Erzbergrodeo XVI

[Lynx'niK]

Dankeschön miezi

[KIMBO1]

Thanks so much for sharing all the lovely photos, videos and information do appreciate it - would love to see Kimi have a go on one of his bikes bet he would do really well

[Wolfie]

Unbelieavable stuff, you guys are great

After watching his interview in tv, thanks to Verena, his hair is something unbeliavable

I never had a thing for blond guys but long hair, blond or dark....damn hot

[Ice-Ludy]

Unbelieavable stuff, you guys are great

After watching his interview in tv, thanks to Verena, his hair is something unbeliavable

I never had a thing for blond guys but long hair, blond or dark....damn hot

Nikki...you know I have the same opinion about the hair!!!!!

[dindi]

Another article about the competition, this guy has realy the talent to describe things

Bizarre Challenge: Räikkönen versus mountain and motorcycle
By ANTHONY PEACOCK

There are weird and wonderful sports traditions that occur around the world. England, for example, rejoices in the ancient tradition of cheese rolling, a sport--if you can call it that--where hundreds of grown men chase a cheese, which they roll down a hill.

People laugh at it, but it’s no less sensible, and probably a great deal more so, than the Pamplona bull run in Spain, where a similar number of people who really should know better deliberately goad several young bulls just so that they can be pursued by them down several narrow cobbled streets.

Here in Austria, they place 1,500 “trial” motorcycle racers in a mountainside quarry and get them to race one another. Through a complex process of elimination, they eventually get it down to one winner.

The event is known, perplexingly, as the Red Bull Hare Scramble. No, we’re not quite sure what that means, either, but it all adds up to a refreshingly mad event. The road it runs on defies belief: a 10-mile piece of lunacy that is quite literally carved out of the side of a mountain. The consequences of falling off don’t bear thinking about, but let’s just say that you’d be lucky to get home in time for Christmas.

The king of the mountain is Polish bike rider Taddy Blazusiak, who won the Red Bull Hare Scramble in each of the last three years. He has the placid, complacent look of a confirmed psychopath and says that he got into trial biking because he liked to challenge himself.

Being a man who enjoys pushing the limits, he decided that the obvious thing to do was to take on an ex-Formula One world champion. Namely, Kimi Räikkönen.

Räikkönen is known as the “Ice Man,” because he stays cool under pressure, not because he spends a lot of time in a freezer. He’s a man of few words with a serious need for speed.

The idea was for Räikkönen to race Blazusiak down the Red Bull Hare Scramble course: Räikkönen in the Citroën C4 WRC that he is using this year for his very first season of the World Rally Championship and Blazusiak on his regular KTM bike. On paper, the car had certain advantages over the bike, not least of which was an extra 250 hp and two more driven wheels. Counting against it was the fact that the bike was far more suited to the conditions. Look at it this way: A Boeing 747 generally outperforms a remote-control plane, but which would you rather fly around your living room?

In total, the course--based near the Austrian village of Erzberg--boasted 93 corners. That’s 11 more than the epic Nürburgring Nordschleife. Not to mention rocks the size of soccer b***, which reminded Räikkönen's experienced co-driver, Kaj Lindström, of the old WRC Safari Rally. An estimated 45,000 spectators were on hand, a reasonable number of whom were drunk. Räikkönen must have felt as if he was right back at home in Finland.

With so many bikes tearing up the apocalyptic landscape, the description of the event as being “a bit Mad Max” was curiously appropriate. Räikkönen, who has never been one for social niceties, seemed to enjoy himself. He chatted bikes with Blazusiak, signed a few autographs and just seemed remarkably chilled out--a far cry from the occasionally haunted man who disappeared from the F1 paddock after last year.

While Blazusiak had countless practice runs behind him on the Erzberg course over the years, Räikkönen had to rely on only three. Luckily, he made them count, although he did manage to pick up a puncture during his recce--a sign of just how bad things were getting. But Saturday, when Räikkönen took on the challenge, was merely a practice day for the main Hare Scramble event on Sunday, and 1,500 bikes chewing up the place can make it look a bit well used.

Blazusiak went down the mountain, setting the time to beat, followed by Räikkönen. The crowd held its breath, not to mention its beer cans. Next up was Räikkönen, who was by now melting underneath the uncharacteristically warm temperatures.

The 2007 F1 champ only knows two speeds: flat-out and a little bit faster. But his key motivation lay in the fact that the loser had to wash the winner’s vehicle. And ex-world champions simply don’t wash cars. Or bikes.

Alongside the trophy at the finish, a bucket of water and a couple of sponges lay waiting. In his very first rally this year, the Arctic Rally in northern Finland, Räikkönen got his Citroën stuck in the snow and had to dig it out. Predictably, he didn’t enjoy that experience, so he wasn’t about to compound the offense by starting to wash bikes, too.

Räikkönen stopped the clock 28 seconds faster than Blazusiak, which sounds like a huge margin but isn’t when you remember the course’s length and complexity. The faster section at the end of the circuit is what won it, thanks to a top speed of about 125 mph for the rally car (depending on gearing), as opposed to about 90 mph for the bike. Had it been tight and twisty from the very beginning, the bike would have been a lot closer: Räikkönen was only four seconds faster at the first split.

“It’s just a bit of fun, but it’s always nice to win,” Räikkönen said as he watched his rival start cleaning the filthy Citroën C4. “I honestly didn’t know how it was going to work out. With this sort of challenge, you can never tell. Hopefully, he’s not too sore about it!”

One of Blazusiak's buddies mischievously suggested that he might want to write something rude with the sponge in the thick dust clinging to Räikkönen's car at the end, just as the cameras were rolling. But unfortunately, Blazusiak proved to be far too much of a professional to do that.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100607/FREE/100609902

Fun, fun article. Thanks, Julia!

Thanks for the pics and vids, V! LadyR, your mom rocks!

[LadyR]

Thanks for the pics and vids, V! LadyR, your mom rocks!

Thx, I will tell her!

[LadyR]

Courtesy Maili!





That was so great to watch! Taddy rocks!

[Ice-Ludy]

Courtesy Maili!





That was so great to watch! Taddy rocks!

Thanks to Maili and LadyR! This pics are great!!!!

[dindi]

Courtesy Maili!

Kaitsu givin' Taddy orders on how to clean the car

[amoljoshi]

Courtesy Maili!

Kaitsu givin' Taddy orders on how to clean the car

Yeah I got that when I first saw the pic..

[LadyR]

Courtesy Maili!

Kaitsu givin' Taddy orders on how to clean the car

No, I don't think so!

Taddy got the bucket and sponge and started his cleaning-session so damn enthusiastic! Firstly the name and then I made a "#1" beside the name. Then Kimi told him to clean the red bull logo on the side...
Kaj just checked the whole thing...

[miezicat]

I edit that video from the highlights of the Erzbergrodeo on austrian tv.
http://www.mediafire.com/?unwxzmq0j4z

[Anelise]

I edit that video from the highlights of the Erzbergrodeo on austrian tv.
http://www.mediafire.com/?unwxzmq0j4z

Thanks Verena!!!!

[Vida]

I edit that video from the highlights of the Erzbergrodeo on austrian tv.
http://www.mediafire.com/?unwxzmq0j4z

thank you..

[Wolfie]

Courtesy Maili!

Kaitsu givin' Taddy orders on how to clean the car

In the Finnish forum one guy made a thread: What would Alonso had said? after Kimi said this: "The battle was tough but I think that our car's top speed helped us win this time".

You can only imagine the replies