Re: rally moments (no audi content)

[Dave Eaton <dave.eaton@minedu.govt.nz>]

reminds me of one of my best rally photos...

we're at the water splash mid-way up the motu stage of the fia w/c nz rally,
which is (was) distinguished as the longest stage on any fia w/c rally.  the
water splash is just that, one of the few flat places in the 70km or so of
mountain stage, and one of the few places where the locals (and we're tlaking
country-folk here!), gather from out of the boonies on their tractors.

scene is like apocolypse now, with about 20 helicopters (one of the nice things
about someone else paying your bills) 'coptering in before the first cars. 
anyway...

the thing about the water splash is that it has to be taken at the right speed.
 colin mccrae got it wrong (too slow(!)), and others also bottled before. 
anyway all the front runners had gone, and we were about to call it quits and
head away to the next photo op, when i heard this sound (sort of like a sewing
machine on heat), and look up to see a peugeot 106 rallye absolutely flat out
coming down the hill towards the water splash.  the pilot had obviously thought
about the "skipping stone" theory and was determined to try it out in practice.

i got myself ready and was lucky enough to capture a shot of the car hitting
the water, with the water forcing the bonnet (hood) away from it's pins and
folding it back on itself.

motor hadly missed a beat and the driver didn't lift...

dave
'95 sr2
'90 ur-q

>We were going about 40, I'm not sure I was looking at the puddle in front of
>us.  What we thought was only slightly deep was in fact much, much deper.  It
>was either hit it at full speed or get stuck in it, so boom!  It was about 25
>feet long and well over the bumper!  You've see those classic rally shots of
>mud and water, in a fantastic waterfall effect, splash down over the hood and
>windshield of the car?  Well from inside it was picture perfect!  While that
>was all well and good, the little puddle turend out to be huge tire ruts, the
>sound from underneath left me wondering if I had anything left to call a
>muffler.