Only found this after rewatching Top Gear and wiki-ing Richard. Fantastic interview; really sound bloke, funny and clear-cut. Mad footage as well - those full on in the air rolls!!! Rallying really is absolutely mental.
Many see f1 as the pinnacle of motor racing, they are so wrong. WRC is without doubt the absolute distinction of a driver, and a driver who can drive at the limit, not crash and be so down to earth you would see them at your local pub. Richard Burns was a hero of mine
Interesting time when WRC was at peak popularity. It was short lived thou. Just a few years later it was all over and decline in full swing. Miss good ole Burns
Richard Burns was a great driver and a nice bloke plus it was a crying shame he died so young but he was wrong when he said the WRC was more interesting than Formula 1 and when he said f1 driver are not cultured enough really annoyed me The great Michael Schumacher my absolute hero his favourite dish was curry he was more cultured than Richard Burns ever was Formula 1 will always be the number sport no matter what The WRC is great too but not on the same page as Formula 1
i reckon he just meant rally drivers are more of grassroot orgin than the pay drivers with posh lifestyle in f1 (bar a few generational talents). but yeah f1 as a whole dwarfs rallying no matter what.
Keep in mind, this was the time when F1 was at one of their "boring" phases where the races and the drivers who stood at the podium were very predictable with only a handful of notable moments amid Ferrari's dominance. When Richard Burns said F1 is a lot more boring and not cultured enough, this was what he possibly meant. Think about it. If we were to watch F1 seasons from 2000 to 2005, you'd find a lot of F1 fans yawned in boredom to watch some predictable races. Aside from the top drivers, F1 drivers during these years were also rather sterile in terms of personality and driving style, with the exception of a few names. At that time, WRC and F1 were about on the same caliber. People looked forward to WRC thanks to the more diverse rally stages across the world, including my own country Indonesia which only occurred in 1996 and 1997. With a lot more stages and countries to cover, memorable drivers whose personality on the camera and on their racing seats were more colorful, and the fact that WRC cars at that time used only slightly modified version of every day production cars (appearance-wise, anyway), they added tons of relatability and accessibility to fans all over the world. It's a different kind of demography compared to F1 viewers, but it could be said that the quality and quantity of fans from both series were about the same. But when you compare today's WRC to F1, of course there's no competition. Each series' media body presents their motorsport event very differently. F1 drivers are now more exposed in their personality on and off the race, all bare open for the audiences to enjoy, not to mention the races are now in larger number with new circuits added from different countries all over the world. On the other hand, WRC gets less exposure on social media and we don't get to experience the drivers' personality in the same way both the current F1 drivers and old-school WRC drivers had. It's important to take into consideration the time period that the media aired because our current generation has different perspectives about both WRC and F1 when compared to the people from older time period.
F1 is for posh people, WRC is proper proletarian. I love F1 but rally drivers and bikers could get into an F1 car and with enough training and practice they would be immediately competitive.
RIP Richard , Legend !
I really wish Jeremy had Richard on more often given the both of them were good friends. Very underrated driver taken way too soon, rip Richard...
He actually had an off-screen relationship with Jeremy, often playing SEGA Rally with Jeremy’s son Finlo.
Rest in peace Richard burns 1971-2005
2:36 damn right he is. RIP legend
Thanks for uploading this. I'm actually surprised this was cut down as Richard was a good friend of Jeremy's. Unusual that he didn't object to it.
I guess it is quite randomly asking but do anybody know a good website to stream new tv shows online ?
This man was a legend. May he rest peacefully 😔
He is my favorite all-time rally driver , im 37 from Greece , RIP Legend.
Only found this after rewatching Top Gear and wiki-ing Richard. Fantastic interview; really sound bloke, funny and clear-cut. Mad footage as well - those full on in the air rolls!!! Rallying really is absolutely mental.
Many see f1 as the pinnacle of motor racing, they are so wrong. WRC is without doubt the absolute distinction of a driver, and a driver who can drive at the limit, not crash and be so down to earth you would see them at your local pub.
Richard Burns was a hero of mine
I believe this is the last interview from Jeremy clarkson to Richard burns before he passed away which Jeremy paid tribute to him
Class driver. Would have won so much more without the horrible circumstances
Seeing him just makes me 😢
Interesting time when WRC was at peak popularity. It was short lived thou. Just a few years later it was all over and decline in full swing. Miss good ole Burns
having a surname "Burns" and while being a full time rally driver is like fate
Wrc and it's drivers were something else 20 years ago. Now it's basically Finnish rally championship among some unknown names...
Your very right...
Na, until the mid 2010s it was just two Frenchmen named Sebastian
Happy Birthday Burnsie.
Another taken too soon.
Richard Burns was a great driver and a nice bloke plus it was a crying shame he died so young but he was wrong when he said the WRC was more interesting than Formula 1 and when he said f1 driver are not cultured enough really annoyed me
The great Michael Schumacher my absolute hero his favourite dish was curry he was more cultured than Richard Burns ever was
Formula 1 will always be the number sport no matter what
The WRC is great too but not on the same page as Formula 1
i reckon he just meant rally drivers are more of grassroot orgin than the pay drivers with posh lifestyle in f1 (bar a few generational talents). but yeah f1 as a whole dwarfs rallying no matter what.
Keep in mind, this was the time when F1 was at one of their "boring" phases where the races and the drivers who stood at the podium were very predictable with only a handful of notable moments amid Ferrari's dominance. When Richard Burns said F1 is a lot more boring and not cultured enough, this was what he possibly meant.
Think about it. If we were to watch F1 seasons from 2000 to 2005, you'd find a lot of F1 fans yawned in boredom to watch some predictable races. Aside from the top drivers, F1 drivers during these years were also rather sterile in terms of personality and driving style, with the exception of a few names.
At that time, WRC and F1 were about on the same caliber. People looked forward to WRC thanks to the more diverse rally stages across the world, including my own country Indonesia which only occurred in 1996 and 1997. With a lot more stages and countries to cover, memorable drivers whose personality on the camera and on their racing seats were more colorful, and the fact that WRC cars at that time used only slightly modified version of every day production cars (appearance-wise, anyway), they added tons of relatability and accessibility to fans all over the world. It's a different kind of demography compared to F1 viewers, but it could be said that the quality and quantity of fans from both series were about the same.
But when you compare today's WRC to F1, of course there's no competition. Each series' media body presents their motorsport event very differently. F1 drivers are now more exposed in their personality on and off the race, all bare open for the audiences to enjoy, not to mention the races are now in larger number with new circuits added from different countries all over the world. On the other hand, WRC gets less exposure on social media and we don't get to experience the drivers' personality in the same way both the current F1 drivers and old-school WRC drivers had.
It's important to take into consideration the time period that the media aired because our current generation has different perspectives about both WRC and F1 when compared to the people from older time period.
Dude. He was joking about culture - 'curry and chips' is what you get at 2am on a drunken night out after the pub. He was being sarcastic.
F1 is for posh people, WRC is proper proletarian. I love F1 but rally drivers and bikers could get into an F1 car and with enough training and practice they would be immediately competitive.