What, or who, makes a legend? Depending how dictionarily anal you are, you might suggest that no one can be a legend until they’re dead, but we can defy that definition with two words – Steve and Waugh.
In short, there are such things as living legends and, when it comes to driving, Walter Rohrl is one of them. Rohrl is the Ring Master, Porsche’s head test driver and one of the key human elements in the construction and fettling of each and every 911 since Hitler was a boy.
His times around the Nurburgring are the ones that Nissan tries to shoot down. His wins, as a wee strip of a lad, in rallying are many, and the stuff of… legend. Did I mention that he’s 62 years old? Mind you, he doesn’t look it, which is merely more proof that speed is, in fact, good for you.
I was lucky enough to meet the great man at the launch of the new 911 Turbo at the Estoril race track in Portugal, and lucky enough to get to drive his personal car, a meltingly beautiful Mexican blue version, which he was kind enough to lend me.
After doing several, sweaty don’t-hurt-Walter’s-car laps, and a launch-control run down the straight which saw the car hit 100km/h in 3.2 seconds and 200km/h in under 11, I collapsed for a little while and then managed to talk Rohrl into showing me how it’s mean to be done. I wasn’t allowed in the car with him – “if we let you go, everyone will want a go” – but we did have a Vbox hooked up, which provided the video you’re about to enjoy, complete with his speeds, and the G-forces he’s pulling. Rohrl told me that he finds driving road cars, with treaded tyres, a bit dull around racetracks, because they just can’t go fast enough, but dull isn’t exactly the term that comes to mind when I watch this lap.
Next month, after we publish our story on the car, and Rohrl teaching me how to drive it properly, I’ll post my lap, so you can have a good laugh, and a better realisation of just how quick this one is.
Im going to throw in a spanner here – the term legend is used far to often these days,turn on the tv and every bloody boofballer is a legend!!
rubbish.
True legends (for me anyway since i was into bikes before cars and was lucky enough to be in the industry in the late 80s and 90s)
no-1 Joey Dunlop – he was the very essence of a racer,i met him at the isle of man in 89,chated to me like any bike nut,even rememberd my name the next day in the pits..
no-2 Peter Brock – what else do you need to say,damn nice guy who always had time for his fans,anywhere.
no-3 Deseraie Wilson- female race driver all here life-not hugely succesful but always raceing,best known for here endurance raceing in the early 80s in the flying tigers 935 even went into f1 but the boys club made sure she left after she shamed a few of the greats in the late 80s!!
These legends were/are complete motor heads they love the sport not the money.
corbyette,im sorry but if you sat next to a 90year old granny rushing to a doctors appointment in toyota crown,that also would feel scary.
I had the pleasure of seeing Mr Rohl in his Rallying days, his precise and gentle touch along with absolute confidence in his own abilities where quite awe inspiring. No need to be scared at all with him driving, even at 100% around the ring in a 911.
Much scarier outside the local school at closing time with tired / bored parents collecting their darlings by car instead of walking the 2 kms home.
I wonder how fast he could have gone on slick’s.
earthy, the most dangerous place on this planet is the school bus stop where they pile the future criminals in to the bus,just about all the d beat parents will do a u turn and go back where they came from without looking to see if there is any traffic around.
Aye, Spandau. Much safer in a race car on a track I reckon.
Hey Mr Corby, where’s this weeks thinly veiled infomercial about Holden Cars? Writing about real drivers and decent cars for a change, found your inner ‘European’ have you?
Er, right, Earthy, and when have I ever written an infomercial for Holden of any kind? Even a thickly veiled one?
Here we are, toiling away to provide you with an outlet for your seemingly endless spare time, and this is the thanks we get?
I’m about as pro Holden as I am pro death penalty, as it turns out, but thanks for the comment.
If speed is good for you, then how come Keith Richards looks the way he does?
good one annie.
i wish i looked like keith richards.
who is keith richards?
its only GM and Porsche products here,isnt it corbeeny.
Spandau, you don’t want to look like Keith Richards if you’re going to the ESC; you’d never find a new boyfriend.
oh annie thats wicked humour.
annie you are noughty noughty felix.
It’s true, though. Most ESC-gays don’t want their annual one-night stand to look like he spent the night on a mountain top in Bathurst.
