Conference terri::cars_uk

A report in the paper this morning says that Lancia are pulling out of the WRC
for 1992. Their cars will still appear with the Martini team. Juha and Didier
have been signed to them for 1992.

More ominiously, Lancia said that their technical people had been re-assigned to
other projects.

>>                              -< End of an era ? >-

    I would hope not...
    
    
>>A report in the paper this morning says that Lancia are pulling out of the WRC
>>for 1992. Their cars will still appear with the Martini team. Juha and Didier
>>have been signed to them for 1992.

    I guess they will still be using competition versions of the 'finale'
    integrale (perhaps an apt name).  Wasn't the 5000-off production run
    to be confirmed for homologation this month ?
    
>>More ominiously, Lancia said that their technical people had been re-assigned to
>>other projects.
    
    Perhaps they'll work on the 4x4 Alfa 'racer' that was supposedly to
    be created.  This was to be based on the new Alfa (155 ?) which is
    [to be] fitted with the Lancia 2-litre turbo lump etc.
    

    		Provisional calendar for World Rally Championship
    
    			Monte Carlo	23 - 30 Jan
    			Sweden *	13 - 17 Feb
    			Portugal	3 - 8 Mar
    			Safari		27 Mar - 1 Apr
    			Corsica		2 - 7 May
    			Acropolis	2 - 7 Jun
    			New Zealand *	24 - 29 Jun
    			Argentina	20 - 26 Jul
    			1000 Lakes	25 - 31 Aug
    			Australia	18 - 22 Sep
    			San Remo	11 - 16 Oct
    			Ivory Coast *	27 Oct - 2 Nov
    			Catalunya *	7 - 12 Nov
    			RAC		22 - 26 Nov
    
    		* denotes points only for Drivers Championship

    Isn't there any updated info available on cars and drivers of season 1992?
    For some reason I haven't noticed any lists in the Finnish newspapers.
    
    Some hottest names:
    
    Kankkunen and Auriol - Lancia (or whatever the team's name will be...)
    Sainz and Alen - Toyota
    Vatanen - Ford
    
    
    - Jyri -

>>    Isn't there any updated info available on cars and drivers of season 1992?
    
    I only tend to get monthly magazines now, so they don't tend to include
    this sort of thing (since I don't buy the Rally-only mags either).
    
>>    For some reason I haven't noticed any lists in the Finnish newspapers.
    
    British newspapers don't need a reason not to include motorsport !
    
    Unless 'Our Nige' is part way through the F1 season with a slight
    chance of winning the championship - then you get about two column
    inches about each F1 event.  WRC events are completely ignored, with
    the exception of the RAC, when there is often half a page before the
    event (containing no real information) and two column inches after...
        
    J.R.

Carlos Sainz leading after the weekend, Auriol and Kankkunen second and third.

Kankkunen got 30 secs penalty already before the real rally beginned becouse he 
arrived 1 minute too late in one checking point.

- Jyri -

Auriol chose the wrong tires on one stage and handed a nice lead to Carlos.

After Tuesday Auriol has taken the lead back, Sainz is second and Kankkunen 
third.

Ford drivers (Biasion) are really disappointed on their cars after several 
failures of turbos, power steerings etc.

- Jyri -

    
    	Monte Result..
    
    	First		Auriol		Lancia
    	Second		Sainz		Toyota
    	Third		Kankkunen	Lancia
    	Fourth		Delecour 	Ford
    
    
    	

    .8�Auriol chose the wrong tires on one stage and handed a nice lead to Carlos.
    
    It was in the famous Sisteron Thoard stage. Last year Schwarz did a
    super coup by going on slicks. The road was icy at some spots but he 
    managed to reach the top of the hill. This year Auriol decided to do
    the same trick but the road was more icy. This combined with clutch
    problems made him waste 2'57". From a comfortable 2'12" lead he moved
    back to 2nd place 49" behind Carlos.
    
    There is no real surprise in the final result: Auriol and the new
    Lancia have always been way ahead competition.
    
