Still, being the guy had to have a rule made to hold you down is in win all of its own.
Along those same sort of lines, I remember seeing a documentary about Lancia being the last team to win the WRC with a rear-wheel drive vehicle (the Rally 037).
They were having to do a race at Monte Carlo where part of the track is icy while the other part is dry road. So no matter what tire you use, you are giving up time in the other part (treads=slow on ice, studs=slow on pavement). But Lancia needed every last second they could get because of how tight the competition was and the downsides of their car.
So on a corner just after they got past the ice on the downhill, they had a team van waiting for them. Once they got there, they stopped, quickly switched tires, and then kept on running, losing only a few seconds due to the fast change over. After the race, other teams complained about them doing this and said they cheated.
After further review, WRC concluded that while there was no rule saying they could do this, there was also no rule saying they couldnt do this. So WRC allowed it, but clarified that such a move was off-limits from now on. Didnt matter though since Lancia placed high at Monte Carlo, which kept them in the running for later races and would allow them to win in the end.
It was either Top Gear or the Grand Tour, I think it is the latter.
You are correct. It was Clarkson who did the whole segment, and it was great in his usual way.
I think my favorite one of the bullshit Lancia did is still the one where they only made half of the Civilian-spec cars they were supposed to, but managed to bullshit the inspectors long enough to move the cars from one lot to the other and change their VIN numbers to make it look like they made enough.
If you aint bending the rules, you aint truly racing.
Along those same sort of lines, I remember seeing a documentary about Lancia being the last team to win the WRC with a rear-wheel drive vehicle (the Rally 037).
They were having to do a race at Monte Carlo where part of the track is icy while the other part is dry road. So no matter what tire you use, you are giving up time in the other part (treads=slow on ice, studs=slow on pavement). But Lancia needed every last second they could get because of how tight the competition was and the downsides of their car.
So on a corner just after they got past the ice on the downhill, they had a team van waiting for them. Once they got there, they stopped, quickly switched tires, and then kept on running, losing only a few seconds due to the fast change over. After the race, other teams complained about them doing this and said they cheated.
After further review, WRC concluded that while there was no rule saying they could do this, there was also no rule saying they couldnt do this. So WRC allowed it, but clarified that such a move was off-limits from now on. Didnt matter though since Lancia placed high at Monte Carlo, which kept them in the running for later races and would allow them to win in the end.
I've also seen it. It was either Top Gear or the Grand Tour, I think it is the latter. Lancia really stretched the rules to their limits that year.
As for the maneuver used here: I've read somewhere that he was not the first to try this. He was the first that succeeded.
You are correct. It was Clarkson who did the whole segment, and it was great in his usual way.
I think my favorite one of the bullshit Lancia did is still the one where they only made half of the Civilian-spec cars they were supposed to, but managed to bullshit the inspectors long enough to move the cars from one lot to the other and change their VIN numbers to make it look like they made enough.
If you aint bending the rules, you aint truly racing.