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Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives

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that ain't the way to have fun, son
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Impressive, but I'm a little disappointed he couldn't continue after landing on a lower part of the course.

/sarcasm

I've watched every WRC race since about '98, and I've been waiting for this to happen on some of the narrow mountain road stages. Not waiting in a good way, mind you, I love the full-on two people in a car against a stage style of racing. Reminds me of my wife and I doing long-distance motorcycle rallying.

You have to not only love a sport which both has death hanging over you, potentially, but also has equipment well-engineered enough so that while the vehicle may still drive, kinda, after a particularly nasty incident, you the roll-cage is broken, so you cannot continue.

Three wheels on road sections = RULES

I'm still trying to determine what it is about Sebastian Loeb which makes him so damned good. It's kinda scary to watch how calmly he drives.

/misses Colin McRae and Petter Solberg (until the latter gets a ride, again)
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Xargs: LeMonaider
04/07/09

@sub-$3K luxury rides are expendable: Petter DOES have a ride! His own 3 year old Xsara, but he's doing pretty good, and clearly having some serious fun.

Also, GREAT to see Marcus Gronholm back in a ProDrive Subaru, supposedly last weekend was a one-off, but he may yet procure enough sponsorship to continue.

Man, what a weekend. WRC, one of the best season openers EVER of the BTCC, a good F1 race for a change, World Superbike at Valencia. About 5 gigs of pure FUN. It is a wonderful thing that motorsports are back.
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Xargs: LeMonaider was starred

FЯeeMan
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Slightly OT:

For those of you interested in some good rally (and other race) viewing here in the land where right turns must not be shown on TV, PM me.
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Mobius
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Crap!

Whoa!

Hell no!

F***!

Dammit!

When will it stop?

Ouch!!!

Ouch!!

Ouch!

Ouch...

Ow...

Ow..

Ow.

Not again...

Man...

Another wreck...

Tree!
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pres
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
If he had let his secretary drive, it only would have flipped once.
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pres was starred pres was unstarred

tenbeers
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Ta-daaaaa!
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OldeEnglishD
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Wait a Ford had a roll over accident, were there Firestone tires involved?
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thunder; now eta-powered
04/07/09

@OldeEnglishD: And it wasn't an Explorer? Go figure!
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Bentoboxx, My Tank is full of it
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Abu-Dhabi...
Abu-Dhabi...
Abu, Dhabi!
Yo peep this

Abu-Dhabi, we like to party
We don't cause trouble, we don't bother nobody
We're, just some men that's on the mic
And when we rock upon the mic we rock the mic RIGHT
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Ash78, cube farmer
04/07/09

@Bento needs a 20 billion dollar bailout: Takin' it back to the old sch...er, middle school. Nice.
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acarr260
04/07/09

@Ash78: Snoop's version came out when I was in jr. high, but I think the real deal (Slick Rick) was earlier. I would look it up, but I have a meeting soon.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
04/07/09

@Bento needs a 20 billion dollar bailout: That's all fine and good, but Garfield's ode is still the daddy.
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acarr260
04/07/09

@Bento needs a 20 billion dollar bailout: Isn't another part of that song:

So listen close

to what we say

because this types of shit

happens every day

I don't think I could take that every day...
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philibuster
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
The thought of the roll cage getting closer and closer to me with every impact is harrowing. I am surprised at his relative calmness in describing it. Me in same circumstance: "oh god oh god oh god oh god"
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acarr260
04/07/09

@philibuster: and my co-driver/navigator would be asking about the new smell in the interior.

/they're probably just spreading manure on the fields... right?!
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Jstas has gas!
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Damnit! Thanks for the spoiler! I didn't even get to watch the race yet!

Anyway, Latvala...kid's got talent. Drives hard too. Needs to learn to back off a bit. Slow is fast, ya know? But still, he's a Finnish Colin McRae. I LOVE watching him drive. He's so blisteringly fast on all circuits but it's clear he's lacking experience. Even if he does well this year, he'll be one to follow next year.
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acarr260
04/07/09

@Jstasmanian Debil -- Cuban Gynecologist: If he lives through this year, he'll be the one to follow next year.

/fixed that for ya
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Jstas has gas!
04/07/09

@acarr260: Thanks dude. I knew I could count on someone here to be nice enough to help me out! ;)

But you know what? After surviving that tumble, he's proven pretty hard to take out.
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acarr260
04/07/09

@Jstasmanian Debil -- Cuban Gynecologist: I can hear his competitors now:

"He's young, fast, determined, and apparently unbreakable. If he learns to slow down a little in the hot spots, he might be impossible to catch."
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engineerd
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Ford should totally use that in a commercial about how safe their cars are. Instead of the cliche sled test, show one of your cars -- a small car -- rolling 17 times and the driver and passenger walking away.