    Biasion ? far behind, what happened is unknown
    Schwarz ? as usual, brilliant drive but he crashed after 17 stages
    Delecour ? could have gone for 1st place if shaft had not broken, lots
               of technical problems with the Sierra
    Kankkunen ? got 30secs at the end of the concentration part, never got
                into the race
    Sainz ? always present near the lead, but could not do anything. The
            new Toyota is expected to close the gap with the new Lancia
    
    Very difficult race with mixed roads and fast changing conditions: some
    parts of a stage are dry, some are wet, some ice, some snow. Tyres
    choice was the deciding factor. 
            

    
    Went down to the finish yesterday. Nice atmosphere.
    
    One of the biggests cheers of the day was for the 2 sisters in their
    Trabbie -- amazing. It got to the finish, & went suprisingly quickly
    .... more photographs taken of it than of the leaders!
    
    Also suprising to see a Renault 4 still going hard.
    
    Colin

re: .11

Patrick, bit confused about your comments about Lancia being way ahead of the
competition based on their new car. Toyota were running their new cars not their
old ones for Monte Carlo. Which makes the win a good one for Lancia, although
Auriol is an acknowledged tarmac expert.

    What I mean is that Lancia have got their car fully developped while
    Toyota are still working.

The Lancia clearly handles much better than last years car. Auriol was quoted as
being very enthusiastic about the car at Monte Carlo "It is easier with this
car to drive very fast, much easier than the old one. There is a bump on that
last stage for which I always had to brake and even then the car would jump
from side to side. Now I can take it flat out, attack all the way".

Perhaps the Toyota team has spent too much time trying to get the cooling
sorted on the new car, and not enough time on speed/handling etc. Looks much 
beter though than the road car...

Time will tell whether the advantage of the Lancias with their new suspension
mods and increased cooling will win as comfortably when the WRC hits gravel.

    The new Integrale HF will probably be the last race developped DELTA
    version. One reason being that the car seems to have reached perfection
    (?) in terms of cooling, balance between track and wheelbase, 4WD
    systems, wheel size, brakes size, ... etc  The other reason being that
    the FIAT group would like to promote some other model of their multiple
    ranges.
    
    Difference between Lancia and Toyota: Lancia relies on Abarth, the
    FIAT racing workshop, based in Torino, Italy. TTE (Toyota Team Europe)
    only assemble cars from parts sent from Japan. Each time they notice a
    weakness they document it and ask Toyota Japan to fix it. They have a
    lag of several months. Ove Andersson and his team do a great job, just
    like Carlos and fellow drivers but they lack the close relationship
    that FIAT enjoys in the Torino area.

    
    Screensport showed an hour long highlights programme of the Monte 
    yesterday.
    
    It never ceases to amaze me just how fast the World class competitors
    are compared with even National level rallying.
    
    One very disconcerting factor is the appaling lack of safety on the
    Monte. There appears to be no marshalling of spectators, who wander
    around in the road (One photographer had his legs broken by Biasion's
    Ford because he was in the road, against a wall). In Britain, even
    on National rallies (specifically the Mazda Winter Rally) there is 
    extensive spectator marshalling and tapes to keep the spectators a 
    safe (but not dull) distance from the action. British spectators don't
    seem to consider throwing stones at cars to be the height of intelligence 
    either (so much for our lager-lout tag.) 
    
    Obviously events like the Monte are enshrined in the WRC, but surely
    someone's got to say that such terrible safety for the spectators and
    competitors alike has got to be stamped out. If the organisers cannot
    control the mob (for that is how it seemed at times), the rally should
    be downgraded to an ERC round (as should any other showing such poor
    standards), until it can signs of improvement.
    
    Mark

    
 >>                        -< They ban racing for less! >-
    
    I agree with Mark about the safety aspect of rallying as compared to 
    racing, I'm always amazed how few spectators are injured. I went to
    one of the night stages of the RAC rally a few years ago, and although
    they did have marshalls, and the 'outsides' of bends were taped off,
    there were not enough marshals to keep all the 'idiots' on the correct
    side of the tape. There is an arguement to say that if you are stupid
    enough to stand were a car is likely to go 'off' it's your own fault,
    _but_ these sorts of things are bad publicity for a sport which already
    has a large number of people 'anti' it, and will only add to their
    arguements to ban _all_ forms of motorsport.  I'm not usually to be
    heard arguing for tighter controls of things, but in this case I think 
    something has to be done - for the sake of all motorsport! 

