushing, but Kimi was pushing hard from the get-go and didn't seem to be afraid of pushing too hard and crashing out. It's a positive sign because it shows he's not too concerned of his image if he crashes out. Crashing out is normal and inevitable and I think Mika is being too cautious in the rallies - he's worrying about his image too much I think and it shows in that he loses quite badly to the likes of Kimi who just go and drive flat out apparently unconcerned of what the audience will say about it if he crashes out.

Probably very wise.... the adolation can sometimes simply overtake people and Kimi would probably find himself in the midst of a Fan 'scrum'..

It was great fun I cant wait until the 28th!! I spent a good part of last night looking through the video's i downloaded back then, especially the one taken from the crowd at the special stage, the cheering was great, also the interviews with Kaj about how he did and how everyone was taken by surprise at his times, it was a pretty cool atmosphere on that other site, lots of laughs and joking around, again, i have to say that being in the UK it was fantastic to be able to read the almost instant translations etc provided by you and everyone else, it made a huge difference

Hopefully once the novelty has worn off the bodyguards can be dispensed with, though we cant blame the guy when the crowds are that big, I noticed he was pretty cool and calm when he walked away after rolling the car, waving at the fans and such, i also noticed how many other drivers had trouble in exactly the same spot.

Whilst i'm here i'll take this opportunity to wish you and yours a safe and happy 2010 Wolfie

Oh I know all about dealing with crowds of peeps on rallies... however.... many of the legions that will now turn up to watch him, are not 'rally' people per se and therefore the usual standard of bahaviour might be 'stretched' a little...

The only areas I can see there possibly being a need to ensure some order will be when KR is moving between areas in the service park and possibly start and finish areas, where I would expect a lot more fans to try and now get to, to catch an upclose glimpse of their idol..

To those who are coming first time to see Rally Finland.. Remember to carry on Your portable radios and batteries with You; The Rally Radio is very hilarious and the best channel to to learn what´s up in the rally..

And the best thing is that the broadcast is made also in english. Mainly in finnish but this Tony Melville guy has his time also.

The frequency is 99,3 MHz..

Thanks to all for the tips, I'm looking forward to join the fun at Rally Finland.

Thank you Sammy, good advice

Fullthrottle - see you in Jyskälä

Finally some news about Kimi...

http://www.mtv3.fi/ohjelmat/sivusto2008.sh...uutiset?1026581

THIS IS HOW KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN SPENT NEW YEAR

The Iceman didn't celebrate new year in the freezing home-Finland, instead he spent it in Middle-Europe.

The year 2010 will be an unforgettable year in Kimi's life. The steerwheel-master will fulfill his dream and become Citroen's racing driver.

Kimi didn't spend new year in Finland although he spent the Christmas-holidays with his family in Finland. Kimi celebrated the changing of the year and the decade in familiar sceneries.
– Kimi spent new year at home in Switzerland, Bar, Riku Kuvaja told Viihdeuutiset.

Kimi hasn't been resting during the Christmas-holidays, he has been carefully preparing for the upcoming rally season.
– Kimi is training all the time. He hasn't yet got to drive with his future racing car but it will happen someday soon now, Kuvaja reveals.

The WRC-rally starts in February with Sweden's rally. Before that Kimi takes part in the Arctic-rally held in Rovaniemi at the end of January.

(MTV3)

Kiitos Wolfie Finally some news...hope lots of will follow
Euuu mtv3 could have chosen a better pic of him than that ... I am getting more and more excited. Wonder how his racesuit, helmet and car will look like!

There was a photo of Kimi in Citroen overalls posted somewhere around here a day or two ago.

Finally

Go to page 45
http://de.redbulletin.com/fileadmin/mag/01...lletin%20AT.pdf

Ahh wait it´s just in german! Someone said that the english version will be out soon

Here is another interview
http://translate.google.de/translate?js=y&...sl=de&tl=en
The original one in german
http://www.kurier.at/sport/1967308.php


Two month of nothing and then so much....I am getting nuts here

That car has Iceman written all over it!