Rally Finland Used Tractors To Make A Chicane For Some Reason
What do you use to create a make-shift chicane on a rally stage? Tyre walls? Hay bales? No, how about tractors.
Rally Finland organisers have come under criticism, particularly from FIA World Rally Championship drivers, after they created a chicane using actual tractors on SS1.
Two tractors were positioned on the Harju spectator stage run to create a chicane as part of a tie-up with event sponsor Valtra.
Unsurprisingly drivers were not happy with the decision to use tractors, especially because they were running gravel tyres when the chicane was on an asphalt section.
In the above video you can see VW rally driver Andreas Mikkelsen tackling the tractor chicane at the 1m35 mark.
Here’s what three-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier had to say to Autosport about the tractor chicane:
“We talked about this straight after the recce and said this can’t be serious. The FIA is fighting for road safety and in F1 we see such bad accidents involving tractors [Jules Bianchi’s 2014 Japanese Grand Prix crash.
“OK, our cars are a little bit safer with more [protection] around us and we don’t arrive with the same speed, but anyway there’s no point to do that - it’s not really clever. We asked for these to be removed after we drove the stage on Thursday night for the second time we went to the stage on Friday, but they were not.”
Volkswagen team principal Jost Capito called it “irresponsible” and said “tractors have no place on a [rally] stage”.
Rally Finland’s clerk of the course, Kai Tarkiainen, said he was surprised by the reaction the tractors had and added:
“The company consulted with me to see if that could be done. I consulted the FIA and then made the decision. We measured everything and considered everything that could happen. It was done with the FIA’s measurements regarding how much free space there has to be between the obstacles and the regulation doesn’t define what the obstacle should be.”
What do you think? Was it OK or completely crazy? Let us know below.
Comments
2015 F1 Canadian GP used a beaver for that purpose
Wasn’t it a ground hog?
2016 they used seagulls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c_CfM9r0AM
its only Ogier complaining probably because he didn’t win. FIA granted permission for them to use the Tractors as a chicane. they proved no threat to danger as the car would be on the left hand side. it adds character to the WRC which it needs
They didn’t want to use hay bales because the bales are not solid and small bits of hay will fall off every time a car passes the bale/when it moves, making the surface slippery, some drivers at the Goodwood event complained about the hay that’s on the middle of the road, so this is ok, and if a sponsor is willing to lend a few tracktors so they can make a solid Chicane, I see no problem with that. If i remember correctly only Ogier complained about the unusual solution.
Hay bales are very solid once you hit them though. Crashes at Goodwood have proven that time and again.
That said I’d rather slide into a hay bale than a huge freaking tractor.
well you could just use hay and put plastic around it.. or use tyres. ..
Valtra is a part supporter of the event so think this is a good idea
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Accordion to a recent survey, replacing words in a sentence with things which are off-topic often goes undetected.
Whaaaat? 😂😂
Forza is that you?
TORILLE
TUON TRAKTORIT
Meh so they can complain all they want but the same rule applies to any sport, don’t change the rules change you/what your doing
Rally cars go over 200kph over crests and jumps, sometimes narrowly missing trees and they ain’t complaining. But “oh look 2 tractors!” We are in such danger!!
But the trees aren’t in the middle of the road?
many people have been killed driving on the roads normally by running into tractors just imagine what high speed could do
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