 >>                        -< They ban racing for less! >-
    
    The problems related to lack of spectator control have been highlighted
    time and time again, especially over the last few years.
    
    The biggest problem is to work out what can be done.
    
    There was a serious incident in Portugal some years back, with Group B
    cars.  The feeling then was that the cars should be slowed down...
    Then we had a fatal accident involving the top crew, whereupon Group B
    was banned, to be replaced by Group A regulations.  The latest forms
    of these cars are now setting similar stage times (with *only* 300 bhp !)
    so must be at least as dangerous as before.
    
    I personally don't think that simply reducing performance is the real
    answer, but since they are currently supposed to have this maximum
    power output - why don't they try to enforce it ?
    
    Not an easy task I know, especially with the facility to use different
    parameters for the maximum boost of the turbo cars from a simple switch.  
    
    I think that if they wanted to reduce performance noticeably when
    Group B was banned, then turbos should have been outlawed.  This
    would also have reduced the fire risk when an accident does occur.
    It would not have been a popular decision, but then was the time to
    do it.  I also appreciate that normally-aspirated cars would then be
    designed to put out power levels in excess of 300 bhp, but they still
    would have had less torque, hence less overall performance.
    
    Anyway, I have also claimed that reducing performance isn't enough.
    What can you do about spectator control when the route goes through
    public forests, or uses public roads (on foreign events).  The only
    way is to have more marsahals, but even then you will find that they
    do not have enough clear authority.  At least a marshal at a race
    circuit is more obviously in a position of authority.  If a spectator
    doesn't move out of the way when requested, he/she could be 'asked'
    to leave the circuit - which is a private place.  In the midst of a
    forest, this sort of authority is not available.  Perhaps the
    organisers of rallies should get some 'hired help' from the local
    'security firm' to help enforce the safety regulations ?
    
    I think that it is only a matter of time before there is another
    serious event involving rally spectators.  As it is, I cannot see
    any real changes being made until that happens.  A worrying thought...
    
    J.R.

    
    re: .19
    
    In the Isle of Man, it is illegal for an unauthorised person to cross 
    (or even venture on to the  road) after it is closed. [Closure and 
    re-opening of the road are both signalled (at any location) by the passage 
    of an official vehicle (a motorcycle for the TT)].
    
    Mike H.
    

>>    In the Isle of Man, it is illegal for an unauthorised person to cross 
>>    (or even venture on to the  road) after it is closed. [Closure and 
    
    This makes a lot of sense, seeing as how the act of getting permission
    for the road closure involves the legal process.
    
    Do the local Police get involved with this operation at all ?
    
    If, at some far distant time, the required Act of Parliament were
    to be passed to allow road closures in the UK mainland, I can see
    a lot of arguments against using the Police to control this.
    
    My resultant argument would be that the Police are used for spectator
    control at football matches, so why not at a motorsport event  ?
    
    J.R.

    
>>    Do the local Police get involved with this operation at all ?
    
      Yes, I believe the Police control the road closures, and the 
      enforcing of it. I have been told that most of them quite enjoy the TT! 
      (Or am I thinking of the road race on the Isle of Mull...)  
    
      Elaine
    

    
    re: .21
    
    > Do the local Police get involved with this operation at all ?
    
    Yes, very much so, they are out in force all round the (37.75 mile)
    circuit.
    
    > If, at some far distant time, the required Act of Parliament were
    > to be passed to allow road closures in the UK mainland, I can see
    > a lot of arguments against using the Police to control this.
    
    In fact a public road has been closed for motor racing in England in
    fairly recent years.
    
    The full (as opposed to club) circuit at Aintree crosses the Melling
    Road at two points (as doe the Grand National course. When Mirabel
    Topham built the motor racing cicuit (circa 1954), I believe she made
    use of the existing act of parliament (for the GN) to close the road
    for motor racing. I seem to remember that the road closing orders were
    similar to those used in the IoM, but as I was never very close to 
    either Anchor or Melling Crossings during a race, I'm not sure how much
    the police were involved.
    
