[angleboxman]

Anyobody know why they started to changed the clutch?
Didn't seem to be a problem with it before the service.

 

[davi]

wouldnt be suprised if the car was illegal or something

 

[ste0411]

What a stupid post Davi..what grounds do you have to say that!!!

 

[Mike Hunt]

even i could put a clutch in a skoda in half an hour

 

[ste0411]

Seems like it was just really bad luck

 

[davi]

all im saying is that its a bit suspiscious that they didnt change the clutch in 45 minutes. nicky grist seemed to be raging over the incident. dont really think mine is a stupid post ste but i do think that you are a fuckin idiot

 

[jonb]

Davi
Have you ever had a puncture change go wrong, or a thread strip itself.
Very Very Very bad luck, a pity and I am no Mc Rae fan, but I hope his drives keep Skoda in WRC, he may even get a drive in Dakar with VW

 

[ste0411]

No Davi you are the pineapplin idiot for that post!!!!!

 

[Tropsrotom]

It seems odd?

Pity for the Skoda mechanics, Im sure they wanted to do the job right and get their best result yet.

How long was the service?

What was Grist saying?

 

[Pro-motion]

half hour service....45mins & ur out i think:dunno:

 

[ritchie]

If it was only a clutch change that was required, then 30 mins should have been more than ample for a profesional team to carry out this task..It is quite possible that another problem was dicovered during the change..However if it was something that went wrong during a routine clutch change, then both McRae and Grist had good grounds to be very annoyed, especially after all the good work they had done over the weekend.

 

[cannyboy]

It seemed like a precautionary clutch change - that went horribly wrong.
The other service crews gathered around cheering the skoda mechanics on.
I'd hate to be the guy who has to report what went wrong to the company.

And davi - if you haven't the brains to make a proper constructive post, why bother?

 

[Brains]

Originally posted by sideways365
half hour service....45mins & ur out i think:dunno:

Yes it was a thirty min service and after another 15 min you go OTL (over the limit) and are automatically excluded

 

[teamgibbons]

I don't think davi's post is stupid. But I'm not saying the car was illegal either. Something just doesn't add up about the whole thing and I cannot understand what was going on.

Grist seemed unusually Pissed off about it, mechanical failure is somewhat acceptable and judging by his body language somebody funked up big time in service. Maybe there was a communications problem in relaying what was wrong from McRae to the team - one of this country's top drivers would probably still be in a Fabia only for the difficulty involved in getting them to understand English.

One thing McRae proved to me is that the Fabia is not far off the mark from being a rally winner. Granted Solberg was wiping the floor till Skippy appeared, in the right hands and with some development it a capable machine.

 

[1117]

How many Kangeroos got whacked??

 

[cannyboy]

So because Grist was annoyed the car must be illegal.
Perhaps if your broke your heart for months in the hope of getting a drive, flew to australia, raced for 3 days in the outback, and one of your greatest drives was robbed at the last minute by a precautionary clutch change, you'd be singing and downing pints.

Maybe the same people who shot Jfk were changing the clutch?

Solberg was on the verge of tears too, so obviously the Subarus must have been illegal too.

And rumours about the the Kangaroo had a pack of Marlboros in his pouch....

Lads - some of ye need to get out more............

 

[Bob2]

I don't think there was anything illegal about it at all. The transmission of a WRC is very far removed from that of a road car and therefore presents many opportunities for getting delayed. WRC mechanics routinely perform such miracles that when they do screw up, it is hard to believe.

Besides, the TTE scandal of '95 is too fresh in the memory for any factory to risk the embarrassment. Especially with the world's best known rally driver behind the wheel.

It was attrition that got McRae into 2nd place and he was racing against the kind of cars (Rovanpera, Pons, Atkinson) that he was up against last-time out and amongst whose company the Fabia is seen quite often.

 

[McS]

i just wonder why the didnt let him get on with the rally. As Mr Mulheimer said it was only a precationary clutch change ( which may have been linked to the loss of his paddle shift) then why change it at all. If its gonna brake then its gonna brake. He only had three more stages to do! i personally would rather retire due to mechanical problems rather than retire because the "works" team cocked up! it looks better slightly for the team and wouldn't feel just as bad for McRae & Grist.... Any1 agree!??

 

[Darren Harvey]

Agree,maybe they just wanted to make sure evey thing was 100% tor the last 3 stages and since nothing appeared to wrong just changed the clutch because they had time to do.
But as you say Mcs why fix whats not broken.

 

[Eoiny]

The decided to change the clutch as a precaution but something was wrong with the clutch and it took them longer to change it, think the had a prob gettn it out?:dunno:

Was a real pity though, would have been great to see mcrae on the podiun with the skoda!