Spandau and annie – this is a blog on cars and legends – last time i looked!!
if you wanna chat crap – go on msn or something!!
usualy i got somthin to say but i got nothing i’ll talk when somthing intersts me i’m sorry steve this just doesn’t do it for me err that sounds a bit weird it just doesn’t touch me in that way oh that sounds weird as well well how about your mamma.
It’s a hard life isn’t it Corby? (Yes, that is me being jealous.)
*waves fist* You bastard.
He really does keep it at the very limit. Using all the available grip, tyres just screeching a little. That was sensational. Can’t wait to see yours Corby ahahhahaha.
I think I might well put Ayrton Senna on my legends list. Not living, but niether is Brocky & he definitley makes it to legend status.
Black Dog, post 18. Couldn’t agree more.
Corby, “toiling away”????!!!! Your joking, right? Being in Potugal at the launch of a new Porche is hardly “toiling away”. It’s been almost two weeks since you posted anything for us to talk about. Geez you have it tough, don’t you? I’m a landscapers labourer that spends most of my time digging retic trenches by hand or moving mulch in a wheelbarrow. My second job is part-time labourer for a roofing contractor. If your “toiling away”, mate, I must be superman.
Wanna swap jobs? I’ll do your “toiling” for you, no worries. You can dig my ditches for a week. I realise you won’t appreciate my post Corby but hello, reality check, you have a plum job.
Keith Richards is a (barely) living legend!
Conman, I think Top Gear should run a competition where the winner does Corby’s “job” for a day.
I assume I’m not the only one seeing this new format? This looks cheap, tacky & takes forever to load. Get the old format back up here. This is sh#t.
Ok then. After turning the computer & modem on & off a few times I get back to normal. Would anyone from your IT department be able to explain why when i came on here a few minutes ago this site looked like it had been done by a high school kid in a hurry? What the devil was that all about?
Conman, our IT guy is at a car launch today, toiling away. At least he’s toiling away in a Korean car, which is work. And I’m toiling away here in the office, slaving over a hot keyboard. All right, you’ve made me feel bad. My dad’s a builder and I’ve seen what real work looks like. I get tired just watching him. I will refrain from pretending I have a real job.
What, even the IT guy gets to test cars? Lucky sod. Didn’t mean to make you feel bad Stephen, just to remind you that you have a job most of us would kill for,:)
Canberra Reader, I don’t want Corby’s job for a day, I just want his job!!
Conman-this site was designed by a high school kid – (who was promised a stig t/shirt and a mug)
pay him tg!!!
Anyone up for an argument?
Who is the world’s best driver?
Walter is by far the best driver on the world, in my opinion. He is not only test driver for Porsche, he also performs absolute miracles on the dirt in the only proper motorsport around; rally.
He used to drive the 550hp Audi S1 rally car back in the days too; even ripping it up the infamous Pike’s Peak hill climb in a rush for some variety.
Check out the DVD “Walter Röhrl im Porsche 911″ then fire away your testimonies.
Stephen, you’re a lucky man to have met my hero.
corbobby,i m geting my mailbox bombarded with stuff from the tokyo motor show which starts today,should you be there?mmhhh,.annie dont worry im not gay.great another korean car test cant wait.no im not kidding.
No one invited me to Tokyo, so I’m sulking. Best driver in the world eh? Well, I asked Walter who he thought was good and he said, and I kid you not, “Mark Webber.”
I said surely you’re just saying that because I’m Australian and he said no, he really meant it. Go figure.
Well slap me with an old fan belt – so the greatest thinks our our man is the best!!!
I think he as being very polite-either way he does have a very high opinion of mark .
And thats good enough for me….
So to all the webber knockers
-Stick that in ya 2in system..
this actually makes me feel better about the bad news on another post….
what bad news blacky?
oh the move to 9,so is the top gear magazine going to join the bourkes backyard magazine?
im sorry but this is really funny,i was just watching the pommy touring cars and one of the bmw”s fire extinguisher went off by it self,so it looked like he had 50 randy african americans in there.
So Walter rates MW. I bet that will hurt a few of those Webber knockers around here. Let’s see them tell Walter he’s wrong & has no clue what he’s talking about. Love it!!!