    All a very long time ago I'm afraid, as far as I remember, the last
    race meeting on the full circuit was the Aintree 200 in about 1964 or
    1965. I was a pit-lane flag marshall at that meeting.
    
    Mike H.
    

This is more or less a question of national attitudes. Here in Finland the 
spectators very seldom cause harm and dangerous situations described in the
previous replies. There is almost one rally event per week here and so the 
people know the rules and suitable manners and are used to them. 

- Jyri -

    Re. road closures
    
    There have also been road closures in Birmingham for racing.
    
    
    Re. national attitudes
    
    This is very much the case.  Not too bad ('tis relative) in the UK.
    Worse in 'Latin' countries.  Terrible in Portugal.
    
    I know that in recent years the RAC MSA has made more attempts at
    educating 'Joe Public' who only spectates on this yearly event.
    
    Spectators at the frequent club events are usually a lot better
    behaved, but you still see a lot of people in the wrong place etc.
    
    As far as can be gathered, rallying is a 'big thing' in the
    Scandinavian countries - for drivers as well as spectators.
    It follows that their behaviour should also be better...
    
    
    Re. the solution to the safety problem
    
    Does anyone in Notes-land have any useful suggestions ?
    
    
    J.R.

	The Swedish Rally started yesterday. Kankkunen and Sainz are not driving
	there.

	Ari Vatanen tried to take off with his Subaru in the first kilometer, 
	crashed quite badly and had to quit. Sad, becouse this was his first
	rally since a long time.

	- Jyri -

    
    A Toyota driver (Not Alen or Schwarz) won the Swedish rally, but Colin
    McRae was a fine second (on what must be only his second WRC event?) in
    his works Subaru.
    
    Admittedly the competition was not as good as the Monte (the rally
    being only a drivers round of the WRC), but it's still good to see a
    British rally driver (ok, Scottish, if you like) doing well at the top
    level.
    
    Mark

    .27�    A Toyota driver (Not Alen or Schwarz) won the Swedish rally, but Colin
    
    Mats Jonsson.
    
    None of the top 5 rally drivers were present which made the event sort
    of 2nd class in terms of interest. The top teams are all working hard
    to prepare Portugal.

	The Portuguese Rally has started.

	After the first day Delecours is leading.

	One spectator is dead already...  :'(

	- Jyri -

	The rally in Portugal is about in the half way. Juha Kankkunen has
	taken the lead as Delecour had to quit yesterday and also becouse the 
	asphalt section has ended. Juha is never at his best on asphalt.

	No more dead spectators...

	- Jyri -

::: MOTOR SPORT
    Rally of Portugal
    World Rally Champion, Juha Kankkunen in a Lancia Delta Integrale,  won the 
    Rally of Portugal by 1'33" seconds from Miassimo Biasion (Ford Sierra
    Cosworth) with Carlos Sainz (Toyota Celeica GT4) third (+4'59").
    Kannkunen leads the 1992 championship with 32 points from Sainz (27pts),
    and Marku Alen, Didier Auriol and Mats Jonsson tied in third place with 20
    points. Lancialead the constructors championship with 40 points, with
    Toyota second (31) and Ford third (29).


Anyone got any more information - for some reason this has received no coverage
down under ? Good result for Ford, with Delacour leading at one stage. Is this
attributable to the tarmac stages, or something else ?

    Yes Delecour had a very good time on asphalt roads until the engine
    sump broke in the middle of stage 15. Auriol had a dead engine at the
    end of stage 3.
    
    The other 'surprise' was Aghini (Lancia) who took over from Delecour.
    
    Kankkunen then built his victory on the dirt roads, where Aghini has no
    or little experience. Kankkunen's lead could have been much higher if
    he had not suffered a number of minor problems with the engine, the
    brakes, the stones outside the road, ....
    
    Biasion did a relatively good job in finishing 2nd. But he said the
    Sierra needs development.
    
    Sainz and Toyota suffered a lot. The car is too heavy, the engine is
    not powerful enough, the suspension does not work well, .... Key
    designers and engineers have left TTE. Certainly not a front row
    contender anymore. Will Ove Andersson be able to rapidly change the
    course ?  

