Anyone?
McRae?
Makkinen?
Walter Rohl?
Ari Vatenen?
Kankkunnen?
Please don't say Burns. He's not quite there yet.

Here's a topic going on at another forum : http://tarmac.motorsportforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3017

there's too many to choose from!!

but... um.... well...

Juha Kankkunen is a very 'not bad' choice!!!

j.

Tough call, dont forget Michelle Moulton. The only female WRC driver ever, and for Audi at that!

i would say colin but im too new to the sport to be considered a worthy opinion http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif

Henri Toivenen. No question.

Juha

Juha Kankkunen, the ultimate road warrior!

Well, there's always Stig. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif

But what's the criteria? If "best" means best pure driver, it's hard to argue with Toivenen or Rohrl. If best means most successful, look no farther than Makkinen.

hannu mikola

Eric Eaton
adamsrs www.unnatural.org (http://www.unnatural.org)

Andrew Cowan... and a special mention for Kenjiro Shinozuka.. still racing..after all these years.. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif

"El Matador" Carlos Sainz. He's been quite consistent over the years and he seems to have such a passion for the sport of rallying and has won with quite a few different makes with different teams( I favor the Group A years, so the nod goes to Carlos).

Yes! Carlos drove my Alltrac to the World Championship in 1990. He's much more fun to listen to than some boring Scandanavian, too.

My overall vote would be Stig Blomqvist

Hay Alwin, the following is my favorites:
Juha Kankhunnan-he is the very best and above average. driver even he is 40+ years old.
Ari Vatanen- He's the all time and all condition driver, he could drive every manufacture's WRC car very fast!!
Colin McRae - He's one of my idol, but hes not very stable but fast!
Tommi Makinen - He's one of the best driver I like and he always drive very stable and fast while he was behide.Also, he is a very smart driver!!
Carlos Sainz - He has the highest education and he really loves rally. He works so hard while he switch to different team, and work from the beginning to success!
Richard Burns - I watch this guy since he was 23 years old in Mitsubishi. and drove the Evo 3 at that moment, he just race for Asia Pacific champ. and he always made the fastest record time at Hong Kong-Beijing rally and he runs really really great. Then he moves to Subaru and he starts to let the world know he will be the 2nd best British Man in the world. I was so disappoint he didn't won last Season, but he still young and he will be the Best of the world soon!
Freddy Loix - I really don't know why Mitsubishi keep this guy for Second driver in the team, he always made mistake and crash the car or made a huge damage to the car, I was think Mitsubishi could get other better driver to replace him like Kenneth Eriksson, Bruno Thiry or Piero Liatti.
The above just only my Opinions and my point of view of those driver.
Enjoy!

[This message has been edited by Ben (edited February 13, 2001).]

Makkinen-
I dig his attitude. He is actually having tons of fun.
Its not that life is too short, its that your dead for so long....

My top 10
1. Henri Tivonen
2. Timo Makinen
3. Paddy Hopkirk
4. Walter Rohrl
5. Tommi Makinen
6. Stig Blomqvist
7. Bjorn Waldegard
8. Sandro Munari
9. Colin McRea
10. Michele Mouton

Honorable mention, Vic Elford




[This message has been edited by Tangmere (edited February 13, 2001).]

Rally trivia: Timo and Tommy aren't related. Curiously they only were first introduced a couple of years ago.

I'd go With Kankkunen, or not quite so hot on his heels, Sainz.

It's gotta be a Finn, though. A below average Finnish mailman could probably destroy a whole SCCA ProRally field of competitors http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by cvalle-sd (edited February 13, 2001).]

John Buffum did a bit of WRC didn't he? Anybody know how "well" he did?

Jon, I checked my facts, egg on my face! All this time I thought Timo was Tommi's dad.

Heard alot of stuff about Rohl. He was asked once why didn't he try F1. He replied "It was too boring!" http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/eek.gif

I remember watching a SCCA ProRally where Stig drove a Cosworth Ford Escort. He decimated the entire field. Watching the in car camera footage was eye opening. Stig was calm, minimal steering wheel inputs, and very, very smooth.

The rest of the crowd would be sawing at the wheel and generally overdriving the car. Stiq (doing the rally for fun as he is retired) looked like he was out for a Sunday joyride. Truly amazing. It brings the skill of the great drivers into perspective.

Tangmere has a pretty good list of the top drivers. I might rearrange a couple of the top drivers a few places, but that is just personal preference.

Side note: How can a country as small as Finland produce so many great drivers? A F1 and WRC Champion at the same time? What do they put in the water up there? http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif

I have to go with one of the guys from the "old" days, before they did pace-notes and practiced the stages....

My personal favorite was a Scadanavian driver that used to drive for Toyota in the early '70's and I think he is now running Toyota Europe's motorsport div. Can't remember his name for the live of me ( banged my head once to often, memory is not what it used to be) But I had the good fortune to spend an evening with him in his brand new Toyota Celica practicing for the Total Rally in South Africa. To this day all I can say is: AWESOME!!
Hannu Mikkola comes a VERY close second though.
Those were MEN with Titanium Goolies, but the co-drivers..... they HAD to be GODS!!

Andre

Hey, no one has mentioned Possum Borne yet !!
He gets my vote. Not so much in the limelight as the current WRC bunch, but still cleaning up in the Asia-Pacific series!! (Helps he drives our favorite car I suppose !!http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif)

1. KKK or (Juha Kankkunen
2. McRea
3. Burns
4. Janusz Kulig (Polish rally champion,and an upcoming great driver)
5. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Another Polish rally champion, and a 97 European Rally Champion, a former Allstar Subaru driver)

What about Paddy Hopkirk - or "On the Roof" Carlsen?

Out of the choices you've given, I'm going with Rohl.. Mmmm - Audi...

Basil

bourne has no competition thats why he wins the asia pacific championship. if you want to see possum bourne hes going to be rallying here in the states next month in the rally in tennessee.scca pro rally championship.and i heard juha kankkunen is suppose to run also.

Tim K-

It's not what they put in the water, it's what they put the water in - freezing cold air. There's snow on the roads like 8 months a year... Forget about your average Finnish mailman, your average Finnish grandmother could outdrive all of us on loose surfaced roads. The WRC Finns probably all ARE former mailmen!!!

i bet on tarmac those Finns would suck. Just put Juha on an autoX and he'll be eating cones.... yeah right! http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/biggrin.gif

Finland roads go from dirt in summer to ice in winter, that is why they have so many good drivers. No chance to drive on pavement! http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif

WOW!! Look at all the Fins. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/biggrin.gif They even have one of the best F1 driver (I am no Schumacher fan) Go Hakkinen; but no one will ever be another Senna "Greatest Ever".

Dante
Primm Motorsports

JUHA...watch his smooth style and you will know who wrote the book.

"The Book" was writen Loooooong before Juha http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif By another scandanavian driver... Sanha Clauskinen or something like that!! http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif

Best ever, who knows. But, Juha is my hero.

-Red