Of course, since America is apparently banned from watching WRC, most people probably wouldn't understand. I guess Clarkson's right: Americans just don't "get it".
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TowerOfPower
04/07/09

@engineerd: It is pretty sad that the only rally racing that I have ever seen live on TV is the RallyX on the X-games, and I only managed to catch it twice.

Thats ok, I guess, because NASCAR is basically on 24/7 and it is much more exciting...right?
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ViperBorg
04/07/09

@TowerOfPower: Wrong.

I'm American. NASCAR sucks, long live WRC.
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Six Flags Over Tomsk
04/07/09

@ViperBorg - SpaceBat hates Facebook: You may want to check the batteries in your sarcasm detector.
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Turbolence88
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Man, that's just a case of bad luck. Though it reminds me of an offroading accident a few friends and I were involved in.

I remember the accident as it was happening, the sheer panic going over our faces. He tried to stop, stop, reverse, but nothing was saving it. Forward and onward his machine went, deeper and deeper into a whole mess of trouble. When the car finally came to a stop and we got out we were shaking in the freezing cold. I still recall the terror, the fear. It was a horrifying experience.

Granted, he only got the front of his Jeep lodged into a two-foot-deep puddle. But still! Who knows what kind of things were hiding in there...dead plants, floating branches, insects!
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acarr260
04/07/09

@Turbolence88: Mosquitoes!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...!
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If FromaBuick6 has to watch one more Chevy commercial, he's going to punch Howie Long in the face
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
It would have been so much more fitting if he rolled it 7 more times. That'd sure beat the hell out of candles on a cake.
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Novaload
04/07/09

@FromaBuick6: Yeah, but in a year or two, that's going to get really, really old.
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somnambulance
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Even without the roll cages, wearing a 5-point harness and a helmet would increase the survival rate in all car accidents by quite a bit. This would be a lot cheaper to implement that requiring cars to have 20 airbags all over the cabin.
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Alan Olson
04/07/09

@AtomikB: Agree. I say, if everyone drove racecars, the roads would be a lot safer...or at least produce fewer deaths. But as it stands now, we have enough trouble convincing people to wear a 2 or 3 point harness (standard seatbelts) so they don't die. Good luck trying to get them to accept 5 points. And helmets...people don't even wear them on bicycles, do you think they'll wear them in cars?
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Tyson
04/07/09

@AtomikB: Nah, the 20 airbags are required because people still don't even wear their 3 point seatbelts. Most crashes, the airbags aren't actually a huge factor, as long as you're wearing a seatbelt.
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Jo Schmo
04/07/09

@Alan Olson: I only wear Star Wars approved helmets when I am driving.
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FЯeeMan
04/07/09

@Tyson: wearing a seat belt and not sitting on top of the wheel.

I t-boned an old fart who pulled out in front of me. I had enough time to slow from 65 to probably 35, but it was a pretty heavy hit. The airbags went, of course, but never even touched me.

BTW- airbags are loud and stinky!
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Van Sarockin, rogue trebuchet
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
Amazing. Hope this guy gets to a ripe old age. The most frightening thing was the vista of the land below - containing no nearby landscape elements - you just know that's going to be a long steep drop.

But it looks like the the flip was caused by his running up on the hillside to his left, as he approached a left hand corner. Seems like the absolute wrong approach to the course. Maybe he was wide off his last set of turns...

That kind of performance might sell a few more Foci. You think your Volvo's tough?
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Gearhead's Garage
04/07/09

In reply to Driver Flips Rally Car 17 Times On His Birthday, Lives
As they say in Finland: Skygroundskygroundskygroundsky......
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pauljones
04/07/09

@Gearhead's Garage:

Okay, I really don't quite approve of making light of a guy who just went through an experience like that, but I have to admit, that one made me laugh my ass off.
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Dr. H. F. Danger
04/07/09

@Gearhead's Garage: I don't know why that made me laugh soo hard.

nice.
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FЯeeMan
04/07/09

@Gearhead's Garage: and you get a heartclickheartclickheartclick... from me, too.
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that ain't the way to have fun, son
04/07/09

@Gearhead's Garage:

Nice.

Under a different outcome, I'd not get a kick out of something like this, but Jari-Matti and his co-driver walked away, ergo, heart-cliky.
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MushyHeirloom
04/07/09

@sub-$3K luxury rides are expendable: Same.
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