    
    There you are! The Celica is a prime example of the old adage;
    
    "If it looks good, it'll be good"! :^)
    
    Mark

Poor old TTE. They have had to move to the new Celica for sales and marketing
reasons, when clearly it is *still* short of development. I wonder if cooling
is still a problem... 

    BTW: Juha Kankkunen's private Lancia was stolen from Helsinki airport
    while he was in Portugal. He was not too happy...  The car was in bad
    shape when it was found.
    
    - Jyri -

	Sainz is leading after Sunday. Still a long and hard way to go...

	- Jyri -

And Monday has him 50 sec ahead of Recalde, Juha is 4th. Only the 2 Lancia's 
left.

	According to this morning's newspaper Sainz is leading, Recalde second
	and Juha third.

	- Jyri -

	Kenya Safari Rally results:

	1. Carlos Sainz, Spain. Toyota
	2. Juha Kankkunen, Finland, Lancia
	3. Jorge Recalde, Argentina, Lancia
	4. Mikael Ericson, Sweden, Toyota
	5. Markku Al�n, Finland, Toyota
	6. Ian Duncan, Kenya, Toyota
	7. Sarbi Rai, Kenya, Toyota
	8. Patrick Njiru, Kenya, Subaru
	9. Per Eklund, Sweden, Subaru
       10. Kenjiro Shinozuka, Japan, Toyota


	Drivers' situation after Safari:

	1. Sainz		47 pts
	   Kankkunen		47
	3. Al�n			28 
	4. Mats Johnsson, Swe	20
	   Didier Auriol, Fra	20
	6. Massimo Biasion, Ita	18

	Manufactures':

	1. Lancia		57
	2. Toyota		51
	3. Ford			29
	4. Mitsubishi		19
	5. Nissan		14

    This Sunday:    	start of the TOUR DE CORSE
    
    Finish: 		Wed 6 May

    Last night, after 3 days:
    
    1.	Auriol		Lancia Integrale
    2.	Delecour        Ford Sierra 4x4  	1'26"
    3.	Bugalski	Lancia Integrale        2'53"     	
    4.	Sainz		Toyota Celica 4WD       3'55"
    5. 	Schwarz		Toyota Celica 4WD	4'41"
    
    Total and absolute domination of Didier Auriol who won most of the 20
    timed stages. Delecour suffered brake problems but admitted he could
    not challenge Auriol.
    
    7 stages left

The Rally was finished early because of the Soccer stadium disaster. Final 
standings were chosen at midday.
    
    1.	Auriol		Lancia Integrale
    2.	Delecour        Ford Sierra 4x4  	
    3.	Bugalski	Lancia Integrale            	
    4.	Sainz		Toyota Celica 4WD       
    5. 	Schwarz		Toyota Celica 4WD
 

Final results from Acropolis. Great drive from Auriol who lead from the start.
There was some speculation that Auriol was going to have to obey team orders to
let Kankkunen past to win, but this didn't eventuate. Another good result from
Ford with Biasion slipping from 2nd on the last day and Delecour coming in 5th.
Toyota having to try too hard to get results meant crashes for all 3 cars and
no points for Sainz and Schwarz. Great result for McRae in the Subaru.

    1.	Auriol		Lancia Integrale	7:12:08
    2.	Kankkunen	Lancia Integrale      	   1:29      	
    3.	Baision         Ford Sierra 4x4  	   2:25
    4.	McRae		Subaru Legacy       	   3:54
    5. 	Delecour	Ford Sierra 4x4		  15:16
    6.  Recalde		Lancia Integrale	  19:50
 
Drivers:

    1.	Kankkunen	62           	
    2.	Auriol		60
    3.	Sainz           57 

>Toyota having to try too hard to get results meant crashes for all 3 cars and
>no points for Sainz and Schwarz.

	Schwarz and Alen drove out in the exactly same place. Alen first and 
	Schwarz came right behind him exactly the same way, hit Alen's Toyota 
	and almost drove over him. I guess they had Mr Murphy with them.

>    1.	Kankkunen	62           	
>    2.	Auriol		60
>    3.	Sainz           57 

	Somewhat more interesting situation than in F1?