Spandau Tango – That’s about the fifth time I have seen the exact same round of the British Tourers. I think Channel One only got the one race meeting & just keep replaying it.
i might be wrong but didnt walter rohrl play second fiddle to hannu mikkola, and when he retired rohrl won a championship.
i mean retired as in mechanical breakdowns
Hi Corby – hope you well. Seeing a lot of commas and gramatically weirdness from you – are things ok? You hitting the bottle?
mwah
sounds more like gom,and so does conman.and corbs you hang out with carl stefaspastic,whats the story with TG going to channel nine??
What’s this Spandau Tango? I drink one litre bottle of JD in a night & your dubbing me an alchy? Or are you trying to say I’m gom? I might drink abit, ok, alot, but I am certainly not gom. I told you already, I don’t have half his attitude. Besides, doesn’t he reckon he is everything but the president of the usa? I’m a lowly labourer. Hardly up to his lofty standards. Oh, & I live in Blackburn melbourne.
Spandau – yep ch 9 is getting tg and ch 7 is getting 5th gear
and we are all getting rogered!!
oh-joy!!!!!!
KT,,,, what-ever d-o you… mean…,,,#($*(#)???
An event/feat, Onviously.
On a totally unrelated note, I have just recieved an e-mail from a friend about a lounge chair in Minnesota USA. The chair is to be sold at auction today after being seized by police after it was involved in an alcohol related accident. The owner of the chair had modified it. It had been fitted with cup holders, foot rests, headlights, a drag style steering wheel, a nitrous oxide injection system & had parachutes installed as well. This has all been fitted over a modified ride on lawnmower. The chair is capable of speeds over 24kmh & was crashed into a parked car after a female aledgedy tried to jump aboard the moving chair as the intoxicated man was driving it home from his local.
Now that’s inventive!!
Oh on a subject un related got Forza motor sport 3 for xbox 360 and it kick’s bottom so go buy one for yourselfs.
no way speedo,are you the managing director for XBOX or something,next you will be forcing us to watch top gear on channel nine.
What no no i just think it’s a good game and you should enjoy the greatness as well that’s all.
Sorry Speed Demon, I have better things to do than play kiddies games. I’d rather get out in my offroad buggy & do it for real thanks. Maybe I’ll buy it for my nephew for christmas.
Good ol’ Marky Mark and the Red Bull bunch? Interesting. But really, who cares what Walter thinks – it’s not like he’s going to nominate himself as the best now is he? We have to remember he’s German and therefore writes with a 3B pencil, uses a protractor when cornering and definitely puts his shoes on with a shoe-horn; there is no slide-rule or drafting table available to precisely calculate the ‘best’ driver. He simply said the first Google-search-like answer that resulted in his brain after receiving the equation from (keyword: Australian) you.
Bertus,wouldn’t that mean he would say Shuie without batting an eyelid?
Got a grudge against MW do you? Did he beat you in a pushbike race maybe?
Conman – not really ‘against’ MW, I like him. I’m just trying to say Walter is by far the bestest but he would never admit that out loud. So the next best thing was to just give the journo/public what they want to hear.
But seriously he is, factually, outstanding. I regard Walter right up there ahead of God, Peter Giffin and David Hasselhoff. He is so superior compared to the rest.
Also, and I know, because I’ve seen video footage, he is the person responsible for designing and building the Stig. He also invented the corner, 9000rpms, lateral gravity, and… he has a superhero-like ability to clock minus lap times.
Bike race? Pffft, I’d coast past him on the back wheel… then he’d smash me up the hills of course, being the fit bloke that he is. I’m not very fit and waaay too cool to get all sweaty n stuff anyway.
in my opinion the best legend of all time is peter brock.i see tga didnt put my post up on that.everytime peter came to bathurst and i got to say g’day to him he alawys remembered my name.he always had time for the local kids.miss his presence at bathurst now.
Katie-your right a legend is more than just a good driver – also a good human being wich brocky was!!
see my post no 1 for a couple more of his type.
I think Russel Ingall could added to the list-hes another driver who goes out of his way to be aproachable to the fans-my 5 year old daughter was with me at qld raceway earlyer this year,we were in line for an autograph when she got up to the table she could hardly see him-Russel got up came around and gave her a cuddle and an autographed cap!!!
That totally blew me away.
He may drive for the enemy but so what..
Yep, I reckon Rusty should make the legends list. He’s an awesome driver that tells it like it is & always gives 110% in his racing & to his fans. He did a similar thing with my then 4yr old nephew at a round a few years ago at Oran Park. He’s cool & loves the kiddies. Top driver & a top bloke.