A winter challenge for a rally car

[warp9engage]

With the wintersports championships in full gear and the WRC kicking off its own winter events, I'm wondering, which would be fastest down one of these:

A downhill skier, or a driver in his World Rally Car?

Rally car is ready with snow tires, full studs.

Bonus question: if the World Rally Car wins too easily, what would be the minimum class that would also do it: R5, R2?

 

[Northstar]

A downhill skier, or a driver in his World Rally Car?

That really depends on the route as a bunny hill is quite different than a black diamond speed wise.

 

[warp9engage]

A course like the one here:

 

[Roo]

On a course such as the one in the video above, the skier. Regardless of the car or the tyres, any vehicle that attempted that run would have a massive accident at the first change of direction.

Edit: Thinking about it some more, I'm not sure anything that happens after you've tried to drive a car down a ski run could be classed as an accident.

 

[Danoff]

I doubt you could even get a car down that between the gates... even on studded tires. Those slopes are steeeeeeep, and basically ice. The skiers are almost skaters - the have sharp edges on those skis and actually prefer the "snow" to be very icy.

 

[warp9engage]

I doubt you could even get a car down that between the gates... even on studded tires. Those slopes are steeeeeeep, and basically ice. The skiers are almost skaters - the have sharp edges on those skis and actually prefer the "snow" to be very icy.

Don't rally drivers prefer it when it's icy? That's when their studs are most effective. I've also heard that, with those conditions, studded tires provide surprising amounts of grip.

 

[Danoff]

Don't rally drivers prefer it when it's icy? That's when their studs are most effective. I've also heard that, with those conditions, studded tires provide surprising amounts of grip.

I've done some autocross on frozen lakes, and I'm a downhill skier and have seen some of the Olympic runs like the one pictured above firsthand. If that was paved you'd be scared out of your mind to take a car down it. There's no way, studs or no. Also turning when headed downhill like this is pretty dangerous.

 

[warp9engage]

I've done some autocross on frozen lakes, and I'm a downhill skier and have seen some of the Olympic runs like the one pictured above firsthand. If that was paved you'd be scared out of your mind to take a car down it. There's no way, studs or no. Also turning when headed downhill like this is pretty dangerous.

I suppose you're right, I thought that, maybe, out of all the alpine ski slopes there would be one good enough for it. Maybe super-g, which are very wide could do the trick.

Any takers? Mr Ken Block?

Or Mads Ostberg?

 

[Danoff]

I'd believe that she was vertical in this shot based on what I've seen.