	- Jyri -

>    1.	Kankkunen	62           	
>    2.	Auriol		60
>    3.	Sainz           57 
>
>	Somewhat more interesting situation than in F1?
>
Sainz entered the New Zealand rally within 8 minutes of the deadline. 
Consequently they are no Lancia (Martini) works drivers.

Sainz should pick up an easy 20 points here. As I understand it McRae has
entered as well.

As I'm going to be following it I'll put in a report...

    The Lancia drivers are reported to be a little bit disappointed.
    
    Because Lancia is likely to stop rallying at the end of this season
    they're only interested in winning the manufacturers title. To win the
    drivers title (Kankkunen or Auriol) they would need to go to remote
    places such as New Zealand, Argentina, etc ... but they no plans to go
    there. 
    
    Sad for both drivers.

    New Zealand: no problem for Carlos SAINZ in absence of real opponents
    
    1. Sainz		Toyota
    2. Liatti		Lancia
    3. Dunkerton        Mitsubishi

    
    What do the Manufacturers and drivers tables look like after NZ?

    Argentina results:
    
    1. Auriol	Lancia
    2. Sainz	Toyota
    3. Trelles	Lancia
    4. Fiorio	Lancia
    5. Menem	Lancia
    6. Stohl	Audi
    
    Sainz stills leads the drivers championship. Lancia leads the mfg
    championship.

World Rally Championships after Argentina
-----------------------------------------

Group A		DRIVERS		Group N

1. Sainz	92		1. Menem	26
2. Auriol	80		2 .....
3. Kankkunen	62
4. Biasion	34
5. Delecour	31
6. Alen		28
7. McRae	25
8. Jonsson	20
....

Manufacturers

1. Lancia	117
2. Toyota	 84
3. Ford		 60
4. Nissan	 24
5. Subaru	 23
6. Mitsubishi	 20

    Rallying: 1000 Lakes

    1. Didier Auriol/Bernard Occelli (Lancia Delta Integrale)
    2. Juha Kankkunen/Juha Pironnen (Lancia Delta Integrale)    +40"
    3. Marku Alen/Ikka Kivimaeki (Toyota Celica GT4)            +1'59"
    4. Ari Vatanen/Bruno Bergland (Subaru)                      +2'32"
    5. Miki Biasion/Siviero Tiziano (Ford Sierra)               +9'01"

       Championship standings: 1. Auriol    100pts
                               2. Sainz      92
                               3. Kankkunen  77

    Patrick,
    
    Do you know how many events each driver (of the top 3) has competed in 
    and how many are they allowed in total?
    
    Mark

    Mark,
    
    I have the details at home. I know that Sainz has definitely scored
    more races than Auriol/Kankkunen. If I remember correctly there are 14
    events, drivers can race up to 10 and score up to 9. Auriol can enter
    all remaining rallies and score while Sainz will have to subtract.

    Here goes:
    
    Drivers can enter in 10 rallies, they can score up to 9 times.
    
    	Sainz  has raced 7 rallies, scored 6 times    92 points
    	Auriol has raced 6 rallies, scored 5 times   100 points
    
    Looks like Auriol has higher chances to become 1992 world champion but
    the racing season is still a long way ...

    
    
    
    
    Australia:
    
    No trouble for Auriol who drove *very* fast. Kankkunen had an off or
    two but recovered his 2nd poisition from a disappointing Sainz.
    
    D. Auriol/B. Orcelli	Lancia Delta
    J. Kankkunen/J. Pirronen	Lancia Delta	1:40
    C. Sainz/L. Moya		Toyota Celica	2:04
    J. Recalde/M. Christie	Lancia Delta   18:53
    
    Drivers Championship:
    
    Auriol	120 points
    Sainz	104
    Kankkunen	92
    Biason	42
    Alen	40

    Auriol is now the only driver to have won 6 world championship rallies
    the same year, and the season is not finished. In fact Auriol is on a
    record curve this year with 6 wins in 7 entries.
    
    While Auriol is doing so well, the Fiat group is believed to quit by
    the end of the season. Jolly Club is asking them to supply 2 cars in
    1993 but Fiat are dragging their feet. They are more likely to enter
    the Alfa 155 into more national championships besides the Italian one
    (DTM, others ...). Of course their involvement in F1 will not slow down
    with the new Ferrari setup (Barnard, Montezemolo, Lauda, ...)

    Black day for Auriol. A suspension part broke on his Lancia Integrale
    during the 1st special stage of the San Remo Rally causing the car to
    get off the road. No one hurt, but Auriol's race is over. Toyota
    confirmed that Didier and Carlos Sainz will be racing with them in
    1993.

    At the end of day 1
    
    	Aghini 		Lancia
    	Kankkunen       Lancia
    	Delecour	Ford
    	Biasion		Ford

    End of day 2
    
    	Kankkunen	Lancia
    	Aghini		Lancia (2" behind !)
    	Delecour	Ford
    	Biasion		Ford

    Final Results:
    
    1	Aghini (!)	Lancia
    2	Kankkunen	Lancia	 0:40
    3	Delecour	Ford	 1:42
    4	Biasion		Ford	 1:55
    5	Fiorio		Lancia	 8:47
    6	Pianezzola	Lancia	16:02
    7	Liatti		Lancia	21:17
    8	Baroni		Lancia	23:39
    9	Thiry		Opel	45:28
    10	Manfrinato	Ford	50:07
    
    Championship (to date)
    
    1	Auriol		120
    2	Kankkunen	107
    3	Sainz		104
    4	Biasion		 52
    5	Delecour	 45
    

    Ivory Coast Rally (31 Oct- 02 Nov)
    ----------------------------------
    
    1. Shinozuka	Mitsubishi
    2. Thiry		Opel
    3. Servant		Audi
    4. Nishiyama	Nissan
    5. Assef		Toyota
    6. Oudit		Toyota
    
    The rally only counts for the manufacturer's championship. With
    positions already fixed, the major works teams were not interested in
    competing (Lancia, Toyota, Mazda).

    Catalunya, Spain, 9-11 Oct
    --------------------------
    
     1. Sainz		Toyota
     2. Kankkunen       Lancia
     3. Aghini		Lancia
        .....
    10. Auriol		Lancia
    
    In the Drivers Championship Sainz now leads with 124, Kankkunen has 122
    and Auriol is down in 3rd place with 120 points.
    
    It will be a very hot RAC rally.

	What happened to Auriol? He was 4th at the end of the first day...

	Why did Dellecourt abandon?

	Any info?

		Pierre

    .63�	What happened to Auriol? He was 4th at the end of the first day...
    
    1. He did not feel like following the Toyota. TTE have definitely
    solved a number of problems on their car (Weight, Dampers, Central
    Ferguson diff ...). Auriol could not follow Kankkunen or Delecour
    anyway.
    
    2. He had a minor accident caused by the failure of the power steering.
    He got off the road and unfortunately there were no spectators. When
    half a dozen people showed up they managed to put the car back on the
    road but 20 minutes were lost.
    
    3. Then (3rd day) he won most (if not all) timed stages. But he
    finished in 10th place (still 10 minutes behind Sainz)
    
    .63�	Why did Dellecourt abandon?
    
    He overdid it and did a full barrel roll. Something broke (I don't know
    what) and he had to stop.
    
    That's as much as I could get from Magazines and TV.

    
    Last Saturday there was a tv-program of Juha Kankkunen. It was quite
    interesting (I think so). He was asked about "best enemies". He
    said that overall Carlos Sainz, but in 1000 Lakes Rally drives Markku
    Alen very fast. Also he said this year has Auriol driven excellent.
    He mentioned Colin "rollover" McRae, man with courage.
    
    He began driving when he was 9 years old; with his father of course.
    Because he lived in countryside, there was lot of space for practice
    and also iced lake in wintertime.
    
    
    Hannu

	.64>> Catalunya details

	Thanks, Patrick, infos coming from you are always valuable.

		Pierre

    we call juha yeehar. perhaps that says something about his driving...
    
    agree with his comments about sainz. but this year auriol has been
    incomparable. just a little more consistency needed perhaps.
    
    mind you seeing marku "maximum attack" alen back in a lancia next year
    (here's hoping) will be fun.
    
    -Dave.

    It's almost RAC time.
    
    Has anyone got details ?

    Latest news after 2 stages on Day 3:
    
    Sainz in lead, Auriol less than 30 seconds behind and going very well. 
    Kankhunnen (sp?) a minute back, then Alen and Vatanen.  Biasion is 6th.
    
    McRae some 4 minutes down, after crashing on the way to the first stage
    of the day, completing the 1st stage with a puncture, and running the
    second stage with no front brakes, no drive to the rear wheels, and a
    rough sounding engine.  He is in 7th Place, about 30 seconds ahead of
    Wilson.
    
    
    John

    And the Tarbbie was 122 places off the lead.
    
    Shaun.

�                      <<< Note 1613.70 by MANWRK::LEACH >>>

�    And the Tarbbie was 122 places off the lead.
             ^^^^^^^

    Liverpool based is it the Shaun?

    PCH    

�    Liverpool based is it the Shaun?
    
    Sorry Paul
    
    Guilty as charged (but perhaps it was a freudian slip :^)
    
    Shaun.
    

    Ceefax this morning showed Sainz to be 1 minute, 10 seconds in the lead,
    with Kankunnen in second place, Vatanen in third.  Then Alen, Biasion
    and McRae (unless I missed someone else in fifth/sixth).
    
    Wilson was still on the leaderboard and Brookes was at 12th place.
    
    Auriol did not appear on the listing (only one page show, about 14 places)
    so I don't know if he is out altogether.  Certainly not likely to win now.
    
    J.R.

    At 8:45 this morning... from CEEFAX
    
    Sainz was leading by about 3 mins from Vatanen. Kankkunnen was back in
    fourth approx 4 minutes behind Sainz.  Auriol is out. So its looking
    good for Sainz.
    
    Rob

    RAC Rally  22-25 Nov 92
    -----------------------
    
     1. Sainz-Moya		Toyota Celica GT4
     2. Vatanen-Berglund	Subaru Legacy
     3. Kankkunen-Piironen	Lancia Delta HF
     4. Alen-Kivimaki		Toyota Celica GT4
     5. Biasion-Siviero		Ford Sierra Cosworth 4WD
     6. McRae-Ringer		Subaru Legacy
     7. Eriksson-Parmander	Mitsubishi Galant VR4
     8. Makinen-Harjanne	Nissan Sunny GTiR
     9. Wilson-Thomas		Ford Sierra Cosworth
    10. Aghini-Farnocchia	Lancia Delta HF
      ....

    1992 Rally Manufacturers Championship
    -------------------------------------
    
    1.	LANCIA		140 points (top 7 scores)
    2.  TOYOTA		116        ( "  "    "  )
    3.  FORD		 94
    4.  SUBARU		 60
    5.  MITSUBISHI	 44
    6.	NISSAN		 37
    7.	AUDI		 10
    8.  RENAULT ARGENT.	  7
    9.  GM		  2
    9.  RENAULT           2

    1992 Rally Drivers Championship
    -------------------------------
    
     1.	Carlos SAINZ		144
     2.	Juha KANKKUNEN	        134
     3.	Didier AURIOL		121
     4.	Massimo BIASION		 60
     5.	Markku ALEN		 50
     6.	Fran�ois DELECOUR	 45
     7.	Andrea AGHINI		 39
     8.	Colin McRAE		 34
     9.	Alessandro FIORIO	 32
    10. Jorge RECALDE		 28
    11. Ari VATANEN		 25
    12. Philippe BUGALSKI	 22
        Piero LIATTI		 22
    14. Kenjiro SHINOZUKA	 21
    15. Mats JONSSON		 20
        Ross DUNKERTON		 20
    17. Bruno THIRY		 17
    18. Gustavo TRELLES		 16
        Armin SCHWARZ		 16
    20. Timo SALONEN		 14
    ......

    1992 Drivers FIA Cup (Group N championship)
    -------------------------------------------
    
    1. Gr�goire de MEVIUS	37
    2. Hiroshi NISHIYAMA	30
    3. Carlos MENEM		26
    ....